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The Territory of Wisconsin was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from July 3, 1836, until May 29, 1848, when an eastern portion of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Wisconsin. Belmont was initially chosen as the capital of the territory, but this was changed in October 1836 to the current capital of Madison.[1]
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Territorial area
The area that would later be part of the second—and by far the longest lasting—incarnation of the Wisconsin Territory was originally part of the Northwest Territory. It was later included with the Indiana Territory, when that territory was formed in 1800. In 1809, it became part of Illinois Territory; then, when Illinois was about to become a state in 1818, this area was joined to Michigan Territory. Then, the Wisconsin Territory was split off from Michigan Territory in 1836 as the state of Michigan prepared for statehood.
However, the original Wisconsin Territory, as established in 1836, did not just include land from the original Northwest Territory. In 1833, Congress had annexed huge tracts of land west of the Mississippi to the then Michigan Territory. When the Wisconsin Territory was split off from the Michigan Territory, it inherited this western land. Thus, the 1836 Wisconsin Territory included all of the present-day states of Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, and that part of the Dakotas that lay east of the Missouri River. The portion of the Territory that lay east of the Mississippi River had originally been part of the Northwest Territory, which had itself been included in the land ceded by Britain in 1783. Most of the remaining land of the original Wisconsin Territory was originally part of the Louisiana Purchase, though a small fraction was part of a parcel that had been ceded by Great Britain in 1818. This land west of the Mississippi had been split off from the Missouri Territory in 1821 and attached to the Michigan Territory in 1834. In 1838, the Iowa Territory was formed, reducing the Wisconsin Territory to the boundaries for the next ten years; upon granting statehood to Wisconsin, its boundaries were once again reduced, to their present location.
History
There are irregularities in the historical timeline at the outset of the Territory. After Congress refused Michigan's petition for statehood, despite meeting the requirements specified in the Northwest Ordinance, the people of Michigan authorized its constitution in October, 1835 and began self-governance at that time. Yet, Michigan did not enter the Union until January 26, 1837, and Congress did not organize the Wisconsin Territory separately from Michigan until July 3, 1836.
Hoping to provide for some continuity in governance during that interim, the acting Governor of the Michigan Territory, Stevens T. Mason, issued a proclamation on August 25, 1835, that called for the election of a western legislative council, which became known as the Rump Council. This council was to meet in Green Bay, Wisconsin, on January 1, 1836. However, because of the controversy between Michigan and Ohio over the Toledo Strip, known as the Toledo War, President Jackson removed Mason from office on August 15, 1835, and replaced him with John S. Horner. Horner issued his own proclamation on November 9, 1835, calling for the council to meet on December 1, 1835 — giving delegates less than a month to learn of the change and travel to the meeting. This caused considerable annoyance among the delegates, who ignored it. Even Horner himself neglected to attend. The Council convened on January 1 as previously scheduled, but Horner, while reportedly intending to attend, was delayed by illness and in the Governor's absence the council could do little more than perform some administrative and ceremonial duties. For its concession to the Toledo Strip, Michigan was given the Upper Peninsula.
President Andrew Jackson appointed Henry Dodge Governor and John S. Horner Secretary. The first legislative assembly of the new territory was convened by Governor Dodge at Belmont in the present Lafayette County on October 25, 1836.[2] In 1837, Burlington, Iowa, became the second territorial capital of the Wisconsin Territory. The next year, the Iowa Territory was created and the capital was moved to Madison.[3]
Secretaries of Wisconsin Territory
- John S. Horner 1836-37
- William B. Slaughter 1837-41
- Francis J. Dunn 1841
- A. P. Field 1841-43
- George Rogers Clark Floyd 1843-46
- John Catlin 1846-48
Congressional Delegates
- George Wallace Jones 1836-1838 24th Congress, 25th Congress
- James Duane Doty 1839-41 25th Congress, 26th Congress
- Henry Dodge 1841-45 27th Congress, 28th Congress
- Morgan Lewis Martin 1845-47 29th Congress
- John Hubbard Tweedy 1847-48 30th Congress
- Henry Hastings Sibley 1848-49 30th Congress
See also
- Burlington Hawkeye
- James Clarke (Iowa)
- Governors of the Territory of Wisconsin
- Historic regions of the United States
- History of Wisconsin
- Territorial evolution of the United States
- Territory of France that encompassed land that later became part of the Territory of Wisconsin:
- Louisiane, 1682–1764 and 1803
- Territory of Spain that would later be returned to France:
- Luisiana, 1764-1803
- Territory of the United Kingdom that encompassed land that would later become part of the Territory of Wisconsin:
- Rupert's Land, 1670-1870
- U.S. territories that would later become part of the Territory of Wisconsin:
- Territory Northwest of the River Ohio, 1787-1803
- Territory of Indiana, 1800-1816
- Louisiana Purchase, 1803-1804
- District of Louisiana, 1804-1805
- Territory of Louisiana, 1805-1812
- Territory of Illinois, 1809-1818
- Territory of Missouri, 1812-1821
- Territory of Michigan, 1805-1837
- U.S. territories that encompassed land that was previously part of the Territory of Wisconsin:
- Territory of Iowa, 1838-1846
- Territory of Minnesota, 1849-1858
- Territory of Dakota, 1861-1889
- U.S. states that encompass land that was once part of the Territory of Wisconsin:
- State of Michigan, 1837
- State of Iowa, 1846
- State of Wisconsin, 1848
- State of Minnesota, 1858
- State of North Dakota, 1889
- State of South Dakota, 1889
- Territory of France that encompassed land that later became part of the Territory of Wisconsin:
Notes
References
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