These marginal or frontier settlers (squatters, as they were called) were beyond the pale of constitutional government. No statute of Congress protected them in their rights to the claims they had staked out and the improvements they had made. In _law_ they were trespassers; in _fact_ they were honest farmers. Now, it was to meet the peculiar conditions of frontier life, and especially to secure themselves in what they were pleased to call their rights in making and holding claims, that the pioneers of Iowa established land clubs or claim associations. Nearly every community in early Iowa had its local club or association. It is impossible to give definite figures, but it is safe to say that over one hundred of these extra-legal organizations existed in Territorial Iowa. Some, like the Claim Club of Fort Dodge, were organized and flourished after the Commonwealth had been admitted into the Union. In the "Recollections" and "Reminiscences" of pioneers many references are made to these early land clubs or claim associations, and Constitutions, By-laws, or Resolutions are sometimes reproduced therewith in whole or in part. But _complete and adequate manuscript records_ of but two Iowa organizations have thus far come to light. The "Constitution and Records of the Claim Association of Johnson County," preserved by the Iowa State Historical Society, were published in full in 1894. The materials of this now famous manuscript, which are clear and complete, were arranged as follows: I. Constitution and Laws; II. Minutes of Meetings; III. Recorded Claims; IV. Recorded Quit Claim Deeds. The Constitution of the Johnson County Association is perhaps the most elaborate Squatter Constitution in the annals of early Iowa. It was adopted March 9th, 1839, and consists of three articles, twenty-three sections, and over twenty-five hundred words. Article I. fixes the name of the Association, and declares that "the officers of this association shall be one President, one Vice President, One Clerk or Recorder of claims, deeds or transfers of Claims, seven Judges or adjusters of claims or boundary . . . and two Marshalls." All of the officers were elected annually. Article II. relates to "sallerys." It provides that "the Clerk or Recorder shall receive Twenty-five cents for recording each and everry claim, and fifty cents for everry deed or conveyance . . . . and Twelve & a half cents for the privalege of examining his Books." The Judges and Marshals were allowed one dollar and fifty cents each for every day spent in the discharge of the duties of their respective offices.