Iowa History Project
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THE
MAKING OF IOWA
CHAPTER III
THE BIRTH OF A STATE
For eight years, from 1838 to 1846, Iowa remained a
Territory. Long before it was even a Territory, Missouri on the south and
Illinois on the east were settled and admitted into the Union.
The Indians were being pressed westward by the
whites and were losing their homes east of the Mississippi. Finally they
were pushed into what is now Iowa, and given reservations here. Until
1833 they were practically the sole owners of Iowa. For over a century
and a half after civilization penetrated the Mississippi Valley - ninety years
of French control, forty years of Spanish, and thirty of United States - Iowa
was allowed to be a wilderness, traversed only occasionally by fur traders and
army detachments.
The land was considered as belonging to the Red
Man. Whites were required to obtain permission from the Indians before
trapping and trading could be indulged in this territory.
June 1, 1833, five years before Iowa Territory was
made, the first section of country within the present limits was thrown open
for settlement. The Indians had opposed the government, and had created
trouble that led to a short war called the Black Hawk War, and as a penalty a
tract of land was taken from them.
This was the strip known as the Black Hawk
Purchase, so named because Black Hawk was the chief who conducted the Indian
forces in the war. The Black Hawk Purchase extended along the west side
of the Mississippi River from the north boundary of Missouri north to the Upper
Iowa River. The Upper Iowa River is in the northeast corner of Iowa, and
must not be confounded with the Iowa River in the southern half of the State.
Therefore this tract extended from Missouri nearly to Minnesota. It
was fifty miles wide at the ends, and forty in the middle.
Over this area of six million acres poured the
settlers.
The treaty transferring the land was made at the
spot where now stands the city of Davenport. On Rock Island, opposite the
point, was Fort Armstrong, garrisoned by United States soldiers. Cholera
was raging there, so it was impossible to have the treaty conference occur in
the fort. The council was held in a large tent on the west bank of
the river. The United States was represented by General Winfield Scott
and Governor John Reynolds of Illinois. Keokuk, Pash-e-pa-ho, Black Hawk
and other prominent Sac and Fox chiefs represented the tribes.
The scene of this first transfer of Iowa land from
Indians to settlers was inspiring. The Indians were clad in their
brightest colors, and their whitest deer skin; but their clothes were by no
means more brilliant than the uniforms of the soldiers, at that time gay and
gilt and glittering lace. Rough hunters and trappers, mingling with the
swarthy braves, crowded to watch proceedings. Below flowed the beautiful
Mississippi, its banks rich in autumn foliage.
The council was concluded on September 21, 1832.
The treaty was ratified in February, 1833, and on June 1, following, the
Black Hawk Purchase was turned over to the settlers.
The United States agreed to pay to the Indians,
each year for thirty consecutive years, twenty thousand dollars, and assume
debts which had been accumulating for seventeen years. These amounted to
forty thousand dollars, due to Davenport and Farnham, Indian traders.
The government gave to the widows and children of
the Sac and Fox braves killed in the Black Hawk War, cattle, salt, pork, flour,
and corn, in considerable quantities.
The Indians had lived for many years on the banks
of the Mississippi, and hated to leave scenes so endeared to them. So the
United States allowed them to retain four hundred square miles of territory in
the purchase. This ground was about what is now Louisa County.
Through it flowed the Iowa River. The tract was termed the Keokuk
Reserve, because Keokuk was the principal chief of the Sacs, here.
In the Black Hawk Purchase the United States, at
request of the Indians who wanted to show their friendship, set apart a section
of land at the head of the first rapids, above Rock Island, for Antoine Le
Claire, a noted interpreter. This section is now occupied by the town of
Le Claire. Where Davenport stands another section was set apart for Le
Claire's Indian wife.
The announcement that the government had acquired
land which would be given over to settlement excited much interest among the whites
who were then living across the river, in Illinois. They had heard of the
marvelous loveliness of the country to the westward, and were eager to try
their fortunes here. Some impatient ones had endeavored to establish
their cabins in the territory while it was yet Indian property, but had been
driven out by the soldiers, and with their friends were waiting another
opportunity to take up claims - this time under government protection.
By June 1, 1833, the Indians had quietly withdrawn
to the banks of the Iowa River. On the day appointed the whites hastened
in, treading on the heels of the former owners of the country. Thus
Iowa's future began to assume definite form.
When, July 4, 1838, the act of Congress organizing
Iowa Territory went into effect, the settlers had spread beyond the Black hawk
Purchase. The four hundred square miles saved for the Sacs and Foxes had
been bought by the government, and another strip of land bordering the purchase
on the west had been obtained. The Indians had been forced away from the
Mississippi, into the interior.
A great tide of people was surging into Iowa.
The New Lands, as the Territory was popularly known, attracted settlers
clear from the Atlantic coast. So rapidly did the population increase
that in 1840 Statehood was talked of.
At this time the most thickly settled portion of
the Territory was along the Mississippi, and in width fifty or sixty miles.
North of Dubuque the country was but sparsely occupied. Clayton
County had been organized in 1837. In 1840 the population of Iowa
Territory was about 42,000. In 1844 it was 82,500.
In 1840, when the people were called upon to vote
on the question of Statehood, they had a majority against the proposed
petition. In 1842 the topic was again agitated, and again voted down.
The settlers voting "no" said that the laws of the United
States and of a Territory were good enough, and that Statehood was unnecessary.
They were of the opinion that expenses would be greater under a State
government.
But in 1844 the Territorial Legislature again asked
the citizens to signify whether they wished a convention for the purpose of
drawing up a constitution. This time those in favor of Statehood carried
the day. In October, 1844, a constitutional convention met at Iowa City,
the capital of the Territory. A constitution was prepared. Had it
been approved by Congress Iowa to-day would be larger than it is.
It would include a portion of Minnesota.
This constitution in 1844 fixed the eastern,
western and southern boundaries practically as they now are. The northern
boundary, on the other hand, was a line connecting the mouth of the Big Sioux
or Calument River, at the Missouri, with the sharp bend in the St. Peter's, now
the Minnesota River, in the present State of Minnesota; the St. Peter's from
this point to the Mississippi was to complete this boundary. Iowa would
be a different shape, and the northwest corner would have been cut off, had the
boundaries selected in 1844 been allowed to stand.
But Congress in March, 1845, not only rejected the
proposed limits, but offered suggestions that were a radical change from those
of the constitutional convention. Congress presented for the approval of
the people of the Territory a new western boundary which passed from north to
south on a line about forty miles west of Des Moines. The northern
boundary was on a line with the juncture of the Blue Earth and St. Peter's
Rivers, in Minnesota. Had Congress prevailed, Iowa to-day would be but
little more than half as wide from east to west as it is, and would extend
thirty miles farther north, into Minnesota.
Then ensued a warm discussion. The settlers
were divided on the question of boundaries. Those in favor of the
constitution of 1844, as amended by Congress, claimed that the western portion
of the Territory was as uninhabitable as a desert, and would prove a burden to
any State. The rumor went about that a committee sent out to look
for a location for the capital and to see into the country beyond the Des
Moines River, returned, with the advice that the capital be established
at about Oskaloosa, saying that forty miles beyond Fort Raccoon (now Des
Moines) the region was not fit for settlement! Some of the settlers
maintained that if the suggestions of Congress were not accepted the people
would be given nothing.
A campaign of education set in. The opponents
of the proposed boundaries put stump speakers into the field, who demonstrated
to the settlers the worth and importance of the Missouri Slope.
"Westward the course of empire takes its way" was the war cry.
It won, for the constitution, as amended, was defeated in April, 1845.
The Territorial Legislature asked the people to
vote again, this time not on the whole constitution, but simply on the portions
that did not deal with boundaries. At this election, in August, 1845, the
constitution was once more defeated, by a close vote of 7,656 to 7,233.
In May, 1846, another Territorial convention
assembled, to discuss the boundary problem. It deliberated for fifteen
days, and finally selected the limits that to-day confine the State of Iowa.
Congress approved of the work. The constitution, practically the
same as that of 1844, save as to boundaries, was to the popular vote August 3,
1846, and was adopted by a vote of 9,492 to 9,036.
The census of 1846 gave Iowa a population of
102,388. Ansel Briggs, the first State governor, was elected October 26,
1846. The first State general assembly met at Iowa City, November 30, in
this year, and in December Governor Briggs took the oath of office. The
act of Congress, admitting Iowa into the Union, was passed December 28, 1846.
At this time there were some thirty counties,
forming the eastern third of the present State. Many towns were spelled
according to the Indian way, as Ouskaloosa, Ottumwah, Keosauque. Des
Moines city was Fort Raccoon.
Only a few Indians were in the limits. Some
bands of Sioux roamed in the northwestern corner, and the Musquakies were in
Tama County.
Iowa was given over to the whites.
Civilization had conquered.