onsiderable.

Satisfied with existing conditions, he asked: "Are we slaves? Is our
liberty restricted? Are we deprived of the rights, immunities, and
privileges of American citizens? Is the rod of oppression held over us
by the General Government? Has that Government manifested its care
towards us by sending persons to 'spy out our liberties, misrepresent
our character, prey upon us, and eat out our substance?' It is not
pretended that there is a murmur of the kind. We are in possession of
the most enlarged liberty and the most liberal favors. Then why urge
this measure, uncalled for by the people, unwarranted by the condition
of the Territory?" The newspapers of the Territory were divided on
party lines. The Democratic press favored the calling of a Convention
and urged the immediate organization of a State government; while the
Whig press just as vigorously opposed all such measures from the calling
of a Convention to admission into the Union.

In favor of a Constitutional Convention it was urged that the admission
of Iowa into the Union would result in a more rapid increase in the
population by immigration, since immigrants as a rule preferred States
to Territories. Again, admission into the Union would give Iowa more
influence at Washington, which would probably mean generous
appropriations by Congress for the improvement of the rapids of the
Mississippi. Politically the change would place the new Commonwealth on
an equal footing with the other States, give the people a voice in
the election of a President in 1844, and secure to them the long desired
privilege of choosing their own Governor. It was even claimed that
Statehood would promote character, foster independence, engender State
pride, and inspire dignity, since "it would secure to us the noblest
privilege of freemen! that of electing our own officers to govern over
us, instead of being subjected to the additional humiliation of having
them sent from abroad for that purpose." Finally, it was suggested that
if Iowa did not hasten to make application for admission into the Union,
Florida, the slave Territory which was then ready to be admitted, would
be paired with Wisconsin.

These arguments were frequently accompanied by declamation and
exhortation. The Territorial state was declared to be a condition of
"colonial dependence" or "colonial vassalage." And so the question
before the people was set forth as one of "Dependence" or
"Independence." Will they sup