George Wallace Jones was an American frontiersman, entrepreneur, attorney, and judge, was among the first two United States Senators to represent the state of Iowa after it was admitted to the Union in 1846. A Democrat who was elected before the birth of the Republican Party, Jones served over ten years in the Senate, from December 7, 1848 to March 3, 1859. During the American Civil War, he was arrested by Federal authorities and briefly jailed on suspicion of having pro-Confederate sympathies.
The Territory of Wisconsin was an organized and incorporated territory of the United States that existed from July 3, 1836, until May 29, 1848, when an eastern portion of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Wisconsin. Belmont was initially chosen as the capital of the territory. In 1837, the territorial legislature met in Burlington, just north of the Skunk River on the Mississippi, which became part of the Iowa Territory in 1838. In that year, 1838, the territorial capital of Wisconsin was moved to Madison.
Moses Henry Dodge was an American politician and military officer who was Democratic member to the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate, Territorial Governor of Wisconsin and a veteran of the Black Hawk War. His son, Augustus C. Dodge, served as a U.S. Senator from Iowa; the two were the first and so far the only father-son pair to serve concurrently in the Senate, which they did from 1848 to 1855.
William Woodbridge was a U.S. statesman in the states of Ohio and Michigan and in the Michigan Territory prior to statehood. He served as the second governor of Michigan and a United States senator from Michigan.
Since Iowa became a U.S. state in 1846, it has sent congressional delegations to the United States Senate and United States House of Representatives. Each state elects two senators to serve for six years, and members of the House to two-year terms. Before becoming a state, the Iowa Territory elected a non-voting delegate at-large to Congress from 1838 to 1846.
The Constitution of the State of Minnesota was initially approved by the residents of Minnesota Territory in a special election held on October 13, 1857, and was ratified by the United States Senate on May 11, 1858, marking the admittance of Minnesota to the Union. Nearly 120 amendments have been approved, with perhaps the most significant being a reorganization in 1974 to simplify the document, making it easier for modern readers to comprehend and reducing the extensive verbiage. It is believed that the constitution was amended twice prior to ratification.
Serranus Clinton Hastings was an American politician, rancher and lawyer in California. He studied law as a young man and moved to the Iowa District in 1837 to open a law office. Iowa became a territory a year later, and he was elected a member of the House of Representatives of the Iowa Territorial General Assembly. When the territory became the state of Iowa in 1846, he won an election to represent the state in the United States House of Representatives. After his term ended, he became Chief Justice of the Iowa Supreme Court.
Isaac Leffler, sometimes spelled Lefler or Loeffler, was an American lawyer and Iowa pioneer who represented Virginia's 18th congressional district in the United States House of Representatives for one term in the 1820s. He also served in the legislatures of the Commonwealth of Virginia, as well as the Wisconsin and Iowa Territories. His younger brother, Shepherd Leffler, became one of Iowa's first congressmen after achieving statehood.
James Clarke was the third Governor of Iowa Territory from November 18, 1845 until December 3, 1846, being appointed to the office, as a Democrat, by President James Polk. Born in Greensburg, Pennsylvania, Clarke was secretary of Iowa Territory from 1839–1841 and mayor of Burlington, Iowa from 1844-1845. Clarke was the son-in-law of Henry Dodge, whom Fort Dodge, Iowa, is named in his honor. Clarke County, Iowa was named after James Clarke. He died in Burlington.
The 1840–41 United States Senate elections were held on various dates in various states. As these U.S. Senate elections were prior to the ratification of the Seventeenth Amendment in 1913, senators were chosen by state legislatures. Senators were elected over a wide range of time throughout 1840 and 1841, and a seat may have been filled months late or remained vacant due to legislative deadlock. In these elections, terms were up for the senators in Class 2.
Levi Sterling was an American farmer, politician, and Wisconsin pioneer. He was one of the first American settlers at what is now Iowa County, Wisconsin. He served five years in the Wisconsin Legislature and—before Wisconsin achieved statehood—he served three years in the Wisconsin Territorial Assembly. During the American Civil War, he served as a Union Army cavalry officer.
Peter Hill Engle was an American lawyer, judge, and Iowa pioneer. He served as the first Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of the Wisconsin Territory after it was established, when it still contained the territory of the future states of Iowa and Minnesota. He later served as a judge of the St. Louis County, Missouri, Court of Common Pleas from 1841 until his death.
The 1848 Wisconsin gubernatorial election was held on May 8, 1848. This was the election for the first Governor of Wisconsin, which became a U.S. state that year, as it was held concurrent with a public referendum to ratify the Constitution of Wisconsin.
The Minnesota Territorial Legislature was a bicameral legislative body created by the United States Congress in 1849 as the legislative branch of the government of the Territory of Minnesota. The upper chamber, the Council, and the lower chamber, the House of Representatives, first convened on September 3, 1849. The two chambers served as the territory's legislative body until Minnesota was admitted as a state on May 11, 1858, when the Territorial Legislature was replaced by the Minnesota Legislature.
William Shew was a farmer and businessman from Oak Creek, Wisconsin and Cordova, Illinois who served multiple terms in the Wisconsin Territory House of Representatives representing Milwaukee County, and was Speaker of the House of that body during the first (1847) session of the 5th Wisconsin Territorial Assembly, as well as holding various local government posts.
Warner Lewis was an American politician.
