towns and commerce occupy the seats and haunts of the degraded Indian, upon which the rays of civilization had never beamed. A large mercantile town, with an active and enterprising community, had sprung up at Milwaukie Bay; a town which, three years afterward, in 1845, became an incorporated city, with extensive powers and privileges, designed to render it the commercial emporium of the future State of Wisconsin. Other trading towns lined the beautiful shore of the lake for many miles north and south of this central dépôt.

[A.D. 1843.] During the year 1843, the aggregate number of persons who arrived in the Wisconsin Territory has been estimated at more than sixty thousand, embracing all ages and sexes. Of these, about fifty thousand arrived by way of the lake route.* The remainder advanced by way of the Mississippi and Wisconsin Rivers, and comprised a great proportion of foreign emigrants from the German States. These emigrants spread over the country south and east of the Wisconsin River, and opened new settlements upon its northern and western tributaries. In 1845 Wisconsin Territory contained more inhabitants than any other new state possessed upon her admission into the Union; yet the people, satisfied with the territorial form of government, desired not, in the recent state of the principal settlements, to incur the additional expenses of an independent state government. Hence, with a population of more than one hundred and forty thousand souls, the Wisconsin Territory had not, in 1845, made application to Congress for authority to establish a state government.

The commercial, agricultural, and manufacturing resources of the Wisconsin Territory are unrivaled in that latitude, either in Europe or America. But it is in her mineral resources that Wisconsin excels any other portion of the West. Besides other mineral productions of value, the lead mines of Wisconsin are inexhaustible, and embrace nearly half of the great lead region east of the Mississippi. According to the census of 1840, the whole amount of lead produced in the United States and territories was 31,239,453 pounds. Of this the Territory of Wisconsin, with a capital of $664,600, produced one half, or 15,000,000 pounds.

Michigan had already become a great agricultural state, supplying the city of New York with immense quantities of wheat,

* National Intelligencer, 7th December, 1843.

flour, and various grains, not only for domestic consumption, but for export to foreign countries. The Indian claim to the whole peninsula had been completely extinguished, and the white inhabitants had spread over the entire region to the extreme north, distributed in sixty-two organized counties. The population, according to the census of 1840, was 212,251 souls. In five years more it had augmented to upward of 300,000 white citizens.

The city of Detroit had increased in numbers and commerce in an equal ratio. In 1840 it had become an important manufacturing place, as well as the commercial emporium of the state, and contained nearly ten thousand inhabitants. Three years afterward this amount had swelled to fifteen thousand.

Internal improvements had advanced rapidly, and the state was intersected by a "central rail-road," extending from the city of Detroit to St. Joseph's, on Lake Michigan. A state university had been established at Ann Arbor, with a valuable cabinet of natural history, and a well-selected library of four thousand volumes; as well as a system of common schools, and five preparatory schools or academies. The common schools of the state in full operation comprised, in 1844, no less than 66,818 scholars.* Such is the provision made by the State of Michigan for education; a fair indication of the intelligence and enterprise introduced by the early emigrants from the New England States, and their wise provision for the rising generation.

Commerce and navigation are active in these regions about eight months in the year, during which time Detroit is an important commercial point. As early as 1840, the tonnage of that port was 11,432 tons. The arrivals and clearances of vessels and steam-boats were then about 300 annually.†

Meantime, the continued emigration from the Western States of Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee, as well as from the Atlantic and New England States, by the lake route, had swelled the number of people in "Indiana," the oldest subdivision of the former Northwestern Territory, after the State of Ohio, to 685,886 persons in 1840, distributed over eighty-six organized counties. The Indian population had been removed from

See American Almanac for 1845, p. 281, 282; also for 1844, p. 282, 283.

t See Smith and Haskell's Gazetteer of the United States, p. 176.

the whole region embraced within its original limits; instead of which, in 1845, the whites amounted to but little short of 700,000 souls.

[A.D. 1844.] During the years 1843 and 1844 an immense number of foreigners arrived at the port of New York, principally from the German States and from Ireland, of whom the greater portion advanced by way of the lake route to the regions west of Lake Michigan, and chiefly to the territories of Wisconsin and Iowa. Scarcely a day elapsed during the months of June and July in which crowds of immigrants were not making their advance from New York on rail-roads, canals, and steam-boats, for their destination in the West. In the interval from the first till about the middle of the month of June, 1844, no less than eight thousand two hundred and fifty foreign immigrants, chiefly Germans, arrived in the city of New York.*

[A.D. 1845.] At the close of the year 1845, such had been the general increase of inhabitants in the states and territories comprised within the limits of the original "Northwestern Territory," as organized in 1787, that the regions which, fifty years before, had been occupied as the abodes and huntinggrounds of a few naked, roving bands of savages, were now inhabited by three millions and a half of the most active, enterprising, and commercial people in the world, producing and enjoying all the luxuries and comforts of civilized life, with the improvements, refinements, and intelligence of the oldest nations in the world.t

Such is the change which American colonization and American freedom have wrought upon this portion of the Valley of the Mississippi within the last half century; and the march is onward. Already their pioneers are on the Rio del Norte, and their videttes are on the shores of the Pacific Ocean.

It was not until the year 1846 that the people of Wisconsin, with an aggregate population of more than one hundred and fifty-five thousand persons, desired to assume an independent state government. Agreeably to the application of the terri

* See New York Weekly Herald, June 15th, 1844.

† By the state census for the year 1845, the entire population of the states and territories is as follows:

1. State of Ohio, 1,732,832 souls. 4. State of Michigan,

304,285 souls. 150,000

The above states, in 1845, had forty members of Congress, and Wisconsin one delegate.-See New Orleans Jeffersonian of February 14th, 1846.

torial Legislature, Congress authorized a convention to form and adopt a state Constitution preparatory to the admission of the State of Wisconsin into the Union. On the 7th of September, 1846, the election was held for delegates to said convention.

CHAPTER XVII.

EXTENSION Of the federAL UNION WEST OF THE MISSISSIPPI, AND THE RE-ANNEXATION OF TEXAS.-A.D. 1803 To 1846. Argument.-Retrospect of the Province of Louisiana.-"Territory of Orleans" and District of Louisiana.-Increase of Population in the Territory of Orleans and District of Louisiana.-Remote Missouri Regions explored by Lewis and Clark.-Lieutenant Pike explores the Upper Mississippi and the Arkansas Rivers.-Population advances into the District.-Settlements extend upon the Arkansas and Missouri.— Missouri Territory organized in 1812.-New Impulse to Emigration in 1815.—Indian Treaties. Population of Missouri Territory in 1817.-"Territory of Arkansas" organized in 1819.-French Settlement incorporated with the American Population.St. Louis as a commercial Point.-The People of Missouri Territory apply for a State Government in 1819.-Strong Opposition in Congress. - Stormy Debates on the "Missouri Question" in 1819-1829.-Convention and State Government authorized in 1820.-Constitution adopted, and State Government organized.-"State of Missouri" admitted into the Union under Restriction in 1821.-Population, Agriculture, and Commerce of Missouri until 1836.-Emigration to Arkansas Territory in 1835-36."State of Arkansas" admitted into the Union.-Features of the Constitution.-Governors of Arkansas.-State of Missouri, and City of St. Louis from 1838 to 1845.Emigration west of the Mississippi; to Louisiana; to "Iowa District."-"Territory of Iowa" organized.-"Iowa City."-Increased Emigration to Territory of Iowa, from 1839 to 1844.-State Constitution authorized.-Features of Constitution.-Iowa rejects Terms of Admission.-Florida and Texas admitted.-Iowa forms another Con. stitution in 1846.-Emigration through Nebraska Territory to Oregon, from 1842 to

1845.

Re-anneration of Texas.-Former Condition of Texas as a Spanish Province.-Adheres to the Mexican Confederation of 1824.-Departments and Settlements in 1832.Mexican Grants for European and American Colonies.-Population in 1834.-Texas and Coahuila form one Mexican State.-Texas secedes from the dictatorial Authority of Santa Anna, and is invaded by General Cos.-Texas declares herself Independent in 1836.-Is invaded by Santa Anna-Santa Anna recognizes her Independence.It is recognized by United States and the European Powers.-Emigration to Texas greatly increases.-The People of Texas desire Annexation to the United States.— Second Application in 1837.-Mexico, prompted by Santa Anna, repudiates his Acts in Texas.-Third Application of Texas met by an Overture from the United States in 1844.-President Tyler's Treaty of Annexation.--Mr. Shannon, Minister to Mexico. -His fruitless Mission.- Mr. Thompson sent as Envoy.-Returns unsuccessful.Captain Elliott becomes an active Diplomatist against Annexation.-Hostile Attitude of Mexico.-Captain Elliott's Zeal in Diplomacy.-Intrigue of the British and French Ministers.-Annexation consummated. — The Protection of United States invoked against Mexican Invasion.-Army of Occupation at Corpus Christi.-Advances to the Rio del Norte.

[A.D. 1803.] THE purchase of the province of Louisiana from the French Republic in 1803 gave to the United States

a claim to the jurisdiction over this vast region, which comprised the coast from the Perdido to the Rio del Norte, and from the sources of that river to the Pacific Ocean on the west, and from the Gulf of Mexico on the south, to the British possessions on the north.

As has been elsewhere observed,* the most considerable settlements of European descent in this extensive territory were located principally in what are now the States of Louisiana and Missouri, and contained an aggregate population of but little over forty-five thousand.

District of Louisiana.-After the "Territory of Orleans" was laid off, the remainder of the province was known and designated as the "District of Louisiana," until a separate government could be established by Congress. During this period the country near the Mississippi River was occupied by the troops of the United States, under military and civil commandants, stationed in the vicinity of the largest settlements. The jurisdiction of the Federal courts of the Indiana Territory was temporarily extended over it.

[A.D. 1804.] The first military commandant and civil governor of the "District of Louisiana" was Major Amos Stoddart, an intelligent and highly meritorious officer of the United States army, and author of a valuable work on the early history and resources of Louisiana. His headquarters were at St. Louis, the capital of Upper Louisiana.†

At this time the District of Louisiana contained the germs of two independent states on the west side of the Mississippi, comprised in the few detached settlements upon the Arkansas River and upon the west side of the Upper Mississippi, south of the Missouri River. These settlements were composed mostly of French Creoles and traders, with a few emigrant Anglo-Americans from the United States. Those on the Arkansas River were distributed chiefly within fifty miles of the Mississippi, at a point where a military post was subsequently established and known as the "Post of Arkansas." The pop

* See book iv., chapter v., "Close of Spanish dominion in Louisiana."

† Major Stoddart was an accomplished scholar, and was attached to the first regiment of artillery, and distinguished himself on the Northwestern frontier during the campaign of 1812 and 1813. He died at Fort Meigs in the spring of 1813, of tetanus, produced by a wound received during the siege from a fragment of a shell. His work, published in 1810, is a valuable compilation of the early history, settlements, resources, and population of Louisiana and Florida, commonly known as "Stoddart's Sketches of Louisiana."