The legislature approves an amendment to Minnesota's constitution that legalizes the loan of the state's credit in an issue of bonds "up to but not exceeding $5,000,000," with the idea of exchanging state bonds for railroad-company bonds and thus stimulating the building of railroads and their subsequent benefits to land sales and the state economy. The "$5 million loan" would continue to be an issue in Minnesota politics for many years, even after the railroad bonds are substantially redeemed in 1881.