Page:History of Iowa From the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the Twentieth Century Volume 1.djvu/536



was its chief purpose, and upon that issue it was absorbing the united antislavery strength of the nation.

The Republican State Convention met at Des Moines on the 22d of June, 1859, where Samuel J. Kirkwood was nominated for Governor by acclamation; Nicholas J. Rusch was nominated for Lieutenant-Governor and Ralph P. Lowe, Caleb Baldwin and Lacon D. Stockton were nominated for Supreme Judges. The resolutions indorsed the Republican National platform of 1856 and opposed the extension of slavery in the Territories. The convention also approved the granting of free homesteads to actual settlers of the public lands and opposed the abridgment of the privilege of naturalization to emigrants.

The Democratic Convention assembled at Des Moines on the 23d of June and placed the following candidates in nomination: for Governor. General A. C. Dodge; Lieutenant-Governor, L. W. Babbitt; Supreme Judges, Charles Mason, Thomas S. Wilson and Chester C. Cole. The resolutions were very lengthy and favored remanding the subject of slavery to the Territorial Legislatures, the exclusion of free negroes from Iowa, favored the acquisition of Cuba and the repeal of the prohibitory liquor law. The campaign which followed was one of the most notable in the history of the State. A series of joint discussions was arranged in which the rival candidates for Governor appeared before immense gatherings of the voters at various towns and divided the time in presenting their views of the issues involved.

General Dodge was one of the ablest men of his party, had served thirteen years in Congress and had been four years the American Minister to Spain. Kirkwood had been less prominent. But as the campaign progressed he proved fully the equal of General Dodge in debate. Plain in dress, direct, earnest and sincere in speech, candid and logical in discussion of the issues between the parties, he became one of the most effective and popular political speakers in the West. In this campaign he laid the