| OF IOWA | 259 |
demned but the exclusion of slavery from California and New Mexico was favored. The Whig State Convention assembled at Iowa City June 30th and nominated Thomas J. McKean for President of the Board of Public Works; Wm. M. Allison for Secretary; and Henry G. Stewart for Treasurer. The resolutions indorsed the administration of President Taylor, favored the exclusion of slavery from the free territories, condemned the acts of the Democratic party in the late Legislature and favored a revision of the Constitution of the State. The election was warmly contested but resulted in the choice of the Democratic candidates by a plurality of about seven hundred. The vote for President of Board of Public Works was as follows:
| Patterson, Democrat | 11,672 |
| McKean, Whig | 10,960 |
| John H. Dayton, Free Soil | 504 |
| Patterson’s plurality, 712; majority, 148. |
At the opening of the session of the Thirty-first Congress in December, 1849, Daniel F. Miller appeared and contested the seat of William Thompson, who had been admitted on a certificate of election given by the board of canvassers after they had rejected the vote of Kanesville. The House of Representatives was nearly evenly divided between the two parties, being classified Democrats one hundred and sixteen, Whigs one hundred and eleven, with three Independents. The contest over the election of Speaker had continued from the 12th to the 24th of December, when Howell Cobb, Democrat, was chosen by a plurality of one vote. Under the circumstances a deep interest was taken in the contest of Thompson’s election. The committee on elections consisted of six Democrats and four Whigs. After a lengthy investigation a majority report, signed by the six Democrats, was presented, declaring Thompson entitled to the seat. The four Whig members made a minority report
