Constitution of Alaska - Ordinances

Ordinances

The referendum on constitutional ratification contained three ballot measures to be voted upon, as provided in Article XV, Section 24.

Ordinance No. 1 was the ratifying proposition itself: Shall the Constitution for the State of Alaska prepared and agreed upon by the Alaska Constitutional Convention be adopted? Ordinance No. 1 passed 17,447 – 8,180.

Ordinance No. 2 provided for the adoption of the "Alaska-Tennessee Plan", which provided that two U.S. Senators and a Representative should be elected to serve as a "shadow" delegation until statehood. Ordinance No. 2 passed 15,011 – 9,556.

Ordinance No. 3 outlawed the use of fish traps in commercial salmon fishing. This issue had special significance in territorial Alaska. Fish traps, usually operated by Outside-owned canneries and widely blamed for the near-collapse of the salmon fishery, were seen as a symbol of exploitation of Alaska by absentee commercial interests. Former territorial Governor Ernest Gruening alluded to the issue in his keynote address to the convention:

The people of Alaska have repeatedly and unchangingly manifested their overwhelming opposition to fish traps. But fish trap beneficiaries, residents of the mother country, want to retain their Alaska traps. So the traps are retained. And it is the power and authority of the federal government which retains them. In a clear-cut issue between the few, profiting, non-colonial Americans and the many, seriously damaged, colonial Alaskans, the state-side interest wins hands down.

Ordinance No. 3 passed by 21,285 – 4,004.