The Burlington weekly hawk-eye. [volume] (Burlington [Iowa]) 1860-1876, 1861-05-04
THE HAWK-EYE

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The InAsbssAnsD o. Iowa % he Union.
The loyalty Of Iowa to the United States is
clear and unqusstisoable, and there is every rea
con that such should Be the case. Sixty years
ego our soil was in the possession of Spain
Having been tranasrred to France, it was pur-
chased Of Napoleon, then FRS Consul, by Pre-
ssident Jsderson. His agents in making the pur-
chase, were Robert B. Livingston, Of New York.
and James Monroe, Of Virginia. It was pur-
chased BY the United States, mot BY New York
: Or Virginia. Il was psid for in money Of the
: United States. For . period Of forty-three years
there WAS no other Jurisdiction upon this soil
than that Of the United Statea II was the U.
States that extinguished the title Of the Indians
70 the lands We now cultivate, and to the sites
Of our fourishing cities In 1905, Lieut.. Pike,
an officer Of the General Government, sailed up
the River along our shores, bearing the 'stars
and Stripes" on . tour Of exploration. Lewis
and CLARK, under the same authority, explored
our Western boundary. Our lands were survey
Cd, and many Of our towns were laid out by the
United States Burlington owes it to the en-
lightsned policy OF the General Government to-
wards u.s. that within the city limits, as original
ly laid out, under oct of Congress, our streets
have width Of so feet, while in subsequent ad-
ditions to the city, private enterprise and spec
ulation has made streets only 80 and 40 feet
WIDE
From the United States we have received
section Of land in every township, and other
liberal grants of land, for the support Of schools,
20 that nearly all our children receive their ed
ucation, in large degree, from the liberality
Of the Government some are now base enough
to decry. p 91a
To the surveys and explorations Of Niccollet,
Fremont, Owen, and others, in the service OF
the United States, We we're indebted for our
earliest authentic information respecting the
topography and resources of our Commonwealth.
The Federal Government built our Capital
at Iowa City, now occupied by the University
Of the State, and the Penitentiary at Madison
In early times it opened roads and constructed
bridges to encourage the settlement of the coun.
try. For period Of ten years, from 1885 to
1886, it paid our Executive, Legislative and
judiciary expenses In 1856 Congress made a
nunidcent appropriation of lands to aid us in
the construction of Railroads.
The unexampled growth and prosperity of
Iowa is but commentary upon the liberal pol
icy and the bene6cent agency of the United
States Government A more important service,
however, than any that has been men
toned, remains to be noticed. In 1870, under
the Presidency Of James Monroe, slavery and
involuntary seryitude, otherwise than in the
punishment Of Crimes" was forever prohibited
upon our soil. In 1886, Andrew Jackson Presi-
dent, this prohibition was re-enacted in the or
ganio law of Wisconsin Territory, whose boun-
diaries originally extended to the Missouri River
In 1888, Martin Van Buren, President, the same
immunity was re-enacted in the act establishing
the territorial government Of Iowa. And in the
following year, Hon. Charles Mason, then hold
ing . commission from the President of the
United States as Chief Justice of our Territory,
gave q colored man who was claimed as slave,
named Ralph, his liberty. We owe our exemp.
ton from the curse of slavery and from the
Of outrage and strife that prevail in certain
parts of the land to the legislation Of the United
States.
And besides, it is the United States that gives
to our persons and to the products of our soil,
free access to the ports Of the Atlantic coast,
and that, We undoubtedly trust, will soon recov.
er for US access to the ports of the Gulf of Next
co. 1t is to the Government Of the United
States that we must look to build for us high.
way to the treasures and commerce Of the Pa
cifc coast. Lying as Iowa does, in the heart OF
the continent, it is essential to her life and pros
perity that we have free access to either
Ocean by the most improved methods of CON-
munication.
1t Is evident that Iowa is largely indebted to
the Union for the prosperity that she has enjoy
ed, and the dissolution Of the Union will be our
death-knell. If then, any are hesitating as to
their duty to rally to the defence of the nation
we mean any citizen Of Iowa, any one who has
property, or home in our State-let him recall
the history of the past, and in view Of every
feeling of gratitude, and 90 many considerations
Of interest, let him raise his hand to put down
the treachery and despotism that now threatens
our institutions.
Every State in the Union has contributed to
the population Of Iowa. Our people have GENE
from the North and the South. We gratefully
recognize our obligations to, and We have also
claims upon, every other State. By being admit
ted to the Union in ls46 We gained rights and
assumed duties. We desire to discharge the
latter, and we shall claim the former. We hold
Louisiana and Virginia and every other State to
the agreement they have made with u.s. For a
citizen of Iowa to be false to the Union evinces
unacoountable blindness or perversity. Surely
no one who will exercise reason and reflection
no one who has anything at stake in the country
OF respects himself, can be guilty of such in
gratitude and baseness.
LEAD m not into Temptation.''
The philosophy of this petition is not general
ly recognized. The fact is virtue more frequent
ly:.results from the absence of temptation, than
the presence of high and holy resolution. We
are At the best but weak when temptation, suit
ed to our nature, assails us in full force, and
many who through life maintain charactert1or
integrity owe all to the immunity they have en-
joyed from the inroads Of strong and appropri.
ats appeals to their tendencies and desires
That which Is true Of individuals is true of states