Although the constitution of 1846 was decisively rejected by the people, the desire for prompt admission to statehood was unabated, and it was hoped that a new constitution could be submitted and ratified in such time that the people of the state might vote in the forthcoming presidential election of 1848. Thus in response to an undoubted popular demand, Governor Dodge convened a special session of the territorial legislature on October 18, 1847. This session called for an election on the last Monday in November of delegates to a second constitutional convention to meet in the capitol at Madison on the third Wednesday in December to draft a new constitution and submit it to the people for ratification.
