The old saying,
"Rome was not built in a day," applies with equal
appropriateness to every political division or
subdivision of the civilized countries of the world.
Long before Lee County was even dreamed of, the
discovery of America by Christopher Columbus, started
a chain of events that led to the establishment of the
Republic of the United States and the division of the
central portion of North America into states and
counties. It is therefore deemed advisable to give a
brief account of these events, in order that the
reader may form some idea of the evolution of the
State of Iowa and Lee County.
In 1493, the year following the first voyage of
Columbus to the New World, the pope granted to the
King and Queen of Spain "all countries inhabited by
infidels." At that time the extent of the continent
just discovered by Columbus was not known, but, in a
vague way, this papal grant included the present State
of Iowa.
Henry VII of England, in 1496, granted to John Cabot
and his sons a patent of discovery, possession and
trade "to all lands they may discover and lay claim to
in the name of the English crown." During the next
three years the Cabots explored the Atlantic Coast and
made discoveries upon which England, at the close of
the Fifteenth Century, claimed all the central part of
North America.
Farther northward the French, through the discoveries
of Jacques Cartier, claimed the Valley of the St.
Lawrence and the region about the Great Lakes, from
which they pushed their explorations west- ward toward
the headwaters of the Mississippi and southward into
the Valley of the Ohio.
Following the usage of nations, by which title to land
was claimed by right of discovery, it is not
surprising that in course of time a controversy arose
among these three great European nations as to which
was really the rightful possessor of the soil. The
grant of the pope was strengthened in 1541-42 by the
expedition of De Soto into the interior and the
discovery of the Mississippi River, by which Spain
claimed all the land bordering on the great river and
the Gulf of Mexico. The charter granted by the English
Government to the Plymouth Company in 1620 included
"all the lands between the fortieth and forty-eighth
parallels of north latitude from sea to sea." In 1628
the Massachusetts Bay Company received a charter from
the English authorities that included a strip about
one hundred miles wide through the central part of
Iowa. The northern boundary line of. this grant
crossed the Mississippi not far from the present city
of Prairie Du Chien, Wisconsin. Thus Iowa, or at least
a portion of it, was claimed by both England and Spain
"by right of discovery." No efforts were made by
either nation, however, to extend their explorations
into the interior, the English being content with the
colonies established in Virginia and New England,
while the Spaniards were so intent on discovering rich
gold or silver mines that they made no attempt to
found permanent settlements.
As early as 161 1 Jesuit missionaries from the French
settlements in Canada were among the Indians along the
shores of Lakes Michigan and Superior. In 1634 J ean
Nicollet passed still farther to the westward and
reached the country about the Fox River in Wisconsin.
In the fall of 1665 Claude Allouez, one of the most
zealous of the Jesuit fathers, held a council with
representatives of several of the leading western
Indian tribes at the Chippewa Village on the southern
shore of Lake Superior. At this council were chiefs of
the Chippewa, Sioux, Sacs, Foxes, Pottawatomi and
Illini. Allouez promised the Indians the protection of
the great French father and thus opened the way for a
profitable trade with the natives. At the council some
of the Sioux and Illini chiefs told the missionary of
a great river farther to the westward, "called by them
the Me-sa-sip-pi, which they said no white man had yet
seen, and along which fur bearing animals
abounded."
In 1668 Allouez and another missionary, named Claude
Dablon, founded the mission of St. Mary's, the oldest
white settlement within the present State of Michigan.
The accounts of the region carried back by Nicollet
and the missionaries led the French authorities in
Canada to send Nicholas Perrot as the accredited agent
of the Government to arrange for a grand council with
the Indians. The council was held at St. Mary's in
May, 1671, and before the close of that year Jacques
Marquette, another Jesuit missionary, founded the
mission among the Huron Indians at Point St. Ignace,
which mission was for many years regarded as the key
to the great unexplored West.
Marquette had heard the reports concerning the great
river and was filled with a desire to discover it, but
was deterred from doing so until after Perrot's
council, which resulted in the establishment of
friendly relations between the French and Indians. In
the spring of 1673, having received authority from the
Canadian officials, he began his preparations at
Michilimackinac for the voyage. It is said the
friendly Indians there tried to dissuade him from his
undertaking by telling him that the Indians along the
great river were cruel and vindictive, and that the
river itself was the abode of terrible monsters that
could swallow both canoes and men.
Such stories had no effect upon the intrepid priest,
unless it was to make him more determined, and on May
13, 1673, accompanied by Louis Joliet, an explorer and
trader, and five voyageurs, or boat- men, in two large
canoes, the little expedition left Michilimackinac.
Passing up Green Bay to the mouth of the Fox River, he
ascended that stream, crossed the portage to the
Wisconsin River, floated down that river and on June
17, 1673, first saw the Mississippi, opposite the
present town of McGregor, Iowa. Turning their canoes
southward, they descended the Mississippi, carefully
noting the landmarks as they passed along. On the 25th
they landed on the west bank, "sixty leagues below the
mouth of the Wisconsin River," where they noticed
footprints in the soft earth. Sixty leagues from the
mouth of the Wisconsin would throw this landing
somewhere near the present town of Montrose, in Lee
County. This is the earliest account of any white men
having been within the present State of Iowa.
Leaving the five boatmen to guard the canoes and
supplies, Marquette and Joliet followed the trail
westward until they came to an Indian village, and
noted two other villages in the vicinity. They were
received with hospitality and a dinner of four courses
was served. The first course consisted of a stew of
coarse corn meal, cooked in oil, which the Indians
called "tagamity"; the second course was of fish,
which the visitors enjoyed; the third was of roast
dog, but this the Frenchmen declined and it was taken
out, and the fourth was roast buffalo, cooked in a way
that rendered it quite palatable. After dinner the
calumet, or pipe of peace, was tendered to the
visitors.
Marquette and Joliet remained for several days among
the Indians, who were a part of the great Illini tribe
or nation. They informed Marquette and Joliet that the
name of their village was Moingona and that the river
upon which it was built bore the same name. Some
authorities state that the explorers went back from
the Mississippi a distance of six miles to the Indian
village, but it was probably farther, as nowhere does
the Des Moines (Moingona) River run within six miles
of Montrose. At the conclusion of their visit, they
were accompanied back to their canoes by the chiefs
and a large party of warriors, who watched them
reembark for the continuance of their voyage down the
river. One of the chiefs, on behalf of the band,
presented Marquette with a finely decorated calumet as
a token of the good wishes of the tribe. The explorers
then descended the river to the mouth of the Arkansas.
There they came to some Indians whose language they
could not understand and returned to Canada.
In 1678 Louis XIV, then King of France, granted to
Robert Cavelier, Sieur de la Salle, a patent to
explore the western part of New France. After several
unsuccessful attempts to reach and descend the great
river to its mouth, La Salle finally carried out his
purpose, and on April 9, 1682, at the mouth of the
Mississippi, claimed all the territory drained by that
river and its tributaries, to which region he gave the
name of Louisiana, in honor of the French king. This
claim was afterward acknowledged by other European
nations and Iowa became recognized as part of the
French possessions in the New World.
On April 8, 1689, Nicholas Perrot took formal
possession of the upper Mississippi Valley in the name
of France and built a fort and trading post on a
river, to which he gave the name of St. Nicholas.
Eleven years later Le Sueur went up the river seeking
lead mines, which Indian traditions said existed
somewhere along the river, but it was not until many
years afterward that the mines were discovered by
white men. Thus matters stood at the close of the
Seventeenth Century.
During the next century the frontier of civilization
was pushed gradually westward. The Hudson's Bay
Company had been organized by the English in 1667 and
its trappers and traders went into all parts of the
interior in spite of the French claim to the
territory. In 171 2 the French Government granted to
Antoine Crozat a charter fixing his control of the
trade of Louisiana. Crozat, who was a wealthy merchant
of Paris, sent agents to America, but found the
Spanish ports on the Gulf of Mexico closed to his
vessels, because Spain, while recognizing the claim of
France to the Territory of Louisiana, was jealous of
French ambitions. At the end of five years Crozat
surrendered his charter and was succeeded by John Law,
who organized the Mississippi Company as a branch of
the Bank of France. Law sent some eight hundred
colonists to Louisiana in 1718 and the next year
Philipe Renault went up the Mississippi to the
Illinois country with about two hundred more, the
intention being to estab- lish posts and open up a
trade with the Indians. In 1720 Law's whole scheme
collapsed. It has become known in history as the
"Mississippi Bubble." On April 10, 1732, he
surrendered his charter and Louisiana again became
subject to the jurisdiction of the French
Government.
In the meantime the English traders had been extending
their operations into French territory and in 171 2
incited the Fox Indians to hostilities against the
French. The first open conflict between the English
and French did not come, however, until in 1753, when
the latter nation began building a line of forts from
the Great Lakes to the Ohio River to prevent the
English from extending their settlements west of the
Allegheny Mountains. The territory upon which these
forts were built was claimed by Virginia and Governor
Dinwiddie of that colony sent George Washington, then
just turned twenty-one, to demand of the French
commandant an explanation for this invasion of English
domain while the nations were at peace. The reply was
insolent and the following year Washington; with the
rank of lieutenant-colonel, was again sent into the
disputed territory. This time he was furnished with a
detachment of troops and instructed "to complete the
fort already commenced by the Ohio Company at the
forks of the Ohio, and to capture, kill or drive out
all who attempted to interfere with the English posts.
This incident aroused the indignation of France and in
May, 1756, that nation formally declared war against
Great Britain. The conflict that followed, known as
the "French and Indian War," kept the American
colonies of both nations and Indian tribes in a state
of turmoil for several years.
On November 3, 1762, the French and Indian war was
concluded by the preliminary treaty of Fontainebleau,
by which France ceded all that part of Louisiana lying
east of the Mississippi River, except the city and
island of New Orleans, to Great Britain. The treaty
was ratified by the Treaty of Paris on February 10,
1763, and on the same day it was announced that, by an
agreement previously made in secret, all that portion
of Louisiana lying west of the Mississippi, "including
the whole country to the head waters of the great
river and west to the Rocky Mountains," was ceded to
Spain. By this treaty the jurisdiction of France in
America was brought to an end and Iowa became a part
of the Spanish possessions. The French inhabitants
became Spanish subjects, though many of them remained
in the province and took an active part in business
affairs. About the time the transfer was made to
Spain, a fur company was organized in New Orleans to
trade between the Upper Mississippi and the Rocky
Mountains. Pierre Laclede, one of the projectors of
this company, laid out the City of St. Louis, Missouri
— its representatives were operating in Missouri,
Kansas, Iowa, Nebraska and Minnesota.
Independent English trappers and traders also visited
the upper valley about 1766, and some writers think
they traded with the Iowa Indians. They operated
without the sanction and support of the English
colonial authorities and were not always strictly
within the limits of the law in their transactions.
This was the beginning of the Northwest Fur Company,
which a few years later contested with the French
traders for the patronage of the Indians of the
Northwest.
Then came the American Revolution, which again changed
the map of Central North America. At the close of the
French and Indian war, many of the people living east
of the Mississippi refused to acknowledge allegiance
to Great Britain and removed to the west side of the
river. Shortly after the beginning of the
Revolutionary war a number of them recrossed the river
and allied themselves with the colonists in the
struggle for independence. The British had established
several military posts in the territory acquired from
France, the most important of which were the ones at
Vincennes, Indiana, and Kaskaskia and Cahokia,
Illinois. In 1778 the Virginia Legislature authorized
an expedition under Gen. George Rogers Clark for the
reduction of these posts, and by Clark's conquest of
the North- west the western boundary of the United
States was fixed at the Mississippi River by the
Treaty of 1783, which ended the Revolutionary war and
established the independence of the American Re-
public.
It was not long until the new nation became involved
in a controversy with the Spanish authorities in
Louisiana over the free navigation of the Mississippi.
The final settlement of this question had a direct and
important influence on the region now comprising the
State of Iowa. The great river constituted the natural
outlet for the commerce of a large part of the United
States, but the Spanish officials established posts
along the river and every boat descending the stream
was forced to land at these posts and submit to
arbitrary revenue duties. This was not only
humiliating to the American merchants, but it also
materially decreased the profits of their trade. After
much diplomatic discussion and correspondence, the
vexed question was finally settled by the Treaty of
Madrid, concluded on October 20, 1795, which
stipulated that "the Mississippi River, from its
source to the gulf, for its entire width, shall be
free to American trade and commerce, and the people of
the United States shall be per- mitted, for three
years, to use the port of New Orleans as a port of
deposit, without payment of duty."
At the expiration of the three years the free
navigation of the Mississippi again became a subject
of vital interest to the people of the United States.
While it was under discussion a secret treaty was
negotiated between France and Spain, at San Ildefonso
in the fall of 1800, by which Spain agreed to cede
Louisiana back to France, under certain conditions.
The terms of this treaty were made public by the
Treaty of Madrid (March 21, 1801) and soon after that
Rufus King, the United States minister to England,
sent a copy of the treaty to President Jefferson. The
transfer of the province back to France changed the
whole situation and offered a favorable opportunity to
secure the free navigation of the river.
Slow progress was made, however, and on January 7,
1803, the lower house of the United States Congress
adopted a resolution declaring that "It is the
unalterable determination of the United States to
maintain the boundaries and the rights of navigation
and commerce through the Mississippi River, as
established by existing treaties." Before the close of
that month President Jefferson sent Robert R.
Livingston and James Monroe as special envoys to
Paris, to negotiate a treaty that would secure the
free navigation of the great river, "not as a favor,
but as a right." Livingston and Monroe were instructed
to secure, if possible, the cession of New Orleans and
its island to the United States. When this subject was
presented to M. Talleyrand, the French prime minister,
he suggested that it might be possible for the United
States to acquire the entire Province of Louisiana. A
few days later Livingston had an interview with
Napoleon, who offered to sell all Louisiana to the
United States for $25,000,000. Further negotiations
followed and the purchase price was modified to
$15,000,000, which was accepted by the American envoys
and a treaty on this basis was concluded on the last
day of April, 1803, making Iowa a part of the
territory of the United States.
The treaty was ratified by the Federal Government and
on December 20, 1803, Governor Claiborne, of
Mississippi, and General Wilkinson, as the
commissioners of the United States, took formal
possession of the territory and raised the Stars and
Stripes at New Orleans. Had Livingston and Monroe
adhered to their original instructions and acquired
only the island and city of New Orleans, leaving all
west of the Mississippi in the hands of France, what
the history of Iowa might have been can only be
conjectured. But to Napoleon's desire to dispose of
the entire province and the fact that the envoys went
beyond their instructions — which was afterward
ratified by the Federal Government — Iowa owes her
position as one of the states of the American Union.
By that treaty the territory of this country was
extended westward to the Pacific Ocean, and northward
from the Gulf of Mexico to the British
possessions.
On March 26, 1804, President Jefferson approved an act
of Congress authorizing the division of the newly
acquired territory, and on October 1, 1804, all that
portion south of the thirty-third parallel of north
latitude was designated as the Territory of Orleans,
that part north of the thirty-third parallel becoming
the District of Louisiana, in which was included the
present State of Iowa.
During the next thirty-five years the status of Iowa
was somewhat unsettled. The Northwest Territory,
comprising the present states of Ohio, Indiana,
Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin and that part of
Minnesota east of the Mississippi River, was organized
in 1787. In May, 1800, it was divided and the
Territory of Indiana was established, with Gen.
William H. Harrison as governor. When the Province of
Louisiana was divided by the act of 1804, the upper
portion, or District of Louisiana, was placed under
the territorial authorities of Indiana, where it
remained until July 4, 1805, when it was organized as
a separate territory with a government of its own. In
1812 the Territory of Orleans was admitted into the
Union as the State of Louisiana and the name of the
District of Louisiana was then changed to the
Territory of Missouri. Upon the admission of Missouri
into the Union in March, 1821, the northern part of
the Louisiana Purchase, including Iowa, was left
without any form of civil government. The Black Hawk
Purchase was made in 1832 and the next year
preliminary steps were taken by the Government for the
settlement of the territory west of the Mississippi.
It then became apparent that some provision must be
made for the government of that section of the
country. On June 28, 1834, President Jackson approved
the act erecting the Territory of Michigan, which
included all the territory from Lake Huron westward to
the Missouri. In September of that year the territory
legislature of Michigan created two counties west of
the Mississippi — Dubuque and Des Moines — separated
by a line running due westward from the foot of Rock
Island.
These counties were partially organized and on October
5, 1835, Gen. George W. Jones was elected a delegate
to Congress from this part of the Territory of
Michigan. Through his efforts and influence,
Congress passed an act, approved by President Van
Buren on April 20, 1836, dividing the Territory of
Michigan and creating the Territory of Wisconsin,
which included the region west of the Mississippi.
This act went into effect on July 4, 1836, with Gen.
Henry Dodge as governor of the new territory. One of
the first official acts of Governor Dodge was to order
a census, when the two counties west of the
Mississippi were found to have a population of 10,531.
He then issued his proclamation for an election to be
held on the first Monday in October, 1836, for members
of the territorial legislature.
In Des Moines County Jeremiah Smith, Jr., Joseph B.
Teas and Arthur B. Ingram were elected members of the
council ; Isaac Leffler, Thomas Blair, John Box,
George W. Teas, Eli Reynolds, David R. Chance and
Warren L. Jenkins, members of the house. The
legislature met on October 26, 1836, at Belmont.
During the session Des Moines County was divided into
the counties of Lee, Van Buren, Henry, Muscatine and
Cook, the boundaries of which were defined and
provisions made for their organization.
In the early autumn of 1837 the question of dividing
the Territory of Wisconsin and establishing a separate
territory west of the Mississippi began to be
earnestly discussed by the people living west of the
river. Late in September the following notice was
circulated throughout Lee County:
"A county meeting will be held at the house of C. L.
Cope, in the Town of Fort Madison, on Saturday, the
14th of October, next, at 1 o'clock P. M., for the
purpose of choosing three delegates to meet in
convention at Burlington on the first Monday in
November, next, to take into consideration the
expediency of petitioning Congress for a division of
the Territory of Wisconsin and the organization of a
separate territorial government west of the
Mississippi. Also the attempt being made by the State
of Missouri to extend her northern boundary line, and
to call the attention of Congress to the necessity of
granting preemption laws to actual settlers, and for
other purposes. Dated September 23, 1837."
At the Fort Madison meeting at Mr. Cope's house, Henry
Eno, Philip Viele and Hawkins Taylor were chosen as
Lee County's delegates to the Burlington convention.
On the appointed date delegates from the various
settlements west of the Mississippi assembled at
Burlington. A petition asking for the organization of
a new territory west of the river was adopted without
a dissenting vote. The territorial legislature, then
in session, indorsed the action of the convention. In
response to this expression of popular sentiment,
Congress passed "An act to divide the Territory of
Wisconsin, and to establish the territorial government
of Iowa." President Van Buren approved the act on June
12, 1838, "to take effect and be in force from and
after July 3, 1838," and appointed Robert Lucas, of
Ohio, as the first territorial governor. William B.
Conway, of Pennsylvania, was appointed secretary;
Charles Mason, of Burlington, chief justice; Thomas S.
Wilson, of Dubuque, and Joseph Wil- liams, of
Pennsylvania, associate judges.
The Territory of Iowa, as first created, included "all
that part of the Territory of Wisconsin which lies
west of the Mississippi River and west of a line drawn
due north from the head water or sources of the
Mississippi to the northern boundary of the Territory
of the United States."
On February 12, 1844, the Iowa Legislature passed an
act providing for the election of delegates to a
constitutional convention as a preparatory step for
admission into the Union as a state. The convention
assembled at Iowa City on October 7, 1844, and
completed the constitution on the first day of
November. When the constitution was submitted to the
United States Congress, that body refused to accept
the boundaries proposed by the people of Iowa, "in
constitutional convention assembled," but by an act
approved March 3, 1845, provisions were made for the
admission of Iowa, if the act was accepted by the
people of that territory. The Constitution of 1 844
was submitted to the voters of the territory at an
election held on August 4, 1845, and was rejected by a
vote of 7,656 to 7,235.
On May 4, 1846, another constitutional convention met
at Iowa City and completed its work on the 18th of the
same month. This second constitution was ratified by
the people at an election held on August 3, 1846, by a
vote of 9,492 to 9,036, and on December 28, 1846,
President Polk approved an act admitting Iowa into the
Union as a state. Under the operations of this act Lee
County became a political subdivision of one of the
sovereign commonwealths of the ' American Union.
Source: History
of
Lee County, Iowa, by Dr. S. W. Moorhead and
Nelson C. Roberts, 1914
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