withheld his approval, since his message deals with conditions rather
than objections. In the first place he reviewed the conditions under
which the Constitution of 1844 had at the same time been submitted to
Congress and to the people of the Territory. Then he pointed out that,
whereas a poll was taken on the Constitution according to law,
no provision had been made for a separate poll on the conditions
imposed by Congress. This, he thought, produced such confusion in the
public mind as to cause the defeat of the Constitution. To be sure, he
had proposed and was still in favor of submitting the question of a
Convention to the people. But he would not now insist on such a
policy. He freely admitted that the Legislative Assembly had the power
to pass the measure before him. At the same time it seemed to him
that, should the Constitution of 1844 be re-submitted to the people,
it would simply give rise to confusion in attempts to reconcile and
harmonize the various provisions of the statutes of the Territory, the
act of Congress, and the Constitution.

In the face of the Governor's veto the bill to re-submit the
Constitution passed both branches of the Assembly by the requisite
two-thirds majority, and on June 10, 1845, was declared by the
Secretary of the Territory to be a law. It provided "that the
Constitution as it came from the hands of the late Convention" be once
more submitted to the people for their ratification or rejection. It
directed that a poll be opened for that purpose at the general
election to be held on the first Monday of August, 1845. The votes of
the electors were to be given _viva voce_. Furthermore, it was
expressly provided that the ratification of the Constitution "shall
not be construed as an acceptance of the boundaries fixed by Congress
in the late act of admission, and the admission shall not be deemed
complete until whatever condition may be imposed by Congress,
shall be ratified by the people."

Thus the people were again asked to pass upon the Constitution of
1844. The campaign of the summer of 1845 was very much like the
campaign of the spring. All of the leading arguments both for and
against the Constitution were repeated in the press and on the stump.
The parties divided on the same lines as before, except that the Whigs
in their opposition had the assistance of a much larger Democratic
contingent.

One is surprised to find, in connection with the boundary question,
little or no m