Pieces of Iowa’s Past This Week:

Pioneer Life March 22, 2017

From the chapter “Life Among the Pioneers” From The Story of Iowa by William J. Petersen, Volume I, 1952

Frontier Politics As in any new state, politics was of the greatest concern to all Iowa pioneers. It was indeed both necessary as an activity and one of the most compelling and exciting of interests. Newspapers supported candidates with zeal unknown today. Leading men of most communities attended political conventions as a duty and as a pleasure while candidates toured the state assiduously and were welcomed with delight by citizens everywhere, who flocked to hear what they had to say. A rousing good speaker provided a neighborhood with material for conversation and arguments for weeks after his speech.

Pieces of Iowa’s Past, published by the Iowa State Capitol Tour Guides weekly during the Legislative Session, features historical facts about Iowa, the Capitol, and the early workings of state government. All italicized text/block quotes in this document are taken directly from historical publications with the

actual spelling, punctuation, and grammar retained.

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In early days in Iowa as in the rest of America, everybody was either a Whig or a Democrat. The different principles of the parties were well defined and there were few if any independent voters. Men did not vote for a candidate as much as they did for the party. Personal abuse of candidates was common but partisan editors—and they were all partisan—then heaped their most vitriolic language upon the other parties, and, what is unknown today, roundly abused each other. It seems, from reading the old papers, that the editors must have sat up nights finding adjectives with which to castigate their rival editors. Charges of stupidity and downright insanity were mild; often one editor would charge his rival with downright fabrication, corruption, and whatever else he could think of as being derogatory—and interesting to his readers. The papers were filled with long articles which discussed not only local issues but national matters of difficult and abstruse character—such as the tariff, banking, slavery, Supreme Court decisions, and whatever else happened to be on the fire at the moment. Early Iowa editors were far from being bashful—and their readers ate up every word and spent days between issues debating what each paper had said or argued.

Pioneer Elections Just as the readers demanded strong personality in their editors, so did the voters demand strength in the candidates and vigor in the rallies. Speeches had to be long, substantial, and windy but also fiery. It was not how much sense a candidate expressed but how vigorously he expressed himself that mattered. These rallies often featured bountiful barbecues and liquor was frequently provided. Voters came to eat, to drink, and to be entertained and were usually not disappointed. Probably few votes were won or lost at these rallies, for voters had their minds firmly made up in advance but the speakers representing their parties were expected to supply them with ammunition for local use in political arguments. Parades, bands, torchlight processions—early Iowa politics had a zip and a zing which has long since departed from the arena which now is dry and dull compared with the glory that has passed. Of course much of this pioneer political frenzy was mere stage amusement. It was common for rival candidates to travel together so as to stage joint debates. On the platform, they would abuse each other with the most entertaining abandon but in private they were all good friends, as indeed

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most of them actually were. These campaign tours required strength of body as well as oratorical ability for the tours in the early days were rough and ready in the extreme. Sometimes they wined and dined regally and slept between sheets in comfortable homes. More often they shared a bunk in some dreary tavern and ate what was available. Sometimes they rode for days soaked to the skin by rain storms and went without food and shelter overnight. There is a record of one party dining ravenously on hot tea and raw onions. Every candidate made much of his personal honesty and of the integrity of his party, as opposed to the rascality of his opponent and his party. Actually, politics was politics then as now, and many a deal was made in smoke-filled back rooms. Elections were frequently tumultuous and ballots were “lost” or miscounted. In the main, however, Iowans were in dead earnest. Not only were they busy building a state but they felt that the United States itself was still on trial. Every man was expected to do his duty, each according to his lights. It was real democracy.

Cincinnati Chronicle

Newspaper Articles

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Notable Figures

Photographs of Interest

Dennis Aloysius Mahony 1821-1879

James Harlan 1820-1899

Mount Pleasant yields an unexpected Lincoln connection: the home of James Harlan, where Abraham Lincoln’s

grandchildren spent many of their summers.