The minority report, signed by D. S. Norton and W. H. C. Folsom, claimed that the constitution contemplated an admission into the Union as a prerequisite to the exercise of state sovereignty, in article 5, section 7, where it is enacted that "the term of each of the executive officers named in this article shall commence upon taking the oath of office, after the State shall be admitted by Congress into the Union, etc."
Section 9, same article, provides that "Laws shall be passed at the first session of the legislature after the State is admitted into the Union to carry out the provisions of this article.
"Section 1, article 16, schedule, provides that all process which may be issued under the authority of the territory of Minnesota previous to its admission into the Union of the United States, shall be as valid as if issued in the name of the State."
Section 8, same article, provides that if the constitution shall be adopted by a vote of the people, the governor of the Territory shall forward a certified copy of the same to the president of the United States, "to be by him laid before the Congress of the United States."
The minority claimed that under the first of the above cited sections there can be no qualified governor (elected under, and according to the provisions of the constitution) to whom "bills" must be submitted before they can become laws, until after "admission"—nor indeed can there be any executive officers, contemplated to perform the duties of their several offices, until that time.
In reference to the provisions of section 18, article 16, schedule, as inconsistent with that view, it was claimed that the territorial government should continue, and that its officers should exercise the sovereign powers delegated to them by the Union, until, upon an admission by Congress, and a surrender of sovereignty to the State, its authority should commence.
It was claimed that this section (6) of article 16, requiring the legislature to convene on the first Wednesday of December, 1857, was an oversight or error. After considerable debate the majority report was adopted by a party vote. A similar protest, signed by all the Republican members of the house, was presented to that body. In addition to these protests there was in both branches of the legislature continuous and various protests by the minority against the exercise of legislative functions.
In the house, on Jan. 25, 1858, Mr. Sheetz offered a resolution with reference to the causes of the delay in the admission of Minnesota, asking that a committee of three be appointed with instructions to investigate the circumstances of this delay and report to this house upon these points:
First—As to whose duty it was to forward to the president for submission to Congress a copy of the constitution.
Second—Why an incorrect or incomplete copy of said constitution was forwarded to the president.