USA > Iowa > An illustrated history of the state of Iowa, being a complete civil, political, and military history of the state, from its first exploration down to 1875; > Part 13
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The business at this point became of such importance on ac- count of the overland emigration, that in 1850 several business men not of the Mormon faith, settled here and opened stores ; but the Mormons gradually leaving for the west, and others supplying their places, this religious sect soon ceased to attract attention in Iowa.
CHAPTER XXI.
CLARK'S ADMINISTRATION.
Legislation of 1845 - Move for a Constitutional Convention - Convention at Iowa City in 1846 - Its Labors; Forming a State Government.
THE EIGHTH general assembly met on the first of December, 1845, and adjourned January 19, 1846. Stephen Hemstead was elected president of the council, and G. W. McCrary, speaker of the house. It passed no act until after the first of the following February. The then recent depression in business had been felt all over the country, and thousands had been reduced from opulence to poverty and want. Many, who had married fortunes, had not only lost their own property, but the means obtained by their wives had been taken to the last cent to pay the debts of their misfortunes, and their wives and children left penniless. A great many persons of this character came to Iowa, for the purpose of retrieving their fortunes. Owing to these circumstances, " wo- man's rights " was a popular question, and this legislature, for the first time in Iowa, passed an act concerning the rights of mar- ried women. This act provided that if any married woman " be- came seized or possessed of any real estate in her own name, and as of her own property," unless she obtained it through her hus- band, it "should in no case be liable for the debts of the hus- band."
There was an act passed at this session, defining the boundaries of the counties of Wayne. Lucas, Warren, Polk, Marshall, Jas- per, Story, Boone, Dallas, Madison. Clarke and Decatur ; also acts making provisions for organizing the counties of Appanoose, Benton, Jasper and Polk - the last three to be organized and have all the privileges of other organized counties after the first of the March following, and the first twelve after the first of the next August.
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But the most important measure of the session was a law pro- viding for a convention for the purpose of making another con- stitution. The law provided that the convention should consist of thirty-two members -only about one-half of the number composing the first convention. The delegates to be elected at the April election, and meet at Iowa City on the first of the month of May ensuing. The constitution, when formed, was to be submitted to the vote of the people at the next August elec- tion, for their rejection or ratification; and if ratified, it was then to be sent to congress to be admitted into the union as a sover- eign state. This constitution varied in some respects from the first constitution, particularly on banking.
The delegates met at Iowa City on the fourth of May, 1846, and organized their body by electing Enos Lowe, president, and William Thompson, secretary, and closed their labors on the sev- enteenth of the same month, having been in session a little over two weeks.
The only questions which elicited much debate, or met with strong opposition, were the boundary question and that portion of the constitution in relation to corporations. The boundary, after being fully discussed, was settled by adopting the boundary of the first constitution, except north and northwest. The par- allel of forty-three degrees and thirty minutes, north latitude, was made the northern boundary of the state, and instead of starting in the northwest from the mouth of the Sioux river, " thence in a direct line to the middle of the main channel of the St. Peters river, where the Waton-wan enters the same," it ran up the main channel of the Sioux until it reached the parallel of the northern boundary.
Certain provisions in the constitution entirely prohibited bank- ing. The provisions on corporations met with much opposition from the people, especially those on banking, and the opponents used the first and every opportunity they had to change the clause on banking, until the same was accomplished. Probably this constitution would have remained the supreme law of the state for many years, had it not been for this prohibition ; for, in- stead of producing a sound metallic circulating medium for busi- ness, as was the design of those who favored it, the paper of the
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banks whose solvency was doubtful at home found its way to Iowa, and probably no state in the union had in circulation a more worthless and irresponsible currency than was found herc during the time of the entire prohibition of banks. There was much opposition to the constitution, and its opponents thought it would be defeated ; but there was a strong feeling in favor of a state government; many of those who were opposed to the provis- ion on corporations, voted in favor of it, claiming that these ob- jections could easily be amended.
At the August election there were polled eighteen thousand five hundred and twenty-eight votes ; of this vote 9,492 were for the constitution, and 9,036 against; a majority of four hundred and fifty-six in favor of adopting the constitution. In the month of September, as soon as the vote was officially known, Gov. Clark issued his proclamation for an election of state officers and members of the legislature, which was held on the twenty-sixth of the following October.
As the territory was about to assume a state government, there was a great struggle among the politicians to secure for themselves, the offices of the new government. Besides the officers to be elected by the people, there were two United States senators and three supreme court judges to be elected by the legislature, and it became quite an object to the politicians of both parties to se- cure the legislature. The democrats and whigs both thoroughly organized their parties, held conventions and made nominations for the several offices. The democrats nominated Ansel Briggs, of Jackson county, for governor; Elisha Cutler, of Van Buren county, for secretary ; Joseph T. Sales, of Dubuque county, for auditor ; Morgan Reno, of Johnson county, for treasurer, and the whigs nominated Thos. McKnight, of Dubuque county, for gov- ernor; Jas. H. Coles, of Van Buren county, for secretary ; Easton Morris, of Johnson county, for auditor; and E. T. Smith for trea- surer.
This election was carried on with a great deal of spirit on both sides, but the democrats succeeded in electing all the state officers and a majority of the representatives in the senate, but were not so fortunate in electing members to the house. For governor, Ansel Briggs received 7,626 votes, and Thos. McKnight 7,379 votes.
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CHAPTER XXII.
ADMINISTRATION OF GOV. BRIGGS.
State Government - Events of 1847 - Organization of the State Legislature - Bribery - Exciting Election Contest in the Legislature -Adjourn- ment - No United States Senators - Liquor Question-Education - Hard Times - Land Grants - Uncle Sam appoints Judges.
THE FIRST session of the general assembly of Iowa after the adoption of the constitution convened on the 30th of November, 1846, and adjourned January 25, 1847. The house was organized by electing Jesse B. Brown, an active whig of Lee county, speak- er, and the senate by electing Thos. Baker, a democrat of Polk county, president of the senate, and John B. Russell, secretary. These elections indicated that the whigs in joint convention, would have two majority. Under these circumstances, there were great efforts made to secure the votes of one or two of those who acted with the whigs in organizing the legislature, to vote with the democrats in electing judges and senators, for one vote would make a tie and prevent the election, and two would enable the democrats to elect their men. Charges of bribery were made ; one member stated "that since he had presented his credentials and taken his seat as a member of the house, he had been ap- proached by several persons, and that several distinct propositions of money and other rewards had been offered him if he would vote for a certain person for United States senator." The matter was referred to a committee who subsequently made a report, consisting of the testimony taken, without any recommendation, which was laid upon the table and this ended the whole affair. The excitement about bribing members of the legislature having subsided, the members commenced to think about having an elec- tion for senators ; both parties thinking they could manage to se- cure the election of their own candidate. After the exchanging of (178)
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Sollrandman
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several messages between the house and senate as to the time, they finally agreed to go into joint convention on the eighteenth of December. This agreement was consummated without there hav- ing been made any arrangement between the two houses for con- ducting the business of the convention. When the senate went into the representative's hall, Baker the presiding officer of the senate, who was an unassuming man, had held several territorial offices, and had accustomed himself to be polite to everybody, walked up to the stand for the purpose of taking the chair, to pre- side over the joint convention. Brown, who had been a military man and accustomed to give command, already being in the chair, sternly refused to give it up. It being quite an object with each par- ty to have the presiding officer, the difference in opinion as to who was the proper officer to preside over the joint convention called forth much feeling and a spirited debate. Brown having posses- sion of the chair, and being sustained by the whigs, retained his position. and he and the clerk of the house acted as the officers of the joint convention. When this question was decided, Mr. T. H. Benton of Dubuque, and G. W. Bowie of Des Moines county, were appointed tellers and the call of the roll commenced. The hall, though crowded with spectators, was as still as death, and the most intense anxiety was depicted in the countenances of each indi- vidual. The members of the convention and those in the lobby, all being anxious to learn how each man voted, were held in breathless silence, and nothing disturbed the quiet but the calling of the roll by the clerk and the responses of the members. As soon as the vote was over, it was announced that Jona. McCarty had received twenty-nine votes, Thomas Wilson twenty-eight votes, and G. C. R. Mitchell one vote; there was no choice, and that the convention would proceed to another ballot. Immediate- ly the democrats moved an adjournment. On this motion, twenty- eight voted in the affirmative and thirty in the negative. This motion in different shapes was repeated by the democrats six times without there being any opportunity for any other business, and during these votes there was the greatest confusion and tu- mult. On the sixth ballot, two votes were added to the demo- cratic vote and an adjournment was carried until the 5th of Jan- uary, 1847.
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On the 19th of December, the legislature adjourned till the 5th of January. During the adjournment one member was taken sick and died, so that the whigs could now expect only one ma- jority on joint ballot. On the 5th of January the house appointed a committee of two to act with a like committee on the part of the senate, to prepare rules for the government of the joint conven- tion. The senate referred this proposition of the house to a special committee, with instructions to report at some future day. At two o'clock in the afternoon, the house informed the senate that they were ready to receive them in joint conven- tion for the election of senators. The senate upon receiving this message adjourned, and the democratic members imme- diately dispersed, so that all prospects of an election on that day vanished.
Subsequently there were several efforts on the part of the house, and the whigs of the senate to elect supreme court judges, but the democrats of the senate voted against going into joint convention, and having a majority in that body, the legislature, after sitting until the 25th of February, adjourned without electing either judges or senators, and the state of Iowa, for the first two years after being organized as a state government, was not represented in the United States senate. The members of the legislature were so much engaged in the controversy about electing senators and supreme judges, that the real wants of the people received but little attention until the close of the session.
The state auditor reported that the receipts from counties and other sources, from April 24, 1847, to March 17, 1848, were $72,216.72, and the amount of warrants paid, $41,550.22.
One of the first and most important considerations to the mem- bers of the legislature was to provide the means to compensate themselves for their services. The territory had become a state, with a debt of about twenty thousand dollars hanging over it. The members of the constitutional convention had not been paid, and there was no money in the treasury with which to meet the expenses of the present legislature. To meet these emergencies, the legislature passed an act authorizing a loan of fifty thousand dollars to be made to the state, and appointed W. F. Coolbaugh. of Burlington, to negotiate the loan ; so the first state legislature
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imposed a debt on the state of one-half the amount to which it was limited by the constitution.
About this time there were great efforts being made through- out the state for a temperance reform. Previous to this time, ever since Iowa had sustained a government, the county authorities had been authorized to grant licenses for the retailing of liquors. Petitions were sent from every part of the state, asking the legis- lature to take some steps for the suppression of intemperance, and at this session there was an act passed requiring the citizens of each county, at the April election, to give an expression of public sentiment on the question of licensing the retailers of intoxicating liquors. The law required that there should be a poll opened for the electors to vote "license," or " no license," and if a majority of the votes cast in any county were against a license, then there was to be no liquor sold in that county. The result showed that there was a majority in every county in the state, except two, op- posed to the selling of intoxicating liquors. But this law did not have the effect that was desired by its friends; for, notwithstand- ing there was a large majority of the electors in the state who voted against a license, the law was very unpopular, and but very little regarded, and intemperance seemed to increase, rather than diminish.
At this session of the legislature, the state was divided into two congressional and four judicial districts. The first congressional district embraced the counties of Lee, Van Buren, Jefferson, Wapello, Davis, Appanoose, Henry, Mahaska, Monroe, Marion, Jasper, Polk and Keokuk, and all the territory lying directly west of these counties; and the second district embraced the bal- ance of the state.
On the 24th of February, 1847, in pursuance of the provisions of the constitution, there was an act passed creating the office of superintendent of public instruction, and also of fund commission- ers of the several counties, and defining the duties of these officers, who were to be elected on the first Monday of the next April - the superintendent for three years, and the fund commissioner for two years. To the superintendent was given the general man- agement of the educational interests of the state; and to the county fund commissioners were entrusted the selling of the
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school lands within the county for which each was elected, and the loaning and managing of the funds arising therefrom. In the same law provisions were also made for the election of all school officers, and their several duties defined.
At this time the financial affairs of the country were very much embarrassed, and it was very difficult for the settlers on . the public lands to procure the means to pay for the lands on which they had settled. There were many hard-working, indus- trious citizens of the new state who had made large improvements on the public domain, but had not the means to buy the govern- ment title, and were liable at any time to have their improve- ments taken away from them by land speculators. With a view to benefit the settlers, and to create a school fund at an early day, the legislature made provision for selecting the five hundred thousand acres of land given by congress to the state for school purposes, by authorizing any person capable of contracting, who had settled upon any of the public lands which, in the opinion of the fund commissioners, would be a safe and profitable selection, to signify to the fund commissioner of the county where the lands were located, his desire to have the same recognized as school lands; and the land so designated, which was not to ex- ceed three hundred and twenty acres for one individual, should be returned by the fund commissioner to the superintendent, to be by him registered as lands selected for the state under the grant of congress. Then the superintendent was to contract with the settler for the sale of the land so selected - the pur- chaser to pay one-fifth in advance, with the privilege, if desired, of ten years' time in which to pay the remainder of the consid- eration, by paying an annual interest of ten per cent.
This, at that time, was considered as a very beneficial provision for the settler, and the entire five hundred thousand acres would probably have been speedily taken up, had there been no doubt about the validity of the law regulating the selection of the land, and there would have been a large school fund immediately cre- ated. The act provided for the taking effect of the law from and after its publication, and it was published in a newspaper at Iowa City ; but there was nothing in the act providing for its publica- tion in any newspaper, although it was evidently the design of
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the legislature to have the law take effect immediately, and both parties, by their actions, showed that they understood that the law was in force as soon as it was published in the newspaper, for both parties brought ont their candidates for the several offices to be filled at the April election. For superintendent of public in- struction, the democrats nominated Charles Mason, who had been chief justice of the territory ever since it was organized, and was considered as one of the best qualified men of the state for the position. The whigs nominated, for their candidate, James Har lan, who was a young Methodist preacher, having just left col- lege and come to the state to take charge of a literary institution at Iowa City. Harlan was a forcible speaker, and, as soon as he received the nomination, commenced canvassing the state, mak- ing speeches wherever he could get an andience, and, belonging to the Methodist Church, many of the members of that body took a deep interest in his election. Mason, still retaining his position on the bench, owing to the failure of the legislature to elect judges, never left his judicial business, and made no effort to secure his election ; and the result was that Harlan was elected. This was very mortifying to the democrats, and, soon after it was officially known, Elisha Cutler, the secretary of state, promnl gated that the election was of no effect from the fact that the law creating the office of superintendent of public instruction and other school officers was not in force at the time of the election, because the law itself did not provide for its publication in news- papers, as required by the constitution. The objection raised by Cutler was seized hold of by the democrats; the leaders took sides with Cutler, and most of the democrats elected as fund com- missioners refused to act, while, on the other hand, most of the whigs who had been elected undertook to discharge the duties of their several offices. The whigs charged the democrats with rais- ing this objection merely for the purpose of depriving Harlan of his office, claiming that, if Mason had been elected, there never would have been any objections to his exercising the duties of superintendent. Cutler, as secretary of state, refused to give Harlan a certificate of his election, although the returns showed when officially counted that he had a majority of all the votes cast. Harlan obtained from Cutler a certified statement of the
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vote, and prepared his bonds, as required by law, and laid them before the governor, who approved of the bond, but refused to give him a commission on the ground that he had no authority to do so.
During the summer there were writs of quo warranto issued against Harlan and some of the other school officers, requiring them to show by whatauthority they undertook to discharge the du- ties of their respective offices. In Johnson county, there was a suit brought against Asa Calkins, who had been elected a director of school district, contesting his authority to exercise the duties of the office. The case was decided against Calkins by the district court, and he appealed to the supreme court. He set up, as a de- fense, his election by the people at the April election, to which the plaintiff demurred, and the demurrer was sustained, on the ground that the statute under which the election was held had not been published at the time of the election, as required by the constitution, and therefore had not become a law. It was ad- mitted, on the trial, that, previous to the first of April, the law had been published in the public newspaper, printed at Iowa City, under and by the direction of the secretary of state, who, by the laws of the state, had supervision of the publication and dis- tribution of the laws, and copies of it were sent by him into every county in the state ; and the law was received and acted upon by the people at large as being in full force. It was also admitted that the act was not, in pamphlet form, " published and circulated in the several counties of the state, by authority, until the first day of May, 1849;" and that the election for school directors was held on the first Tuesday of April, the day after the election of superintendent and fund commissioners. The constitution pro- vided that "no law of the general assembly of a public nature, shall take effect until the same shall be published and circulated in the several counties of the state, by authority. If the general assembly shall deem any law of immediate importance, they may provide that the same shall take effect by publication in a news- paper in the state." This law provided that it should " take effect and be in force from and after its publication," but made no pro- vision for publishing it in newspapers. And the supreme court held that inasmuch as the act itself did not provide for its publi-
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cation in the newspapers, notwithstanding the act had. been pub- lished in the newspapers at Iowa City, by the direction of the secretary of state, and by him circulated in the several counties, still it was not published in the manner required by the constitu- tion, and was not in force at the time of the April election ; and, consequently, Calkins and the other officers elected at that time had no right to hold their offices. The same questions were in- volved in this case as in the superintendent's, but Harlan suc- ceeded in delaying the trial of his case until after the meeting of the legislature.
There were nearly fifty thousand acres of land selected under the provisions of this law, and the first payment of ten per cent. made : but the United States land officers refused to recognize the acts of the state officers as being valid, and a great portion of the lands so selected were entered at the land offices, and the claimants were deprived of their homes, and not until after much delay did they get back their money.
About the time this question was settled, there was a large quantity of land warrants issued to Mexican soldiers, which were in market at low prices, and on long credit. This was a new and easy method for settlers to secure their homes; so that, before the provisions of this law could be carried into effect, the inducement at first held out to settlers to avail themselves of the benefits of this act had ceased, and but very few felt disposed to select land under its provisions ; and the result was that this method of se- lecting the five hundred thousand acres of land was abandoned, although it was very probable that, had the law gone into effect at the time it was the intention to have it, in less than one year the whole quantity of land would have been selected, and there would have been at once created a large fund for educational purposes.
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