21st Wisconsin Legislature

21st Wisconsin Legislature
← 20th 22nd →
Wisconsin State Capitol, 1863
Overview
Legislative body	Wisconsin Legislature
Meeting place	Wisconsin State Capitol
Term	January 6, 1868 – January 4, 1869
Election	November 5, 1867
Senate
Members	33
Senate President	Wyman Spooner (R)
President pro tempore	Newton Littlejohn (R)
Party control	Republican
Assembly
Members	100
Assembly Speaker	Alexander M. Thomson (R)
Party control	Republican
Sessions
1st January 8, 1868 – March 6, 1868

The Twenty-First Wisconsin Legislature convened from January 8, 1868, to March 6, 1868, in regular session.

Senators representing even-numbered districts were newly elected for this session and were serving the first year of a two-year term. Assembly members were elected to a one-year term. Assembly members and even-numbered senators were elected in the general election of November 5, 1867. Senators representing odd-numbered districts were serving the second year of their two-year term, having been elected in the general election held on November 6, 1866.^[1]

The governor of Wisconsin during this entire term was Republican Lucius Fairchild, of Dane County, serving the first year of his second two-year term, having won re-election in the 1867 Wisconsin gubernatorial election.

• February 24, 1868: The United States House of Representatives voted to impeach U.S. President Andrew Johnson for violating the Tenure of Office Act.
• April 29, 1868: General William Tecumseh Sherman brokered the Treaty of Fort Laramie between the United States and the Plains Indians.
• May 26, 1868: In the United States Senate, the impeachment trial of U.S. President Andrew Johnson ended with a verdict of "not guilty".
• July 9, 1868: Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution was ratified by the required three-fourths of U.S. states.
• July 27, 1868: The U.S. Expatriation Act of 1868 was enacted.
• August 11, 1868: U.S. Representative Thaddeus Stevens, a leader of the Radical Republican faction, died at Washington, D.C.
• October 10, 1868: An uprising in Cuba initiated Ten Years' War for Cuban independence from the Spanish Empire.
• October 28, 1868: Thomas Edison applied for his first patent, the electric vote recorder.
• November 3, 1868: Ulysses S. Grant elected 18th President of the United States.
• December 25, 1868: U.S. President Andrew Johnson granted an unconditional pardon to all American Civil War rebels.

• January 22, 1868: Joint Resolution declaring it to be the duty of the general government to protect American citizens in the enjoyment of all their rights as such while sojourning in foreign countries, 1868 Joint Resolution 1, endorsing the proposed federal Expatriation Act of 1868.
• February 6, 1868: An Act to punish frauds upon insurance companies, 1868 Act 14.
• February 19, 1868: An Act to abolish the office of bank comptroller, and transfer his duties to the state treasurer, 1868 Act 28.
• February 22, 1868: Joint Resolution defining the duty of the nation towards its native and adopted citizens, 1868 Joint Resolution 8, also relating to the proposed federal Expatriation Act of 1868.
• February 29, 1868: An Act to legalize dissections, 1868 Act 53.
• March 4, 1868: An Act to provide for the completion of the state capitol, 1868 Act 93.
• March 5, 1868: An Act to accept a grant of lands made to the state of Wisconsin by act of congress, to aid in the construction of the Sturgeon Bay and Lake Michigan ship canal and harbor, in the county of Door, to connect the waters of Green Bay with Lake Michigan, and to provide for the construction of the same, 1868 Act 105.
• March 6, 1868: Joint Resolution instructing senators and representatives in congress to preserve the equilibrium between the coordinate branches of government, 1868 Joint Resolution 23.
• March 6, 1868: An Act to authorize the state treasurer to close up the circulation of certain banks, and for other purposes, 1868 Act 144.
• March 6, 1868: An Act to transfer the war fund to the general fund and discontinue the war fund, 1868 Act 148.
• March 6, 1868: An Act to provide for establishing town libraries in this state, 1868 Act 174.

• 1st Regular session: January 8, 1868 – March 6, 1868

• President of the Senate: Wyman Spooner (R)
• President pro tempore: Newton Littlejohn (R)

• Speaker of the Assembly: Alexander M. Thomson (R)

Members of the Wisconsin Senate for the Twenty-First Wisconsin Legislature:^[2]

Members of the Assembly for the Twenty-First Wisconsin Legislature:^[2]

• Chief Clerk: L. B. Hills^[2]
  • Assistant Clerk: John S. Wilson
    • Bookkeeper: A. W. Wilson
  • Engrossing Clerk: W. L. Abbott
  • Engrossing Clerk: Joseph Copp
  • Transcribing Clerk: David Schreiner
• Sergeant-at-Arms: W. H. Hamilton
  • Assistant Sergeant-at-Arms: S. M. Bond
  • Sergeant-at-Arms' Porter: Thomas Goss
• Postmaster: Frank Leland
  • Assistant Postmaster: J. S. Cavert
• Doorkeeper: Franklin Kelly
  • Assistant Doorkeeper: W. G. McEwen
  • Assistant Doorkeeper: Walter Cook
  • Assistant Doorkeeper: Henry Taylor
  • Assistant Doorkeeper: Thornton Thompson
• Fireman: Francis Downs
• Messengers:
  • Robert B. McCord
  • William Keyes
  • Charlton Turner

• Chief Clerk: Ephraim W. Young^[2]
  • Assistant Clerk: William M. Newcomb
    • Bookkeeper: O. A. Southmayd
  • Engrossing Clerk: Fred Dennett
  • Enrolling Clerk: William A. Prentiss Jr.
  • Transcribing Clerk: William H. Holt
• Sergeant-at-Arms: Charles L. Harris
  • Assistant Sergeant-at-Arms: Alex Stevens
• Postmaster: Luther Poland
  • Assistant Postmaster: D. B. Crandall
• Doorkeepers:
  • Henry Collins
  • Frank Fletcher
  • Thomas Healy
• Firemen:
  • Nahum Bangs
  • John Flood
• Porter: Edwin Glenn
• Speaker's Messenger: Frank Thompson
• Chief Clerk's Messenger: John J. Norton
• Messengers:
  • Thomas A. Robbins
  • T. W. Sutliff
  • William H. Denison
  • Charlie J. Johnson
  • James Burke
  • C. E. Conger