Wisconsin Territory

“ Had it not been for the gold fever of 1849 that drew the wielders of pick and shovel to the Far West, Wisconsin would early have taken high rank among the mining regions of the country.
From a favorable point of vantage on Lake Michigan, the village of Milwaukee, a center for lumber and grain transport and a place of entry for Eastern goods, grew into a thriving city. It claimed twenty thousand inhabitants, when in 1848 Congress admitted Wisconsin to the union. Already the Germans, Irish, and Scandinavians had found their way into the territory. ”

“ Wisconsin was then a part of Indiana Territory, of which William Henry Harrison was governor. It was for the most part a wilderness; dense woods and tenantless prairies extended all the way from the narrow clearing at Green Bay to the little settlement at Prairie du Chien. There were small clearings at Portage, Milwaukee, and one or two other fur trading posts. There was no civil government here, and the few white people in all this vast stretch of country practically made their own laws, each man being judge and jury for himself, so long as he did not interfere with other people's rights. ”

“ By the famous Ordinance of 1787, Congress created the Northwest Territory, which embraced the wide stretch of country lying between the Great Lakes and the Ohio and the Mississippi rivers. The present Wisconsin was a part of this great territory.
In the year 1800 Indiana Territory was set off from the rest of the Northwest Territory, and took Wisconsin with it. Nine years later Illinois Territory was formed, Wisconsin being within its bounds. Nine years after that, when Illinois became a State, all the country lying west of Lake Michigan was given to Michigan Territory ”

“ Section 2 All lands and other property which have accrued to the territory of Wisconsin by grant, gift, purchase, forfeiture, escheat, or otherwise shall vest in the state of Wisconsin.
Section 3 The people of this state in their right of sovereignty are declared to possess the ultimate property in and to all lands within the jurisdiction of this state; and all lands, the title to which shall fail from a defect of heirs, shall revert, or escheat to the people.
Article XVI: Bill Of Bights Section 1 All men are born equally free and independent ”

“ Wisconsin was organized but twelve years ago, and has now a population of not less than 200,000. One portion of its territory, 33 miles by 30, which ten years before was an unbroken wilderness, numbered even in 1846 87,000 inhabitants; and the emigration to the "Far West" is now greater than ever. A giant is therefore growing up there, who will soon be able and disposed to rule the destinies of the United States. The Church of Rome is straining every nerve to have that giant in her own keeping, and already shouts the song of triumph. ”

“ In 1810 the product of lead had been about 400,000 ℔, largely mined and smelted by Indians, but the output was now increased enormously by the American miners who introduced new machinery and new methods, and by 1820 there were several thousand miners in the region, including negro slaves who had been brought north by Southern prospectors from Kentucky and Missouri. In 1818 Illinois was admitted to the Union and Wisconsin was incorporated in Michigan Territory, and at that time American civil government in the Wisconsin region was first established on an orderly and permanent basis. ”

“ In 1834 two land offices were opened, and by 1836, 878,014 acres of land had been sold to settlers and speculators. A special census showed a population of more than 11,000 in 1836. The new growth started a movement for a separate Territorial organization for that part of Michigan lying west of Lake Michigan, but this was not finally accomplished until 1836, when Michigan entered the Union. The new Territory of Wisconsin comprised not only the area included in the present state, but the present Iowa and Minnesota and a considerable portion of North and South Dakota. ”

“ Before the actual military occupation (1816) by the United States, American traders had begun to enter into a sharp rivalry for the Indian trade. In 1800 Wisconsin was included in the newly organized Indiana Territory; and in 1809 on the admission of Indiana as a state it was attached to Illinois. During the second war with Great Britain, the Wisconsin Indians and French settlers generally sided with the British, and in 1814 many of them participated in Major William McKay's expedition against Fort Shelby at Prairie du Chien. ”

“ With a population of thousands she has remained ungoverned, and has been left by the parent government to take care of herself without the privilege on the one hand to provide a government of her own, and without any existing authority on the other to govern her. From June, 1833, to June, 1834, there was not even the shadow of government or law in all western Wisconsin.
“In June, 1834, Congress attached her to the then existing Territory of Michigan, of which Territory she nominally continued a part until July, 1836, a period of a little more than two years. ”

“ There is evidence of acts of dominion and possession of some of the disputed islands while Wisconsin was yet a territory. Almost from the day of her admission, the state has continuously possessed, asserted title, and exercised jurisdiction and dominion over all of the islands within the boundary claimed by her. ”

“ And be it further enacted, That the sum of two thousand dollars, appropriated by the act of the seventh of July, eighteen hundred and thirty-eight, entitled “An act making appropriations for certain roads in the Territory of Wisconsin,” for a railroad, shall be applied by the Secretary of War to the survey of the most eligible route for a railroad from the town of Milwaukee, on lake Michigan, to such point on the Mississippi river as may be deemed most expedient. ”

“ The State ow Wisconsin, except so far as its connection with the Constitution and laws of the United States alters its position, is a sovereign State, possessing all the powers of the most absolute government in the world. ”

“ On the other hand there were all the vast, fruitful regions now known as Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, Minnesota, the Dakotas and the states lying to the west of them into which by this agreement slavery might never go, from which it was supposedly as effectually excluded as it had been from Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin by that clause which Thomas Jefferson—in his eagerness to make an end of the system—had written into the deed of cession by which the Northwest Territory became a national possession. ”

“ Whatever may be the limitations which trammel inquiry elsewhere, we believe the great state of Wisconsin should ever encourage that continual and fearless sifting and winnowing by which alone the truth can be found. ”

“ He came to America in 1852, and after three years' residence in Philadelphia, he settled in Watertown, in our own state. Though he was later a resident of Michigan, Missouri, and New York, and indeed represented the second-named state in the Senate of the United States, yet throughout his Reminiscences he frequently speaks of Wisconsin in a manner that shows he thought of it as his home.
His life as an American citizen was full of honor and responsibility. He was made Minister to Spain by President Lincoln, but soon resigned to come back home and serve in the Civil War. ”

“ There are now no longer Indians in Wisconsin: its white population is rapidly on the increase. Wisconsin has no hills, but on all sides uncultivated, and for the most part fertile land, abounding in lakes and rivers. It is a state for agriculture and the rearing of cattle; the land in many parts, however, and in particular around Madison, where it is appropriated by the Federal government to the supplying an income to the State's university, is already very dear. ”

“ Any state which may wish to follow Wisconsin by adopting its highly centralized plan is hereby warned in order that they may have proper conditions in which to establish a scheme which gives so much power into the hands of a few experts. ”

“ Nicolet first set foot upon what is now the State of Wisconsin late in 1634 or early in 1635. He landed first at Green Bay, where he found a large Indian settlement, thence ascended the Fox River to a point beyond its passage through Lake Winnebago, and then turned southward. He probably proceeded as far south as the site of Chicago, and returned east by way of Lake Michigan. The next white explorers in the Wisconsin region of whom we have any record were Radisson and Groseilliers, two fur traders, who reached the country in 1658-59. ”

“ If the government can be prevailed upon to open up this route no one will deny that it will be of incalculable benefit to the people of Wisconsin, and to those further up the valley of the Mississippi. Let its friends do all they can to push forward the great movement. ”

“ The beautiful bluffs bordering the Mississippi; the charm and grace of the sweeping lines of Lake Pepin; the tumbling, rushing waters of the Wisconsin, with their thickly-wooded hills and their green slopes of prairie and their October sunsets, seen through crimson oak and maple leaves; or the numerous falls of the upper Fox,—all have stirred the hearts of the fortunate people privileged to live within their influence. Hence, at Stevens Point, La Crosse, Appleton, and a few other cities in the state with similar surroundings, we have a literature with charming local flavor. ”

“ At first, neither the legislatures of Illinois nor Wisconsin paid much attention to the matter. Finally, in 1843, the Wisconsin legislature sent a rather warlike [167] address to Congress, in which secession was clearly threatened, unless the "birthright of Wisconsin" were restored. Congress, however, very sensibly paid no heed to the address, and gradually the excitement subsided, until eventually Wisconsin was made a State, with her present boundaries. ”

“ Wisconsin, the youngest state of the Union, established under the most favourable circumstances, able to avail itself of the experience of the older sister-states, rich in a new population composed of various races ”

“ I am satisfied that there is not in the northern part of these states, an inland town equal, in any respect to Janesville or Watertown. No man can open his eyes, and keep them open, during opportunities for observation, without being satisfied that Wisconsin is very far superior for all purposes of civilization, to the region lying south of it—and that it is destined to the support of a far more powerful community. ”

“ Together those three counties had over 20,000, which was considerably more than one-half of all the Germans (38,054) domiciled in Wisconsin at that time. The other lake shore counties, together with Calumet, Fond du Lac, Dodge, Jefferson, and Waukesha, accounted for 15,000 of the balance, leaving about 3000 scattered over the rest of the state. Thus the area embraced by Lake Michigan, Lake Winnebago and lower Fox River, the upper reaches of Rock River, and the south boundary of Jefferson, Waukesha, and Milwaukee counties was all strongly and in the main distinctively German. ”

“ Citizens of Wisconsin, you do not fight for yourselves alone. If you stand firm and do your duty as men, then the question of State Rights may be decided on the soil of our State. To you will belong the honor, and the fruits of your victory to the whole nation and to posterity. ”

“ The men who have had the greatest influence in making that legislation what it is, were inspired by these ideals. The people of Wisconsin would not have supported any wild or extravagant legislative schemes. The stock is too sturdy, too cautious and too conservative to be swayed by any revolutionary influence. ”

“ An interesting story might be written concerning the development of the principal Indian trails in Wisconsin into the wagon roads of the pioneers, and some of these into the military roads made by the federal government for the marching of troops between the frontier forts. Without fairly good roads, at least during the winter and summer months, it would have been impossible for Wisconsin to grow into a great State; for good roads are necessary to enable settlers, tools, and supplies to get into the country, and to afford an outlet for crops. ”

“ Statistics are impossible to procure, but the testimony of men and women familiar with early conditions in Wisconsin proves that the German population of the state in early days varied quite as widely in social characteristics as did the American population, though America had no distinctive peasant class. ”

“ If what has been written has any element of truth in it, if good legislation and prosperity can and do go hand in hand, the result is a monument to the painstaking and toiling way in which the Wisconsin legislature has gone about its task. If the Wisconsin legislation has some elements of solidarity in it, no little of its success may be due to the fact that the cautious, careful German and Norwegian have refused to be domineered by every long-haired reformer who prances into the arena, asking all to "put on the whole armor of God." ”

“ Their tradition is our inheritance; their achievement is our gain. Wisconsin cannot become a veritable workshop of social and economic experiment without the nation being the beneficiary. New England does not enrich her own literature without shedding luster on the literature of the nation. They and theirs belong also to us and to ours. Least of all, do I forget the old Bay State and her high tradition—State of Hancock and Warren, of John Quincy Adams and Webster, of Sumner and Phillips and Garrison and John A. Andrew, of Longfellow and Lowell and Whittier and Holmes. ”