I

THE CONSTITUTION OF 1844 DEBATED
AND DEFEATED BY THE PEOPLE

While Congress was discussing the boundaries of Iowa and carefully
considering the effect which the admission of the new State might
possibly have upon matters of National concern, the Constitution of
1844 was being subjected to analysis and criticism throughout the
Territory. Moreover, it is interesting to note that the only provision
of the Constitution which was held up and debated in Congress was the
very one which was generally accepted by the people of the Territory
without comment. Whigs and Democrats alike were satisfied with the
_Lucas boundaries_. Nor did the people of Iowa at this time
think or care anything about the preservation of the "balance of
power." Their adoption of, and adherence to, the _Lucas boundaries_
was founded upon local pride and commercial considerations.

Opposition to the Constitution of 1844 was at the outset largely a
matter of partisan feeling. The Whigs very naturally opposed the
ratification of a code of fundamental law which had been formulated by
a Democratic majority. Then, too, they could not hope for many of the
Federal and State offices which would be opened to Iowans after the
establishment of Commonwealth organization. And so with genuine
partisan zeal they attacked the instrument from Preamble to Schedule.
Nothing escaped their ridicule and sarcasm. By the Democratic
press they were charged with "an intent to keep Iowa out of the Union,
so that her two Senators shall not ensure the vote of the United
States Senate to Mr. Polk at the next session."

But the Whigs were not altogether alone in their opposition to the
proposed Constitution, not even during the early weeks of the
campaign. There was some disaffection among the Democrats themselves,
that is, among the radicals who thought that the new code was not
sufficiently Jeffersonian. The editor of the _Dubuque Express_, for
example, was severe in his criticisms, but he intimated that he would
vote for the Constitution in the interests of party discipline. The
_Bloomington Herald_, on the other hand, although a strong organ
of the Democracy, emphatically declared through its editorial columns
that "admission under the Constitution would be a curse to us as a
people."

As a party, however, the Democrats favored the Constitution of 1844,
defended its provisions, and urged its adoption by the people. They
held that as a code of fundamental law it was all