ental law.

To be sure, the Iowa country had had a certain constitutional status
ever since the acquisition of the Province of Louisiana in 1803. In
1804, it formed a part of the District of Louisiana, which was placed.
under the jurisdiction of the Governor and Judges of the Territory of
Indiana; in 1805, it remained a part of that district known
henceforth as the Territory of Louisiana; in 1812, it was included
within the newly created Territory of Missouri; in 1821, it was reserved
for freedom by the Missouri Compromise; and finally, after being without
a local constitutional status for more than thirteen years, it was
"attached to, and made a part of, the territory of Michigan" for "the
purpose of temporary government." Nevertheless, it would be sheer
antiquarianism to catalogue the treaty and conventions of 1803 and the
several acts of Congress establishing the District of Louisiana, the
Territory of Louisiana, the Territory of Missouri, and the Territory of
Michigan as Constitutions of Iowa.

Furthermore, a Constitution is the fundamental law of a _people_, not of
a _geographical area_; and since the Iowa country was practically
uninhabited prior to 1830, the earlier Territorial governments, which
have been mentioned, had for Iowa only a nominal political significance.
This is not to deny that Iowa has a history prior to 1830: it simply
points out that this earlier history is largely a record of changes in
subordinate jurisdiction over a geographical area, and in no sense the
annals of a political society.

Even after the permanent settlement of the Iowa country in the early
thirties and its union with the Territory of Michigan in 1834,
constitutional government west of the Mississippi continued to be more
nominal than real. This is true notwithstanding the fact that the
archives of the Territory of Michigan show that the Governor and
the Legislative Council made a serious attempt to provide for and put
into operation local constitutional government. In his message of
September 1, 1834, addressed to the Legislative Council, Governor Mason
referred to the inhabitants as "an intelligent, industrious and
enterprising people," who, being "without the limits of any regularly
organized government, depend alone upon their own virtue, intelligence
and good sense as a guaranty of their mutual and individual rights and
interests." He suggested and urged "the immediate organization for them
of one or two counties with one