Iowa Almanac
Iowa Almanac -- Monday, October 07, 2024
writing a constitution. More from the Iowa Almanac in a moment. Election Day is Tuesday, November 5th. Now is the time to make a plan. Whether you plan to vote absentee by mail in person at your county auditor's office before Election Day or at your polling place on November 5th, it's important you take steps now to make your plan at voterready.iowa.gov. Remember Election Day is Tuesday, November 5th. Find more information at voterready.iowa.gov. This message presented by the Iowa Secretary of State. The procedure was fairly straightforward. In order for a territory to become a state, a constitution had to be written. And that led to a gathering of 72 men in Iowa City on October 7th, 1844. Iowa had been a territory for six years, but the concept of writing a constitution or making laws was still new. Two-thirds of the delegates were Democrats. The rest were wigs. The Republican Party wouldn't be formed for another ten years. The convention was in session for 26 days discussing questions such as, "Should meetings be opened with prayer? What salary should be paid to public officials? And what should the boundaries of the new state be?" The Constitution was ultimately sent to Congress in December, which had to determine if Iowa's population was large enough to justify statehood, if the boundaries for the proposed new state were satisfactory, and if the Constitution itself was consistent with the U.S. Constitution. Congress approved the document, including a provision that Iowa would enter the Union as a free state. But the people of Iowa had to vote and approve the Constitution, and as it turned out, citizens did not like the boundaries that had been proposed and rejected the Constitution. That delayed Iowa statehood because another convention had to be called and another document prepared for approval by voters. That ultimately happened, of course, but the first constitutional convention for Iowa statehood began on this date in 1844. And that's Iowa Almanac for October 7th. There's more online at IowaAlmanac.com. Until tomorrow, I'm Jeff Stein.