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******* *» -^» 'junauTp.. 7 )?' Governor JUDD GREGG UNH LIBRARY 3 MbOO ODSM? 5bME New State of Hampshire MANUAL for the GENERAL COURT 1991 No. 52 PUBLISHED BY THE DEPARTMENT OF STATE WILLIAM M. GARDNER Secretary of State ROBERT P. AMBROSE Deputy Secretary of State Edited and Compiled by KAREN H. LADD 1991 PREFACE Thepublicationofthe 1991 Manual fortheGeneral Courtmarks the 52nd volume published in this series. It includes general information about state government and the 1990 state election results. It also gives special recognition on the following page to three women who have given many years of service as elected officials in state government. Only since the fall of 1920 have women had the right to vote in state elections. That year, two women were elected to the House ofRepresentatives, becomingthefirstwomenlegislatorsinourstate. Ten years later, in 1930, the first woman was elected to the New Hampshire State Senate. William M. Gardner ' I : . N! Former Senator Edith B. Gardner of Gilford holds the distinction of serving more years and more terms in the New Hampshire Senate than any other woman. She servedtenconsecutivetwo-yearterms beginning in 1961. Edith B. Gardner Thelate Representative HildaC.F. Brungot of Berlin holds the record for having served more years and terms in the New Hampshire House ofRepresentatives than any other woman. She served a total of thirty-eight non-consecutiveyearsbetween 1931 and 1974. Hilda C.F. Brungot Representative Elizabeth A. GreeneofRye is currently serving her sixteenthtwo-year term as a member ofthe New Hampshire House of Representatives. Upon comple- tion of this term, she will have served thirty-two consecutive years, which is the most consecutive years ofservice for any woman legislator in our state. Elizabeth A. Greene NEW HAMPSHIRE AND THE FEDERAL BILL OF RIGHTS BICENTENNIAL December 15, 1991, marks the bicentennial of the ratification of the Federal Bill of Rights. New Hampshire cast its ratification vote on January 25, 1790, the fifth state to do so, after virtually no recorded debate. It was not unexpected that the state acted quickly. Its own constitution, adopted in 1783 opens with a long list of individual liberties entitled "Bill of Rights." At the state convention of 1788 to consider ratification ofthe Federal Constitution "Antifederalist" Joshua Atherton cited slavery, states rights, and the lack of a bill of rights as principal arguments against ratification. Thomas Cogswell, a Strafford Countyjudge, wrote against the constitution because of its lack of a bill of rights. Another judge, Samuel Livermore, a delegate to the convention and a proponent of ratification, proposedtwelve amendments whichthe conventionadopted to appease opponents in order to secure ratification. With the promise thattheseamendmentswouldbesuggestedtoCongress, NewHampshire ratifiedtheConstitutionbyavoteof57-47onJune21, 1788, attheNorth Meeting House in Concord. The ratification document explains the tactic: "... itistheOpinionofthisConventionthatcertainamendments & alterations in the said Constitution would removethe fears and Quiet the apprehensions of many of the good People of this State, and more effectually guard against an undue Administration of the federal Government." When itconvened in 1789 Congress turned overall such amendments toJamesMadisonwhoformulatedtwelveforcongressionaldeliberation during the late summer of 1789. Samuel Livermore, then one of New Hampshire's representatives to Congress, argued vigorously in favor of Madison's amendments. In September Congress sent the amendments to the states for ratification. The fact that both New Hampshire and Congress proposed twelve amendments was coincidental. OfNew Hampshire's twelve proposals in 1788 nine found their way intoMadison'sproposalsandeightfinallyattainedConstitutional status. Madison omitted New Hampshire's fourth, fifth, and ninth proposals. ThefourthwouldhaveprohibitedCongressfromlayingdirecttaxes. The fifth would haveprohibited Congress from establishing a "Company of MerchantswithexclusiveadvantagesofCommerce," andtheninthwould have prohibited federal officeholders from accepting any foreign title. New Hampshire's chiefexecutive, President John Sullivan, received the amendments from Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson in October