test was sharp, and both sides claimed a majority. The result was a double convention, but, by a flash of common sense, each faction produced the same constitution, alike even in orthography and punctuation. Promptly it was approved, and the arch of the state was locked. in the cohesion of granitic permanence. Henry H. Sibley was the Democratic candidate for governor, and Alexander Ramsey led the Republican column. He was counted out under circumstances of great doubt. The vote, as reported by the board of state canvassers, was 17,790 for Sibley, and 17,550 for Ramsey.

In 1859, Alexander Ramsey was again the logical Republican nominee, and was elected governor by a decisive majority. He received 21,335 votes; and the Democratic candidate, George L. Becker, received 17,582 votes.

Under Ramsey's leadership, the Republicans attained power, to be dislodged but once in forty-five years. No other governor ever so impressed his individuality upon the state. Well did Henry A. Swift declare that his administration "was a distinct era in the history of the state." The study of his messages reveals his practical purposes, and consummate skill as a public administrator. Extravagance was curbed, salaries reduced, county government simplified, the school and University lands were safely housed from the despoiler, under the guarantees of the constitution. The growing and enormous school fund will ever remain as a proud monument to his memory.

His pronounced action in reference to our school lands, as contained in his celebrated message of January 9, 1861, is undoubtedly the most complete and forceful presentation of the value to the state, and to posterity, of the magnificent grant of public lands we received from the nation, more especially in the mode and method he devised for safeguarding the gift, which has ever been presented to a legislative body. He had fully resolved that this magnificent endowment should not be squandered. With matchless courage he constrained the adoption of his measures. He left nothing, in this regard, for his successors to do, but to follow in his footsteps. By this good work, so successfully accomplished, he may be justly regarded as the author and builder of that wonderful school fund, which is today the admiration of every state in the Union.

Kindred to this, and illustrating his practical and economical state house-keeping, and characteristic of his German thrift, was his complete reformation of the extravagant and expensive government of the preceding state administration. Our first legislature was prodigal far beyond the state's resources. State, county, and township governments, had plunged headlong into excessive expenditures, creating debts and embarrassing the people. He met the situation promptly and vigorously. He insisted that every state expenditure should be reduced, that taxation might not eat up the substance of the people, nor prove a bar to immigration. His economical reforms were sweeping, even to reducing his guber

natorial salary one-half. The legislative body was largely reduced; county and township expenditures were curtailed; the public printing was no longer "a job;" salaries and taxes were alike reduced; and a banking law, which authorized a currency on inadequate securities, was swept away. Out of these radical reforms soon sprang that prosperity which has since marked the unparalleled advancement of the state.

In the progress of our history there had occurred one of those sore tribulations by which so many young states and territories have been afflicted, leaving wounds and scars during years of regret. Our misfortune was the celebrated "Five Million Loan Bill." Had the first governor of the state stood firm, and permitted no encroachment upon the executive prerogative, there would have been a door of escape. Governor Ramsey, who inherited from his predecessor this ill-fortune, devised measures to extricate the state from its entanglements. An amended constitution expunged the unfortunate measure from the statutes, and the franchises and. enormous land grants were restored to the state, and by his devices the state renewed the same to other corporations, so safeguarded as to secure us those great lines of railroad which have so rapidly developed the state. Governor Ramsey is entitled to the highest credit for the masterly skill with which he extricated the endangered state from its greatest peril.

January 2, 1860, Alexander Ramsey became governor of Minnesota. Extraordinary events were pulsating

the civilized world. Russia was emancipating her serfs; Garibaldi was liberating Italy; Germany was moving to unity. But above all, in the United States of America, the revolt against the slave power had arisen to fever heat. The Fugitive Slave Law, the Dred Scott decision, Buchanan's career of weakness and imbecility, the overthrow of the Missouri Compromise, were inciting causes for a revolution which was fated to end in blood. John Brown's soul, at Harper's Ferry, had begun its ominous march. A mighty duel between slavery and freedom was organizing in every home of the republic.

In November, 1860, that man of God, Abraham Lincoln, was elected president. The storm which had gathered, now burst in fury, and on a fatal Friday afternoon, April 12, 1861, treason fired its first shots at Fort Sumter, the portents of the bloody carnage to follow. For the first time the flag of the Union went down, but to rise again, for "the eternal years of God are hers!" Ramsey was well prepared by experience and conviction, for the new and extraordinary responsibilities thrust upon him by the dread note of war. Not one moment did he hesitate, but offered the first troops to the President, and thus set the pace for loyal governors. The young state became a military camp, and the roll of the drum and the thrill of the bugle fired the hearts of the sons of Minnesota. He issued his call, and his call was not in vain:

"And there was mounting in hot haste; the steed, The mustering squadron and the clattering car, Went pouring forward with impetuous speed,

And swiftly forming in the ranks of war."

The unexpected exigencies required statesmanlike abilities. With an empty treasury, he yet equipped regiments, supplied batteries, and placed squadrons of cavalry in the field. He established hospitals, appointed surgeons, and sent comforts to the sick. He personally visited his troops in the bivouac and in the hospital, and no men in the field were better fed, better clothed, or cared for. At each subsequent call, like the clan of Roderick Dhu, at the sound of his bugle, warriors came from every bush and brake. The history of Minnesota in the mighty struggle became heroic. It was necessary to choose an army of officers, and well did he select. His privates became captains; his chaplains, archbishops; his captains, colonels; and his colonels, generals.

But in the midst of this terrible war, when our flag was almost fainting in the breeze, there came the foray of a savage enemy in the rear, with deeds too dark for description, threatening the desolation of the state. The dwellings of settlers were blazing at midnight, their paths ambushed by day. It was an orgy of blood, in which neither age nor sex were spared.

Never was a governor so tried and tested. Never was a young state in such deadly peril. But his energies and resources expanded with the dangers. His Scotch