In the year 1836 there was printed and published at Philadelphia a small
book bearing on its title-page these words:
NOTES ON
WISCONSIN TERRITORY,
WITH A MAP.
BY
LIEUTENANT ALBERT M. LEA,
UNITED STATES DRAGOONS.
PHILADELPHIA.
HENRY S. TANNER--SHAKESPEAR BUILDING.
1836.
The significance of this little volume lies in the fact that through it
the country destined to give birth to "the only free child of the
Missouri Compromise" was christened IOWA. Lieutenant Lea was familiar
with the country described in his "Notes." He had traveled through it,
had seen its beautiful prairies, had met its inhabitants face to face,
and had enjoyed their frontier hospitality. He must have been deeply
impressed by the Iowa river and its name. Referring to the country west
of the Mississippi river he says: "The District under review has been
often called 'Scott's Purchase,' and it is sometimes called the
'Black-Hawk Purchase'; but from the extent and beauty of the Iowa river
which runs centrally through the District, and gives character to most
of it, the name of that stream, being both euphonous and appropriate,
has been given to the District itself."
The Iowa District was likely to become a separate Territory at an early
day, since all indications pointed in the direction of a division of the
Territory of Wisconsin. First, the geographical area of the Territory as
designated in the Organic Act was sufficient for three or four ordinary
Commonwealths. Secondly, this area did not possess geographical unity.
Thirdly, historical traditions and considerations favored the
establishment of a separate Territory east of the Mississippi, which at
the proper time should be admitted as the fifth State born of the
Ordinance of 1787 within the limits of the old Territory of the
Northwest. Fourthly, the population of the Territory, which was
increasing with unparalleled rapidity, was so widely scattered as to
make it practically impossible to give equal force to the laws and
equal efficiency to the administration of government in all of the
frontier communities. That the "Father of Waters" should serve as the
natural line of division was generally conceded.
Scarcely had the act organizing the Territory of Wisconsin gone into
effect, when the agitation for division was launched. By the fall of
1837 it had captured the public mind. The burden of the movement was
taken up with enthusiasm by the inhabitants of the Iowa District. They
realized that the proposition to remove the seat of the Territorial
government from Burlington to some point east of the Mississippi was
likely to rob them of much political influence and some distinction.
They felt that a Territorial government located somewhere "in the
vicinity of the Four Lakes" could not successfully administer
constitutional government in the Iowa District.
The people of Des Moines county were among the first to take formal
action on what may well be called the first vital question in the
history of the Constitutions of Iowa. At a meeting held in the town of
Burlington on Saturday, September 16, 1837, they resolved "That while we
have the utmost confidence in the ability, integrity and patriotism of
those who control the destinies of our present Territorial Government,
and of our delegate in the Congress of the U. States, we do,
nevertheless, look to a division of the Territory, and the organization
of a separate Territorial Government, by Congress, west of the
Mississippi river, as the only means of immediately and fully securing
to the citizens thereof, the benefits and immunities of a government of
laws." In another resolution they "respectfully and earnestly recommend
to the people of the Territory west of the Mississippi river,
immediately to hold county meetings in their respective counties, and
appoint three delegates from each county, to meet in Convention at this
place, on the first Monday in November next."
Pursuant to this call of the people of the county of Des Moines for an
Iowa District convention, delegates from seven organized counties west
of the Mississippi met at the Capitol in Burlington on Monday, November
6, 1837, and organized themselves into a "Territorial Convention."
As such they continued in session for three successive days. On the
second day a resolution was adopted inviting the Governor, members of
the Legislative Council, Judges, and members of the bar of Burlington
"to take seats within the bar." Committees were then appointed to
prepare memorials on the several subjects before the delegates for
consideration. On the third day three separate memorials to Congress
were unanimously adopted. These related to (1) pre-emptions, (2) the
northern boundary line of Missouri, and (3) the division of the
Territory.
In the memorial relative to the proposed division of the Territory, it
was represented, "That the citizens of that part of the Territory west
of the Mississippi River, taking into consideration their remote and
isolated position, and the vast extent of country included within
the limits of the present Territory, and the utter impracticability of
the same being governed as an entire whole, by the wisest and best
administration of our municipal affairs, in such manner as to fully
secure individual right and the rights of property, as well as to
maintain domestic tranquillity, and the good order of society, have by
their respective Representatives, convened in general convention as
aforesaid, for the purpose of availing themselves of their right of
petition as free citizens, by representing their situation and wishes to
your honorable body, and asking for the organization of a separate
Territorial Government over that part of the Territory west of the
Mississippi River.
"Without, in the least, designing to question the official conduct of
those in whose hands the fate of our infant Territory has been
confided, and in whose patriotism and wisdom we have the utmost
confidence, your memorialists cannot refrain from the frank expression
of their belief that, taking into consideration the geographical
extent of her country, in connection with the probable population of
western Wisconsin, perhaps no Territory of the United States has been
so much neglected by the parent Government, so illy protected in the
political and individual rights of her citizens . . . . It will appear
that we have existed as a portion of an organized Territory for
sixteen months, with but one term of court. Your memorialists look upon
those evils as growing exclusively out of the immense extent of
country included within the present boundaries of the Territory, and
express their conviction and belief, that nothing would so effectually
remedy the evil as the organization of Western Wisconsin into a
separate territorial Government. To this your memorialists conceive
themselves entitled by principles of moral right, by the sacred
obligation that rests upon the present government to protect them in
the free enjoyment of their rights, until such time as they shall be
permitted to provide protection for themselves; as well as from the
uniform practice and policy of the Government in relation to her other
Territories . . . . Your memorialists therefore pray for the
organization of a separate territorial government over that part of
the Territory of Wisconsin west of the Mississippi river."
The time and place of the meeting of this remarkable "Territorial
Convention" were certainly most opportune. Meeting in the halls of the
Legislative Assembly at the Capital of the Territory and in the very
presence of the members of the Assembly, the delegates declared it to be
the wish and will of the people that the Territory be divided. The
members of the Assembly were impressed with the fact that the people
west of the Mississippi were in earnest, and, as representatives of the
whole Territory, they too drew up a memorial which was approved by the
Governor within three weeks after the Convention had adjourned.
In this memorial the Legislative Assembly stated the case as follows:
"That owing to the great extent of country embraced in the limits
of Wisconsin Territory, and that vast extent of Territory being
separated by a natural division, (the Mississippi river,) which renders
the application of the same laws oppressive or unequal to one section or
the other; the true policy of the two sections of the Territory being as
widely different as their locations; and the impracticability of the
officers of the General Government to administer the laws; render it
highly important in the opinion of your memorialists that that portion
of the Territory lying west of the Mississippi river be formed into a
separate Territorial Government.
"The Territory of Wisconsin now contains fifty thousand inhabitants;
one-half of which, at least, reside on the west side of the Mississippi
river.
"Without any intention of censuring the official conduct of the
officers in whose hands the administration of our infant Territory has
been intrusted . . . . your memorialists would respectfully represent,
that the western portion of Wisconsin, with a population of
twenty-five thousand souls, reaps but a small portion of the benefits
and advantages of the fostering care and protection of the mother
Government. Your memorialists would further represent, that the
population of Wisconsin is increasing with a rapidity unparalleled in
the history of the settlement of our country; that, by a division of
the Territory, and the formation of a separate Territorial Government
west of the Mississippi river, your honorable body would greatly
advance the political and individual interests of her citizens."
By January 1, 1838, the people had expressed their views. They had
formulated their convictions into a definite request which called for
immediate division of the Territory. The scene of debate and discussion
now shifts from the prairies to the halls of Congress. Here on February
6, 1838, the Committee on the Territories, to whom had been referred the
memorials of the Territorial Convention and Legislative Assembly along
with petitions from sundry citizens, and who by a resolution of December
14, 1837, had been instructed "to inquire into the expediency of
establishing a separate Territorial Government for that section of the
present Territory of Wisconsin which lies west of the Mississippi river
and north of the State of Missouri," reported a bill to divide the
Territory of Wisconsin, and establish the Territorial government of
Iowa.
In the report which accompanied this bill the Committee stated that they
had become "satisfied that the present Territory of Wisconsin is
altogether too large and unwieldy for the perfect and prompt
administration of justice or for the convenient administration of the
civil government thereof." They were more specific in saying that "the
judges of the Territory, as it now is, and also the Governor, district
attorney, and marshal, are entirely unable to perform their respective
duties in all parts of the Territory." They also pointed out that of the
fifty thousand inhabitants in the Territory more than half resided west
of the Mississippi river, that the population was rapidly increasing,
that the natural line of division was the Mississippi river, that
the Capital would soon be removed to eastern Wisconsin, and that "so
much of the Territory of Wisconsin as is east of the Mississippi river
must necessarily form one State."
It was not, however, until early in the month of June that "An act to
divide the Territory of Wisconsin and to establish the Territorial
Government of Iowa" passed both the Senate and the House of
Representatives. On June 12, 1838, it received the approval of President
Van Buren. As the Constitution of the Territory of Iowa it took effect
on the sixty-second anniversary of the Independence of the American
Nation. In the chronology of our Constitutions it stands as the second
code or text of fundamental law.
But the Territory of Iowa was not established without opposition in
Congress. The discussion in the House of Representatives on the fifth
and sixth days of June, and immediately preceding the passage of the act
dividing the Territory of Wisconsin, brought out something of the
broader significance of the proposition to create a new Territory in the
country west of the Mississippi and north of the State of Missouri. From
the records it appears that the sympathies of the Representatives were
not all with the men on the frontier.
Mr. Mason of Ohio, who moved to strike out the enacting clause, said
that he desired to obtain information relative to the assertion "that
the people had settled there in a manner contrary to law."
"Mr. Waddy Thompson opposed the bill and the creation of a
Territorial Government in the Northwest." He went at great length into
"a consideration of the balance of power between the Northern and
Western, and Southern States, as far as related to the questions of
slavery, and the annexation of Texas." He declared that "he would never
consent to the coming in of these Territories or States into the Union,
when the fanatical spirit of the North was pouring into the House
memorials against the annexation of Texas, simply because it was cursed
with the peculiar institution of the South." To preserve the balance of
power between the two sections of the Union, was the substance of Mr.
Thompson's plea. If by the creation of the Territory of Iowa the North
is promised a new State, the demand of the South for the annexation
of Texas should, in accordance with the principle of the balance of
power, be recognized. Thus it was proposed to meet the problem of
admitting States at the time of the formation of new Territories.
In the course of the debate it was suggested by Mr. Mercer "that Iowa be
organized as a Territory when Wisconsin was admitted as a State."
It remained for Mr. Shepard of North Carolina to make emphatic
objections all along the line. He opened his speech by intimating that
the bill had been introduced to the end that "a fresh rich field might
be opened to those who speculate in public lands, and a batch of new
offices created for such as seek Executive favor." He had no sympathy
with the squatters. "Who are these that . . . . pray for the
establishment of a new Territory? Individuals who have left their own
homes and seized on the public land . . . . These men pounced on the
choicest spots, cut down the timber, built houses, and cultivated the
soil as if it were their own property . . . . Without the authority of
law and in defiance of the Government, they have taken possession of
what belongs to the whole nation, and appropriated to a private use that
which was intended for the public welfare. These are they who require a
governor and council, judges, and marshals, when every act of their
lives is contrary to justice, and every petition which they make is an
evidence of their guilt and violence. We, who are insulted, whose
authority is trampled under foot, are asked for new favors and
privileges; the guardians of the law are approached by its open
contemners, and begged to erect these modest gentlemen into a dignified
Government . . . . I cannot sanction their conduct; if they would not
move peaceably, they should go at the point of the bayonet; if they
forget what is due to their country and their distant fellow-citizens,
they ought to be punished. The majesty of the laws should be
vindicated."
The Representative from North Carolina was jealous of the growth and
development of the West, and he objected to the liberal land policy of
the United States since it encouraged the young men to leave their
southern homes. He declared that "if the Territory of Iowa be now
established, it will soon become a State; and if we now cross the
Mississippi, under the beautiful patronage of this Government, the
cupidity and enterprise of our people will carry the system still
further, and ere long the Rocky Mountains will be scaled, and the valley
of the Columbia be embraced in our domain. This then is the time to
pause . . . .
"If happiness depended entirely on the number of hogs raised, or the
quantity of corn gathered, then the citizens should be dispersed, so as
to occupy the most fertile spots in our whole territory . . . .
But whatever may be the effect of this land policy on the general
welfare, it has been deeply injurious to the Southern portion of the
Confederacy . . . . If all of the people born in North Carolina had
remained in its limits, our swamps and low grounds would have rivalled
the valley of the Nile in production, and our pine barrens would
have been flourishing with the vine, the olive, and the mulberry.
We have, therefore, reason to complain of the policy of this Government
. . . . Others may act as pleases them, but I will never sustain a
policy so detrimental to the people with whom I am connected . . . . If
these remarks be unavailing, the patriot should fear for the permanence
of the Republic."
The spirited debate, which took place in the House of Representatives,
on the question of the establishment of the Territorial government of
Iowa disclosed the fact that the creation of a new Territory at this
time west of the Mississippi and north of Missouri was of more than
local interest; it was, indeed, an event in the larger history of
America. Some few men were beginning to realize that the rapid
settlement of the Iowa country was not an isolated provincial episode
but the surface manifestation of a current that was of National depth.
Far-sighted statesmen whose eyes were neither blinded by the lights of
the moment nor yet always riveted upon that which for the time was most
brilliant, saw that a plain, common-looking pioneer farmer from across
the Mississippi had come upon the stage of National Politics and had
already begun to play a role in the great drama of American Democracy.
But even the prophets did not so much as dream that, within the memory
of men then living, the awkward amateur would take the part of a leading
actor in the play.