Senate Journal: Page 83: Friday, January 17, 2003
We must be dogged in our pursuits, as dogged as Arabella Mansfield, as dogged as
Alexander Clark.
Arabella Mansfield was born in Burlington, was educated at Iowa Wesleyan in
Mount Pleasant, and taught at Simpson and then at Iowa Wesleyan. Even though
there were no women lawyers in America, she studied law in a law office in Mount
Pleasant and then applied for admission to the bar in 1869. After reading her paper,
the examiners said that her performance gave "the very best rebuke possible to the
imputation that ladies cannot qualify for the practice of law." They then certified her
as the first woman to be admitted to the bar of any state in the union.
She took risks. She wrought change.
Alexander Clark Jr. was a loving father who thought his twelve-year-old daughter
should attend the neighborhood school in Muscatine. The school board didn’t think so.
It said it had a special school for children like her-a separate school for "colored"
children. This was in 1868, and Mr. Clark sued on behalf of his daughter. The
Supreme Court said of course Susan Clark could go to the neighborhood school.
Whether we are African, German, Irish, French, or English, it said we are "one
harmonious people" and we all should be treated alike.
He took risks. He wrought change.
We were then, and we are today, "one harmonious people." Irish escaping famines
of the 1840’s were among the first people to settle in Iowa, and they were quickly
followed by Norwegians, French, Swedes, and Germans. A look at the names of our
counties tells the story. Lajos Kossuth was a Hungarian patriot. Will Smith O’Brien
was a leader for Irish independence. Marquis de la Fayette-for whom Fayette County
was named-was a French statesman. Frederick Bremer was a Swedish author. Baron
Friedrich von Humboldt was a German scientist. We must continue to be one
harmonious people. We must continue to welcome anyone and everyone to this state so
they enjoy the blessings of the liberties we prize, and we can gain from the skills and
productivity they bring.
"The liberties we prize." That’s one half of the Iowa motto. "Our liberties we prize
and our rights we will maintain." We must never forget that motto, for those liberties
and rights define our state every bit as much as our fields and factories do. We have
fought dear to preserve those freedoms. When Abraham Lincoln asked for troops in
1861, Iowa Governor Samuel Kirkwood said we would send one regiment. But we had
tenfold that number of volunteers, and ultimately provided 48 regiments of infantry,
nine regiments of cavalry, and four batteries of artillery-more than 75,000 men, about
a tenth of the population of the entire state. Thirteen thousand of those men died-a
higher percentage of loss than any other Union state sustained-and another 8800 were
wounded.
But our liberties were saved, our rights were maintained.
The world had changed markedly since I stood before you four years ago. The
national economy is weaker. Let us never forget the budget problems we have in state
government reflect the day-to-day struggles of people from our state. We lost revenue.
They’ve lost jobs and incomes. We struggle with rising health care costs. They can’t
find a doctor. We cut and scrimp to pay our bills, and so do they.
© 2003 Cornell College and
League of Women Voters of Iowa
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