Page:History of Iowa From the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the Twentieth Century Volume 1.djvu/266



“Twenty-five thousand people have settled on lands in Wisconsin Territory west of the Mississippi River, in what is called the ‘Iowa District,’ improved farms, erected buildings, built towns, laid out cities and made valuable improvements, but have not yet been able to secure any kind of title to their homes and farms. Congress is urged to enact a law authorizing all bona fide settlers to pre-empt for each actual occupant for land who has shown his good faith by making improvements the right to enter a half section of land before it shall be offered at public sale.”

The report on settlement of the disputed boundary with Missouri, asked Congress to appoint commissioners to run the line between Missouri and Wisconsin and to adopt such measures as might be necessary to settle and establish said boundary line. The memorial praying for a division of the Territory of Wisconsin was as follows:

“To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives of the United States in Congress Assembled:

“The memorial of a general convention of delegates from the respective counties in the Territory of Wisconsin, west of tho Mississippi River, convened at the Capitol at Burlington in said Territory, November 6, 1837, respectfully represents:

“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 impracticability of the same being governed as an entire whole, by the best administration of our municipal affairs, in such manner as to fully secure individual rights, 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 availing themselves of the 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 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.