HISTORY, The aboriginal inhabitants of the State were the Indian tribes of Iowa (q.v.) and Illinois (q.v.), who in the course of time were driven from their homes by the Saes and Foxes. Marquette and -Joliet. in 1673. and Hen nepin. in MO. touched on the borders of the State. In 1788 .Tulien Dubuque, a Frenchman from Canada. obtained from the Indians the grant of a large tract of land, including the site of the city now bearing his name. and the rich mineral country surrounding, it. Tie built a fort there, carried on the mining of lead, and traded with the Indians. but on his death, in 1810, the settlement was abandoned. In 1S03 the region passed to the United States as a part of the Louisiana cession. and Indian titles to the land were extinguished by treaties in the years 1804, 1832. and subsequently. It formed, in turn, a part of the Territories of Louisiana (organized in 1804), Missouri, Michigan. and Wisconsin. On June 12, 1838. it was organized as the Iowa Territory. In 1832 a number of emigrants set tled on the site of Fort Madison, which had been erected by the United States Government in 180S and abandoned five years later. About the same time a settlement was made in the neigh horhood of and in 1833 Dubuque was founded. Six years later the Government was removed to Iowa City, and in 1844 a State con stitution was framed and admission to the Union sought for. After sore delay, caused by the ac tion of Congress in restricting greatly the bounda ries of the new and after the rejection of two constitutions, the State was admitted on De ember 2';, 1846. Immigration into the State was rapid, and continued in spite of a bloody massacre of whites by Sioux Indians at Spirit Lake in March, 1857. In the same year the original Con stitution of 1846 was revised and Des Moines was made the capital. In the Civil War, Iowa. whose fundamental law prohibited slavery, took a zeal ous part. The two most important questions of public moment since 1870 have been railway legislation and prohibition. The development of
the State was greatly accelerated by the build ing of railroads. of which there were. in 1900. nearly 10,000 miles, but with the rise of powerful railway corporations, there ensued a continuous conflict between the Legislature and the compa nies in regard to the taxation of railway prop erty and the regulation of rates. In 1872 an act taxing railway property was passed. and in 1S73 a powerful agitation stirred up by the Patrons of Th.1)andry (see GRANGE) against the extortionate rates imposed by the companies led to the creation of a board of railroad com missioners for the purpose of determining a maximum rate and preventing discrimination. Radical action on the part of the commissioners caused repeated appeals to the courts, and though many concessions were wrung from the companies. the advantage in general remained with them. A Prohibition amendment adopted in 1882 was promptly declared unconstitutional by the courts. A new law went into effect in 1884, and for some years proved fairly adequate. A very large part of the population, however. was opposed to sumptuary legislation, and in 1890. under the protection of the interstate commerce laws, a successful attempt was made to evade the anti-liquor regulation: by the importation of al coholic products from other States. In 1894 the ecurts declared the prohibitory laws unconstitu tional. From 1846 to 1854 the State was Demo cratic both in National and State politics. Since 1854 its vote in national elections has always been east for the Republican candidate. The State government, as a whole, has always been in the hands of the Republicans. and only in 1SS9 and 1891, years of stormy railway and liquor legis lation, was a Democratic Governor elected.
The Governors of Iowa since its organization as a Territory have been as follows: . • •