USA > Iowa > Floyd County > History of Floyd County, Iowa : together with sketches of its cities, villages and townships, educational, religious, civil, military, and political history; portraits of prominent persons, and biographies of representative citizens > Part 4
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To conciliate the feelings of the Western people, Carondelet re- laxed the restrictions upon the the river trade, and peace and har-
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HISTORY OF IOWA.
mony ensued. The Spaniards continued to intrigue, however, with the Westerners, with a view to winning them over from the United States to Spain, and till 1795 were thus engaged. In this year all difficulties were settled by a formal treaty, known as the " Treaty of Madrid." This provided for the trade of the Missis- sippi, and fixed definite boundaries between the United States and Louisiana. It turned out, however, that this treaty was only a measure of policy with Spain, and she still coveted the West. The fixing of the boundaries by survey and the surrender of certain posts, were delayed in such a way that the bad faith of the Span- iards became apparent to all. Troublesome negotiations and threats of war followed, and not until the middle of 1798 were the provisions of the treaty actually carried out.
In 1797 Gayos de Lemos became governor-general of Louisi- ana. In the following year Daniel Clarke was received at New Orleans as American consul, though not regularly appointed The first regular appointment was that of Evan Jones.
Gayoso died in 1799, and was succeeded by Don Maria Vidal. The province continued prosperous, and in particular Upper Lou- isiana, the population of which was now over 6,000.
It did not require the spirit of prophecy to predict the speedy termination of Spanish power on the Mississippi. The rapid ex- tension of the American settlements, the increasing trade from the Western States, and above all, the rapid immigration from the States, thoroughly alarmed the Spanish king. Rumors reached Louisiana to the effect that the province had been or was seen to be ceded to France, and the arbitrary acts of the Spanish gov- ernor again irritated the Western people.
France had never been satisfied with the cession of Louisiana to Spain in 1762. This had been done in a time of weakness. Now France, under the guiding genius of Napoleon Bonaparte, was the greatest nation in Europe, and her emperor had resolved to secure Louisiana to France once more. This was effected in a treaty made Oct. 1, 1800, but which was kept secret for a long time.
Ever since the alliance between France and Spain, it had been strongly suspected by the United States Government that France intended to obtain the retrocession of Louisiana, perhaps with the addition of Florida, also. Our ministers at London, Paris and Madrid were therefore specially instructed to defeat this cession; but this cession had been already made by the secret treaty, Oct.
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1, 1800, to take effect within six months after the complete exe- cution of another treaty, concerning the then republic of Tuscany.
Even for Spain to command the mouth of the Mississippi, thus holding at mercy the trade of the Western country, now in so rapid progress of settlement, was a very uncomfortable thing. Out of this circumstance had heretofore grown intrigues, on the part of some of the leading politicians of Kentucky, to break the union with the States east of the mountains, and to enter into relations more or less intimate with Spain. Should an enterprising nation like the French-for which such partialities had been felt,-obtain the key of the Western waters, who could tell what might happen ? This state of things, wrote Jefferson to Livingston, our minister at Paris, "completely reverses all the political relations of the United States, and will form a new epoch in our political course.
" We have ever looked to France as our natural friend-one with whom we could never have an occasion of difference; but there is one spot on the globe the possessor of which is our natural and habitual enemy: that spot is New Orleans. France, placing her- self in that door, assumes to us the attitude of defiance. The day that France takes possession seals the union of two nations, who, in conjunction, can maintain exclusive possession of the ocean. From that moment we must marry ourselves to the British fleet and nation; we must turn all our attention to a maritime force, and make the first cannon fired in Europe the signal for tearing up any settlement France may have made."
Much was added to the same effect, as reasons why the French government should consent to the transfer of Louisiana to the . United States,-suggestions which Livingston was instructed to make in a way not to give offense.
Livingston, though he labored under a good deal of embarrass- ment at first in having no authority to offer any particular sum, opened a negotiation for the purchase of New Orleans and the ad- jacent tracts on the Mississippi. Finding that nobody had any special influence with Bonaparte, or pretended to entertain any opinions different from his, he had managed to bring the matter directly to Bonaparte's personal notice, without the intervention of any minister. By way of additional motive to sell, he pressed the claims of American citizens, recognized by the recent con- vention, for supplies furnished to France, but upon which nothing had yet been paid.
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HISTORY OF IOWA.
There seemed, however, to be little prospect of success till the application began to be seconded by the evident approach of a new European war. That made a great difference; and shortly before Monroe's arrival at Paris, Livingston was requested by Talleyrand to make an offer for the whole of Louisiana. That was an extent of purchase which had not been contemplated either by Living- ston or by the administration which he represented. It had been supposed that the cession by Spain to France either included, or would be made to include, the Floridas as well as Louisiana; and the purchase contemplated by the joint instructions to Livingston and Monroe was that of the Floridas, or the western part of them, with the Island of Orleans. The highest amount authorized to
be offered was 50,000,000 livres, or about $10,000,000 Should France obstinately refuse to sell, the ministers were authorized to enter into negotiations with Great Britain, with the view of pre- venting France from taking possession of Louisiana, and of ulti- mately securing it to the United States. Bonaparte presently suggested, as the price of Louisiana, 100,000,000 livres in cash or stocks of the United States, and the payment out of the American treasury of all claims by American merchants. This offer was made through Marbois, the head of the French treasury, instead of Talleyrand, who was suspected by Bonaparte of having merce- nary motives in this and other affairs.
Livingston and Monroe, after consulting together, offered 50,- 000,000 livres, minus the American claims. Marbois finally offered to take 60,000,000 livres, the United States to pay in addi- tion American claims not to exceed 20,000,000 livres; and on this basis the treaty was finally concluded. This treaty, after setting forth the title of France as acquired from Spain, transferred that title to the United States, with a proviso that the inhabitants should be secure in their liberty, property and religion, and should be admitted as soon as possible, according to the principles of the Federal Constitution, to the enjoyment of all the rights of citizens of the United States. The ships of France and Spain laden with the produce of those countries or their colonies, were, during the next 12 years to be admitted at the port of New Orleans on the same terms as American vessels, and French ships ever after- ward on the footing of the most favored nation. The payment of the 60,000,000 livres was to be made in six per cent. stock of the United States to the amount of $11,250,000, to be redeemable. after 15 years in annual installments of not less than $3,000,000.
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HISTORY OF IOWA.
Claims of citizens of the United States on France were to be paid at the American treasury to the amount of $3,750,000, these claims to be adjudicated by a joint commission in France.
The news of this arrangement was received with great exulta- tion by the president and his cabinet. The assumption of power by the ministers in bargaining for the whole of Louisiana was cor- dially approved. At the same time Jefferson felt himself in an awkward predicament, for he had always insisted upon a strict construction of the constitution, and such strict construction did not permit the United States to acquire territory by purchase. Jef- ferson privately admitted this difficulty, and proposed to get over it by amending the constitution. As the treaty required a mutual exchange of ratifications within six months, his plan was that Con- gress should go on, notwithstanding its want of power, and trust to a confirmation of their act under an amendment to be subse- queutly made. To hasten the matter, he issued a proclamation calling Congress together; but as the elections were not yet com- pleted, the date fixed just preceded the expiration of the six months. When Congress assembled, the treaty and conventions with France were immediately laid before the Senate. After two days' discus- sion their ratification was advised by that body, of which a strong majority were in political sympathy with the administration. Nothing was ever said about any amendment of the constitution to sanction this proceeding. The ratifications were immediately exchanged, the bargain was completed, and this vast territory from which Louisiana, Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa and other great States have been formed, was a part of the domain of the United States.
This peaceful acquisition of Louisiana for so trifling a sum, secur- ing to the rising settlements on the Western waters an uninter- rupted river communication with the sea, the fear of losing which had been heretofore the occasion of so many jealousies and such serious embarrassments, was celebrated at Washington by a public dinner, given by the administration members of Congress to the president, vice-president and heads of departments, and by simi- lar festivals among the Republicans in different parts of the Union. This peaceful annexation so characteristic of Jefferson's policy, was exultingly contrasted with the violent method of seizing New Orleans by force, recommended by the Federalists. The Federal- ists, however, were prompt to reply that the sum paid for Louisi- ana was just so much money thrown away, since Bonaparte sold what he could not keep, and what the breach of the Spanish treaty
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HISTORY OF IOWA.
as to the right of deposit, and other claims on that nation for spo- liations on our commerce, would well have, justified the United States in seizing without any payment at all. It was, they averred, no policy of Jefferson's, but the war in Europe, that had brought about the cession. The idea of obtaining the whole tract west of the Mississippi was, in fact, altogether too vast for Jefferson. Bon- aparte had forced it upon him. Such an acquisition of territory seemed, indeed, to many, and Jefferson himself had serious doubts on the subject, to tend directly to the dissolution of the Union. The settlers west of the mountains had already more than once threatened to separate themselves from their Atlantic brethren, and to form an independent republic. Such threats, which had been very rife in Kentucky, and even in Pennsylvania, during the Whisky Insurrection, had made a deep impression on Jefferson's mind. The Federalists foretold, and he feared, that the re- inoval of all external pressure on the side of the Mississippi would precipitate this danger, "an apprehension," says Hildreth, " which time has completely falsified, the crack having been proved to run in quite a different direction." Another objection, seriously felt by many, and especially by the New England Federalists, was, that the throwing open to emigration of such new and vast terri- tories, tended to increase an evil already sufficiently felt,-the strip- ping of the old States of their inhabitants, and the dwarfing them in political importance.
Nor were these considerations without their weight in the ar- rangements adopted for the newly acquired territory. By an act originating in the Senate, that territory was divided into two provinces by a line drawn along the thirty-third parallel of north latitude. The province south of this parallel, named the Territory of Orleans, already possessed a population of 50,000 persons, of whom more than half were slaves. Within the last 10 years the cultivation of the sugar-cane had been successfully introduced in part by refugee planters from St. Domingo, and that together with cotton, had already superseded the production of indigo, formerly the chief staple. So lucrative were these new branches of indus- try-the decreased product of St. Domingo making an opening in the sugar market, and cotton, under the increased de- mand for it by the English manufacturers, bringing to the pro- ducer 25 cents per pound-that the chief planters enjoyed incomes hardly known to landed proprietors anywhere else north of the Gulf of Mexico. Of the white inhabitants the greater part
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HISTORY OF IOWA.
were French Creoles, descendants of the original French colonists, with an admixture, however, of French, Spanish, and British im- migrants. Under France the colonists had possessed hardly any political power; under Spain, none at all. With a cautious imita- tion of these models, which in Federalists would have been de- nounced as exceedingly anti-republican, the president was autho"- ized not only to appoint the governor and secretary of the new Territory, but annually to nominate the 13 members who were to compose the Legislative council. . This provision, though strongly objected to and struck out by the House as contrary to democratic principles, was reinstated by the Senate, and on the report of a committee of conference, was finally agreed to.
The laws of Louisiana down to the period of the cession to Spain, has been like those of Canada, the custom of Paris and the royal ordinances of France. The Spanish governor on taking possession, among other very arbitrary acts, had issued a procla- mation substituting the Spanish code, and such remained the laws of the colony when it passed into the hands of the United States. This Spanish code, so far as it was not repugnant to the Constitu- tion and laws of the United States, was continued in force, subject to such alterations as the new Territorial Legislature might make.
All that region west of the Mississippi and north of the Terri- tory of Orleans, was constituted by the same act as the District of Louisiana. It includes one little village on the Arkansas, and several on or near the Mississippi, the principal of which was St. Louis. The white population of this region, embracing the pres- ent States of Arkansas, Missouri and Iowa, had been somewhat augmented of late by immigrants from the old French villages on the other side of the Mississippi; and by Anglo-American advent- urers, who already outnumbered the French inhabitants. But the increase of this population, which did not exceed three or four thousand, was not considered desirable. It was proposed to re- serve this region for the Indians; and the president was author- ized to propose to the tribes east of the Mississippi an exchange of lands, and a migration on their part across the river-a policy since extensively carried out. Meanwhile the jurisdiction over the few white inhabitants, and nominally over the whole district, was annexed to the Territory of Indiana, thus made to include the whole region north of the Ohio River and the thirty-third degree of north latitude, and west of the State of Ohio.
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HISTORY OF IOWA.
DISTRICT OF LOUISIANA.
The District of Louisiana was annexed to Indiana for one year, and then, in 1805, was erected into a separate Territory of the second class, the power of legislation being vested in the governor and judges. A section of this act, by continuing in force until altered or repealed by the Legislature, all existing laws and regula- tions gave a tacit confirmation of the system of slavery already established in the settlements on the Arkansas and Missouri. The first military commandant and civil governor of the "District of Louisiana" was Major Amos Stoddard, an intelligent and highly mer- itorious officer of the United States army, and author of a valuable work on the early history and resources of Louisiana. His head- quarters were at St. Louis, the capital of Upper Louisiana. The District of Louisiana already contained the germs of two independ- ent States on the west side of the Mississippi, comprised in the few detached settlements upon the Arkansas River and upon the west side of the Upper Mississippi, south of the Missouri River The remainder of this immense district was an unknown savage wilderness of forests and prairies, traversed by a few roving bands of Indians, and explored only by a few French traders. The first authentic American explorations were those conducted by Lewis and Clark, 1804-'5, to the sources of the Missouri, and thence to the Pacific Ocean by the Columbia River. Next were those conducted by Lieut. Pike, in 1806-'7, for the explorations of the regions near the sources of the Arkansas and Red Rivers. The principal object of all these explorations was to establish friendly relations with the Indians; thus preparing the way for the subsequent sale and relinquishment of lands in advance of the adventurous pioneer.
In the year 1805 this District of Louisiana was erected into the
TERRITORY OF LOUISIANA,
with the first grade of Territorial government, administered by a governor and Territorial judges. The first governor was Gen. James Wilkinson, who held the office until the close of the year 1806, when he was succeeded by Colonel Meriwether Lewis. Under his administration, assisted by the Territorial judges, the Territory of Louisiana remained a dependence of the United States until the year 1812, when the State of Louisiana was admitted into the Union. During this period the town and post of St. Louis con- tinued to be the seat of the Territorial government. The Territory
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HISTORY OF IOWA.
was divided into six judicial districts or large counties,-St. Charles, St. Louis, St. Genevieve, Cape Girardeau, New Madrid, and Arkansas.
Immigration continually augmented the population of the Terri- tory. In 1810 the population was 21,000. Of this number 1,500 were within the limits of the present State of Arkansas: the remainder were comprised chiefly within the confines of the present State of Missouri.
In 1812 the Territory of Orleans assumed the ranks of a State, and as it adopted the name of the "State of Louisiana," it was deemed expedient to change the name of the Territory of Louisiana. An act of Congress passed June 4, 1812, provided for the organi- zation of a representative grade of Territorial government upon the west side of the Mississippi, including all the settlements north of the western portion of the present State of Louisiana. This territory was known and designated as the
MISSOURI TERRITORY,
and extended from latitude 33° to 41º north. Its remote western limit was the Indian and Mexican Territories, in the remote West, 500 miles beyond the Mississippi. St. Louis was the seat of government.
The first governor was Gen. William Clarke; the first Territorial assembly consisted of a Legislative Council, composed of nine members, appointed by the president, and a House of Representa- tives, elected by the people, in the ratio of one to every 500 free white males. The first delegate to Congress was Edward Hemp. .stead.
Population began to augment faster, but not till 1815 did St. Louis lose its French population, aspect or usages. By this time, however, the language, manners, customs, laws and usages of the American people were rapidly supplanting those of the French in- habitants. By 1817 the Territorial jurisdiction had been extended ·over 20 large counties, including 60,000 inhabitants. This number of inhabitants being sufficient to entitle the Territory to an independent State government the General Assembly made appli- cation to Congress for author.ty to form a State constitution, preparatory to admission into the Federal Union. This applica. tion raised one of the most alarming political storms ever witnessed in the United States The " Missouri Question," as it was called,
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HISTORY OF IOWA.
continued to agitate the Union from one extreme to the other, until many experienced statesmen were apprehensive that even a dissolution of the Union might result from the zeal of the enemies of slavery, pitted against the persistent defense of its friends.
The opponents of slavery objected to the legal extension of the institution beyond the limits of the original slaveholding States of the Union, and required the Federal Government to restrict its ex- tension west of the Mississippi as had been done north of the Ohio. They zealously and perseveringly urged that the new States, by their constitutions, should exclude slavery. The capitol of the United States was the arena where the contending parties met in fierce debate. The halls of Congress continued to be agitated for two years, while the angry conflict of opposing prin- siples held the fate of Missouri in suspense, and for a time with- held from her the privilege of State government.
At length the slavery party triumphed, and Missouri was en- rolled among the slave States Aug. 10, 1821. It was provided, however, that slavery should be allowed no farther north or west, but only south of the parallel of 36 ° 30' (the southern boundary of Missouri).
Preparatory to the assumption of State government, the limits of the Missouri Territory were restricted on the south by the parallel of 36 ° 30', and the territory south of that line, between Missouri and Louisiana, was organized into the second grade of Territorial government. Col. James Miller, a meritorious and distinguished officer of the Northwestern army, was appointed first governor. This Territory was known and designated as the
ARKANSAS TERRITORY,
and at the period of its organization contained an aggregate of nearly 14,000 inhabitants. It extended north and south from 33 º to 36 ° 30', and east and west from the Mississippi indefinitely to the Mexican territories at least 550 miles. The post of Arkansas was made the seat of the new government.
At this time Arkansas was considered to be on the extreme south- western border of civilization, and consequently immigration was slow. In 1834 began a great western movement, however, and Arkansas received its share. By the census of 1835 it had 58,134 inhabitants, thus entitling it to admission as a State, according to the principles of the ordinance of 1787. Therefore the people made
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HISTORY OF IOWA.
application to Congress for authority to establish a regular form of State government. This authority was granted, and the convention to form a State Constitution met Jan. 1, 1836. The Constitution was approved by Congress, and on the 13th of June following Ar- kansas was admitted as an independent. State-the 25th in point of time and order, in the U ited States.
IOWA TERRITORY.
The beautiful and fertile upland prairies and unrivaled plains west of the Upper Mississippi, and north of the Des Moines River, had remained in the occupancy of the native tribes, which had gradually retired west of the great lakes, until they commenced their aggressions against the people of Illinois, under the fierce and vindictive Black Hawk, in 1829. After a disastrous war of nearly three years on the northern frontier of Illinois, Black Hawk and his allies, driven from the Wisconsin Territory, retired across the Mississippi, and sought safety and peace in what was then the re- mote West. On the banks of Iowa River, Sept., 1832, a treaty was concluded by which they relinquished nearly all the lands claimed by them. This cession contained not less than one-third of the present State of Iowa, and was subsequently known as the "Black Hawk Purchase." This ceded territory was speedily overrun by pioneers and exploring parties in search of choice lands, desirable sites for towns, for future locations. Permanent settlements were soon made, and thrived wonderfully.
In 1834, for the convenience of temporary government, the settlements north of the State of Missouri, and for 100 miles north of the Des Moines River, were erected by Congress into the " Dis- trict of Iowa," and attached to the District of Wisconsin, subject to the jurisdiction of Michigan Territory. When the latter had assumed an independent State government, in 1836, the District of Wisconsin was erected into a separate government, known as the Wisconsin Territory exercising jurisdiction over the District of Iowa, then comprised in two large counties, designated as the counties of Des Moines and Dubuque. The aggregate population of these counties in 1836, was 10,531 persons. It was not long before the District of Iowa became noted throughout the West for its extraordinary beauty and fertility, and the great advantages which it afforded to agricultural enterprise. Another vast pur- chase of land was made, from the Sacs and Foxes, who were forced to withdraw farther west.
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