THE ADMISSION OF WISCONSIN TO STATEHOOD1

Like all territories Wisconsin had aspirations towards statehood complicated, however, in this instance by the question of boundaries. The last of the states to be formed from the Northwest Territory, both Michigan and Illinois had encroached upon the territory originally allotted to Wisconsin by the Ordinance of 1787. It was the southern boundary question, however, that was chiefly involved in the process of attaining statehood. Notwithstanding the fact that for more than twenty years Illinois had exercised jurisdiction over the disputed tract, Wisconsin's claims received much consideration among its inhabitants, and influenced the progress of the territory towards the goal of admission.

In his annual message in 1839 Governor Dodge recommended the legislature to consider the submission of the question of statehood to the people at the next election. On January 13, 1840 an act was passed embodying this recommendation with the proviso that a convention should be held with delegates from northern Illinois to discuss the inclusion of their territory in the proposed new state. Only by such a proceeding could there be a sufficient population to justify application to Congress for admission. Agitation quickly sprang up in the Illinois counties, and the majority of their population was eager to cast in its lot with that of the northern territory. Public meetings held at Galena and Rockford passed strong resolutions favoring the measure. Wisconsin people, on the contrary, took alarm at the proposal. Illinois was burdened with a heavy debt, and the portion that must be assumed by the region desiring inclu

'From a manuscript history of Wisconsin to 1848 prepared for the State Historical Society in 1917.

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sion in Wisconsin staggered the financiers of the territory. Politicians were also fearful that their share of offices would be diminished by the accession of a developed and thicklypopulated region like northern Illinois. A meeting for Brown County held at Green Bay passed forcible resolutions against both statehood and the inclusion of any portion of Illinois. Most of Wisconsin's meager population was unprepared to assume the liabilities of a state government. Therefore, at a special session of the legislature held in August, 1840, the act of the preceding January was amended by a resolution that the convention therein authorized should not have the power to adopt a state constitution or to declare the territory an independent state. The territorial press opposed the calling of the convention, urging the people to be contented with their fortunate situation wherein all expenses of territorial government were met, not by taxes, but by the federal authorities. The September vote was, as may be supposed, very small and almost wholly against the proposition for a convention or for statehood. In Dane County, for instance, but one vote was cast in favor of the proposal.

This decisive defeat put a quietus upon the statehood movement for the next two years. Meanwhile the Whig party succeeded in 1841 to the control of the federal government, and one of its first measures was a law for the distribution to the states of the proceeds of the public lands. The territorial Whig press thereupon began an agitation for statehood in order to participate in the benefits of the distribution. Governor Doty, the Whig appointee, had been for many years an enthusiastic advocate of Wisconsin's "original boundaries." In his first annual message in December, 1841 he advised the consideration of statehood, in order to secure the advantage of the distribution law. At the same time he called upon the legislature to assert the territory's right to the region of northern Illinois. The legislature, under control of the Democratic party, was bitterly hostile to the governor. The leader of the Council at

tacked the entire proposition in a partisan speech and a resolution was passed that "the time has not yet arrived when it [the consideration of statehood] is expedient." The Whigs thereupon called a meeting at the capitol which discussed the matter favorably, and passed resolutions for a state government, and the boundaries of the Ordinance of 1787.

The legislature, none the less, refused to consider the subject, and the discussion went to the people. Most of the newspapers of the territory, then numbering nine, came out in opposition to statehood; about this time, however, the Doty party secured possession of the Wisconsin Enquirer at Madison, which began a series of editorials favoring the state project. Doty even went so far as to send an official message to Governor Carlin, of Illinois, requiring him to desist from selecting state lands in the disputed Illinois tract. Doty's opponents claimed that he feared removal by the federal government, and was providing a berth for himself in the new state government he planned to establish. Be this as it may, on August 18, 1842 he issued a proclamation wherein without legislative sanction he summoned the people to vote at the September election "yea" or "nay" on the question of state government and the original southern boundary. The Democratic convention of the territory condemned this measure as executive usurpation. The vote at the September election was negligible, the 619 votes for and the 1,821 against proving indifference rather than active hostility to the attainment of statehood.

The next year Doty was still more deeply embroiled with the Democratic majority of the territorial legislature. Nevertheless in his message, delivered in March, 1843, he reverted to the proposition for a referendum on statehood. The legislature refused to consider the question, but some of the opposition suggested the advisability of such a movement in order to "shake off Doty's tyranny."

A new cleavage of opinion appears about this time. The southern counties bordering on Illinois began to favor im

mediate statehood. Racine, for example, fast filling up and establishing commercial connections with the northern Illinois villages adopted a memorial favoring a movement towards statehood and the inclusion of northern Illinois. The northern Wisconsin counties, however, were still oppressed by the dread of being overpowered by the southern in the event of annexation. The Green Bay Republican, although a Whig organ, declared that "Few, very few, can be found in favor of our admission to the Union at this time." Meanwhile the Whig convention, which met in July, discussed the advantages of a state government, and recommended the measure to its constituents. Doty, following his precedent of the preceding year, issued, August 23, 1843, a second proclamation charging the legislature with negligence in not providing for a referendum on statehood, and claiming a territorial population of over sixty thousand inhabitants. These he summoned once more to vote on the question of a state government, but omitted all reference to the inclusion of Illinois. The vote was again very small, and except in Racine County was adverse to the measure. That county gave a majority of 251 in favor. The entire vote was 541 for and 1,276 against, less in actual numbers than that of the preceding year. Ten counties, however, made no returns. at all.

Nothing daunted by this serious setback Doty returned to the proposal at the December session of the legislature of 1843. Almost his entire message was devoted to a discussion of the importance of statehood, and the righteousness of Wisconsin's claim to "the integrity of her territorial boundaries" and her ancient "birthright." The Milwaukee Courier referred to the message as "the same old tune on the same old string," but none the less new forces were at work which compelled the consideration of the question and removed it from the domain of party prejudice. The growing size of the population could no longer be ignored. All parties agreed that the requisite 60,000 inhabitants would

be available before the territory could become a sovereign state. The approach of a presidential campaign made the politicians restive in a state of "babyhood and political vassalage." The large foreign population desired to secure the political privileges they had come so far to seek, all the more that the Native American or Know Nothing party was advocating their exclusion from the polls. The advantages of statehood in stimulating immigration and the influx of capital were held by many to outweigh the advantages of federal care for the territory.

A remarkable change in sentiment animated the legislature: the Democratic leaders, who had stoutly opposed the measure in 1842 and 1843, now spoke enthusiastically not only for state government, but for the maintenance of the ancient limits. In the Council Moses M. Strong, chairman of the committee on the "infringement of boundaries" presented a long report covering the history of Wisconsin's grievances. He declared that if these were not compensated Wisconsin “would remain a state out of the Union and possess, exercise, and enjoy all the rights, privileges, and powers of the sovereign, independent state of Wisconsin, and if difficulties must ensue, we could appeal with confidence to the Great Umpire of nations to adjust them." The Democratic volte face was due to a desire to conciliate the foreign vote, which the Whigs were alienating by a leaning towards Native Americanism. About the time the Council report was delivered a large German mass meeting was held in Milwaukee which passed resolutions in favor of state government, and prepared a petition with 1,200 signatures requesting the right to vote for delegates to a constitutional convention. In January, 1844 two bills passed the legislature: One provided for a referendum on the subject of state government, and if it carried, for the immediate calling of a constitutional convention; the other provided that "all the free white male inhabitants who shall have resided in the said territory three months" should be entitled to vote on