History of the Constitutions of Iowa

by Benjamin Franklin Shambaugh

In the memorial relative to the proposed division of the Territory, it was represented, "That the citizens of that part of the Territory west of the Mississippi River, taking into consideration their remote and isolated position, and the vast extent of country included within the limits of the present Territory, and the utter impracticability of the same being governed as an entire whole, by the wisest and best administration of our municipal affairs, in such manner as to fully secure individual right and the rights of property, as well as to maintain domestic tranquillity, and the good order of society, have by their respective Representatives, convened in general convention as aforesaid, for the purpose of availing themselves of their right of petition as free citizens, by representing their situation and wishes to your honorable body, and asking for the organization of a separate Territorial Government over that part of the Territory west of the Mississippi River.

"Without, in the least, designing to question the official conduct of those in whose hands the fate of our infant Territory has been confided, and in whose patriotism and wisdom we have the utmost confidence, your memorialists cannot refrain from the frank expression of their belief that, taking into consideration the geographical extent of her country, in connection with the probable population of western Wisconsin, perhaps no Territory of the United States has been so much neglected by the parent Government, so illy protected in the political and individual rights of her citizens . . . . It will appear that we have existed as a portion of an organized Territory for sixteen months, with but one term of court. Your memorialists look upon those evils as growing exclusively out of the immense extent of country included within the present boundaries of the Territory, and express their conviction and belief, that nothing would so effectually remedy the evil as the organization of Western Wisconsin into a separate territorial Government. To this your memorialists conceive themselves entitled by principles of moral right, by the sacred obligation that rests upon the present government to protect them in the free enjoyment of their rights, until such time as they shall be permitted to provide protection for themselves; as well as from the uniform practice and policy of the Government in relation to her other Territories . . . . Your memorialists therefore pray for the organization of a separate territorial government over that part of the Territory of Wisconsin west of the Mississippi river."

The time and place of the meeting of this remarkable "Territorial Convention" were certainly most opportune. Meeting in the halls of the Legislative Assembly at the Capital of the Territory and in the very presence of the members of the Assembly, the delegates declared it to be the wish and will of the people that the Territory be divided. The members of the Assembly were impressed with the fact that the people west of the Mississippi were in earnest, and, as representatives of the whole Territory, they too drew up a memorial which was approved by the Governor within three weeks after the Convention had adjourned.

In this memorial the Legislative Assembly stated the case as follows: "That owing to the great extent of country embraced in the limits of Wisconsin Territory, and that vast extent of Territory being separated by a natural division, (the Mississippi river,) which renders the application of the same laws oppressive or unequal to one section or the other; the true policy of the two sections of the Territory being as widely different as their locations; and the impracticability of the officers of the General Government to administer the laws; render it highly important in the opinion of your memorialists that that portion of the Territory lying west of the Mississippi river be formed into a separate Territorial Government.

"The Territory of Wisconsin now contains fifty thousand inhabitants; one-half of which, at least, reside on the west side of the Mississippi river.

"Without any intention of censuring the official conduct of the officers in whose hands the administration of our infant Territory has been intrusted . . . . your memorialists would respectfully represent, that the western portion of Wisconsin, with a population of twenty-five thousand souls, reaps but a small portion of the benefits and advantages of the fostering care and protection of the mother Government. Your memorialists would further represent, that the population of Wisconsin is increasing with a rapidity unparalleled in the history of the settlement of our country; that, by a division of the Territory, and the formation of a separate Territorial Government west of the Mississippi river, your honorable body would greatly advance the political and individual interests of her citizens."

By January 1, 1838, the people had expressed their views. They had formulated their convictions into a definite request which called for immediate division of the Territory. The scene of debate and discussion now shifts from the prairies to the halls of Congress. Here on February 6, 1838, the Committee on the Territories, to whom had been referred the memorials of the Territorial Convention and Legislative Assembly along with petitions from sundry citizens, and who by a resolution of December 14, 1837, had been instructed "to inquire into the expediency of establishing a separate Territorial Government for that section of the present Territory of Wisconsin which lies west of the Mississippi river and north of the State of Missouri," reported a bill to divide the Territory of Wisconsin, and establish the Territorial government of Iowa.

In the report which accompanied this bill the Committee stated that they had become "satisfied that the present Territory of Wisconsin is altogether too large and unwieldy for the perfect and prompt administration of justice or for the convenient administration of the civil government thereof." They were more specific in saying that "the judges of the Territory, as it now is, and also the Governor, district attorney, and marshal, are entirely unable to perform their respective duties in all parts of the Territory." They also pointed out that of the fifty thousand inhabitants in the Territory more than half resided west of the Mississippi river, that the population was rapidly increasing, that the natural line of division was the Mississippi river, that the Capital would soon be removed to eastern Wisconsin, and that "so much of the Territory of Wisconsin as is east of the Mississippi river must necessarily form one State."

It was not, however, until early in the month of June that "An act to divide the Territory of Wisconsin and to establish the Territorial Government of Iowa" passed both the Senate and the House of Representatives. On June 12, 1838, it received the approval of President Van Buren. As the Constitution of the Territory of Iowa it took effect on the sixty-second anniversary of the Independence of the American Nation. In the chronology of our Constitutions it stands as the second code or text of fundamental law.

But the Territory of Iowa was not established without opposition in Congress. The discussion in the House of Representatives on the fifth and sixth days of June, and immediately preceding the passage of the act dividing the Territory of Wisconsin, brought out something of the broader significance of the proposition to create a new Territory in the country west of the Mississippi and north of the State of Missouri. From the records it appears that the sympathies of the Representatives were not all with the men on the frontier.