The free-school act was ratified by a small majority, and the first free school in the state was legally organized.

The evidence

• “A provision of the act required its submission to the people of the town before it could take effect. It met with strenuous opposition, but after many public meetings and lectures held in the interests of public enlightenment, the act was ratified by a small majority in the fall of 1845, and thus the first free school in the state was legally organized. Subsequently, in the legislature, m the two constitutional conventions, and in educational assemblies, the question of a free-school system for the new state soon to be organized provoked much interest and discussion.”

  1879-history-of-rock-county/03-wisconsin-topography-geology-agriculture.md, PDF p. 137 / book p. 141

  Butterfield, C. W., et al. The History of Rock County, Wisconsin: its early settlement, growth, development, resources, etc. Chicago: Western Historical Company, 1879. Cornell University Library via the Internet Archive, archive.org/details/cu31924028871585.

  Grade A: Found on a page of one of our sources