History of the Constitutions of IowaShambaugh, Benjamin Franklin
History
History of the Constitutions of Iowa
Shambaugh, Benjamin Franklin
Constitutional history -- Iowa; Constitutions -- Iowa
And it shall moreover be lawful for the President of the
United States to direct the marshal, or the officer acting as marshal,
in the manner hereinafter directed, and also to take such other
measures, and to employ such military force as he may judge necessary
and proper, to remove from land ceded, or secured to the United States,
by treaty, or cession, as aforesaid, any person or persons who shall
hereafter take possession of the same, or make, or attempt to make a
settlement thereon, until thereunto authorized by law. And every right,
title, or claim forfeited under this act shall be taken and deemed
to be vested in the United States, without any other or further
proceedings."
In March, 1833, the act of 1807 was revived with special reference to
the Iowa country to which the Indian title was, in accordance with the
Black-Hawk treaty of 1832, to be extinguished in June. It was made
"lawful for the President of the United States to direct the Indian
agents at Prairie du Chien and Rock Island, or either of them, when
offenses against the said act shall be committed on lands recently
acquired by treaty from the Sac and Fox Indians, to execute and perform
all the duties required by the said act to be performed by the marshals
in such mode as to give full effect to the said act, in and over the
lands acquired as aforesaid." Thus it is plain that the early
settlers of Iowa had no legal right to advance beyond the surveyed
country, mark off claims, and occupy and cultivate lands which had not
been surveyed and to which the United States had not issued a warrant,
patent, or certificate of purchase.
But the pioneers on their way to the trans-Mississippi prairies did not
pause to read the United States Statutes at Large. They outran the
public surveyors. They ignored the act of 1807. And it is doubtful if
they ever heard of the act of March 2, 1833. Some were bold enough to
cross the Mississippi and put in crops even before the Indian title had
expired; some squatted on unsurveyed lands; and others, late comers,
settled on surveyed territory. The Government made some successful
effort to keep them off Indian soil. But whenever and wherever the
Indian title had been extinguished, there the hardy pioneers of Iowa
pressed forward determining for themselves and in their own way the
bounds and limits of the frontier.
Hundreds and thousands of claims were thus located! Hundreds and
thousands of farms were thus formed! Hundreds and thousands of
homesteads were thus established! Hundreds and thousands of improvements
were thus begun! Hundreds and thousands of settlers from all parts of
the Union thus "squatted" on the National commons! All without the least
vestige of legal right or title! In 1836, when the surveys were first
begun, over 10,000 of these squatters had settled in the Iowa country.
It was not until 1838 that the first of the public land sales were
held at Dubuque and Burlington.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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