CONSTITUTIONS AND CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS The first movement for the formation of a state constitution for Nebraska resulted in submission of the question to the voters of the territory at an election held March 5, 1860. The proposition was defeated by a vote of 2,094 for and 2,272 against. Cass and Otoe counties were the strongest supporters of this movement; Douglas, Sarpy and Washington were its strongest opponents. Political issues arising out of the Civil war prompted and sustained the next movement for statehood. Nebraska had become strongly republican and there was a call for more republican senators and congressmen at Washington. The ninth territorial legislature, by a joint memorial to congress, approved January 16, 1864, petitioned for legislation preparatory to the admission of Nebraska as a state. The democratic party in Nebraska was opposed to statehood, and eleven out of thirty-seven members in the lower house of the legislature voted against the memorial. Congress responded almost immediately by passing the Nebraska enabling act on April 19, 1864. In accordance with this instrument an election for delegates to a constitutional convention was held June 6, 1864. The number of members chosen was equal to the membership of the territorial legislature. The convention met at the capitol in Omaha, July 4, 1864, and elected Sterling P. Majors of Nemaha county president. Immediately upon completing its organization the convention voted to "adjourn sine die, without forming a constitution." A considerable majority of the members of this convention were pledged to this action before their election. The chief reason assigned was the desire to avoid the expense of state government. An additional reason was opposition by the democrats. The assassination of President Abraham Lincoln on April 14, 1865, and the rapid development of controversy between Andrew Johnson and the republican leaders in congress again brought the question of statehood for Nebraska to the front. On February 9, 1866, the eleventh territorial legislature passed a joint resolution to prepare a constitution for submission to the people. This constitution was drafted in great haste by a legislative committee and rushed through both houses. It was the barest framework of government, providing for the fewest possible officers, the lowest salaries and the most meagre functions for the new state in order to forestall objections to the increased expense. The constitution was submitted to the people at an election held June 2, 1866, and adopted after a heated campaign by a vote of 3,938 in its favor to 3,838 against. This constitution of 1866 limited suffrage to "free white males," in accord with the constitutions of many of the free states of the north before the war. Its use in the Nebraska constitution delayed the admission of the state into the union nearly a year. Congress passed the bill admitting Nebraska under this constitution on July 27, 1866, just before adjournment, but President Johnson withheld his signature and it failed to become a law. Efforts were made during the passage of this bill in congress to amend it by requiring Nebraska to include negro suffrage in her constitution. When congress reassembled, the bill admitting Nebraska was again passed, on January 15, 1867, with the added condition that Nebraska should amend her constitution so as to prevent the "abridgement or denial of the exercise of the elective franchise or of any other right to any person by reason of race or color, excepting Indians not taxed." President Johnson vetoed this bill January 29, 1867. Congress promptly passed it over the president's veto, and provided that the amendment insisted on by congress |