Art. 9. No person shall have any attention paid to his, her, or their complaint until they first subscribe to this Constitution.
Art. 10. All committees that shall sit or act under this constitution, shall determine in their decision and declare which party shall pay the costs, and each declaration shall be binding and be collected according to the laws of this Territory.
Art. 11. When complaints shall be made to the President, he shall immediately notify the sitting committee of three to meet at some convenient place. Then if said committee be satisfied that the opposing party has been timely notified, shall then proceed to investigate and try the case in dispute, receive evidence, and give their decision according to justice and equity, which decision shall be final: Provided, always, That either party considering injustice has been done, shall have a right to appeal to the Grand Committee, together with the President, who shall investigate the same, and shall give their decision in writing, from which there shall be no appeal. All appeals shall be made within ten days, or forever excluded.
Art. 12. There shall be held an annual meeting on the 1st Monday of November for the election of officers and committees.
Art. 13. The fees of each committee man with the President, shall not exceed one dollar per day.
Art. 14. This constitution may be altered and amended by a vote of two thirds of the members.
Art. 15. All committees made under this constitution shall be the judges of its meaning and spirit, and the resolutions of its meeting shall be governed according to their decisions.
Art. 16. All persons not settlers, having claims not settled before the 1st of May, 1838, shall be forfeited."
A hundred pages could easily be devoted to this interesting phase of our political history, but the details already given will suffice to indicate the nature, scope, and purpose of the Squatter Constitutions of Iowa. Their influence is clearly seen in a fourfold direction.
First, they made it possible and practicable for the settlers to go upon the public domain (surveyed or unsurveyed) and establish homes without the immediate inconvenience of paying for the land.