itted by the Convention of
1844, were finally accepted by the General Assembly of the State in an
act approved January 17, 1849.

XIX

THE CONVENTION OF 1857

Throughout Iowa there was a very general feeling of satisfaction with
the new political status which came with the establishment of State
government and admission into the Union. Having outlived the
conditions of Territorial government the pioneers of Iowa now entered
into the new political life without regret. They rejoiced over the
fact that they were recognized as a part of a great Nation. They
appreciated the significance of the change. Nor were the pioneers of
Iowa strangers to National political life. As settlers on the Public
Domain they were in a very special sense children of the Nation.
They had always cherished the inheritances of the "Fathers." But now
the days of dependence were over. Henceforth this people of the
frontier would strengthen the whole country with their own political
ideas and ideals. They would, indeed, help to vitalize the Politics of
the Nation with the provincial spirit of Western Democracy.

On the other hand, the people of Iowa did not accept their new State
Constitution without reservations. Wm. Penn Clarke's address had been
widely read and his arguments were accepted not alone by the Whigs. In
fact the Constitution of 1846 had not been adopted altogether on its
merits. The people were anxious to get into the Union, and they voted
for the Constitution as the shortest road to admission. They
meant to correct its errors afterwards.

In 1848 the editor of the _Iowa City Standard_ asserted that the
Constitution of 1846 had been "accepted purely from motives of
expediency, and with a tacit understanding that it was to receive some
slight amendments as soon as they could constitutionally and legally
be made. And but for this it would have been rejected by a very
handsome majority. No well informed citizen can deny this."

And so the Constitution of 1846 had scarcely been ratified at the
polls before an agitation looking toward its amendment or revision was
begun. As early as August 19, 1846, the _Iowa City Standard_ declared
that "three fourths of the people of Iowa have determined that, cost
what it may, the Ninth Article shall not remain unaltered in the
Constitution."

During the first session of the General Assembly of the State a bill
providing for an expression of the opinion of the people of Iowa upon
the subj