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Native Americans in the United States have resided in what is now [[Iowa]] for thousands of years. The written '''history of Iowa''' begins with the proto-historic accounts of Native Americans by explorers such as [[Jacques Marquette|Marquette]] and [[Louis Joliet|Joliet]] in the 1680s. Until the early 19th century Iowa was occupied exclusively by Native Americans and a few European traders, with loose political control by France and Spain.<ref name="peterson2009">{{cite book|last=Peterson|first=Cynthia L.|title=Frontier Forts of Iowa: Indians, Traders, and Soldiers, 1682–1862|editor=William E. Whittaker|publisher=University of Iowa Press|location=Iowa City|year=2009|pages=12–29|chapter=Historical Tribes and Early Forts|isbn=978-1-58729-831-8|chapter-url=http://uipress.uiowa.edu/books/2009-fall/whittaker.htm|access-date=2009-12-11|archive-date=2009-08-05|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090805200748/http://www.uipress.uiowa.edu/books/2009-fall/whittaker.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="IA Reg">Schwieder, Dorothy, ''History of Iowa'', Iowa Official Register, http://publications.iowa.gov/135/1/history/7-1.html</ref>

Iowa became part of the [[United States of America]] after the [[Louisiana Purchase]] in 1803, but uncontested U.S. control over what is now Iowa occurred only after the [[War of 1812]] and after a series of treaties eliminated Indian claims on the state. Beginning in the 1830s Euro-American settlements appeared in the Iowa Territory, U.S. statehood was acquired in 1846, and by 1860 almost the entire state was settled and farmed by Euro-Americans. Subsistence frontier farming was replaced by commodity farming after the construction of railroad networks in the 1850s and 1860s. Iowa contributed many soldiers who fought in the [[American Civil War]]. Afterwards they returned to help transform Iowa into an agricultural powerhouse, supplying food to the rest of the nation.<ref name="IA Reg" />

The industrialization of agriculture and the emergence of centralized commodities markets in the late 19th and 20th centuries led to a shift towards larger farms and the decline of the small family farm; this was exacerbated during the [[Great Depression]]. Industrial production became a larger part of the economy during [[World War II]] and the postwar economic boom. In the 1970s and 1980s a series of economic shocks, including the [[1973 oil crisis|oil crisis]], the 1980s farm crisis, and the [[Early 1980s recession]] led to the collapse of commodities prices, a decline in rural and state population, and [[rural flight]]. Iowa's economy rebounded in the 1990s, emerging as a modern mixed economy dominated by industry, commerce, and finance, in which agriculture is a comparatively small component.

==Prehistory in Iowa==
[[File:Indians of Des Moines.png|thumb|right|300px|Map of prehistoric and historic Indian sites in Downtown [[Des Moines]]]]
{{Main|Iowa archaeology}}
When the American Indians first arrived (in what is now Iowa) thousands of years ago they would hunt and gather living in a [[Pleistocene]] glacial landscape. By the time European explorers visited Iowa, American Indians were largely settled farmers with complex economic, social, and political systems. This transformation happened gradually. During the Archaic period (more than 2,800 years ago), American Indians adapted to local environments and ecosystems, slowly becoming more sedentary as populations increased. More than 3,000 years ago, during the Late Archaic period, American Indians in Iowa began utilizing domesticated plants. The subsequent Woodland period saw an increase on the reliance on agriculture and social complexity, with increased use of mounds, ceramics, and specialized subsistence. During the Late Prehistoric period (beginning about A.D. 900) increased use of maize and social changes led to social flourishing and nucleated settlements. The arrival of European trade goods and diseases in the Protohistoric period led to dramatic population shifts and economic and social upheaval, with the arrival of new tribes and early European explorers and traders.<ref>Alex, Lynn M. (2000) ''Iowa's Archaeological Past''. University of Iowa Press, Iowa City.</ref>{{page needed|date=February 2025}}

==Early Historic Native Americans==
{{Main|Native American tribes in Iowa}}
[[File:Iowa 1718.jpg|thumb|250px|left|1718 [[Guillaume Delisle]] map, showing locations of the [[Ioway]] (''Aiouez au Pauotez''), the [[Omaha (tribe)|Omaha]] (''Maha''), the [[Otoe tribe|Otoe]] (''Octotata''), the [[Kaw (tribe)|Kaw]] (''Cansez'') and the main [[Coureur des bois#Voyageurs|voyageur]] trail (''Chemin des voyageurs'').]]
By 1804, there were a number of Native American groups in Iowa: the Sauk (Sac) and Meskwaki (Fox) on the eastern edge of Iowa along the Mississippi; the Ioway along the bank of the Des Moines River; the Otoe, Missouri, and Omaha along the Missouri River, and the Sioux in the Northern and Western parts of the State.<ref name="Cyrenus Cole 1921">Cyrenus Cole, ''A History of the People of Iowa'' p. 51 (1921)</ref> Additionally, earlier records indicate the presence of the Illinois in Iowa, though they were nearly gone by the time of the 1804 observations.<ref>J. L. Pickard, "Iowa Indians", in ''Iowa Historical Lectures'' pp. 30, 36 (1892)</ref> The total number of these groups in Iowa in 1804 is estimated to be less than 15,000.<ref name="Cyrenus Cole 1921" /> While these groups generally came initially for food, some of them (e.g., Illinois, Sauk, Meskwaki) immigrated as a result of warfare with other tribes or the French.<ref>Cyrenus Cole, ''A History of the People of Iowa'' pp. 32, 50 (1921)</ref><ref>Edgar R. Harlan, ''A Narrative History of the People of Iowa'' p. 2</ref> The early and mid-19th century saw the movement of additional groups of Native Americans into Iowa, such as the Potawatomi and Winnebago, followed by the emigration from Iowa of nearly all Native Americans.<ref>Cyrenus Cole, ''A History of the People of Iowa'' pp. 101, 173, 218–19, 221 (1921)</ref><ref>J. L. Pickard, "Iowa Indians", in ''Iowa Historical Lectures'' pp. 30, 48, 52 (1892)</ref>

The first European or American to make contact with Native Americans in Iowa is generally considered to be the Frenchmen Louis Joliet and Pere Jacques Marquette, though earlier contact by others is possible.<ref>Cyrenus Cole, ''A History of the People of Iowa'' p. 9 (1921)</ref> They had set out to discover the Mississippi River, and contacted the Illinois on the eastern side of Iowa in 1673.<ref>Cyrenus Cole, ''A History of the People of Iowa'' pp. 9, 15–18 (1921)</ref><ref>Edgar R. Harlan, ''A Narrative History of the People of Iowa'' p. 4 (1931)</ref> They also were told at that time of the presence of the Sioux along the Missouri.<ref>Cyrenus Cole, ''A History of the People of Iowa'' p. 50 (1921)</ref> Upon the departure of Joliet and Marquette from the Illinois village, they were accompanied to the riverbank by nearly 600 Illinois, who showed "every possible manifestation of joy", having treated the first Europeans well and offered them peace.<ref>Cyrenus Cole, ''A History of the People of Iowa'' pp. 17–18 (1921)</ref> Additional exploration by early French, British, and American trappers, traders, explorers, and missionaries informs us of the nature of Native American presence in Iowa from this initial contact in 1673 to the start of settlement by the United States.<ref>Cyrenus Cole, ''A History of the People of Iowa'' p. 22 (1921)</ref><ref>Jacob Van Der Zee, "Author's Preface", ''The British in Iowa'' pp. 7, 10 (Benj. F. Shambaugh, ed., 1922)</ref>

[[File:Fort Madison 1810.jpg|thumb|right|250px|[[Fort Madison]] (1808–1813), the scene of Iowa's only military battle.]]
The [[Sauk people|Sauk]] and [[Meskwaki]] constituted the largest and most powerful tribes in the Upper Mississippi Valley. They had earlier moved from the [[Michigan]] region into [[Wisconsin]] and by the 1730s, they had relocated in western [[Illinois]]. There they established their villages along the Rock and Mississippi Rivers. They lived in their main villages only for a few months each year. At other times, they traveled throughout western Illinois and eastern Iowa hunting, fishing, and gathering food and materials with which to make domestic articles. Every spring, the two tribes traveled northward into [[Minnesota]] where they tapped [[maple]] trees and made syrup. [[Fort Madison]] was constructed in 1808 to control trade along the Mississippi, and to prevent the reoccupation of the area by the British; Fort Madison was defeated in 1813 by British-allied Indians during the [[War of 1812]] and was the site of Iowa's only true military battle. The Sauk leader [[Black Hawk (chief)|Black Hawk]] first fought against the U.S. at Fort Madison.

[[File:Iowa 1798.jpg|thumb|left|250px|Iowa, 1798, showing several tribes, including [[Pawnee people|Pawnee]] (''Panis/Panibousa''), [[Ioway]] (''Aiaouez/Aioureoua'' and ''Paoute/Paoutaoua''), [[Dakota (tribe)|Dakota]] (''Sioux''), and [[Omaha (tribe)|Omhaha]] (''Maha''); approximate state highlighted.]]

In 1829, the federal government informed the two tribes that they must leave their villages in western Illinois and move across the Mississippi River into the Iowa region. The federal government claimed ownership of the Illinois land as a result of [[Quashquame]]'s Treaty of 1804. The move was made but not without violence. [[Black Hawk (chief)|Black Hawk]], a highly respected [[Sauk people|Sauk]] leader, protested the move and in 1832 returned to reclaim the Illinois village of [[Saukenuk]]. For the next three months, the Illinois militia pursued Black Hawk and his band of approximately four hundred Indians northward along the eastern side of the Mississippi River. The Indians surrendered at the [[Bad Axe River]] in Wisconsin, their numbers having dwindled to about two hundred. This encounter is known as the [[Black Hawk War]]. As punishment for their resistance, the federal government required the Sauk and [[Meskwaki]] to relinquish some of their land in eastern Iowa.<ref>Edgar R. Harlan, ''A Narrative History of the People of Iowa'' pp. 69–70 (1931)</ref> This land, known as the [[Black Hawk Purchase]], constituted a strip fifty miles wide lying along the Mississippi River, stretching from the Missouri border to approximately [[Fayette County, Iowa|Fayette]] and [[Clayton County, Iowa|Clayton Counties]] in Northeastern Iowa.<ref name="Edgar R. Harlan 1931">Edgar R. Harlan, ''A Narrative History of the People of Iowa'' p. 70 (1931)</ref> There were additional cessions by the Sauk and Meskwaki in 1837 (the "Second Black Hawk Purchase") and 1842 (the "New Purchase"), so that by 1845 nearly all had left Iowa.<ref>Cyrenus Cole, ''A History of the People of Iowa'' pp. 141, 176–77 (1921)</ref><ref>J. L. Pickard, "Iowa Indians", in ''Iowa Historical Lectures'' pp. 30, 48 (1892)</ref> Similarly, other Native American groups gave up their Iowa land via treaties with the United States. Western Iowa was ceded by a group of tribes including the Missouri, Omaha, and Oto in 1830.<ref>Edgar R. Harlan, ''A Narrative History of the People of Iowa'' p. 59 (1931)</ref> The Ioway ceded the last of their Iowa lands in 1838.<ref>J. L. Pickard, "Iowa Indians", in ''Iowa Historical Lectures'' pp. 30, 41 (1892)</ref> The Winnebago and Potawatomi, who had only a short time before been removed to Iowa, were yet again removed and had left Iowa by 1848 and 1846, respectively.<ref>Cyrenus Cole, ''A History of the People of Iowa'' pp. 173, 218–19 (1921)</ref> The last remaining group, the Sioux, ceded their last Iowa land via an 1851 treaty with the United States, which they completed in 1852.<ref>Cyrenus Cole, ''A History of the People of Iowa'' pp. 221, 285 (1921)</ref><ref>J. L. Pickard, "Iowa Indians", in ''Iowa Historical Lectures'' pp. 30, 37 (1892)</ref>

Today, Iowa is still home to one American Indian group, the [[Meskwaki]], who reside on the [[Meskwaki Settlement]] in [[Tama County, Iowa|Tama County]]. After most Sauk and Meskwaki members had been removed from the state, some Meskwaki tribal members, along with a few Sauk, returned to hunt and fish in eastern Iowa.<ref>Cyrenus Cole, ''A History of the People of Iowa'' pp. 221–22 (1921)</ref> The Indians then approached Governor [[James W. Grimes|James Grimes]] with the request that they be allowed to purchase back some of their original land. They collected $735 for their first land purchase and eventually they bought back approximately 3,200&nbsp;acres (13&nbsp;km<sup>2</sup>). After purchasing some of their land back, the Iowa Legislature fought for the Meskwaki tribe to receive an annual payment from the [[Federal Government]]. This took ten years to be resolved.<ref>Schweider, Dorothy (1996). ''Iowa: The Middle Land''."Iowa: Iowa State University Press.</ref>{{page needed|date=February 2025}}

==Iowa's first Euro-American settlers==
[[File:De Smet Council Bluffs.jpg|thumb|left|300px|[[Pierre-Jean De Smet]]'s map of the [[Council Bluffs, Iowa]] area (1839), showing Native American villages and early American settlement.]]

The [[Black Hawk Purchase]] opened up the lands of Iowa to settlers for the first time, and "official" settlement began pursuant to this on June 1, 1833.<ref name="Edgar R. Harlan 1931" /><ref>Cyrenus Cole, ''A History of the People of Iowa'' pp. 124, 126 (1921)</ref> At the time of the opening of these lands, there were likely only 40–50 Americans then settled in Iowa.<ref>Cyrenus Cole, ''A History of the People of Iowa'' p. 126 (1921)</ref> Many of those who settled before June 1, 1833, were at the Native American villages of Ahwipetuk (now Nashville) and Puckeshetuk (now Keokuk).<ref>Cyrenus Cole, ''A History of the People of Iowa'' p. 127 (1921)</ref> Many of the pre-1833 settlers were trappers and traders,<ref>Edgar R. Harlan, ''A Narrative History of the People of Iowa'' p. (1931)</ref> though some came to mine.<ref name="ReferenceA">Cyrenus Cole, ''A History of the People of Iowa'' p. 37 (1921)</ref>

The earliest of these Euro-American settlers were French, as the land was originally under French jurisdiction.<ref>Edgar R. Harlan, ''A Narrative History of the People of Iowa'' p. 3 (1931)</ref> They came to trade fur, preach, discover mines, and explore, and were generally transient.<ref>Edgar R. Harlan, ''A Narrative History of the People of Iowa'' pp. 4–5 (1931)</ref> A few, however, secured land grants and settled in the area when Iowa was under Spanish jurisdiction. The first settler appears to have been Julien Dubuque, a French-Canadian man who arrived at the lead mines near modern-day Dubuque in 1787.<ref name="ReferenceA" /> He obtained permission to mine the land from the Meskwaki, who generously stated that he could work the mines "as long as he shall please."<ref>Edgar R. Harlan, ''A Narrative History of the People of Iowa'' p. 15 (1931)</ref> Additional early Spanish grants include a grant of land near Montrose to Louis Honore in 1799, and of land near McGregor to Basil Giard in 1796.<ref name="ReferenceA" />

As previously stated, Euro-American settlement in Iowa was generally sparse before the lands opened in 1833. Most of the immigrants who came shortly after this time were from other states, especially Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Missouri, Kentucky, and Tennessee, and to a lesser extent New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and the Carolinas.<ref>Cyrenus Cole, ''A History of the People of Iowa'' p. 130 (1921)</ref> The great majority of newcomers came in family units. Most families had resided in at least one additional state between the time they left their state of birth and the time they arrived in Iowa. Sometimes families had relocated three or four times before they reached Iowa. At the same time, not all settlers remained here; many soon moved on to the Dakotas or other areas in the [[Great Plains]].
[[File:Iowa territorial seal.jpg|thumb|100px|[[Iowa Territory|Iowa Territorial]] Seal.]]

The settlers soon discovered an environment different from that which they had known back East. Most northeastern and southeastern states were heavily timbered; settlers there had material for building homes, outbuildings, and fences. Moreover, wood also provided ample fuel. Once past the extreme eastern portion of Iowa, settlers quickly discovered that the state was primarily a [[prairie]] or tall grass region. Trees grew abundantly in the extreme eastern and southeastern portions, and along rivers and streams, but elsewhere timber was limited.	

In most portions of eastern and central Iowa, settlers could find sufficient timber for construction of [[log cabin]]s, but substitute materials had to be found for fuel and fencing. For fuel, they turned to dried prairie [[hay]], [[maize|corn]] cobs, and dried animal droppings. In southern Iowa, early settlers found coal outcroppings along rivers and streams. People moving into northwest Iowa, an area also devoid of trees, constructed [[sod houses]]. Some of the early sod house residents wrote in glowing terms about their new quarters, insisting that "soddies" were not only cheap to build but were warm in the winter and cool in the summer. They did not praise the bugs, the smells, or the ever-present dirt, dampness and darkness.

Settlers experimented endlessly with substitute fencing materials. Some residents built stone fences; some constructed dirt ridges; others dug ditches. The most successful fencing material was the [[osage orange]] hedge until the 1870s when the invention of [[barbed wire]] provided farmers with satisfactory fencing material.

As the settlers came into Iowa, they naturally established communities. Significant of these were Burlington, Dubuque, Davenport, Keokuk, Fort Madison, and Muscatine.<ref>Cyrenus Cole, ''A History of the People of Iowa'' pp. 131, 146 (1921)</ref> By 1836, when the first census was taken in Iowa, there were 10,531 inhabitants.<ref>Cyrenus Cole, ''A History of the People of Iowa'' p. 139 (1921)</ref> This rapid immigration was but a sign of things to come.

==Transportation: Railroad Fever==
[[File:Steamboat iowa city 1868.jpg|thumb|300px|Steamboat in Iowa City, 1868]]

As thousands of settlers poured into Iowa in the mid-19th century, all shared a common concern for the development of adequate transportation. The earliest settlers shipped their agricultural goods down the [[Mississippi River]] to [[New Orleans, Louisiana]]. Steamboats were in widespread use on the Mississippi and major rivers by the 1850s. In the 1850s, Iowans had caught the nation's [[History of rail transport in the United States|railroad fever]]. By 1860, [[Chicago, Illinois]] was served by almost a dozen lines and had become the regional hub. Iowans, like other [[Midwesterners]], were anxious to start railroad building in their state.

In the early 1850s, city officials in the river communities of [[Dubuque, Iowa|Dubuque]], [[Clinton, Iowa|Clinton]], [[Davenport, Iowa|Davenport]], and [[Burlington, Iowa|Burlington]] began to organize local railroad companies. City officials knew that railroads building west from Chicago would soon reach the [[Mississippi River]] opposite the four Iowa cities. With the 1850s, railroad planning took place which eventually resulted in the development of the [[Illinois Central]], the [[Chicago and North Western Railway]], reaching [[Council Bluffs, Iowa|Council Bluffs]] in 1867. Council Bluffs had been designated as the eastern terminus for the [[Union Pacific]], the railroad that would eventually extend across the western half of the nation and along with the [[Central Pacific Railroad|Central Pacific]], provide the nation's [[First transcontinental railroad]]. A short time later a fifth railroad, the [[Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad]], also completed its line across the state. Steamboat traffic continued on the major rivers.

The completion of five railroads across Iowa brought major economic changes. Of primary importance, Iowans could travel every month of the year. During the later 19th and early 20th centuries, even small Iowa towns had six passenger trains a day. Railroads provided year-round transportation for Iowa's farmers. With Chicago's preeminence as a railroad center, the corn, wheat, beef, and pork raised by Iowa's farmers could be shipped through Chicago, to markets in the U.S. and worldwide.

Railroads made industry possible. Before 1870, Iowa contained some manufacturing firms in river towns. Most new industry were based on food processing or farm machinery. In [[Cedar Rapids, Iowa|Cedar Rapids]], John and Robert Stuart, along with their cousin, [[George Douglas (Iowa)|George Douglas]], started an [[oat]]s processing plant. In time, this firm took the name [[Quaker Oats]]. [[Meat packing]] plants also appeared in the 1870s in different parts of the state: [[Sinclair Meat Packing]] opened in Cedar Rapids, Booge and Company started in Sioux City, and [[John Morrell & Company]] set up operations in [[Ottumwa, Iowa|Ottumwa]].

The railroads also created a significant demand for coal. Coal mines were quickly opened and expanded wherever the new railroads passed through areas with coal exposures. The [[Chicago and North Western Railway]] encouraged development of mines in [[Boone, Iowa|Boone]] and [[Moingona, Iowa|Moingona]]. The [[Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railway]] encouraged similar development in [[Mystic, Iowa]] and neighboring coal camps. Where railroads did not have direct access to sufficient coal, long branch lines were built into the coal fields. The [[Burlington, Cedar Rapids and Northern Railway]] built a 66-mile branch to [[What Cheer]] in 1879,<ref>Report of the Burlington, Cedar Rapids & Northern Railway Company for the year ending June 30, 1880, [https://books.google.com/books?id=ISETAAAAYAAJ&lpg=PA133&pg=PA278 Third Annual Report of the Board of Railroad Commissioners for the Year Ending June 30, 1880], Mills, Des Moines, 1880; page 133.</ref> and the [[Chicago and North Western Railway|Chicago and North Western]] built a 64-mile branch to its mines in [[Consolidation Coal Company (Iowa)#Muchakinock|Muchakinock]] in 1884.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=j4spAAAAYAAJ&lpg=RA3-PA8&pg=RA3-PA8 Annual Report of the Chicago and North Western Railway Company for the 26th Fiscal Year Ending May 31st, 1885]; page 8.</ref> By 1899, Iowa's coal mines employed 11,029 men to produce almost 5 million tons of coal per year.<ref>S. W. Beyer, "Mineral Production of Iowa in 1899", [https://books.google.com/books?id=eJcRAAAAIAAJ&lpg=PA51&pg=PA51 Iowa Geological Survey Annual Report, 1899], Des Moines, 1900; page 51.</ref> In 1919, Iowa had about 240 coal mines that between them produced over 8 million tons of coal per year and employed about 15,000 men.<ref>L. E. Stamm, Iowa, [https://books.google.com/books?id=mdQoAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA90 The Mineral Industry during 1919], Vol XXVIII, G. A. Roush, Ed., McGraw Hill, 1920; pp. 90–92.</ref>

==American Civil War==
Iowa became a state on December 28, 1846 (the 29th state), and the state continued to attract many settlers, both native and foreign-born. Only the extreme northwestern part of the state remained a [[frontier]] area.

[[Iowa in the American Civil War|Iowa]] supported the Union during the American Civil War, voting heavily for Lincoln and the Republicans, though there was a strong antiwar "[[Copperheads (politics)|Copperhead]]" movement among settlers of Southerner origins and among Catholics. There were no battles in the state, but Iowa sent large supplies of food to the armies and the eastern cities. More than 75,000 Iowans served, many in combat units attached to the western armies. 13,001 died of wounds or (two-thirds) of disease. Eight thousand five hundred Iowans were wounded. The draft was not used in Iowa during the Civil War because Iowa had twelve thousand more men serving than the draft called for.

==Political arena of late 19th through early 20th century==
The [[American Civil War|Civil War era]] brought considerable change to Iowa and perhaps one of the most visible changes came in the political arena. During the 1840s, most Iowans voted [[History of the United States Democratic Party|Democratic]] although the state also contained some [[United States Whig Party|Whigs]]. During the 1850s, however, the state's Democratic Party developed serious internal problems as well as being unsuccessful in getting the national Democratic Party to respond to their needs. Iowans soon turned to the newly emerging [[History of the United States Republican Party|Republican Party]]. The new party opposed slavery and promoted land ownership, banking, and railroads. The political career of [[James W. Grimes|James Grimes]] illustrates this change. In 1854, Iowans elected Grimes governor on the Whig ticket. Two years later, Iowans elected Grimes governor on the Republican ticket. Grimes would later serve as a Republican United States Senator from Iowa. Republicans took over state politics in the 1850s and quickly instigated several changes. They moved the state capital from [[Iowa City, Iowa|Iowa City]] to [[Des Moines, Iowa|Des Moines]], established the [[University of Iowa]] and they wrote a new state [[constitution]]. During the Civil War, many Democrats supported the anti-war [[Copperheads (politics)|Copperhead]] movement.
From the late 1850s until well into the 20th century, Iowans remained largely Republican. Only once, in 1889, did Democrats elect a governor, [[Horace Boies]]  who was reelected in 1891. Their secret was winning increased support from the "wet" (anti-prohibition) Germans. Historically, the Democrats were strongest in German areas, especially along the Mississippi River. Thus, the German Catholic city of Dubuque continues to be a Democratic stronghold. Meanwhile, the Yankees and Scandinavians (and Quakers) were overwhelmingly Republican.<ref>Richard Jensen, ''The Winning of the Midwest: Social and Political Conflict, 1888–1896'' (1971) [https://archive.org/details/winningofmidwest0000jens online] pp. 89–121.</ref>

Several Republicans took leadership positions in Washington, particularly Senators [[William Boyd Allison]], [[Jonathan P. Dolliver]], and [[Albert Baird Cummins]], as well as Speaker of the House [[David B. Henderson]].
[[File:AT&T as grasping octopus 1907.gif|thumb|300px|Progressives denounce AT&T the telephone monopoly as a grasping octopus taking control of entire cities in Iowa. from ''Telephony'' (April 1907) p. 235.]]

===Progressive movement===
The spirit of progressivism emerged in the 1890s, flourished in the 1900s, and decayed after 1917.<ref>Leland L. Sage, ''A History of Iowa'' (1974) pp. 216–248.</ref>  Under the guidance of Governor (1902–1908) and Senator (1908–1926) [[Albert B. Cummins|Albert Baird Cummins]] the "Iowa Idea" played a major role in state and national [[Progressive Era|progressivism]].  A leading Republican, Cummins fought to break up monopolies.  His Iowa successes included establishing the direct primary to allow voters to select candidates instead of bosses; outlawing free railroad passes for politicians; imposing a two-cents per mile railway maximum passenger fare; imposing pure food and drug laws; and abolishing corporate campaign contributions. He tried, without success, to lower the high protective tariff in Washington.<ref>Thomas J. Bray, "The Cummins Leadership" ''Annals of Iowa'' (1954) 32#4 pp. 241–296. [https://pubs.lib.uiowa.edu/annals-of-iowa/article/id/10452/ online]</ref><ref>Ralph Mills Sayre. "Albert Baird Cummins and the progressive movement in Iowa" Ph.D. dissertation. Columbia University, 1958. ProQuest Dissertations Publishing, 1958. 5802602.</ref>
[[File:TIMEMagazine10Dec1923.jpg|thumb|left|Senator  Albert Baird Cummins on the ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' cover, December 10, 1923]]

Women put [[women's suffrage]] on the state agenda. It was led by local chapters of the [[Woman's Christian Temperance Union]], whose main goal was to impose prohibition. In keeping with the general reform mood of the latter 1860s and 1870s, the issue first received serious consideration when both houses of the General Assembly passed a women's suffrage amendment to the state constitution in 1870. Two years later, however, when the legislature had to consider the amendment again before it could be submitted to the general electorate. It was defeated because interest had waned, and strong opposition had developed especially in the [[German Americans|German-American]] community, which feared women would impose prohibition. Finally, in 1920, Iowa got woman suffrage with the rest of the country by the 19th amendment to the federal Constitution.<ref>Sage, ''A History of Iowa'' (1974) p. 255.</ref>

==Iowa: Home for Immigrants==
[[File:Iowa and Nebraska lands10.jpg|right|thumb|250px|Settlement of Iowa: a land offer from the [[Burlington and Missouri River Railroad]], 1872.]]
As the cession of Native American lands in Iowa continued, settlement by the United States pushed further westward. By 1838 there were 22,859 people in Iowa, and 42,112 by 1840.<ref>Cardinal Goodwin, "The American Occupation of Iowa, 1833 to 1860", 17, ''The Iowa Journal of History and Politics'' pp. 83, 101 (1919)</ref> One interesting occasion illustrating the westward push occurred on April 30, 1843.<ref name="ReferenceB">Cyrenus Cole, ''A History of the People of Iowa'' p. 177 (1921)</ref> Much of the land in central Iowa had been ceded from the Native Americans to the United States pursuant to the "New Purchase" in 1842.<ref>Cyrenus Cole, ''A History of the People of Iowa'' pp. 176–77 (1921)</ref> As the date at which settlement would be allowed approached, settlers gathered at the border to these new lands.<ref name="ReferenceB" /> On April 30, 1843, a cannon sounded at midnight, after which the settlers pushed into the new lands and settled many areas by sunrise.<ref name="ReferenceB" /> Most of the settlers who came into these "New Purchase" lands were from Illinois, Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, and Missouri, and to a lesser extent Wisconsin, Virginia, and Pennsylvania.<ref>Cardinal Goodwin, "The American Occupation of Iowa, 1833 to 1860", 17 ''The Iowa Journal of History and Politics'' pp. 83, 92 (1919)</ref> Notable during the 1840s was the arrival of the Norwegians in 1840,<ref name="George T. Flom 1905">George T. Flom, "The Coming of the Norwegians to Iowa", 3, ''The Iowa Journal of History and Politics'' pp. 347, 347 (1905)</ref> Swedes in 1845,<ref>George T. Flom, "The Scandinavian Factor in the American Population", 3, ''The Iowa Journal of History and Politics'' pp. 57, 74 (1905)</ref> and Dutch in 1847.<ref name="Cardinal Goodwin 1860">Cardinal Goodwin, "The American Occupation of Iowa, 1833 to 1860", 17, ''The Iowa Journal of History and Politics'' pp. 83, 93 (1919)</ref>

By 1850, there were 192,214 people living in Iowa.<ref>Jacob Van Der Zee, "British Emigrants to Iowa", in ''The British in Iowa'' pp. 17, 32 (Benj. F. Shambaugh, ed., 1922)</ref> Nearly 90% of the population at this time was from America, with Ohio, Indiana, and Pennsylvania contributing the most settlers.<ref name="ReferenceA" /><ref name="ReferenceC">Edgar R. Harlan, ''A Narrative History of the People of Iowa'' p. 270 (1931)</ref> Though immigration from other parts of the world had not yet hit full stride, there nonetheless existed 20,969 foreign immigrants in 1850.<ref name="ReferenceC" /> The largest group was the Germans with over 7,000, followed by the Irish with 4,885, England with 3,785, Canada with 1,756, the Netherlands with 1,108, 712 from Scotland, 361 from Norway, 231 from Sweden, and 19 from Denmark.<ref name="ReferenceC" /> Czechs also comprised a large settlement group. Settlement patterns to this point generally were in the southern and eastern parts of the state,<ref>Cardinal Goodwin, "The American Occupation of Iowa, 1833 to 1860", 17, ''The Iowa Journal of History and Politics'' pp. 83, 96 (1919)</ref> often near the rivers.<ref>Cyrenus Cole, ''A History of the People of Iowa'' p. 131 (1921)</ref> Immigration during this time was affected by many things, notably: the completion of railroads to the Mississippi, the advertising of Iowa lands by railroad and steamship companies, the publication of favorable guides and articles, drought in the Ohio Valley, and a cholera epidemic in other states.<ref>Cyrenus Cole, ''A History of the People of Iowa'' pp. 407-08 (1921)</ref><ref>Cardinal Goodwin, "The American Occupation of Iowa, 1833 to 1860", 17, ''The Iowa Journal of History and Politics'' pp. 83, 96–97 (1919)</ref> One fine example of a guide is John B. Newhall's ''Sketches of Iowa: Or, The Emigrant's Guide'',<ref>{{cite web | url=http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/Sabin?dd=0&locID=columbiau&d1=SABCA06523800&srchtp=a&c=1&an=SABCA06523800&d2=1&docNum=CY3803377952&h2=1&af=RN&d6=1&ste=10&dc=tiPG&stp=Author&d4=0.33&d5=d6&ae=CY103377952 | title=Gale - Product Login }}</ref> written in 1841 for prospective British emigrants.<ref>Jacob Van Der Zee, "British Emigrants in Iowa", in ''The British in Iowa'' pp. 17, 18–19 (Benj. F. Shambaugh, ed., 1922)</ref> Additional examples include Nathan Parker's ''Iowa as it is in 1855: a Gazetteer for Citizens, and a Handbook for Immigrants''<ref>{{cite web | url=http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/Sabin?dd=0&locID=columbiau&d1=SABCP02523000&srchtp=a&c=1&an=SABCP02523000&d2=5&docNum=CY3802334122&h2=1&af=RN&d6=5&ste=10&dc=tiPG&stp=Author&d4=0.33&d5=d6&ae=CY102334118 | title=Gale - Product Login }}</ref> and John Taylor's ''Iowa: the "Great Hunting Ground" of the Indian; and the "Beautiful Land" of the White Man: Information for Immigrants''.<ref>http://moglen.law.columbia.edu/twiki/pub/AmLegalHist/CoryNelsonProject/TaylorTheWestDescriptionofIowa.pdf {{Bare URL PDF|date=March 2022}}</ref> Other factors affecting immigration were frequently religious and political oppression in the immigrant's homeland,<ref name="Goldfinch" /><ref name="George M. Stephenson 1926">George M. Stephenson, ''A History of American Immigration'' (1926)</ref>{{page needed|date=February 2025}} as well as economic problems in the homeland.<ref name="George M. Stephenson 1926" />{{page needed|date=February 2025}}

While nativism was strong in other states, Iowa wanted immigrants and resisted the [[Know-Nothing Party]].<ref>Cyrenus Cole, ''A History of the People of Iowa'' p. 287 (1921)</ref>

Utopians came to Iowa in the 1850s to start the communistic colonies of Icaria, Amana, and New Buda, where property was held in common.<ref name="ReferenceD">Cyrenus Cole, ''A History of the People of Iowa'' p. 228 (1921)</ref> Icaria was a French colony settled near Corning, Iowa, in 1858. The goal of the Icarian settlers was to live in accordance with the ideas of [[Etienne Cabet]] as a purely socialist community.<ref>Boris Blick and H. Roger Grant, "Life in New Icaria, Iowa; a 19th century Utopian community", ''Annals of Iowa'' (1974) 42#3 pp. 198–204</ref> Amana was a religious colony formed by German pietists in 1855 that practiced communism until 1932. It then became a center of modern manufacturing, especially of household appliances.<ref>Angela Tjaden, "The Communal System of the Amana Colonies: Impact of Hired Labor, 1884–1932", ''Communal Societies'' (2009) 29#1 pp. 53–68</ref> New Buda was a proposed colony by a group of defeated Hungarian revolutionaries who arrived in Iowa in 1850, but was never built.<ref>Cyrenus Cole, ''A History of the People of Iowa'' pp. 230–31 (1921)</ref>

Immigration to Iowa continued to accelerate throughout the remainder of the 19th century, peaking in 1890.<ref name="Goldfinch" /> Immigration of foreign-born persons was no exception. In 1860, 106,081 of the 674,913 people living in Iowa were foreign-born persons.<ref name="ReferenceE">Cyrenus Cole, ''A History of the People of Iowa'' p. 241 (1921)</ref> Most were German or Irish, though there were many from the rest of the United Kingdom, as well as Norway and Sweden.<ref name="ReferenceE" /> African-Americans also began immigrating to Iowa in more significant numbers through the 1860s, going from 1,069 inhabitants in 1860 to 5,762 in 1870.<ref name="Leola Nelson Bergmann 1948">Leola Nelson Bergmann, "The Negro in Iowa", 46, ''The Iowa Journal of History and Politics'' pp. 3, 34 (1948)</ref>

The 1870s saw 204,692 foreign-born immigrants in Iowa, with 261,650 and 324,069 in 1880 and 1890, respectively.<ref name="Goldfinch" /> Competition among the states for immigrants was increasing during this time, leading Iowa to take certain measures to attract immigrants.<ref name="Jacob Van Der Zee 1922">Jacob Van Der Zee, "British Emigrants to Iowa", in ''The British in Iowa'' pp. 17, 35 (Benj. F. Shambaugh, ed., 1922)</ref> The Iowa State Board of Immigration was created in 1870, and began printing promotional materials.<ref name="Jacob Van Der Zee 1922" /> One notable booklet was titled ''Iowa: The Home of Immigrants''.<ref>{{Cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rIYUAAAAYAAJ |title = Iowa: The Home for Immigrants, Being a Treatise on the Resources of Iowa, and Giving Useful Information with Regard to the State, for the Benefit of Immigrants and Others. Pub. By Order of the Iowa Board of Immigration|year = 1870}}</ref> The publication gave physical, social, educational, and political descriptions of Iowa. The legislature instructed that the booklet be published in [[English language|English]], [[German language|German]],<ref>{{cite book | url=http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=nyp.33433081920104;seq=7;view=1up | title=Iowa, die heimath für einwanderer. Eine abhandlung über die hülfsquellen Iowa's, enthaltend werthvolle und nützliche aufklärungen in betreff | year=1870 | publisher=Druckerei des "Iowa staatsanzeiger" }}</ref> [[Dutch language|Dutch]], [[Swedish language|Swedish]], and [[Danish language|Danish]].<ref>J. Celeste Lay, ''A Midwestern Mosaic: Immigration and Political Socialization in Rural America'' p. 32 (Scott D. McClurg, ed., 2012)</ref>

The tide of foreign immigration receded, so that many groups had largely stopped coming by the beginning of the 20th century.<ref name="Goldfinch">{{cite journal|title=Immigrants|journal=The Goldfinch|date=November 1981|pages=1, 14}}</ref> Some, however, were just starting to immigrate. Southern and Eastern European immigration, especially from Italy and Croatia, began in not insignificant amounts in the late 19th and early 20th centuries as they came to work in Iowan coal mines.<ref name="Goldfinch"/><ref>Loren Horton, "European Immigration", in ''Celebrate Iowa's History of Diversity'' pp. 36, 42 (1995)</ref> The early 20th century also saw the start of steady immigration from Mexico,<ref name="Goldfinch" /> and the mid-1970s saw immigration from Southeast Asia (especially the Tai Dam, Vietnamese, and Lao)<ref>Richard Murphy, "History of Asians in Iowa", in ''Celebrate Iowa's History of Diversity'' 22, 28 (1995)</ref> as refugees from the Vietnam War searched for a peaceful place to live.<ref name="Goldfinch" />

===Immigration patterns===

====Dutch====

The Dutch came to Iowa in 1847 while under the leadership of Reverend Hendrik (Henry) Pieter Scholte.<ref name="Cardinal Goodwin 1860" /><ref name="George M. Stephenson 1926" /> There are several reasons for their immigration. Many did not like the new leadership of the Netherlands under William I.<ref name="ReferenceD" /> Economic conditions were poor in their homeland,<ref name="George M. Stephenson 1926" /> worsened by a potato crop failure<ref>Johan Stellingwerff, ''Iowa Letters: Dutch Immigrants on the American Frontier'' p. 41 (Robert P. Weierenga, ed., Walter Lagerwey, trans., 2004)</ref> There was also a desire to obtain religious freedom, after having been treated poorly on account of religion in their home country.<ref name="Jacob Van Der Zee 1911">Jacob Van Der Zee, "The Coming of the Hollanders to Iowa", 9, ''The Iowa Journal of History and Politics'' pp. 528, 528 (1911)</ref> It is likely the latter motivation that led them to name their first Iowan colony Pella, in reference to a religious place of refuge.<ref>Cyrenus Cole, ''A History of the People of Iowa'' p. 229 (1921)</ref> Once initially established, letters from early Dutch immigrants were published and circulated in the Netherlands, increasing subsequent immigration. A fine example of this is an 1848 piece<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.geheugenvannederland.nl/?/zoom/index/&language=en&i=http%3A%2F%2Fresolver.kb.nl%2Fresolve%3Furn%3Durn%3Agvn%3AKONB04%3A28682%26count%3D68 | title=Het Geheugen }}</ref> by Scholte himself, Eene Stem uit Pelle (A Voice from Pella).<ref name="Jacob Van Der Zee 1911" /> Additional Dutch immigration continued to Pella, and in the following years a daughter colony was founded at Orange City.<ref name="ReferenceF">Cyrenus Cole, ''A History of the People of Iowa'' p. 408 (1921)</ref>

====Scandinavian====

Scandinavian immigration to Iowa mostly consists of Norwegians and Swedes, though there was a small Danish immigration movement as well. Norwegians generally went to the northern parts of the state, Danes to the south, and Swedes in between.<ref name="Goldfinch" /><ref name="ReferenceF" /> The immigration of Scandinavians to Iowa began in significant numbers in the 1850s, and accelerated through the 1890s.<ref name="ReferenceG">George T. Flom, "The Scandinavian Factor in the American Population", 3, ''The Iowa Journal of History and Politics'' pp. 57, 79 (1905)</ref> Specifically, there were 611 in the state in 1850, 7814 in 1860, 31,177 in 1870, 46,046 in 1880, and 72,873 by 1890.<ref name="ReferenceG" /> Central causes for their immigration included the following: Economic problems in the homeland (crop failures, low wages, unemployment), dissatisfaction with church and state, letters from previous immigrants, and promotional material from states.<ref name="George M. Stephenson 1926" />

Swedish settlement in Iowa began with New Sweden in 1845 and Burlington in 1846.<ref>George T. Flom, "The Early Swedish Immigration to Iowa", 3, ''The Iowa Journal of History and Politics'' pp. 583, 600-01, 607-09 (1905)</ref> This was followed in the 1860s by settlement in the central portions of the state.<ref>Nils Hasselmo, ''Swedish America: An Introduction'' p. 18 (1976)</ref> The first colony, New Sweden, was led by Pehr Cassel.<ref>Nils Hasselmo, ''Swedish America: An Introduction'' p. 12 (1976)</ref> They had intended on going to one of the first U.S. Swedish settlements at Pine Lake, Wisconsin, but were convinced by Pehr Dahlberg at New York to travel to Iowa instead.<ref>George T. Flom, "The Early Swedish Immigration to Iowa", 3, ''The Iowa Journal of History and Politics'' pp. 583, 602-03 (1905)</ref>

Norwegian immigration to Iowa began in 1840<ref name="George T. Flom 1905" /> with settlement at Sugar Creek<ref>Theodore C. Blegen, ''Norwegian Migration to America 1825–1860'' p. 151 (1931)</ref> in southeastern Iowa, and continued with immigration to northern Iowa in the late 1840s.<ref>Theodore C. Blegen, ''Norwegian Migration to America 1825–1860'' p. 153 (1931)</ref> The Sugar Creek colony in Lee County was the result of a failed Missouri colony, and has its origins in the second Norwegian colony in the United States, that of Fox River in La Salle County, Illinois.<ref>George T. Flom, "The Coming of the Norwegians to Iowa", 3, ''The Iowa Journal of History and Politics'' pp. 347, 356–57, 366 (1905)</ref> The northern Iowa settlements extended from Allamakee and Clayton counties to Winnebago county, and came largely from settlements at Rock County, Wisconsin, Dane County, Wisconsin, and Boone County, Illinois.<ref>George T. Flom, "The Coming of the Norwegians to Iowa", 3, ''The Iowa Journal of History and Politics'' pp. 347, 366, 375 (1905)</ref> From the late 1850s through the 1880s, Norwegians pushed to the western portions of the state.<ref name="ReferenceH">George T. Flom, "The Coming of the Norwegians to Iowa", 3, ''The Iowa Journal of History and Politics'' pp. 347, 383 (1905)</ref> By the early 1890s, Norwegian immigration to Iowa had dropped off.<ref name="ReferenceH" />

====Czech====
Most Czechs in Iowa settled in Cedar Rapids.
During the 1850s, Iowa's Czech population became substantial; when the town was reincorporated in 1856, a quarter of its roughly 1,600 inhabitants were Czech immigrants. The availability of cheap land in the new state of Iowa happened to coincide with the Revolutions of 1848 in the Austrian Empire that caused a large number of Czechs to flee their homeland and emigrate to the U.S. Today, Cedar Rapids' [[Czech Village]] and the [[National Czech & Slovak Museum & Library]] celebrate the area's Czech heritage.

====Latino====

The first Latino group to immigrate to Iowa were Mexicans, who can be traced in small numbers to the 1850 census.<ref name="ReferenceI">Immigrants, ''The Goldfinch'', November 1981 at 1, 14</ref><ref name="Gregory Rocha 1995">Gregory Rocha, "The History of Hispanics in Iowa", in ''Celebrate Iowa's History of Diversity'' pp. 43, 45 (1995)</ref> Substantial Mexican immigration, however, did not begin until the early 1900s. In 1900 there were 29 Mexicans in Iowa, followed by 509 in 1910, and 2,560 in 1920.<ref name="ReferenceI" /> Puerto Ricans, Cubans, and others from Central and South America followed, though a significant majority of Iowa's Latino population was and remains Mexican.<ref name="Gregory Rocha 1995" />

The sharp increase in Mexican immigration in the early 20th century has several causes, mostly economic. Sugar consumption was on the rise nationally, and technological breakthroughs in the sugar beet industry  allowed Midwestern farms to expand in attempt to meet that need.<ref>Gregory Rocha, "The History of Hispanics in Iowa", in ''Celebrate Iowa's History of Diversity'' pp. 43, 46–7 (1995)</ref> As they expanded, the need for labor increased.<ref name="ReferenceJ">Gregory Rocha, "The History of Hispanics in Iowa", in ''Celebrate Iowa's History of Diversity'' pp. 43, 47 (1995)</ref> Sugar beet growing requires a significant amount of difficult manual labor, and immigration restrictions on Europeans during the time limited their availability to work in the United States.<ref name="ReferenceJ" /> Additionally, Mexican labor was desired because of their strong work ethic and acceptance of lower wages.<ref name="ReferenceJ" /> Consequently, Mexicans were recruited by the American Beet Sugar Company (American Crystal Sugar Company) from Mexico and the southwestern states to work in the north central part of the state, especially around Mason City.<ref>Gregory Rocha, "The History of Hispanics in Iowa", in ''Celebrate Iowa's History of Diversity'' pp. 43, 45, 47 (1995)</ref> For many of the same reasons that Mexicans were recruited to work in the sugar beet industry, they were also recruited to work on the railroads in Iowa.<ref>Gregory Rocha, "The History of Hispanics in Iowa", in ''Celebrate Iowa's History of Diversity'' pp. 43, 48 (1995)</ref> Many of the Mexicans recruited to work on the railroads established communities at Fort Madison, Council Bluffs, Des Moines, and Davenport.<ref>Gregory Rocha, "The History of Hispanics in Iowa", in ''Celebrate Iowa's History of Diversity'' pp. 43, 49 (1995)</ref> Additionally, a significant revolution in Mexico in 1910 led more Mexicans to emigrate, and ultimately arrive in Iowa.<ref name="ReferenceJ" />

Mexican immigration dropped off during the great depression as the economy weakened, and remained relatively low even into the latter half of the 20th century.<ref name="Goldfinch" /><ref>Sharpe Reference, ''Encyclopedia of American Immigration'' p. 170 (James Ciment, ed., 2001)</ref> The late 1980s and subsequent periods have brought a resurgence of Mexican immigration as the demand for labor in the food processing industry has increased.<ref>J. Celeste Lay, ''A Midwestern Mosaic: Immigration and Political Socialization in Rural America'' pp. 13, 15 (Scott D. McClurg, ed., 2012)</ref>

====African-American====

Though African-Americans began immigrating to Iowa in more significant numbers through the 1860s after obtaining freedom,<ref>Leola Nelson Bergmann, "The Negro in Iowa", 46, ''The Iowa Journal of History and Politics'' pp. 3, 32 (1948)</ref> some of the earliest immigrants would have been brought in as slaves by settlers from southern states after the Black Hawk Purchase, despite the fact that slavery never officially existed in Iowa.<ref>Leola Nelson Bergmann, "The Negro in Iowa", 46, ''The Iowa Journal of History and Politics'' pp. 3, 5, 6 (1948)</ref> The absence of legally sanctioned slavery in Iowa did not mean that the state was free from discrimination, however. An 1838 Act<ref>{{Cite book | last1=Iowa | first1=(TER. | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oTjOAAAAMAAJ&q=1838%20iowa%20act%20fair%20certificate%20actual%20freedom&pg=PA69 | title=The Statute Laws of the Territory of Iowa |date=1900}}</ref> prevented African-American settlement in Iowa unless he or she could present a "fair certificate" of "actual freedom" under the seal of a judge and give a $500 bond.<ref>Leola Nelson Bergmann, "The Negro in Iowa", 46, ''The Iowa Journal of History and Politics'' pp. 3, 8–9 (1948)</ref> Though this undoubtedly slowed African-American immigration, a few immigrants nonetheless came in the 1840s; most worked in the mines of Dubuque or in the river towns.<ref>Leola Nelson Bergmann, "The Negro in Iowa", 46, ''The Iowa Journal of History and Politics'' pp. 3, 14 (1948)</ref> Frequently, they came to be free of slavery.<ref>Frances Hawthorne, "African Americans in Iowa: A Chronicle of Contributions: 1830–1992", in ''Celebrate Iowa's History of Diversity'' pp. 1, 3 (1995)</ref> The third general assembly passed an act in 1851 similar to that of the 1839 act, but it appears to have rarely been enforced and was ultimately ruled in 1863 to be unconstitutional.<ref>Leola Nelson Bergmann, "The Negro in Iowa", 46, ''The Iowa Journal of History and Politics'' pp. 3, 15, 29–30 (1948)</ref>

Initial African-American settlement in Iowa after the Civil War was in agricultural communities near the southern border, as well as along river towns on the Mississippi and to a lesser extent the Missouri.<ref>Leola Nelson Bergmann, "The Negro in Iowa", 46, ''The Iowa Journal of History and Politics'' pp. 3, 34, 39 (1948)</ref> Polk County was also a destination for immigrants.<ref name="Leola Nelson Bergmann 1948" /> Those along the river often worked on boats, though many worked on the railroads and in the lead mines of Dubuque.<ref>Leola Nelson Bergmann, "The Negro in Iowa", 46, ''The Iowa Journal of History and Politics'' pp. 3, 37–39 (1948)</ref>

Over time, African Americans migrated from agricultural communities to urban areas, and from the river towns to the coal mines of southern Iowa.<ref name="ReferenceK">Leola Nelson Bergmann, "The Negro in Iowa", 46, ''The Iowa Journal of History and Politics'' pp. 3, 37, 40 (1948)</ref> This urban shift started around 1870, while the coal mining shift started in 1880.<ref name="ReferenceK" /> The coal mining shift began when African-Americans were brought from the southern states to the southern Iowa coal mines as strikebreakers, after which they remained employed there.<ref>Leola Nelson Bergmann, "The Negro in Iowa", 46, ''The Iowa Journal of History and Politics'' pp. 3, 41 (1948)</ref> This immigration was augmented by poor economic conditions in the southern states resulting from discrimination, flood and pest-induced crop failures, and disadvantaged post-reconstruction economic arrangements like sharecropping.<ref>[[Leonard Dinnerstein]] et al., ''Natives and Strangers: A Multicultural History of Americans'' (1996)</ref>{{page needed|date=February 2025}} The relatively significant African-American immigration to the southern Iowa coal fields led to largely African-American settlements such as Buxton.<ref>Leola Nelson Bergmann, "The Negro in Iowa", 46, ''The Iowa Journal of History and Politics'' pp. 3, 42 (1948)</ref>

The first World War brought more African-American immigrants to Iowa, as Fort Des Moines had been designated as "the only camp in the United States for the training of [African American] officers", followed by Camp Dodge near Des Moines.<ref>Leola Nelson Bergmann, "The Negro in Iowa", 46, ''The Iowa Journal of History and Politics'' pp. 3, 56, 58 (1948)</ref> Many came to train in the service of their country, where some remained and brought family and friends from the southern states.<ref>Leola Nelson Bergmann, "The Negro in Iowa", 46, ''The Iowa Journal of History and Politics'' pp. 3, 60 (1948)</ref> This pattern was repeated in World War II, as Fort Des Moines again trained many African Americans.<ref name="Frances Hawthorne 1992">Frances Hawthorne, "African Americans in Iowa: A Chronicle of Contributions: 1830–1992", in ''Celebrate Iowa's History of Diversity'' pp. 1, 15 (1995)</ref>

==1917–1945==
In 1917, the United States entered [[World War I]] and farmers as well as all Iowans experienced a wartime economy. For farmers, the change was significant. Since the beginning of the war in 1914, Iowa farmers had experienced economic prosperity. Along with farmers everywhere, they were urged to be patriotic by increasing their production. Farmers purchased more land and raised more [[maize|corn]], [[beef]], and [[pork]] for the war effort. It seemed that no one could lose as farmers expanded their operations, made more money, and at the same time, helped the Allied war effort.

After the war, however, Iowa farmers soon saw wartime [[farm subsidies]] eliminated. Beginning in 1920, many farmers had difficulty making the payment for debts they had incurred during the war. The 1920s were a time of hardship for Iowa's farm families and for many families, these hardships carried over into the 1930s.

As economic difficulties worsened, Iowa farmers sought to find local solutions. Faced with extremely low farm prices, including corn at ten cents a bushel and pork at three cents a pound, some farmers in western Iowa formed the [[Farmers Holiday Association]].<ref>John L. Shover, "The Farmers' Holiday Association Strike, August 1932", ''Agricultural History'' (1965) 39#4 pp. 196–203. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/3741037 in JSTOR]</ref> This group, which had its greatest strength in the area around [[Sioux City, Iowa|Sioux City]], tried to withhold farm products from markets. They believed this practice would force up farm prices. The Farm Holiday Association had only limited success as many farmers did not cooperate and the withholding itself did little to raise prices. Farmers experienced little relief until 1933 when the federal government, as part of [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]]'s [[New Deal]], created a federal farm aid program.

In 1933, native Iowan [[Henry A. Wallace]] went to Washington as [[United States Secretary of Agriculture|Secretary of Agriculture]] and served as principal architect for the new farm program. Wallace, former editor of the Midwest's leading farm journal, ''[[Wallace's Farmer]]'', believed that prosperity would return to the agricultural sector only if agricultural production was curtailed. Further, he believed that farmers would be monetarily compensated for withholding agricultural land from production. These two principles were incorporated into the [[Agricultural Adjustment Act]] passed in 1933. Iowa farmers experienced some recovery as a result of the legislation but like all Iowans, they did not experience total recovery until the 1940s. Iowa's only Nobel Peace Prize Winner, [[Norman Borlaug]], was launched in his researches in plant genomics by funding and research through [[Iowa State University]] developing strains of rice in Mexico and which emanated from the work of Henry Wallace. Wallace and Borlaug's work helped create the now internationally significant agricultural concern [[Pioneer Hi-Bred]], now a division of [[DuPont]].<ref>John Hyde, "Henry A. Wallace: Agriculturalist for the Common Man", ''Iowa Heritage Illustrated,'' (2003) 84#2 pp. 70–76</ref><ref>R. Douglas Hurt, "Norman Borlaug: Geneticist of the Green Revolution", ''Iowa Heritage Illustrated'' (2003) 84#2 pp. 78–84.</ref>

==1945 to present==
Since [[World War II]], Iowans have continued to undergo considerable economic, political, and social change. In the political area, Iowans experienced a major change in the 1960s when [[liquor]] by the drink came into effect. During both the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Iowans had strongly supported [[prohibition]], but, in 1933, with the repeal of national prohibition, Iowans established a state liquor commission. This group was charged with control and regulation of Iowa's liquor sales. From 1933 until the early 1960s, Iowans could purchase packaged liquor only. In the 1970s, Iowans witnessed a reapportionment of the [[Iowa General Assembly|General Assembly]], achieved only after a long struggle for an equitably apportioned state legislature. Another major political change was in regard to voting. By the mid-1950s, Iowa had developed a fairly competitive two-party structure, ending almost one hundred years of [[United States Republican Party|Republican]] domination within the state.

In the economic sector, Iowa also has undergone considerable change. Beginning with the first farm-related industries developed in the 1870s, Iowa has experienced a gradual increase in the number of business and manufacturing operations. The period since World War II has witnessed a particular increase in manufacturing operations. While agriculture continues to be the state's dominant industry, Iowans also produce a wide variety of products including [[refrigerator]]s, [[washing machine]]s, [[fountain pen]]s, [[farm implement]]s, and [[food products]] that are shipped around the world.

During the [[1980s farm crisis|farm crisis]] catalyzed by policies introduced by President [[Ronald Reagan]] in the early 1980s,<ref>{{Cite news |title=The 1980s Farm Crisis Changes Federal Agriculture Policies |publisher=Iowa PBS |url=https://www.iowapbs.org/iowapathways/artifact/1552/1980s-farm-crisis-changes-federal-agriculture-policies |access-date=2025-02-14 |language=en}}</ref> the price of farmland plummeted by more than half and the rest of the local economy was proportionally effected.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2020-11-23 |title=The Farm Crisis of the 1980s |url=https://indianahumanities.org/2020/11/23/the-farm-crisis-of-the-1980s/ |access-date=2025-02-14 |publisher=Indiana Humanities |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |title=Forever Changed: The Effects Of '80s Farm Crisis Linger |url=https://www.iowapublicradio.org/show/talk-of-iowa/2019-09-24/forever-changed-the-effects-of-80s-farm-crisis-linger |access-date=2025-02-14 |publisher=Iowa Public Radio |language=en}}</ref>

Though crystal meth first began to become popular in the United States on the west coast, the first majorly scaled meth superlabs in the American midwest sprouted up in Iowa--the operation run by [[Lori Arnold]] is an exemplar of this trend.<ref name=":1">{{Cite news |last=Hale |first=Mike |date=2021-05-07 |title=Review: Going Home to Iowa With the Queen of Meth |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/07/arts/television/review-queen-of-meth.html |access-date=2025-02-14 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> Shortly after [[Queen of Meth|Arnold]] was imprisoned in 1991, both the methods of manufacturing and distribution of the drug evolved.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Reding |first=Nick |title=Methland: the death and life of an American small town |date=2009 |publisher=Bloomsbury |isbn=978-1-59691-650-0 |edition=1st U.S. |location=New York}}</ref>{{page needed|date=February 2025}} Social impacts resulting from [[North American Free Trade Agreement|NAFTA]] (such as job loss and depressed wages) are correlated with accelerated diffusion and prevalence of the drug before during the period of the first meth epidemic.<ref name=":0" />{{page needed|date=February 2025}} It was here that the period of contagion known as the meth epidemic began.<ref name=":0" />{{page needed|date=February 2025}} 

In the 1990s, the economy of Iowa was heavily impacted by [[North American Free Trade Agreement|NAFTA]] (introduced by the Republican congressional majority led by [[Newt Gingrich]] and signed into law by President [[Bill Clinton]]) and by the depression wages resulting from the spike of undocumented immigration resulting from that policy. <ref>{{Cite web |date=2019-02-01 |title=Iowa Job Loss During the NAFTA-WTO Period |url=https://www.citizen.org/article/iowa-job-loss-during-the-nafta-wto-period/ |access-date=2025-02-14 |publisher=Public Citizen |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |title='As Iowan as cornfields': How immigration changed one small town |url=https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/iowan-cornfields-immigration-changed-small-town/story?id=64788884 |access-date=2025-02-14 |publisher=ABC News |language=en}}</ref> Displaced Mexican farmers flooded the state's remaining industry--meatpacking--when companies like Cargill and Swift solicited workers from cities such a Juarez and Villacueto Mexico to come to Iowa for work by posting billboards south of the border at a moment when Mexican farmers were being wiped out by the sudden drop in staple prices that came in the wake of NAFTA's passage.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Grey |first1=Mark A. |last2=Woodrick |first2=Anne C. |date=2002 |title=Unofficial Sister Cities: Meatpacking Labor Migration Between Villachuato, Mexico, and Marshalltown, Iowa |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/44127576 |journal=Human Organization |volume=61 |issue=4 |pages=364–376 |doi=10.17730/humo.61.4.8xhdfg6jggqccb2c |doi-broken-date=December 22, 2025 |jstor=44127576 |issn=0018-7259|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref name=":1" />

Real average earnings per job relative to the rest of the United States fell in Iowa, for most of the period between 1969 and 2022--reaching their lowest point in the 1990s and 2000s.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Iowa vs. United States {{!}} Average Earnings Per Job Trends Report over 1969–2022 |url=https://united-states.reaproject.org/analysis/comparative-trends-analysis/average_earnings_per_job/reports/190000/0/ |access-date=2025-02-14 |publisher=United States Regional Economic Analysis Project |language=en}}</ref> Growth during this period improved somewhat over the last decade, but remains flat relative to 1969--reflecting zero growth, when parity with the rest of the United States is considered, over the past half-century.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Iowa vs. United States {{!}} Average Earnings Per Job Trends Report over 1969–2022 |url=https://united-states.reaproject.org/analysis/comparative-trends-analysis/average_earnings_per_job/reports/190000/0/ |access-date=2025-02-14 |publisher=United States Regional Economic Analysis Project |language=en}}</ref>

==See also==
{{Portal|History|North America|United States|Iowa|France}}
{{Main|Historical outline of Iowa}}
* [[State Historical Society of Iowa]]
* [[Iowa Historic Preservation Alliance]]
* [[List of historical societies in Iowa]]
* [[History of the Midwestern United States]]
* [[Timeline of Des Moines, Iowa]]
* [[Women's suffrage in Iowa]]
* [[Native American tribes in Iowa]]
{{Clear}}

==References==
{{Reflist|colwidth=30em}}

==Further reading==

* Andrews, Clarence A. ''A literary history of Iowa'' (1972) [https://archive.org/details/literaryhistoryo0000andr online]
* Avella, Steven M. ''The Catholic Church in Southwest Iowa'' (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press. 2018). Pp. xxvi, 433. [https://muse.jhu.edu/article/731171 Online review].
* Baldwin, Bird T. et al. ''Farm Children: An Investigation of Rural Child Life in selected areas of Iowa'' (1930), in-depth look at children and their schools. [https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/630936 online review of this book]; [https://reader.library.cornell.edu/docviewer/digital?id=chla2830025#page/3/mode/1up online complete text of this book]

* Beatty, Jerry K.  ''Patriotism, Courage, & Sacrifice: Warren County's Response to WW II'' (Indianola: Warren County Historical Society, 2017). 401 pp. [https://web.archive.org/web/20200306071941/https://ir.uiowa.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=12492&context=annals-of-iowa online review]
* Bergman, Marvin, ed. ''Iowa History Reader'' (1996) reprinted essays by scholars.
* Bogue, Allan G. ''From prairie to corn belt; farming on the Illinois and Iowa prairies in the nineteenth century''  (1963) [https://archive.org/details/fromprairietocor0000bogu/page/n6/mode/1up online]

* Bray, Thomas J. "The Cummins Leadership" ''Annals of Iowa'' (1954) 32#4 pp. 241–296. [https://pubs.lib.uiowa.edu/annals-of-iowa/article/id/10452/ online]
* Cordier, Mary Hurlbut. ''Schoolwomen of the Prairies and Plains: Personal Narratives from Iowa, Kansas, and Nebraska, 1860s–1920s'' (1997) [https://archive.org/details/schoolwomenofpra00cord online]
* Devine, Jenny Barker. ''On Behalf of the Family Farm: Iowa Farm Women's Activism Since 1945'' (University of Iowa Press; 2013) 188pp; covers women in the Farm Bureau, the Farmers Union, the National Farm Organization, and the Porkettes.
* Friedberger, Mark W. "Handing Down the Home Place: Farm Inheritance Strategies in Iowa" ''Annals of Iowa'' 47.6 (1984): 518–536. [https://web.archive.org/web/20151130232835/http://ir.uiowa.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=9073&context=annals-of-iowa online]
* Friedberger, Mark. "The Farm Family and the Inheritance Process: Evidence from the Corn Belt, 1870–1950." ''Agricultural History'' 57.1 (1983): 1–13. uses Iowa census and sales data
* Friedberger, Mark. ''Shake-Out: Iowa Farm Families in the 1980s'' (1989);
* Friedricks, William B. ''Covering Iowa: The History of the Des Moines Register and Tribune Company, 1849–1985'' (Iowa State Press, 2000).
* Grant, H. Roger. "Railroaders and Reformers: The Chicago & North Western Encounters Grangers and Progressives." ''Annals of Iowa'' 50.7 (1991) pp. 772–786 [https://pubs.lib.uiowa.edu/annals-of-iowa/article/id/11165/download/pdf/ online].
* Hofsommer, Don L. ''Steel Trails Of Hawkeyeland: Iowa's Railroad Experience'' (2005)
* Jensen, Richard. ''The Winning of the Midwest: Social and Political Conflict, 1888–1896'' (1971). [https://archive.org/details/winningofmidwest0000jens/page/n8/mode/2up online ]
* Jensen, Richard J., and Mark Friedberger. ''Education and Social Structure: An Historical Study of Iowa, 1870–1930'' (Chicago: Newberry Library, 1975)  [http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED125982.pdf online free at ERIC: ED125982]
* Kirkendall, Richard Stewart. ''Uncle Henry: A Documentary Profile of the First Henry Wallace'' (1993)
* Maulsby, Darcy Dougherty. '' A Culinary History of Iowa: Sweet Corn, Pork Tenderloins, Maid-Rites & More'' (Arcadia, 2018)
* Moe, Edward O., and Carl Cleveland Taylor. ''Culture of a contemporary rural community: Irwin, Iowa'' (US Department of Agriculture, Bureau of Agricultural Economics, 1942) [https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=RV-vAAAAIAAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PA1&dq=%22edward+o.+moe%22++taylor&ots=5DWRTZeWuc&sig=ubg4XkrPDsXmdDY_FG7Fp9VUGts online] history and status in 1940 of [[Irwin, Iowa]], a small town in Shelby County.

* Morain, Thomas J. ''Prairie Grass Roots: An Iowa Small Town in the Early Twentieth Century'' (1988)
* Mutel, Cornelia F. ed. ''A Watershed Year: Anatomy of the Iowa Floods of 2008'' (University of Iowa Press; 2010) 250 pages; studies by scientists and others on record-breaking floods in June 2008.
* Reynolds, David R. ''There Goes the Neighborhood: Rural School Consolidation at the Grass Roots in Early Twentieth-Century Iowa'' (1999)
* [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Gazetteer/Places/America/United_States/Iowa/_Texts/RICIOW/home.html Richman, Irving Berdine. ''Ioway to Iowa: The Genesis of a Corn and Bible Commonwealth'' (1931)]
* Roberts, Ron, ed. ''Iowa's Ethnic Roots'' (Kendall/Hunt 1993) popular essays on 15 groups.
* Ross, Earl D. ''Iowa Agriculture: An Historical Survey'' (1951)
* Sage, Leland. ''William Boyd Allison: A Study in Practical Politics'' (1956)
* Sage, Leland. ''A History of Iowa'' (1974), a standard history [https://archive.org/details/historyofiowa00lela online]
* Schwieder, Dorothy. ''Iowa: The Middle Land'' (1996), a standard scholarly history
* Silag, William. "The Conquest of the Hinterland: Railroads and Capitalists in Northwest Iowa after the Civil War", ''Annals of Iowa,'' 50 (Spring 1990), 475–506.
* Strauss, Dafnah. "Ideological closure in newspaper political language during the US 1872 election campaign." ''Journal of Historical Pragmatics'' 15.2 (2014): 255–291.  DOI: 10.1075/jhp.15.2.06str  [https://www.researchgate.net/publication/264125541_Ideological_closure_in_newspaper_political_language_during_the_US_1872_election_campaign online], three major Iowa newspapers
* Stromquist, Shelton. ''Solidarity and Survival: An Oral History of Iowa Labor in the Twentieth Century'' (U Of Iowa Press, 1993) [https://archive.org/details/solidaritysurviv0000stro online]
* Wall, Joseph Frazier. ''Iowa: A Bicentennial History'' (1978), popular history by scholar

==External links==
* [http://hdl.handle.net/2027/uc1.b4490617?urlappend=%3Bseq=583  Timeline of Iowa from WPA, American Guide Series appendix (1938) ]

* [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Gazetteer/Places/America/United_States/Iowa/_Topics/history/home.html History of Iowa] (source documents & secondary works)
* [https://guides.loc.gov/iowa-state-guide Iowa: State Resource Guide, from the Library of Congress]


{{Iowa|expanded}}
{{U.S. political divisions histories}}
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[[Category:History of Iowa| ]]
[[Category:History of the United States by state or territory|Iowa]]