Additional Resources

This page contains a curated list of resources on the history of the Wisconsin Constitution. To the extent possible, links are to publicly accessible copies of the sources listed. Where that is not possible, the link directs to an online database.

Books

Wilder Crane & A. Clarke Hagensick, Wisconsin Government and Politics (Ronald E. Weber, 7th ed. 2000)

Steve Miller and Jack Stark, The Wisconsin State Constitution (2019)

Robert C. Nesbit, Wisconsin: A History (1973)

Milo M. Quaife, The Attainment of Statehood (1928)

Milo M. Quaife, The Convention of 1846 (1919)

Milo M. Quaife, The Movement for Statehood (1918)

Milo M. Quaife, The Struggle Over Ratification (1920)

Milo M. Quaife, Wisconsin: Its History and Its People (1918)

Joseph A. Ranney, Trusting Nothing to Providence: A History of Wisconsin’s Legal System (1999)

Albert O. Wright, An Exposition of the Constitution of the State of Wisconsin (1883)

Articles

Ray A. Brown, The Making of the Wisconsin Constitution (Part I), 1949 WIS. L. REV. 648 (1949)

Ray A. Brown, The Making of the Wisconsin Constitution (Part II), 1952 WIS. L. REV. 23 (1952)

Joseph A. Ranney, Wisconsin’s Constitutional Amendment Habit: A Disease or a Cure?, 90 MARQ. L. REV. 667 (2007)

John Sundquist, Construction of the Wisconsin Constitution—Recurrence to Fundamental Principles, 62 MARQ. L. REV. 531 (1979)

Celebrating Wisconsin’s Constitution 150 Years Later, 1998 WIS. L. REV. 661 (1998)

Convention Records

Journal of the Convention to Form a Constitution for the State of Wisconsin (1947)

Journal of the Convention to Form a Constitution for the State of Wisconsin: With a Sketch of the Debates (1848)

Legislative Publications

The Laws of Wisconsin

The Wisconsin Blue Book (Current)

Wisconsin Briefs: Constitutional Amendments to be Submitted to Voters

Additional Databases

Wisconsin Legislative Reference Bureau Digital Collections

Wisconsin State Legislature Legislative Documents