Wisconsin Territory

Territory of Wisconsin
Organized incorporated territory of the United States
1836–1848
Territorial seal
Map of the Wisconsin Territory, 1836–1848
Capital	Madison (1838–1848) Burlington (1837) Belmont (July–December 1836)
Government
• Type	Organized incorporated territory
Governor
• 1836–1841	Henry Dodge
• 1841–1844	James Duane Doty
• 1844–1845	Nathaniel P. Tallmadge
• 1845–1848	Henry Dodge
• 1848	John Catlin (acting)
Legislature	Legislative Assembly of the Territory of Wisconsin
History
• Organic Act effective	July 3 1836
• Iowa Territory split off	July 4, 1838
• Statehood of Wisconsin	May 29 1848
Preceded by Succeeded by Michigan Territory Wisconsin Iowa Territory Minnesota Territory

The Territory of Wisconsin was an organized and 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. In 1837, the territorial legislature met in Burlington, just north of the Skunk River on the Mississippi, which became part of the Iowa Territory in 1838. In that year, 1838, the territorial capital of Wisconsin was moved to Madison.

Territorial area

The Wisconsin Territory initially included all of the present-day states of Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Iowa, as well as part of the Dakotas east of the Missouri River. Much 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, though a small fraction was part of a parcel ceded by Great Britain in 1818, and was split off from the Missouri Territory in 1821 and attached to the Michigan Territory in 1834.

The portion that was formerly part of the Northwest Territory and which later became the state of Wisconsin was part of the Indiana Territory when this was formed in 1800. In 1809, it became part of the Illinois Territory; then, when Illinois was about to become a state in 1818, this area was joined to the Michigan Territory. Then the Wisconsin Territory was split off from Michigan Territory in 1836 as the state of Michigan prepared for statehood. In 1838, the section of the territory to the west of the Mississippi became the Iowa Territory.

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.

In 1850, 10 years after the end of the Second Great Awakening (1790–1840), of the 341 churches with regular services in the Wisconsin, 110 were Methodist, 64 were Catholic, 49 were Baptist, 40 were Presbyterian, 37 were Congregationalist, 20 were Lutheran, 19 were Episcopal, and 2 were Dutch Reformed. In the 1840 United States census, 22 counties in the Wisconsin Territory reported the following population counts:

Rank	County	Population
1	Milwaukee	5,605
2	Iowa	3,978
3	Grant	3,926
4	Racine	3,475
5	Walworth	2,611
6	Brown	2,107
7	Rock	1,701
8	Portage	1,623
9	Crawford	1,502
10	Green	933
11	Jefferson	914
12	St. Croix	809
13	Washington	343
14	Dane	314
15	Calumet	275
16	Manitowoc	235
17	Fond du Lac	139
18	Winnebago	135
19	Sheboygan	133
20	Sauk	102
21	Dodge	67
22	Marquette	18
	Wisconsin Territory	30,945

History

The Wisconsin Territory as depicted on this 1835 Tourist's Pocket Map of Michigan, showing a Menominee-filled Brown County, Wisconsin that spans the northern half of the territory

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, 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 (the Seventh Michigan Territorial 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 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. 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.

Wisconsin Enabling Act

In 1846, Congress approved the Wisconsin Enabling Act, which was the first step on the road to statehood for Wisconsin. Wisconsin would become the fifth state created out of the old Northwest Territory. Representing the expressed intent of the Wisconsin territorial legislature, Morgan Lewis Martin, Wisconsin's territorial delegate to Congress, initially argued that the proposed state should incorporate all remaining land in the original Northwest Territory as defined by the Northwest Ordinance of 1787.

Most members of Congress believed that such a state would be too large. They eventually accepted the argument of Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois, chairman of the House Committee on Territories, that Congress was not bound by the Northwest Ordinance, and passed legislation allowing a sixth state to be formed from the remnant of the Northwest Territory excluded from the new state of Wisconsin. However, subsequent bills in 1847 and 1848 to organize a new "Territory of Minasota" were rejected on the grounds that "Minasota" did not have anywhere near the 5,000 free adult males required for legal territorial status.

Wisconsin Territory after Wisconsin became a state

When Wisconsin became a state on May 29, 1848, no provision was made for the section of land between the St. Croix River and the Mississippi River which had previously been organized as part of Wisconsin Territory. Additionally when Iowa became a state on December 28, 1846, no provision was made for official organization of the remainder of what had been Iowa Territory.