The Fifty-Third Wisconsin Legislature convened from January 10, 1917, to July 16, 1917, in regular session, and re-convened in two special sessions in February and September 1918.[1]
During this session, the new Wisconsin State Capitol was completed after 13 years of reconstruction following the 1904 fire. The official dedication ceremony was postponed until the end of World War I.[2]
Senators representing even-numbered districts were newly elected for this session and were serving the first two years of a four-year term. Assembly members were elected to a two-year term. Assembly members and even-numbered senators were elected in the general election of November 7, 1916. Senators representing odd-numbered districts were serving the third and fourth year of a four-year term, having been elected in the general election of November 3, 1914.[1]
February 3, 1917: The United States severed diplomatic relations with Germany.
February 24, 1917: British intelligence shared the Zimmermann Telegram with American Ambassador Walter Hines Page, in which the German Empire proposed a military alliance with Mexico if the United States entered the war against Germany.
April 3, 1917: Walter C. Owen was elected justice of the Wisconsin Supreme Court, defeating incumbent justice Roujet D. Marshall.
April 6, 1917: The United States declared war on the German Empire, beginning their active participation in World War I.
April 26, 1917: The Wisconsin Senate voted to expel senator Frank Raguse after he refused to affirm his allegiance to the United States. Raguse remains the only member of the Wisconsin State Legislature to have been expelled.
June 15, 1917: U.S. President Woodrow Wilson signed the Espionage Act of 1917, to prevent interference with U.S. war activities or promoting the interests of U.S. war opponents.
July 18, 1917: Regiments of the Wisconsin National Guard were activated and organized into the 32nd Infantry Division for federal service.
April 2, 1918: Irvine Lenroot was elected United States senator from Wisconsin in a special election.
May 18, 1918: Wisconsin's mobilized regiments in the 32nd Infantry Division arrived at the western front of World War I and continued on the line until the end of the war.
December 4, 1918: U.S. President Woodrow Wilson departed to attend the Paris Peace Conference, becoming the first sitting U.S. president to visit Europe.
Major legislation
1917 Joint Resolution 20: Joint Resolution to amend sections 6 and 7, of article VII, of the constitution of the state of Wisconsin, relating to circuit judges, 1917 Joint Resolution 20. First legislative passage of a proposed amendment to the constitution to allow the legislature to reduce the number of judicial circuits and assign multiple judges to single circuits.
1917 Joint Resolution 23: Joint Resolution to amend section 21 of article IV of the constitution, relating to compensation of members of the legislature, 1917 Joint Resolution 23. First legislative passage of a proposted amendment to allow legislative salaries to be set by law, rather than fixed by the constitution.
1917 Joint Resolution 24: Joint Resolution to provide for the appointment of a joint committee of the legislature to investigate the subject of "Social Insurance", 1917 Joint Resolution 24.
^Democrat Walter Wittman (Manitowoc County), Socialist Herman Marth (Marathon County), and Republicans Griffith Thomas (Iron & Vilas counties) and Publius Lawson (Winnebago County), were sworn in to fill vacancies.
^ ab"Biographical Sketches". The Wisconsin Blue Book 1917 (Report). Industrial Commission of Wisconsin. 1917. pp. 495–557. Retrieved April 28, 2023.
^ ab"Organization of Legislature of 1917". The Wisconsin Blue Book 1917 (Report). Industrial Commission of Wisconsin. 1917. pp. 490–493. Retrieved April 28, 2023.
