USA > Iowa > Franklin County > History of Franklin County, Iowa, a record of settlement, organization, progress and achievement, Volume I > Part 3
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CIVIL GOVERNMENT FOR TERRITORY AND STATE
After the "Black Hawk Purchase" immigration to Iowa was rapid and steady, and provision for civil government became a necessity. Accordingly, in 1834, all the territory comprising the present States of Iowa, Wisconsin and Minnesota, was made subject to the jurisdiction of Michigan territory. Up to this time there had been no county or other organization in what is now the State of Iowa, although one or two justices of the peace had been appointed and a postoffice was established at Dubuque in 1833. In September of 1834, therefore, the Territorial Legislature of Michigan created two counties on the west side of the Mississippi river-Dubuque and Des Moines-separated by a line drawn westward from the foot of Rock Island. These counties were partially organized. John King was appointed chief justice of Dubuque county and Isaac Leffler of Des Moines county was appointed by the Governor.
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In October, 1835, Gen. George W. Jones, in recent years a citi- zen of Dubuque, was elected a delegate to Congress. April 20, 1836, through the efforts of General Jones, Congress passed a bill creating the Territory of Wisconsin, which went into operation July 4th of the same year. Iowa was then included in the Territory of Wisconsin, of which Gen. Henry Dodge was appointed Governor; John S. Horner, secretary; Charles Dunn, chief justice; David Irwin and William C. Frazer, associate justices. September 9, 1836, a census of the new territory was taken. Des Moines county showed a popu- lation of 6,257, and Dubuque county, 4,274.
ORGANIZATION OF THE TERRITORY OF IOWA
The question of the organization of the Territory of Iowa now began to be agitated and the desires of the people found expression in a convention held November Ist, which memorialized Congress to organize a territory west of the Mississippi river and to settle the boundary line between Wisconsin territory and Missouri. The Territorial Legislature of Wisconsin, then in session in Burlington, joined in the petition. The act was passed dividing the Territory of Wisconsin and providing for the Territorial Government of Iowa. This was approved June 12, 1838, to take effect and be in force on and after July 3, 1838.
The new territory embraced "all that part of the present Terri- tory of Wisconsin west of the Mississippi river and west of a line drawn due north from the headwaters of sources of the Mississippi river to the territorial line." The organic act provided for a Gov- ernor, whose term of office should be three years; a secretary, chief justice, two associate justices, an Attorney-General and marshal, to be appointed by the President The act also provided for the elec- tion, by the white citizens over twenty-one years of age of a House of Representatives, consisting of twenty-six members and a council to consist of thirteen members. It also appropriated $5,000 for a pub- lic library and $20,000 for the erection of public buildings. In accordance with this act, President Van Buren appointed ex-Gov- ernor Robert Lucas, of Ohio, to be the first Governor of the territory; William B. Conway, of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, secretary; Charles Mason, of Burlington, chief justice ; Thomas S. Wilson, of Dubuque, and Joseph Williams, of Pennsylvania, associate justices; Mr. Van Allen, of New York, attorney; Francis Gehon, of Dubuque, marshal;
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Augustus C. Dodge, register of the land office at Burlington; and Thomas C. Knight, receiver of the land office at Dubuque.
On the 10th of September, 1838, an election was held for mem- bers of the Legislature and on the 12th of the following November the first session of that body was held at Burlington. Both branches of this General Assembly had a large democratic majority but not- withstanding that fact, Gen. Jesse B. Brown, a whig, of Lee county, Des Moines and Dubuque counties having been previously divided into other counties, was elected President of the council, and Hon. William H. Wallace, of Henry county, also a whig, Speaker of the House. The first session of the Iowa Territorial Legislature was a stormy and exciting one. By the organic law the Governor was clothed with almost unlimited veto power. Governor Lucas was disposed to make free use of this prerogative and the independent Hawkeyes could not quietly submit to arbitrary and absolute rule. The result was an unpleasant controversy between the executive and legislative departments. Congress, however, by act approved March 3, 1839, amended the organic law by restricting the veto power of the Governor to the two-thirds rule and took from him the power to appoint sheriffs and magistrates. Among the first important mat- ters demanding attention was the location of the seat of government and provision for the erection of public buildings, for which Con- gress had appropriated $20,000. Governor Lucas in his message had recommended the appointment of commissioners with a view to selecting a central location. The extent of the future State of Iowa was not known or thought of. Only a strip of land fifty miles wide, bordering on the Mississippi river, was alienated by the Indians to the general government and a central location meant some central point within the confines of what was known as the "Black Hawk Purchase."
The friends of a central location favored the Governor's sugges- tion. The southern members were divided between Burlington and Mount Pleasant but finally united on the latter as the proper loca- tion for the seat of government. The central and southern parties were very nearly equal and in consequence much excitement pre- vailed. The central party at last was triumphant and on January 21, 1839, an act was passed appointing commissioners to select a site for a permanent seat of government within the limits of Johnson county. All things considered, the location of the capital in John- son county was a wise act. Johnson county was from north to south in the geographical center of the future State of Iowa as could then
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be made. The site having been determined, 640 acres were laid out by the commissioners into a town and called Iowa City. On a tract of ten acres the capitol was built, the corner-stone of which was laid, with appropriate ceremonies, July 4, 1840. Monday, December 6, 1841, the fourth Legislature of Iowa met at the new capital, Iowa City, but the capitol building not being ready for occupancy, a tem- porary frame house erected for the purpose, was used.
In 1841 John Chambers succeeded Robert Lucas as Governor and in 1845 he gave place to James Clarke. The Territorial Legis- lature held its eighth and last session at Iowa City in 1845. James Clarke was the same year appointed the successor of Governor ·Chambers and was the third and last Territorial Governor.
THE TERRITORY BECOMES THE STATE OF IOWA
The Territory of Iowa was growing rapidly in its population and soon began to look for greater things. Her ambition was to take on the dignity and importance of statehood. To the furtherance of this laudable ambition the Territorial Legislature passed an act, which was approved February 12, 1844, providing for the submis- sion to the people of the question of the formation of a state consti- tution and providing for the election of delegates to a convention to be convened for that purpose. The people voted on this at their township elections the following April. The measure was carried by a large majority and the members elected assembled in convention at Iowa City, October 7, 1844. On the Ist day of November follow- ing, the convention completed its work and adopted the first state constitution. By reason of the boundary lines of the proposed state being unsatisfactorily prescribed by Congress, the constitution was rejected at an election held August 4, 1845, by a vote of 7,656 to 7,235. May 4, 1846, a second convention met at Iowa City and on the 18th of the same month another constitution, prescribing the boundaries as they now are, was adopted. This was accepted by the people August 3d, by a vote of 9,492 to 9,036. The new con- stitution was approved by Congress and Iowa was admitted as a sovereign state in the Union, December 28, 1846, and the people of the territory, anticipating favorable action by Congress, held an elec- tion for state officers, October 26, 1846, which resulted in the choice of Ansel Briggs for Governor; Elisha Cutler, Jr., secretary; James T. Fales, auditor; Morgan Reno, treasurer; and members of both branches of the Legislature.
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The act of Congress which admitted Iowa into the Union as a state gave her the sixteenth section of every township of land in the state, or its equivalent, for the support of schools; also seventy-two sections of land for the purposes of a university ; five sections of land for the completion of her public buildings; the salt springs within her limits, not exceeding twelve in number, with sections of land adjoining each; also in consideration that her public lands should be exempt from taxation by the state. The state was given five per cent of the net proceeds of the sale of public lands within the state.
The constitutional convention of 1846 was made up largely of democrats and the instrument contains some of the peculiar tenets of the party of that day. All banks of issue were prohibited within the state. The state was prohibited from becoming a stockholder in any corporation for pecuniary profit and the General Assembly could only provide for private corporations by general statutes. The con- stitution also limited the state's indebtedness to $100,000. It re- quired the General Assembly to provide for schools throughout the state for at least three months during the year. Six months' previous residence of any white male citizen of the United States constituted him an elector.
At the time of the organization of the state, Iowa had a popula- tion of 116,651, as appears by the census of 1847. There were twenty- seven organized counties and the settlements were being rapidly pushed toward the Missouri river.
The western boundary of the state, as now determined, left Iowa City too far toward the eastern and southern boundary of the state. This was conceded. Congress had appropriated five sections of land for the erection of public buildings and toward the close of the first session of the General Assembly a bill was introduced providing for the relocation of the seat of government, involving to some extent, the location of the state university, which had already been dis- cussed. This bill gave rise to much discussion, and parliamentary maneuvering almost purely sectional in its character. February 25. 1847, an act was passed to locate and establish a state university, and the unfinished public buildings at Iowa City, together with the ten acres of land on which they were situated, were granted for the use of the university, reserving their use, however, for the General As- sembly and state officers until other provisions were made by law.
Four sections and two half sections of land were selected in Jasper county by the new commissioners for the new capital. Here a town was platted and called Monroe City. The commissioners
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placed town lots on sale in the new location but reported to the Assembly small sales at a cost exceeding the receipts. The town of Monroe was condemned and failed of becoming the capital. An act was passed repealing the law for the location at Monroe and those who had bought lots there were refunded their money.
By reason of jealousies and bickerings the first General Assembly failed to elect United States Senators but the second did better and sent to the Upper House of Congress Augustus Caesar Dodge and George Jones. The first representatives were S. Clinton Hastings, of Muscatine, and Sheppard Leffler, of Des Moines .county.
The question of the permanent seat of government was not settled and in 1851 bills were introduced for its removal to Fort Des Moines. The latter locality seemed to have the support of the majority but , was finally lost in the House on the question of ordering it to a third reading. At the next session, in 1853, a bill was again introduced in the Senate for the removal of the capital and the effort was more successful. On January 15, 1855, a bill relocating the capital of the state of Iowa within two miles of the Raccoon fork of the Des Moines river, and for the appointment of commissioners, was approved by Governor Grimes. The site was selected in 1856, in accordance with the provisions of this act, the land being donated to the state by citizens and property holders of Des Moines. An association of citizens erected a temporary building for the capitol and leased it to the state at a nominal rent.
THE STATE BECOMES REPUBLICAN
The passage by Congress of the act organizing the Territories of Kansas and Nebraska, and the provision it contained abrogating that portion of the Missouri bill that prohibited slavery and involun- tary servitude north of thirty-six degrees and thirty minutes was the beginning of a political revolution in the northern states, and in none was it more marked than in the State of Iowa. Iowa was the "first free child born of the Missouri Compromise." In 1856 the republi- can party of the state was duly organized, in full sympathy with that of the other free states, and at the ensuing presidential election the electoral vote of the state was cast for John C. Fremont.
Another constitutional convention assembled in Iowa City in January, 1857. One of the most pressing demands for this conven- tion grew out of the prohibition of banks under the old constitution. The practical result of this prohibition was to flood the state with
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every species of "wildcat" currency. The circulation medium was made up in part of the free-bank paper of Illinois and Indiana. In addition to this there was paper issued by Iowa brokers, who had obtained bank charters from the Territorial Legislature of Nebraska and had had their pretended headquarters at Omaha and Florence. The currency was also variegated with the bills of other states, gen- erally such as had the best reputation where they were least known. This paper was all at 2, and some of it from 10 to 15 per cent discount. Every man who was not an expert at detecting counterfeit bills and who was not posted in the methods of banking institutions, did business at his peril. The new constitution adopted at this convention made ample provisions for House banks under the super- vision of laws of the state and other changes in the old constitution were made that more nearly met the views of the people.
The permanent seat of government was fixed at Des Moines and the university at Iowa City. The qualifications of electors remained the same as under the old constitution but the schedule provided for a vote of the people upon a separate proposition to strike out the word "white" from the suffrage clause. Since the early organiza- tion of Iowa there had been upon the statute books a law providing that no negro, mulatto or Indian should be a competent witness in any suit at law or proceeding, to which a white man was a party. The General Assembly of 1856-57 repealed this law and the new con- stitution contained a clause forbidding such disqualification in the future. It also provided for the education of "all youth of the state" through a system of common schools.
THE CAPITAL REMOVED TO DES MOINES
October 19, 1857, Governor Grimes issued a proclamation declar- ing the city of Des Moines to be the capital of the State of Iowa. The removal of the archives and offices was commenced at once and continued through the fall. It was an undertaking of no small mag- nitude. There was not a mile of railroad to facilitate the work and the season was unusually disagreeable. Rain, snow and other ac- companiments increased the difficulties and it was not until Decem- ber that the last of the effects-the safe of the State Treasurer, loaded on two large "bob-sleds" drawn by ten yoke of oxen-was deposited in the new capitol. Thus Iowa City ceased to be the capital of the state after four Territorial Legislatures, six State Legislatures and three constitutional conventions had held their regular sessions there.
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In 1870 the General Assembly made an appropriation and pro- vided for a board of commissioners to commence the work of build- ing a new capitol. The corner-stone was laid with appropriate cere- monies, November 23, 1871. The estimated cost of the building was $2,500,000, and the structure was finished and occupied in 1874, the dedicatory exercises being held in January of that year. Hon. John A. Kasson delivered the principal address. The state capitol is classic in style, with a superstructure of buff limestone. It is 363 feet in length, 247 feet in width, with a central dome rising to the height of 275 feet. At the time of completion it was only surpassed by the capitol building of the State of New York, at Albany.
CLIMATE
In former years considerable objection was made to the preva- lence of high winds in Iowa, which is somewhat greater in the states south and east. But climatic changes have lessened that grievance. The air, in fact, is pure and generally bracing, particularly so dur- ing the winter. Thunderstorms are also more violent in this state than in those of the east and south but not nearly so much as towards the mountains. As elsewhere in the northwestern states, westerly winds bring rain and snow, while easterly ones clear the sky. While the highest temperature occurs in August, the month of July aver- ages the hottest and January the coldest. The mean temperature of April and October nearly corresponds to the mean temperature of the year, as well as to the seasons of spring and fall, while that of summer and winter is best represented by August and December. "Indian Summer" is delightful and well prolonged.
TOPOGRAPHY
The state lies wholly within and comprises a part of a vast plain. There are no mountains and scarcely any hilly country within its borders, for the highest point is but 1,200 feet above the lowest point. These two points are nearly three hundred miles apart and the whole state is traversed by gently flowing rivers. We thus find there is a good degree of propriety in regarding the whole state as belonging to a great plain, the lowest point of which within its borders, the south- eastern corner of the state, is only 444 feet above the level of the sea. The average height of the whole state above the level of the sea is not far from eight hundred feet, although it is over a thousand miles
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from the nearest ocean. These remarks of course are to be under- stood as only applying to the state at large, or as a whole. On ex- amining its surface in detail we find a great diversity of surface for the formation of valleys out of the general level, which have been evolved by the actions of streams during the unnumbered years of terrace epoch. These river valleys are deepest in the northwestern part of the state and consequently it is there that the country has the greatest diversity of surface and its physical features are most strongly marked.
It is said that 95 per cent of the surface of Iowa is capable of a high state of cultivation. The soil is justly famous for its fertility and there is probably no equal area of the earth's surface that contains so little untillable land, or whose soil has so high an average of fer- tility.
LAKES AND STREAMS
The largest of Iowa's lakes are Spirit and Okoboji, in Dickinson county, Clear Lake, in Cerro Gordo county, and Storm Lake, in Buena Vista county. Its rivers consist of the Mississippi and Mis- souri, the Chariton, Grand, Platte, One Hundred and Two, Noda- way, Nishnabotna, Boyer, Soldier, Little Sioux, Floyd, Rock, Big Sioux, Des Moines, Skunk, Iowa, Cedar, Wapsipinicon, Turkey and Upper Iowa.
IOWA AND THE CIVIL WAR
Iowa was born a free state. Her people abhorred the "peculiar institution" of slavery, and by her record in the war between the states proved herself truly loyal to her institutions and the main- tenance of the Union. By joint resolution in the General Assembly of the state in 1857, it was declared that the State of Iowa was "bound to maintain the union of these states by all the means in her power." The same year the state furnished a block of marble for the Wash- ington monument at the national capital and by order of the Legis- lature there was inscribed on its enduring surface the following : "Iowa-Her affections, like the river of her borders, flow to an in- separable Union." The time was now come when these declara- tions of fidelity and attachment to the nation were to be put to a prac- tical test. There was no state in the Union more vitally interested in the question of national unity than Iowa. The older states, both
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north and south, had representatives in her citizenship. Iowans were practically immigrants bound to those older communities by the most sacred ties of blood and most enduring recollections of early days. The position of Iowa as a state-geographically-made the dismemberment of the Union a matter of serious concern. Within her borders were two of the great navigable rivers of the country, and the Mississippi had for years been its highway to the markets of the world. The people could not entertain the thought that its navi- gation should pass to the control of a foreign nation. But more than
this was to be feared-the consequence of introducing and recogniz- ing in our national system the principle of secession and of disin- tegration of the states from the Union. "That the nation possessed no constitutional power to coerce a seceding state," as uttered by James Buchanan in his last annual message, was received by the people of Iowa with humiliation and distrust. And in the presi- dential campaign of 1860, when Abraham Lincoln combated with all the force of his matchless logic and rhetoric this monstrous political heresy, the issue was clearly drawn between the north and the south and it became manifest to many that in the event of the election of Lincoln to the presidency war would follow between the states. The people of Iowa nursed no hatred toward any section of the country but were determined to hold such opinions upon ques- tions of public interest and vote for such men as to them seemed for the general good, uninfluenced by any threat of violence or civil war. So it was that they anxiously awaited the expiring hours of the Buchanan administration and looked to the incoming President as to an expected deliverer that should rescue the nation from the hands of the traitors and the control of those whose resistance invited her destruction. The firing upon the flag of Fort Sumter aroused
the burning indignation throughout the loyal states of the republic
and nowhere was it more intense than in Iowa. And when the proclamation of the President was published April 15, 1861, calling for seventy-five thousand citizen soldiers to "maintain the honor, the integrity, and the existence of our national Union, and the per- petuity of popular government," they were more than willing to respond to the call. Party line gave way and for a time, at least, party spirit was hushed and the cause of our common country was supreme in the affections of the people. Fortunate indeed was the state at this crisis in having a truly representative man as executive
of the state. Thoroughly honest and as equally earnest, wholly im- bued with the enthusiasm of the hour, and fully aroused to the
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importance of the crisis and the magnitude of the struggle upon which the people were entering, with an indomitable will under the control of a strong common sense, Samuel J. Kirkwood was indeed a worthy chief to organize and direct the energies of the people in what was before them. Within thirty days after the date of the Pres- ident's call for troops, the first Iowa regiment was mustered into the service of the United States, a second regiment was in camp ready for service and the General Assembly of the state was con- vened in special session and had by joint resolution solemnly pledged every resource of men and money to the national cause. So urgent were the offers of companies that the Governor conditionally ac- cepted enough additional companies to compose two regiments more. These were soon accepted by the Secretary of War. Near the close of May, the Adjutant-General of the state reported that 170 com- panies had been tendered the Governor to serve against the enemies of the Union. The question was eagerly asked : "Which of us will be allowed to go?" It seemed as if Iowa was monopolizing the honors of the period and would send the largest part of seventy-five thousand wanted from the whole north. There was much difficulty and considerable delay experienced in fitting the first three regi- ments for the field. For the first regiment a complete outfit of cloth- ing was extemporized, partly by the volunteer labor of loyal women in the different towns, from material of various colors and qualities, obtained within the limits of the state. The same was done in part for the Second Infantry. Meantime, an extra session of the Gen- eral Assembly had been called by the Governor to convene on the 15th of May. With but little delay that body authorized a loan of $800,000 to meet the extraordinary expenses incurred, and to be incurred, by the executive department in consequence of the emerg- ency. A wealthy merchant of the state, ex-Governor Merrill, im- mediately took from the Governor a contract to supply a complete outfit of clothing for three regiments organized, agreeing to receive, should the Governor so elect, his pay therefor in the state bonds at par. This contract he executed to the letter and a portion of the clothing was delivered at Keokuk, the place at which the troops had rendezvoused, in exactly one month from the day in which the contract had been entered into. The remainder arrived only a few days later. This clothing was delivered to the soldiers but was subsequently condemned by the Government for the reason that its color was gray, and blue had been adopted as the color to be worn by the national troops. Other states had also clothed their
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