onsin, and that "so
much of the Territory of Wisconsin as is east of the Mississippi river
must necessarily form one State."

It was not, however, until early in the month of June that "An act to
divide the Territory of Wisconsin and to establish the Territorial
Government of Iowa" passed both the Senate and the House of
Representatives. On June 12, 1838, it received the approval of President
Van Buren. As the Constitution of the Territory of Iowa it took effect
on the sixty-second anniversary of the Independence of the American
Nation. In the chronology of our Constitutions it stands as the second
code or text of fundamental law.

But the Territory of Iowa was not established without opposition in
Congress. The discussion in the House of Representatives on the fifth
and sixth days of June, and immediately preceding the passage of the act
dividing the Territory of Wisconsin, brought out something of the
broader significance of the proposition to create a new Territory in the
country west of the Mississippi and north of the State of Missouri. From
the records it appears that the sympathies of the Representatives were
not all with the men on the frontier.

Mr. Mason of Ohio, who moved to strike out the enacting clause, said
that he desired to obtain information relative to the assertion "that
the people had settled there in a manner contrary to law."

"Mr. Waddy Thompson opposed the bill and the creation of a
Territorial Government in the Northwest." He went at great length into
"a consideration of the balance of power between the Northern and
Western, and Southern States, as far as related to the questions of
slavery, and the annexation of Texas." He declared that "he would never
consent to the coming in of these Territories or States into the Union,
when the fanatical spirit of the North was pouring into the House
memorials against the annexation of Texas, simply because it was cursed
with the peculiar institution of the South." To preserve the balance of
power between the two sections of the Union, was the substance of Mr.
Thompson's plea. If by the creation of the Territory of Iowa the North
is promised a new State, the demand of the South for the annexation
of Texas should, in accordance with the principle of the balance of
power, be recognized. Thus it was proposed to meet the problem of
admitting States at the time of the formation of new Territories.

In the course of the debate it was suggested by Mr. Mercer