BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH

James Wilson Grimes, the third Governor of the State of Iowa, was born in the town of Deering, Hillsborough County, New Hampshire, on October 20, 1816. His grand parents were among the patriots of the American Revolution. James was the youngest of a family of eight children. He entered Dartmouth College in August, 1832, and left that institution in February, 1835.

In 1836 he left home for the West. He arrived at the town of Burlington on the west bank of the Mississippi, in what was then the Territory of Michigan, on the fifteenth of May. In September of the same year he attended a council of the chiefs and braves of the Sac and Fox Indians held at Rock Island. Here he acted as Secretary of the United States commission upon appointment by Governor Henry Dodge of Wisconsin Territory.

In February, 1837, he was admitted to the practice of law in the Territory of Wisconsin, and in the same year he was appointed City Solicitor for Burlington. During the winter of 1837-38 he was employed as assistant in the Territorial library. By Governor Henry Dodge he was appointed Justice of the Peace.

Mr. Grimes was a member of the House of Representatives of the First Legislative Assembly of the Territory of Iowa. He occupied the same position in the Sixth Legislative Assembly of the Territory. Nine years later he

was a member of the Fourth General Assembly of the State of Iowa.

On November 9, 1846, Mr. Grimes was married, at Burlington, to Elizabeth Sarah Nealley. Many of the letters to his wife written during their married life have been published in Salter's Life of James W. Grimes.

In 1854, Mr. Grimes was nominated by the Whigs of Iowa for the office of Governor. He was elected in August; and on December 9, 1854, he took the oath of office. He remained in this office for the term of three years, that is, from December, 1854, to January, 1858. When the Republican party was organized in 1856 he became one of its most active supporters. He is sometimes called the "Father of Republicanism in Iowa."

In 1859 he was elected to a seat in the United States Senate. His first term as Senator began March 4, 1859. He was reëlected to succeed himself in 1865. In 1868 he voted Nor GUILTY in the case of the impeachment of Andrew Johnson. Impaired health led him to resign his seat in the Senate in 1869. He died at Burlington, Iowa, on February 7, 1872.

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE.-The Life of James W. Grimes, by William Salter. Iowa Historical Record, Vol. IV, p. 38; Vol. VIII, pp. 337, 354. Annals of Iowa, 1st Series, Vol. III, p. 607; Vol. XI, p. 460. Annals of Iowa, 3d Series, Vol. I, pp. 225, 476, 491, 505, 574; Vol. II, pp. 400, 627; Vol. III, p. 135; Vol. IV, pp. 131, 133, 304, 306, 482.

INAUGURAL ADDRESS

DECEMBER 9, 1854

From the Journal of the House of Representatives, p. 42

Gentlemen of the Senate, and House of Representatives:

Having now, in your presence, assumed the duties of the office to which I have been elevated by the suffrages of my fellow-citizens, it becomes my duty, under the Constitution, to call your attention to such subjects as I believe demand your consideration.

No one, however connected with legislation, can too highly estimate the responsibilities of his position. He can not feel too deeply the delicacy of his labors, and his ignorance of the complicated structure and conflicting interests of society, over which he is called to exercise control. To legislate is the noblest employment in which he can be engaged, and the most difficult of satisfactory execution.

It is so everywhere, but it is peculiarly so in a new and growing State, where the population is drawn from all parts of the civilized globe, where the public policy and public institutions are just being established, and where different portions of the State are in different conditions of progress and development. It is a difficult task to protect and advance the pioneer interests of our western settlements, and also encourage, and establish on a substantial basis, the commercial and manufacturing interests of the old counties, by general laws, that shall operate equally and beneficently

upon all. all. It is not an easy matter to lay strong and deep the foundations of the educational institutions of a new State, and to rear thereon superstructures, that shall honor the State and bless mankind. The duty of restoring reason to those who are bereft of it, of giving sight to the blind and hearing to the deaf, by the establishment and proper endowment of charitable institutions; of repressing evil; of punishing crime; of stimulating industry; of protecting public virtue, and of maintaining the integrity of the State sovereignty, cannot be exercised without incurring grave responsibilities.

Government is established for the protection of the gov erned. But that protection does not consist merely in the enforcement of laws against injury to the person and property. Men do not make a voluntary abnegation of their natural rights, simply that those rights may be protected by the body politic. It reaches more vital interests than those of property. Its greatest object is to elevate and ennoble the citizen. It would fall far short of its design if it did not disseminate intelligence and build up the moral energies of the people. It is organized "to establish justice, promote the public welfare and secure the blessings of liberty." It is designed to foster the instincts of truth, justice and philanthropy, that are implanted in our very natures, and from which all constitutions and all laws derive their validity and value. It should afford moral as well as physical protection, by educating the rising generation; by encouraging industry and sobriety; by steadfastly adhering to the right, and by being ever true to the instincts of freedom and humanity.