White Attitudes Toward Black Civil Equality in the Nineteenth Century: Iowa's Equal Rights Referenda of 1857, 1868, and 1880 Dykstra, Robert R. African Americans American Civil War Black White relations civil rights counties historical data legislation local elections nineteenth century racial attitudes Reconstruction referendum state elections voter attitudes voter preferences voter turnout voting rights RCMD.XII RCMD.IX.A ICPSR.XVI RCMD.XIII ICPSR.XIV.C The primary objective of this data collection was to provide a quantitative underpinning for the analysis of Northern racial attitudes in the United States during the Civil War era. The data contain the results of the three popular referenda on Black civil equality held in 1857, 1868, and 1880 in the state of Iowa: the first just prior to the onset of the Civil War, the second following the Civil War, and the third coming at the close of the Reconstruction period. In order to provide a more comprehensive political context for these well-spaced referenda, the data files contain all relevant annual elections occurring in Iowa between August 1848 and June 1882, capturing the period of time beginning with the first elections involving antislavery candidates through the end of Reconstruction. In addition, the data contain the results of various other referenda, including banking and liquor prohibition referenda voted upon during the time period. Parts 1 and 2 contain county-level data for all 99 Iowa counties. Part 1, County File: Elections and Referenda, contains the outcomes for the various elections and referenda that were put to the vote in Iowa during the mid- to late-1800s. Part 2, County File: Miscellaneous, contains various characteristics describing the voting Iowan population including religion and occupation data. Parts 3 and 4 contain township-level data. The data contain results from 186 of 292 Iowa townships that had surviving 1857 referenda returns. Of the 186, 127 townships had records for all three of the referenda regarding the rights of Blacks (1857, 1868, and 1880). As a result, Part 3, Township File: Referenda, contains the outcomes, by township, for the three civil rights referenda voted on in the state of Iowa. Part 4, Township File: Voters, contains hand counted voter birthplace data keyed to each of the three referenda. 2005-12-19 event/transaction data 4284 10.3886/ICPSR04284.v1 Election Records, 1838-1890 (microfilm 4753), Iowa Secretary of State, University of Iowa Library John A.T. Hull, ed., CENSUS OF IOWA FOR 1880, 1883. John A.T. Hull, CENSUS FOR 1880. John A.T. Hull, THE SEVENTH CENSUS OF THE UNITED STATES: 1850, Washington, DC: 1853. EIGHTH CENSUS OF THE UNITED STATES, 1860: MORTALITY AND MISCELLANEOUS STATISTICS, Washington, DC: 1866. Frank D. Jackson, ed., CENSUS OF IOWA FOR THE YEAR 1885, Des Moines: 1885. Martin L. Greer, ed., OFFICIAL RECORD: MINUTES OF THE IOWA CONFERENCE OF THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH, n.p., 1962. THE CENSUS RETURNS OF THE DIFFERENT COUNTIES FOR THE STATE OF IOWA FOR 1856, Iowa City: 1857. Iowa Census of 1856 manuscript United States Census of 1870 manuscript United States Census of 1880 manuscript newspapers county records local histories Iowa United States 1848-08--1882-06 ICPSR metadata records are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 United States License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/us/).