FOREWORD

To the Members of the Senate Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs: S. 49, introduced by the chairman of the committee (for himself and 23 other distinguished Senators of both political parties), is pending before the committee. This measure calls for approval of the Constitution for the State of Alaska which was drafted by duly elected constitutional convention delegates, and then submitted to the people of Alaska and overwhelmingly adopted by them.

A copy of the Alaska Constitution was submitted to the President of the United States by the Governor of Alaska, and has been formally referred to the 85th Congress of the United States. I have prepared the document for submission to the committee both because of its pertinence to our consideration of the bill approving it, and because it is demonstrative of the preparations Alaska has made for a new role as a State. Thus it is symbolic of the firm belief Alaskans share in the future of their land. Much of its value, though, is contained in the story of its creation and adoption by the people of the Territory— a story that is distinctively Alaskan.

As 55 delegates gathered at Philadelphia in September 1787 to write the Constitution of the United States, so did 55 delegates meet at the University of Alaska, near Fairbanks, in November 1955, to do the work of the Alaska Constitutional Convention. The delegates had been elected by popular vote and among them were 2 Alaskan bush pilots, a gold miner, 2 women lawyers, an Indian, several sourdoughs, 2 ministers, ministers, a fisherman, businessmen, farmers, and homesteaders.

Meeting through the dark days of the Alaskan winter for nearly 11 weeks, a draft of the constitution was eventually agreed upon and signed by all but one delegate. The building in which the historic meeting took place was later named Constitution Hall by the University.

Among the signers are William A. Egan, chosen as one of the two Senators from Alaska in the general elections in the Territory last October, and Representative-elect Ralph Rivers. Both of these distinguished citizens of Alaska and the United States were elected as a step toward statehood under the Tennessee plan.

On April 24, 1956, the people of Alaska adopted the constitution in

a Territorial election by a vote of 2 to 1.

This historic document is commended to the attention of the committee.

HENRY M. JACKSON,

Chairman, Subcommittee on Territories.

III

LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR,

Hon. RICHARD M. NIXON,
President of the Senate,

OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY, Washington, D. C., February 25, 1957.

Washington, D. C.

DEAR MR. PRESIDENT: Enclosed is an original copy of the proposed Alaska Constitution. The original of this proposed constitution was transmitted to the President by the Governor of Alaska, pursuant to section 15 of chapter 46 of the Session Laws of Alaska, 1955.

Only one copy of the proposed constitution was sent to the President. We have obtained a duplicate original, so the proposed constitution is being submitted to both Houses of the Congress simultaneously.

Sincerely yours,

FRED G. AANDAHL, Acting Secretary of the Interior.