Wisconsin Territory
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Wisconsin Territory became an organized territory of the United States by an act of U.S. Congress passed on April 20, 1836 which went into effect on July 3, 1836.
The Territory became the state of Wisconsin, the 30th U.S. state on May 29, 1848. Belmont, Wisconsin was initially chosen as the capital of the territory, but this was changed in October 1836 to the current capital of Madison.
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Territorial area
The Wisconsin Territory included all of present-day states of Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa and part of the Dakotas up to the Missouri River. Most of the Territory had originally been part of the Northwest Territory, which was ceded by Britain in 1783. The portion in what is now Iowa and the Dakotas was originally part of the Louisiana Purchase and were split off from the Missouri Territory in 1821 and attached to the Michigan Territory in 1834.
The area encompassed by the Wisconsin Territory that was part of the Northwest Territory was included with the Indiana Territory, when that territory was formed in 1800, in preparation for admission of Ohio as a state. In 1809, it was included with the Illinois Territory, when that was split off from the Indiana Territory. In 1818, when Illinois was about to become a state, the area was joined to the Michigan Territory. Wisconsin Territory was split off from Michigan Territory in 1836 as the state of Michigan prepared for statehood. In 1838, Iowa Territory was formed, reducing Wisconsin Territory to size of the present state of Wisconsin.
History
President Andrew Jackson appointed Henry Dodge Governor and John S. Horner Secretary. The first legislative assembly of the new territory was convened by Governor Henry Dodge at Belmont, Wisconsin in the present Lafayette County on October 25, 1836.
However, there are irregularities in the 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, 1836.
Hoping to provide for some continutity 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, President Jackson had 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 administrative and ceremonial duties.
Governors of Wisconsin Territory
- Henry Dodge 1836-41
- James Duane Doty 1841-44
- Nathaniel Pitcher Tallmadge 1844-45
- Henry Dodge 1845-48
Secretaries of Wisconsin Territory
- John S. Horner 1836-37
- William B. Slaughter 1837-41
- Francis J. Dunn 1841
- A. P. Field 1841-43
- George R. C. 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
References
- John S. Horner Biography (http://www.wlhn.org/fond_du_lac/towns/horner_biography.htm)
- The Rump Council (http://www.library.wisc.edu/etext/WIReader/WER0441.html)