Text by Ana Daraban
The Salt Lake Tribune

   In May 1895, ninety-nine state delegates gathered at the City and County Building in Salt Lake City to create a state constitution. The delegates had met six times previous to obtain congressional approval of a state constitution and the cherished grant of statehood. This seventh convention was successful, but this constitution was drafted and the convention was elected on the initiative of the U.S. Congress that passed an “enabling act” dictating both procedures and terms.
   The state constitution was ratified at 12:15 p.m. on May 8, 1895 and it took the delegates from noon to 1:40 p.m. to sign their names. According to The Tribune “The magnitude of the honor of signing the great Charter of the State or a too anxious desire to make their signature specimens of their very best penmanship, caused most of the delegates to write their very worst.” The delegates thought a governor should be worth a salary of $2,000 a year and $1,500 would be a fair stipend for an attorney general.
    The convention forbade the “State to authorize any game of chance” but it agreed to suffrage for women, an issue that repeatedly split the convention members.