Page images
PDF
EPUB

resignation of his office, thus leaving the fractional Territory unrepresented. Thereupon John Catlin, secretary of the Territory of Wisconsin as a whole, and now claiming, by virtue of that office, to be acting governor of the fractional part, issued a proclamation as such officer for an election on the thirtieth of October, 1848, of a delegate in congress. Nearly four hundred votes were polled in the district, showing "Wisconsin Territory" still to have a population of not less than two thousand. H. H. Sibley was elected to that office. On the fifteenth of January, 1849. he was admitted to a seat as "delegate from Wisconsin Territory." This hastened the formation of the Territory of Minnesota-a bill for that purpose having become a law on the third of March, when "Wisconsin Territory" ceased finally to exist, being included in the new Territory. The year 1848—the first year of the existence of Wisconsin as a State-was one of general prosperity to its rapidly increasing population. The National Government effected a treaty with the Menomoneee Indians, by which their title was extinguished to the country north of the Fox river of Green bay, embracing all their lands in the State. This was an important acquisition, as it opened a large tract of country to civilization and settlement, which had been for a considerable time greatly desired by the people. The State government at the close of the year had been in existence long enough to demonstrate its successful operation. The electric telegraph had already reached the capital; and Wisconsin entered its second year upon a flood tide of prosperity.

Under the constitution, the circuit judges were also judges of the supreme court. An act of the legislature, approved June 29, 1848, providing for the election of judges, and for the classification and organization of the judiciary of the State, authorized the election, by the judges, of one of their number as chief justice. Judge Alexander W. Stow was chosen to that office, and, as chief justice, held, in conjunction with Associate Judges Whiton, Jackson, Larrabee, and Hubbell, the first session of the supreme court at Madison, commencing on the eighth day of January, 1849.

The second session of the State legislature commenced, according to law, on the tenth of January, 1849, Harrison C. Hobart being elected speaker of the assembly. Governor Dewey, in his message, sent to both houses on the 11th, referred to the rapidly increasing population of the State, and the indomitable energy displayed in the development of its productive capacity. He recommended the sale of the university lands on a long credit, the erection of a State prison, and the modification of certain laws. On the seventeenth of January, the two houses met in joint convention to elect an United States senator in place of Isaac P Walker, who had drawn the short term The democrats had a small majority on joint ballot. Walker was re-elected; this time, for a full term of six years, from the 4th of March, 1849. The legislature at this session passed many acts of public utility; some relating to the boundaries of counties; others, to the laying out of roads; eighteen, to the organization of towns. The courts were cared for; school districts were organized; special tax were authorized, and an act passed relative to the sale and superintendence of the school and university lands, prescribing the powers and duties. of the commissioners who were to have charge of the same. These commissioners, consisting of the secretary of state, treasurer of state, and attorney general, were not only put in charge of the school and university lands held by the State, but also of funds arising from the sale of them. This law has been many times amended and portions of it repealed. The lands at present subject to sale are classified as school lands, university lands, agricultural college lands, Marathon county lands, normal school lands, and drainage lands, and are subject to sale at private entry on terms fixed by law. Regulations concerning the apportionment and investment. of trust funds are made by the commissioners in pursuance of law. All lands now the property of the State subject to sale, or that have been State lands and sold, were derived from the Gen

[ocr errors]

eral Government. Lands owned by the State amount, at the present time, to about one and one half million acres.

A joint resolution passed the legislature on the 31st of March, 1849, instructing Isaac P. Walker to resign his seat as United States senator, for "presenting and voting for an amendment to the general appropriation bill, providing for a government in California and New Mexico, west of the Rio Grande, which did not contain a provision forever prohibiting the introduction of slavery or involuntary servitude" in those Territories. The senator refused to regard these instructions. The legislature adjourned on the second of April, 1849, after a session of eightythree days.

In July, 1848, the legislature of Wisconsin elected M. Frank, Charles C. Jordan, and A. W. Randall, commissioners to collate and revise all the public acts of the State, of a general and permanent nature in force at the close of the session. Randall declining to act, Charles M. Baker was appointed by the governor in his place. The commissioners commenced their labors. in August, 1848, and were engaged in the revision the greater part of the time until the close of the session of the legislature of 1849. It was found impossible for the revisers to conclude their labors within the time contemplated by the act authorizing their appointment; so a joint select. committee of the two houses at their second session was appointed to assist in the work. The laws revised by this committee and by the commissioners, were submitted to, and approved by, the legislature. These laws, with a few passed by that body, which were introduced by individual. members, formed the Revised Statutes of Wisconsin of 1849 - a volume of over nine hundred pages.

At the general election held in November of this year, Dewey was re-elected governor. S. W. Beall was elected lieutenant governor; William A. Barstow, secretary of state; Jairus C. Fairchild was re-elected treasurer; S. Park Coon was elected attorney general; and Eleazer Root, re-elected superintendent of public instruction. All these officers were chosen as democrats, except Root, who ran as an independent candidate, the term of his office having been changed so as to continue two years from the first day of January next succeeding, his election. By the revised statutes of 1849, all State officers elected for a full term went into office on the first of January next succeeding their election.

The year 1849 developed in an increased ratio the productive capacity of the State in every department of labor. The agriculturist, the artisan, the miner, reaped the well-earned reward of his honest labor. The commercial and manufacturing interests were extended in a manner highly creditable to the enterprise of the people. The educational interest of the State began to assume a more systematic organization. The tide of immigration suffered no decrease during the year. Within the limits of Wisconsin, the oppressed of other climes continued to find welcome and happy homes.

SECOND ADMINISTRATION.-NELSON DEWEY, GOVERNOR (SECOND TERM)-1850, 1851.

On the first day of January, 1850, Nelson Dewey took the oath of office, and quietly entered upon his duties as governor, for the second term. The third legislature convened on the ninth. Moses M. Strong was elected speaker of the assembly. Both houses had democratic majorities. Most of the business transacted was of a local character. By an act approved the fifth of February, the "January term " of the supreme court was changed to December. The legislature adjourned after a session of only thirty-four days. An act was passed organizing a sixth judicial circuit, from and after the first Monday in July, 1850, consisting of the counties of Crawford, Chippewa, Bad Axe, St. Croix and La Pointe, an election for judge to be holden on the same day. Wiram Knowlton was elected judge of that circuit.

The first charitable institution in Wisconsin, incorporated by the State, was the "Wisconsin Institute for the Education of the Blind." A school for that unfortunate class had been opened in Janesville, in the latter part of 1859, receiving its support from the citizens of that place and vicinity. By an act of the legislature, approved February 9, 1850, this school was taken under the care of the Institute, to continue and maintain it, at Janesville, and to qualify, as far as might be, the blind of the State for the enjoyment of the blessings of a free government; for obtaining the means of subsistence; and for the discharge of those duties, social and political, devolving upon American citizens. It has since been supported from the treasury of the State. On the seventh of October, 1850, it was opened for the reception of pupils, under the direction of a board of trustees, appointed by the governor. The Institute, at the present time, has three departments: in one is given instruction such as is usually taught in common schools; in another, musical training is imparted; in a third, broom-making is taught to the boys,-sewing, knitting and various kinds of fancy work to the girls, and seating cane-bottomed chairs to both boys and girls. On the thirteenth of April, 1874, the building of the Institute was destroyed by fire. A new building has since been erected.

The taking of the census by the United States, this year, showed a population for Wisconsin of over three hundred and five thousand-the astonishing increase in two years of nearly ninetyfive thousand! In 1840, the population of Wisconsin Territory was only thirty thousand. This addition, in ten years, of two hundred and seventy-five thousand transcended all previous experience in the settlement of any portion of the New World, of the same extent of territory. It was the result of a steady and persistent flow of men and their families, seeking permanent homes in the young and rising State. Many were German, Scandinavian and Irish; but the larger proportion were, of course, from the Eastern and Middle States of the Union. The principal attractions of Wisconsin were the excellency and cheapness of its lands, its valuable mines of lead, its extensive forests of pine, and the unlimited water-power of its numerous

streams.

By the Revised Statutes of 1849, Wisconsin was divided into three congressional districts— the second congressional apportionment—each of which was entitled to elect one representative in the congress of the United States. The counties of Milwaukee, Waukesha, Walworth and Racine constituted the first district; the counties of Rock, Green, La Fayette, Grant, Iowa, Dane, Sauk, Adams, Portage, Richland, Crawford, Chippewa, St. Croix and La Pointe, the second district; the counties of Washington, Sheboygan, Manitowoc, Brown, Winnebago, Calumet, Fond du Lac, Marquette, Columbia, Dodge and Jefferson, the third district. At the general election in the Autumn of this year, Charles Durkee, of the first district; Benjamin C. Eastman, of the second; and John B. Macy, of the third district, were elected to represent the State in the thirty-second congress of the United States. Durkee, it will be remembered, represented the same district in the previous congress: he ran the second time as an independent candidate. Eastman and Macy were elected upon democratic tickets. The General Government this year donated to the State all the swamp and overflowed lands within its boundaries.

The year 1850 to the agriculturist of Wisconsin was not one of unbounded prosperity, owing to the partial failure of the wheat crop. In the other branches of agriculture there were fair returns. The State was visited during the year by cholera; not, however, to a very alarming

extent.

The fourth session of the legislature of the State commenced on the 8th of January, 1851. Frederick W. Horn was elected speaker of the assembly. The majority in the legislature was democratic. Governor Dewey, in his message, referred to the death of the president of the United States, Zachary Taylor; said that the treasury and finances of the State were in a

sound condition; and then adverted to many topics of interest and importance to the people of Wisconsin. It was an able document. One of the important measures of the session was the election of an United States senator, in the place of Henry Dodge, whose term of office would expire on the 4th of March, next ensuing. In joint convention of the legislature held on the 20th of January, Dodge was re-elected for a full term of six years. On the 22d, the governor approved a joint resolution of the legislature, rescinding not only so much of the joint resolution of the legislative assembly of Wisconsin, passed March 31, 1849, as censured Isaac J. Walker, but also the instructions in those resolutions relative to his resigning his seat in the senate of the United States.

Among the important bills passed at this session of the legislature was one providing for the location and erection of a State prison. Another one-the apportionment bill-was vetoed by the governor, and having been passed on the last day of the session, failed to become a law. The legislature adjourned on the eighteenth of March, 1851, after a session of seventy days.

On the 1st day of January, 1851, Timothy O. Howe took his seat as one of the associate judges of the supreme court, he having been elected judge of the fourth circuit in place of Alexander W. Stow. The office of chief justice of the supreme court, which had been filled by Judge Stow, therefore became vacant, and so remained until the commencement of the next term-June 18, 1851-when Levi Hubbell, judge of the second circuit, was, by the judges present, pursuant to the statute, elected to that office.

By an act of the legislature approved March 14, 1851, the location and erection of a State prison for Wisconsin was provided for-the point afterward determined upon as a suitable place for its establishment being Waupun, Dodge county. By a subsequent act, the prison was declared to be the general penitentiary and prison of the State for the reformation as well as for the punishment of offenders, in which were to be confined, employed at hard labor, and governed as provided for by the legislature, all offenders who might be committed and sentenced according to law, to the punishment of solitary imprisonment, or imprisonment therein at hard labor. The organization and management of this the first reformatory and penal State institution in Wisconsin, commenced and has been continued in accordance with the demands of an advanced civilization and an enlightened humanity.

On the 29th of September, 1851, Judge Hubbell was re-elected for the full term of six years as judge of the second judicial circuit, to commence January 1, 1852.

At the general election in November, 1851, Leonard J. Farwell was chosen governor; Timothy Burns, lieutenant governor; Charles D. Robinson, secretary of State; E. H. Janssen, State treasurer; E. Estabrook, attorney general; and Azel P. Ladd, superintendent of public instruction. All these officers were elected as democrats except Farwell, who ran as a whig; his majority over D. A. J. Upham, democrat, was a little rising of five hundred.

THIRD ADMINISTRATION.-L. J. FARWELL, GOVERNOR-1852-1853.

Governor Farwell's administration commenced on the fifth day of January, 1852. Previous to this on the third day of the month-Edward V. Whiton was chosen by the judges of the supreme court, chief justice, to succeed Judge Hubbell. On the fourteenth of that month, the legislature assembled at Madison. This was the beginning of the fifth annual session. James McM. Shafter was elected speaker of the assembly. In the senate, the democrats had a majority; in the assembly, the whigs. The governor, in his message, recommended the memorializing of congress to cause the agricultural lands within the State to be surveyed and brought into market; to cause, also, the mineral lands to be surveyed and geologically examined, and offered for sale; and to make liberal appropriations for the improvement of rivers and harbors. The question of "bank or no bank" having been submitted to the people in November previous,

and decided in favor of banks, under the constitution, the power was thereby given to the legislature then in session to grant bank charters, or to pass a general banking law. Farwell recommended that necessary measures be taken to carry into effect this constitutional provision. A larger number of laws was passed at this session than at any previous one. By a provision of the constitution, the legislature was given power to provide by law, if they should think it expedient and necessary, for the organization of a separate supreme court, to consist of one chief justice and two associate justices, to be elected by the qualified electors of the State, at such time and in such manner as the legislature might provide. Under this authority, an act was passed at this session providing for the election of a chief justice and two associates, on the last Monday of the September following, to form a supreme court of the State, to supplant the old one, provision for the change being inserted in the constitution. There was also an act passed to apportion and district anew the members of the senate and assembly, by which the number was increased from eighty-five to one hundred and seven: twenty-five for the senate; eightytwo for the assembly. An act authorizing the business of banking passed the legislature and was approved by the governor, on the 19th of April. By this law, the office of bank-comptroller was created the officer to be first appointed by the governor, and to hold his office until the first Monday in January, 1854. At the general election in the Fall of 1853, and every two years. thereafter, the office was to be filled by vote of the people. Governor Farwell afterward, on the 20th of November, appointed James S. Baker to that office. The legislature adjourned on the nineteenth of April, 1852.

The second charitable institution incorporated by the State was the "Wisconsin Institute for the Education of the Deaf and Dumb." It was originally a private school for deaf mutes, near, and subsequently in, the village of Delavan, Walworth county. By an act of the legislature approved April 19, 1852, it was made the object and duty of the corporation to establish, continue and maintain this school for the education of the deaf and dumb, "at or near the village of Delavan, to qualify, as near as might be, that unfortunate class of persons for the enjoyment of the blessings of a free government, obtaining the means of subsistence, and the discharge of those duties, social and political, devolving upon American citizens." It has since been supported by annual appropriations made by the legislature. A complete organization of the school was effected in June, 1852, under the direction of a board of trustees appointed by the governor of the State. The institute has for its design the eucation of such children of the State as, on account of deafness, can not be instructed in common schools. Instruction is given by signs, by the manual alphabet, by written language, and to one class by articulation. Two trades are taught: cabinet-making and shoe-making.

During this year, considerable interest was manifested in the projecting of railroads. At the September election, E. V. Whiton was elected chief justice of the new supreme court and Samuel Crawford and Abram D. Smith associate justices. Under the law, the chief justice was to serve a term of four years from the first day of June next ensuing; while the two associates were to cast lots-one to serve for six years, the other for two years, from June 1, 1853. Crawford drew the short term-Smith the long term. At the subsequent general election for members to the thirty-third congress, Daniel Wells, Jr., was chosen from the first district, B. C. Eastman from the second: and J. B. Macy from the third district. All were democrats. A democratic electoral ticket was chosen at the same time. The electors cast their votes for Pierce and Butler.

During 1852, the citizens of Wisconsin enjoyed unusual prosperity in the ample products and remuneration of their industry and enterprise. Abundant harvests and high markets; an increase in moneyed circulation, and the downward tendency of the rates of interest: a prevaiiing confidence among business men and in business enterprises; a continual accession to the

« ՆախորդըՇարունակել »