Mr. Mason of Ohio, who moved to strike out the enacting clause, said that he desired to obtain information relative to the assertion "that the people had settled there in a manner contrary to law."
"Mr. Waddy Thompson opposed the bill and the creation of a Territorial Government in the Northwest." He went at great length into "a consideration of the balance of power between the Northern and Western, and Southern States, as far as related to the questions of slavery, and the annexation of Texas." He declared that "he would never consent to the coming in of these Territories or States into the Union, when the fanatical spirit of the North was pouring into the House memorials against the annexation of Texas, simply because it was cursed with the peculiar institution of the South." To preserve the balance of power between the two sections of the Union, was the substance of Mr. Thompson's plea. If by the creation of the Territory of Iowa the North is promised a new State, the demand of the South for the annexation of Texas should, in accordance with the principle of the balance of power, be recognized. Thus it was proposed to meet the problem of admitting States at the time of the formation of new Territories.
In the course of the debate it was suggested by Mr. Mercer "that Iowa be organized as a Territory when Wisconsin was admitted as a State."
It remained for Mr. Shepard of North Carolina to make emphatic objections all along the line. He opened his speech by intimating that the bill had been introduced to the end that "a fresh rich field might be opened to those who speculate in public lands, and a batch of new offices created for such as seek Executive favor." He had no sympathy with the squatters. "Who are these that . . . . pray for the establishment of a new Territory? Individuals who have left their own homes and seized on the public land . . . . These men pounced on the choicest spots, cut down the timber, built houses, and cultivated the soil as if it were their own property . . . . Without the authority of law and in defiance of the Government, they have taken possession of what belongs to the whole nation, and appropriated to a private use that which was intended for the public welfare. These are they who require a governor and council, judges, and marshals, when every act of their lives is contrary to justice, and every petition which they make is an evidence of their guilt and violence. We, who are insulted, whose authority is trampled under foot, are asked for new favors and privileges; the guardians of the law are approached by its open contemners, and begged to erect these modest gentlemen into a dignified Government . . . . I cannot sanction their conduct; if they would not move peaceably, they should go at the point of the bayonet; if they forget what is due to their country and their distant fellow-citizens, they ought to be punished. The majesty of the laws should be vindicated."
The Representative from North Carolina was jealous of the growth and development of the West, and he objected to the liberal land policy of the United States since it encouraged the young men to leave their southern homes. He declared that "if the Territory of Iowa be now established, it will soon become a State; and if we now cross the Mississippi, under the beautiful patronage of this Government, the cupidity and enterprise of our people will carry the system still further, and ere long the Rocky Mountains will be scaled, and the valley of the Columbia be embraced in our domain. This then is the time to pause . . . .
"If happiness depended entirely on the number of hogs raised, or the quantity of corn gathered, then the citizens should be dispersed, so as to occupy the most fertile spots in our whole territory . . . .
But whatever may be the effect of this land policy on the general welfare, it has been deeply injurious to the Southern portion of the Confederacy . . . . If all of the people born in North Carolina had remained in its limits, our swamps and low grounds would have rivalled the valley of the Nile in production, and our pine barrens would have been flourishing with the vine, the olive, and the mulberry. We have, therefore, reason to complain of the policy of this Government . . . . Others may act as pleases them, but I will never sustain a policy so detrimental to the people with whom I am connected . . . . If these remarks be unavailing, the patriot should fear for the permanence of the Republic."
The spirited debate, which took place in the House of Representatives, on the question of the establishment of the Territorial government of Iowa disclosed the fact that the creation of a new Territory at this time west of the Mississippi and north of Missouri was of more than local interest; it was, indeed, an event in the larger history of America. Some few men were beginning to realize that the rapid settlement of the Iowa country was not an isolated provincial episode but the surface manifestation of a current that was of National depth. Far-sighted statesmen whose eyes were neither blinded by the lights of the moment nor yet always riveted upon that which for the time was most brilliant, saw that a plain, common-looking pioneer farmer from across the Mississippi had come upon the stage of National Politics and had already begun to play a role in the great drama of American Democracy. But even the prophets did not so much as dream that, within the memory of men then living, the awkward amateur would take the part of a leading actor in the play.
VII
THE CONSTITUTION OF THE TERRITORY
The Territorial epoch in our history began in 1836, when the Territory of Wisconsin was established; it came to a close in 1846, when the State of Iowa was organized and admitted into the Union. Two Constitutions belong to this decade--the Organic Act of the Territory of Wisconsin, and the Organic Act of the Territory of Iowa. These Constitutions are very much alike both in form and content. Indeed, the latter was copied from or modeled upon the former. An outline of either would fairly indicate the content of the fundamental law for the whole Territorial epoch. But to avoid unnecessary repetition on the one hand and confusion on the other, the title of the present chapter will be taken to mean the Organic Act of 1838.