Briggs, Ansel

BRIGGS

Posted By: Ken Wright (email)
Date: 3/3/2008 at 20:21:33

Iowa Through the Years,
Cyrenus Cole, 1940

LAUNCHING THE SHIP OF STATE

The Constitution was ratified by the voters of Iowa on the third of August, 1846, by a majority of 456 votes out of 18,528 cast. Without waiting for Congress to admit the State, governor Clarke issued a proclamation for a general State election to be held on the twenty-sixty of October. On that day the people elected Ansel Briggs of Jackson County, Governor, and S. C. Hastings and Shepherd Leffler members of the House of Representatives in Washington. They also elected the members of the First General Assembly of the State. Technically all these elections may have been void, for the State of Iowa had not yet come into legal existence.

On the third of December, 1846, Ansel Briggs was sworn in as the first Governor of the State of Iowa. To him the meagerness of the salary of $800 a year was no obstacle. He was a modest and humble man. Coming from Vermont to Iowa in 1836, he had made his living by driving stagecoaches, carrying mail, and as sheriff of Jackson County. His friends may have apologized for his spelling, but they did not have to apologize for any of his official acts. He was a diligent and honest man who had absorbed a great deal of horse sense while driving stagecoaches.

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