The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-01-13
Only 4 FEN OF THEN LEFT
MEN WHO DREW THE CONSTITU-
TION OF MINNESOTA HALF
A CENTURY AGO
DEATH OF FRANCIS BAAsEN
Takes From the List Another of
the Few Survivors of the Con-
ventiOn That Framed
State.

sistant adjutant general of the state,
| there passed away one of scarcely half a
| dozen survivors of the convention which
| i'll 1857, drafted the constitution of the
| state of Minnesota.
| The record of that convention in these
later days, is not without an element of
| interest. AS for Col. Baasen, it is WORTHY
! of note that in 1857, he was chairman Of
the committee which reported the Dor
ton of the constitution providing for the
militia, of which he was the assistant
| auJutant general when death called him
| from the active service of his state.
zen. III. HI. Sibley, not then as dis
| tinguished as he became later, was the
| temporary chairman of the convention.
| and upon his nomination for the place
! William Pitt Murray, still an active
member of the ST. Paul bar, called upon
| the secretary to read the enabling act In
| order that there might be no technical
| ton.
Judge Charles E. Flandrau, who then
represented Nicollet county, and Willis
| A German, who had served his country
s1gnally in the Mexican war, he'd repre
sented an Indiana district in congress
had been territorial governor was
afterwards colonel of the fighting First
minnesota, promoted to brigadier gem
eral later law partner of c. K. Davis
ana at the time of his death, corporation
attorney, We're members of the conven-
ZION and participated in a vigorous dis
cusslon as to the proper way for setting
the constitutional vehicle properly on its
way. . 10
DIR; A. E. Ames, of Minneapolis. father
u VI the recently inaugurated mayor, and
hiinselt at one time mayor of the citv at
the rails, was also a member of The con
Nenuon and served as chairman of the
committee on credentials
Gen George L. Becker. who recently
reured from the state railroad and
warehouse commission, was one of t,,e
st. Paul members. 0
mat political feeling, even in those
udyS, ran nigh, can be gathered from the
remarks of Gov. Go1man, who said. al
one OF the early sessions:
see gong the rounds of the nresS of
liils territory statements in regard to the
conduct Of the members of the constitu-
uohaI convention which has met in this
hall' and wish to make distinct state
nleht Tor the purpose of placing us right
before the country
The members of the constitutional
convention met in the hall of the house
OF representatives at u o'clock, as near
as may be, July IL, 1857. A motion was
made to the person who called the con-
Ventlon to order, he being a member of
the constitutional convention. secretary
Oh the territory, and acting governor to
duJoufh. That motion was dis
tnctly put In the presence of nineteen
tWentleths of the members reelected to
the constitutional convention 1t was
distinctly voted for by large and over
Whelm1ng majority of that convention by
the sound. 1t was distinctly voted
against by some fifteen or twenty mem
bers of the party not acting with us,
judging from the direction in which the
sound came. The convention did on
July 10, at II o'clock, adjourn and met
again in pursuance of that adjournment
at the door of the hall Of representa- tives
The person who had called that conven-
ton to order-a member of the constitu-
tional convention, the secretary and act
ing governor of the territory, having
charge of the capitol and having of right
the keys Of the hall, met the convention
at the door inside that hall He an
nounced that the room to which we had
adjourned as lawfully and legally as ever
the congress of the United States or any
other deliberative body adjourned, was in
possession of a meeting of body of the
citizens of this territL ~; whereupon
motion was put to him by the same per-
son by whom the original motion was
made to adjourn, that the convention
adjourn to the council chamber in the
capitol. That motion was putt was
carried-and the convention proceeded to
this room. They effected a temporary
organization and they are here now.
"Why did we thus meet at the door of
the hall of the house of representatives?
The world must know that we met there
because the members of the opposite
party had gone into that hall at the
capitol building at u o'clock on Sunday
night. 1t is fair superstition from the
tone of the public press that it was with
a view of preventing a forcible possession
on our part or the part of others, or with
the view of taking forcible possession
themselves, or to put the best fact upon
it, that it was with a view of being there
upon the ground. But, whatever the
motives which governed their action, it is
a. fact that at IL o'clock Sunday night
that hall of the capitol was taken Jos
session of by body of citizens of Min
nesota claiming to be, themselves, of the
there without organization until II o'clock
Monday.
Now to the point: After the conven-
ton had adjourned at 70 o'clock on the
18th inst, there was body Of its mem
bers, no doubt properly elected, but not
a quorum, who stayed in the hall when
| the convention adjourned, and by force,
by usurpation, or by their own volition,
| without order, without regularity, con-
trary to that adjournment, assumed to
| ton. Sir if there had been two-thirds
! adjourned they had no right to stay
an act of usurpation, without precedent,