Paul; but I am glad to be able to say, in behalf of
honesty and fair dealing, none of them have been successful.

The existence of this unwritten treaty has been denied, but there are
men yet living in the state who took part in it, and have publicly
affirmed its authenticity. Judge Douglas of Illinois, when chairman of
the senate committee on territories, insisted on placing the capital at
Mendota, with the building on the top of Pilot Knob, and had it not been
for the stern integrity of Sibley, he would have succeeded, to the
everlasting inconvenience and discomfort of our people.

There were really no politics worthy of the name during the years of the
territory. All the principal offices were filled by appointment by the
general government, and the rest of them determined by personal
rivalries. The main business of the territory was the fur trade, carried
on by warring companies, whose chief factors sought office more for the
sake of its influence on their business than for the principles they
represented.

I remember one year the legislature, in a spasm of virtue, passed a
prohibitory liquor law, which the supreme court, under the influence of
a counter spasm, immediately set aside as unconstitutional. Outside of
the cities, where the missionaries exerted a strong influence, the
contention was usually whisky or no whisky; in fact, there was very
little else to fight about.

The first government was appointed by the Whigs (the Republican party
being yet unborn), and as Governor Ramsey was from Pennsylvania, we had
a great influx of immigration from that state. The second governor
(Gorman) was appointed by the Democrats, and came from Indiana, and the
people of that state being much more migratory than the Pennsylvanians,
we were flooded with Hoosiers. These various influences caused
differences of opinion and interests sufficient to keep the political
pot boiling quite lively, but on lines that were necessarily personal
and temporary in their bearing. We soon, however, approached the more
important subject of statehood, and, strange as it may seem to the
present generation, the question of slavery was a strong factor. The
Republican party was born about 1854, and as its principal creed was
opposition to the extension of slavery, its followers naturally forced
the subject into the politics of the day. I can, however, positively
affirm that no one of any political faith had the slightest idea of
introducing slaver