Politics | Page 96

Painting "Henry H. Sibley"

Portrait of Henry Sibley, c.1860.

St. Paul looking toward State Capitol

View of St. Paul including the Capitol building, 1857.

First Minnesota State Capitol, St. Paul

First Minnesota State Capitol, 1853–1872.

Minnesota Constitutional Convention,1857

In 1857, elected delegates met in St. Paul to draft a state constitution so that Minnesota could officially join the Union. Due to a bitter rivalry, Democrats and Republicans refused to meet jointly until near the end of the convention. Finally, a Compromise Committee with five members from each group proposed language that both sides accepted. Yet they refused to sign the same document. As a result, Minnesota has two copies of its constitution: one Democratic and one Republican.

Willis A. Gorman

Former Territorial Governor Willis Gorman, c.1872.

Henry H. Sibley

Oil-on-canvas painting of Henry H. Sibley, 1860. Painting by Thomas Cantwell Healy.

Construction, Hastings and Dakota Railroad

Sepia-tone photograph of railroad construction taken by Benjamin Franklin Upton, c.1868.

Map reproduced in William Watts Folwell's <em>History of Minnesota</em>, Vol. 2 showing railroad lines in Minnesota as graded, located, proposed, and constructed between 1857 and 1862.

The Railroad Situation, 1857–1862

Map reproduced in William Watts Folwell's History of Minnesota, Vol. 2 showing railroad lines in Minnesota as graded, located, proposed, and constructed between 1857 and 1862.