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ILLUSTRATIVE MAPS
OF THE
BOUNDARY HISTORY OF IOWA
BY
BENJAMIN F. SHAMBAUGH
Page 11
.... a point where it is intersected by the Old Indian
Boundary line, or line run by John C. Sullivan in the year 1816; thence
westwardly along said line to the "Old North-west corner of Missouri;"
thence due west to the middle of the main channel of the Missouri river;
thence up in the middle of the main channel of the river last mentioned to
the mouth of the Sioux or Calumet river; thence in a direct line to the
middle of the main channel of the St. Peters river, where the Watonwan
river (according to Nicollet's map) enters the same; thence down the
middle of said river to the middle of the main channel of the Mississippi
river; thence down the middle of the main channel of said river, to the
place of beginning.1
(See Map III for the Lucas Boundaries).
Congress however, did not favor the Lucas Boundaries and proposed
instead to admit Iowa into the Union with the so-called Nicollet
Boundaries which were as follows:--
Beginning at the mouth of the Des Moines river, at the middle of the
Mississippi, thence by the middle of the channel of that river to a
parallel of latitudes passing through the mouth of the Mankato, or
Blue-Earth river, thence went along the said parallel of latitude to a
point where it is intersected by a meridan of Washington City, thence due
south to the northern boundary line of the State of Missouri, thence
eastwardly following that boundary to the point at which the same
intersects the Des Moines river, thence bu the middle of the channel of
that river to the place of beginning.2
It will be interesting to note briefly the discussion in the House of
Representatives which led to the adoption of the Nicollet Boundaries.
In the bill for admission, as reported by the House Com--
(continued on page 12) |
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1
Journal of the Constitutional Convention of 1844, p. 187
2 U. S.
Statutes at Large, Vol. p. 712 |
Page 12
-- mittee on Territories, the boundaries asked by the Iowa
Convention in the Constitution submitted by them were retained without
alteration. But Mr. Duncan, of Ohio had other limits to propose. He
preferred the Nicollet Boundaries because (1) they were "the
boundaries of nature" and (2) at the same time they left sufficient
territory for the formation of two other States in that Western country.
On the other hand, Mr. Brown, Chairman of the Committee on Territories,
said that the question of boundaries had been carefully investigated by
his Committee, "and the conclusion to which they had come was to adhere to
the boundary asked for by the people of Iowa, who were there, and who had
settled the country, and whose voice should be listened to in the matter."
Mr. Vinton, of Ohio, was the most vigorous champion of the Duncan
amendment. He stood out firmly for a reduction of the boundaries proposed
by the Iowa Convention because the country to the North and West of the
new State, :from which two other States ought to be formed," would be left
in a very inconvenient shape, and because of the formation of such large
States would deprive the West of "its due share of power in the Senate of
the United States."
Mr. Vinton was "particularly anxious that a State of unsuitable extent
should not be made in the part of the Western country, in consequence of
the unwise and mistaken policy towards that section of the Union which has
hitherto prevailed in forming Western States, by which the great valley of
the Mississippi has been deprived, and irrevocably so, of its due share in
the legislation of the country." As an equitable compensation to the West
for this injustice he (continued on page 13) |
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Page 13
would make "a series of small States" on the West bank of
the Mississippi. The arguments for restriction prevailed, and the Duncan
amendment, which proposed to substitute the Nicollet Boundaries
for the Lucas Boundaries, passed the House of Representatives by a
vote of ninety-one to forty.
(See Map IV for the Nicollet Boundaries)
Unwilling to accept the Nicollet Boundaries which were
proposed by Congress, the people of Iowa twice rejected the Constitution
of 1844.1 In
1846 a second Constitutional Convention met at Iowa City. The members at
first resolved to stand by the Lucas Boundaries as defined in the
Constitution of 1844.2
Congress was inclined to make concessions. Finally the Committee on
Territories in the House of Representatives proposed the following
compromise boundaries3
which were accepted by the Constitutional Convention of 1846: --
Beginning in the middle of the main channel of the Mississippi River,
at a point due east of the middle of the mouth of the main channel of the
Des Moines River; thence up the middle of the main channel of the said Des
Moines River, to a point on said river where the northern boundary line of
the State of Missouri, as established by the constitution of that state,
adopted June twelfth, eighteen hundred and twenty, crosses the said middle
of the main channel of the said Des Moines River; thence, westwardly,
along the said northern boundary line of the State of Missouri, as
established at the time aforesaid, until an extension of said line
intersects at the middle of the main channel of the Missouri River; thence
up the middle of the main channel of the said Missouri River, to a point
opposite (continued on page 14) |
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1
Shambaugh's History of the Constitution of Iowa, pp. 256-284
2 Journal of the
Constitutional Convention of 1846, p. 28
3
Shambaugh's History of the Constitution of Iowa, pp. 306-317 |
Page 14
the middle of the main channel of the Big Sioux River,
according to Nicollet's map; thence, up the main channel of the said Big
Sioux River, according to said map, until it is intersected by the
parallel of forty-three degrees and thirty minutes north latitude; thence
east, along said parallel of forty-three degrees and thirty minutes, until
said parallel intersects the middle of the main channel of the Mississippi
River; thence, down the middle of the main channel of the Mississippi
River, to the place of beginning.1
These are the present boundaries of the State of Iowa. Their precise
definition is the work of the Constitutional Convention of 1846, although
they were originally suggested by the Committee on Territories in the
House of Representatives.2
The original maps from which the accompanying cuts are taken, were made
by Bertha H. Shambaugh for the Department of Political Science of the
State University of Iowa, the two maps illustrative of the Lucas
Boundaries and the Nicollet Boundaries, respectively, were
copied from Nicollett's map which was the one generally used and referred
to at the time. for a full treatment of the boundary dispute of 1844-1846
the reader is referred to chapters XIII, XIV, and XVII of the writer's
History of the Constitutions of Iowa.
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Benj. F. Shambaugh |
The State
University of Iowa
Iowa City |
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1 U. S.
Statutes at Large, Vol. IX, p. 52
2
Stephen A. Douglas was chairman of the committee at this time. |
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C ontributed by
MaryAlice Schwanke
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