USA > Michigan > History of Michigan, civil and topographical, in a compendious form; with a view of the surrounding lakes > Part 22
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this it appeared that there had been an accession to its popu- lation of more than twenty-two thousand since the census of 1820.
The whole administration of Gov. Cass was occupied in strengthening the foundations of the prosperity of Michigan, and increasing the wealth of the United States by perfecting treaties with the Indian tribes, developing the resources, de- fining and establishing the legislation of the territory. In 1831 Governor Cass, after having occupied it eighteen years, resigned the gubernatorial chair of Michigan, and took his seat as Secretary of War in the cabinet of the United States. He found the country weak from the devastations of war, and left it strong. He had given general satisfaction to the peo- ple, in effecting substantial improvements for the benefit of the State. Although endowed with few of the brilliant qua- lities of an orator, he possessed a solid and discriminating judgment. Discreet, sagacious, prudent, politic, he sought the best good of the territory, and made friends wherever friends were to be made. His contributions to the leading lite- rary journals of the country, as well as to historical societies, in illustration of Indian history and institutions, had established his taste and learning ; his collisions with the British and the Indian tribes had maintained his reputation as a soldier ; and his beneficent administration of the government of Mi- chigan for eighteen years, had marked his character with the broad impression of a statesman. It can be affirmed safely, that the present prosperity of Michigan is now more in- ยท debted to Governor Cass than to any other man, living or dead. During this year the population of the territory had grown to about thirty-five thousand, according to a fair esti- mate.
Governor Cass was succeeded during the same year by Mr. George B. Porter, a lawyer of Lancaster, Penn- sylvania. He was appointed by General Jackson ; and, although possessing little brilliance of talent, he was universally acknowledged to be an active and thorough man of business. The administration of Governor Porter was marked by no extraordinary vicissitude affecting the
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condition of Michigan, excepting the erection of Wisconsin, which had formerly been annexed to Michigan, and the expe- dition against Black Hawk. The treaty of Chicago, in which the chief magistrate had an agency, terminated in a large ces- sion of the Indian lands to the United States. During the administration of Governor Porter, the emigration to the ter- ritory was very much increased. The commerce of Lake Erie rapidly augmented with the increase of emigration. Appropriations had been made for public works along its shores, and also within the then territory of Michigan. Specu- lation began to move into this region, and large companies were formed at the east, which had for their object the pur- chase of extensive tracts of the public domain. Besides the increase of a non-resident proprietorship, vast masses of ac- tual settlers came out in order to improve the land. As the resources of the country became known, the most eligible tracts for the establishment of towns were sought out by the lynx-eyed capitalist, and villages sprung up as if by magic on the banks of the streams which afforded any degree of hydraulic or commercial advantages. Michigan now looked forward to the period when she could apply for admission as a State into the Union, which could happen when she had a population of sixty thousand. A census was taken, and in April of 1834, it was found that this population had grown to eighty-seven thousand two hundred and seventy-three.
The gubernatorial chair of Michigan was again left vacant by the death of George B. Porter. Here commenced the in- terregnum state of its administration, when it was vacillating between a State and territorial government; when it was without a common head, a territorial system of laws, and a constitution of government made by itself professing to be a State, but not a member of the Union.
During that period, and while Michigan was yet without a chief magistrate, the controversy which had formerly agitated the territory regarding its southern boundary line, was again revived. This controversy was of long standing, and had been made the subject of ardent discussion from the commencement of the administration of Governor Cass. It grew out of a
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clause in the ordinance of 1787 for the government of the north-western territory. In the fifth article of that ordi- nance, it was established that there should be formed, in the ! north-western territory, not less than three nor more than five States. " Provided, however, and it is further under- stood and declared, that the boundaries of these three States (Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois,) shall be subject so far to be al- tered, that if Congress shall hereafter find it expedient, they shall have authority to form one or two States in that part of the said territory which lies north of an east and west line drawn through the southerly bend or extreme of Lake Michigan ; and whenever any of the said States shall have sixty thousand free inhabitants therein, such State shall be admitted by its delegates into the Congress of the United States on an equal footing with the original States in all re- spects whatever, and be at liberty to form a permanent con- stitution and State government."
In the Act of Congress to divide the Indiana territory into two separate governments, which was approved January 11, 1805, it was established that "from and after the 30th day of June next, all that part of the Indian territory which lies north of a line drawn east from the southerly bend or extreme of Lake Michigan until it shall intersect Lake Erie, and east of a line drawn from the said southerly bend through the middle of said lake to its northern extremity, and thence due north to the northern boundary of the United States shall, for the purposes of temporary government, constitute a separate territory, and be called Michigan."
An act, which passed the Congress of the United States on April 30th, 1802, to enable the inhabitants of the eastern por- tion of the north-western territory (Ohio) to form a consti- tution and State government, it was provided " that the boun- daries of the future State (of Ohio) shall be on the east by the Pennsylvania line, on the south by the Ohio River to the mouth of the Great Miami River, on the west by the line drawn due north from the mouth of the great Miami afore- said, and on the north by an east and west line drawn through the southern extreme of Lake Michigan, running east after
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intersecting the due north line aforesaid, from the mouth of the great Miami, until it shall intersect Lake Erie on the ter- ritorial line, and thence with the same through Lake Erie to the Pennsylvania line aforesaid."
The sixth article of the Constitution of Ohio, which was organized in 1802, and confirmed by the General Govern- ment, ordains as follows : " Provided always, and it is hereby fully understood and declared by this convention, that if the sourthern bend or extreme of Lake Michigan should extend so far south that a line drawn due cast from it should not in- tersect Lake Erie, or if it should intersect the said Lake Erie east of the mouth of the Miami River of the lake, then, and in that case, with the assent of the Congress of the United States, the northern boundary of this State shall be establish- ed by and extended to a direct line running from the south- erly extremity of Lake Michigan to the most northerly Cape of Miami Bay ; after intersecting the due north line from the mouth of the Great Miami, thence north-east to the territorial line, and by the said territorial line to the Pennsylvania line."
These several national and State enactments were made the basis of a clashing claim between Ohio and Michigan. The disputed tract was a belt of land about fifteen miles wide. From the fact, that this tract of land contained the outlet of the Miami River, was itself a fertile soil, and the key to a wide and rich back country, and also a prescribed terminus for the Erie and Wabash Canal, a work of gigantic enter- prise and brilliant promise, its acquisition was deemed an ob- ject of great importance. To substantiate her claims, it was contended, on the part of Michigan, that the ordinance of 1787 was a solemn compact between the United States and the people who should be comprised in the north-western territory, unalterable except by common consent ; and that this compact established the southern boundary line of Michigan as a direct east and west line drawn through the southerly bend or extreme of Lake Michigan. It was also maintained on the part of Michigan, that the act of Congress of 1805, organizing the territorial government, confirmed the same line, by prescribing as her territorial domain, all that part of
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the Indiana territory which lies north of a line drawn east from the southerly bend or extreme of Lake Michigan until it shall intersect Lake Erie.
It was maintained on the side of Ohio, that the line pre- scribed in the ordinance of 1787 was not, in the legal and technical sense, a boundary line ; but a parallel and partial line introduced for the purpose of limiting the action of the States below, and confining temporarily the jurisdiction of the territory above it ;and that the right boundary was defined in the Constitution of the State of Ohio, which had been ac- cepted by Congress, as the line running from the southerly extremity of Lake Michigan to the most northerly cape of the Miami Bay.
It was also claimed by Ohio, that the ordinance of 1787 was superseded by the adoption of the constitution of the United States ; and they maintained that argument by the fol- lowing clause in that instrument : "Congress shall have the power to dispose of and make all needful rules and regula- tions respecting the territories or other property belonging to the United States." On the other side, it was alleged that this clause of the constitution referred to the public lands ; but if it did not, the argument was fully answered in another clause of the same instrument, establishing that all debts contracted and engagements entered into, before the adoption of this Constitution, shall be as valid against the United States under this Constitution as under the confederation.
Here then arose a clashing of jurisdiction. It was deter- mined by the people of Ohio to have the northern boundary line claimed by that State re-marked by the surveyors. Mi- chigan, about the same period, passed a counter-act, prohibiting any aggression by another State upon her domain. In con- sequence of that act, the surveying expedition of Ohio, while in the performance of their duties, were attacked and driven off by a military posse comitatus. Subsequent to that period, the militia of Michigan were drafted to enforce her laws upon the Ohio frontier, and actually marched on to the disputed ground with Mr. Stevens T. Mason, the then Secretary and acting Governor of the territory, at their head ; but finding no
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enemy, they were soon disbanded. On this juncture, the President of the United States, foreseeing disturbances, ap- pointed two Commissioners, Mr. Richard Rush of Pennsyl- vania, and Mr. Benjamin C. Howard of Maryland, to repair to the disputed territory, and to settle, if possible, the differ- ence between the parties. By their agency a compromise was effected, through which the people on the disputed terri- tory might acknowledge, at their option, the jurisdiction of Ohio or Michigan, until the matter could be satisfactorily de- termined by the proper authority. This arrangement, how- ever, was attended with no permanent advantages, as the dis- sensions were soon renewed.
In the meantime Michigan, under the clause in the ordi- nance of 1787, empowering the territory to form a permanent Constitution and State Government when she should attain a population of sixty thousand, had, on May 11, 1835, called a convention in the city of Detroit for that object. The Con- stitution was framed, and sent for acceptance to Congress. Under the State organization, Stevens T. Mason of Kentucky, who had been secretary under Governor Porter, was elected Governor by the people. Michigan then applied for admis- sion into the Union on her own terms, but that admission was refused on the part of the General Government. An act, however, was passed, providing for her conditional admission, which was in the following words: " An Act to establish the northern boundary line of the State of Ohio, and to provide for the admission of the State of Michiganin to the Union upon the conditions therein expressed." "Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled, that the northern boundary line of the State of Ohio shall be established at, and shall be a direct line, drawn from the southern extremity of Lake Mi- chigan to the most northerly Cape of the Maumee Bay ; af- ter that line so drawn shall intersect the eastern boundary line of the State of Indiana, and from the said north Cape of the said bay, north-east to the boundary line between the United States and the province of Upper Canada in Lake Erie ; and thence with the said last-mentioned line to its inter-
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section with the western line of the State of Pennsylvania. And be it further enacted, that the Constitution and State Government, which the people of Michigan have formed for themselves, be, and the same is hereby accepted, ratified, and confirmed ; and that the said State of Michigan shall be, and is hereby declared to be one of the United States of America, and is hereby admitted into the Union upon an equal footing with the original States in all respects whatsoever ; provided always, that this admission is upon the express condition that the said State shall consist of and have jurisdiction over all the territory included within the following boundaries, and over none other, to wit: Beginning at the point where the above-described northern boundary of the State of Ohio intersects the eastern boundery of the State of Indiana; and running thence with the said boundary line of Ohio as described in the section of this Act, until it intersects the boundary line between the United States and Canada in Lake Erie ; thence with the said boundary line between the United States and Canada, through the Detriot River, Lake Huron, and Lake Superior, to a point where the said line last touches Lake Superior ; thence in a direct line through Lake Supe- rior to the mouth of the Montreal River ; thence through the middle of the main channel of the said River Montreal to the middle of the Lake of the Desert ; thence in a direct line to the nearest head-water of the Menominie River; thence through the middle of that fork of said river first touched by the said line to the main channel of the said Memoninie Ri- ver ; thence down the centre of the main channel of the same, to the centre of the most usnal ship channel of the said Bay to the middle of Lake Michigan ; thence through the middle of Lake Michigan to the northern boundary of the State of Indiana, as that line was established by the act of Con- gress of the 19th of April, 1816; thence due-east with the north boundary line of the said State of Indiana to the north- east corner thereof ; and thence south with the east boundary line of Indiana to the place of beginning.
" And be it further enacted, that as a compliance with the fundamental condition of admission contained in the last pre-
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ceding section of this Act, the boundaries of the said State of Michigan, as in that section described, declared, and esta- blished, shall receive the assent of a convention of delegates elected by the people of said State for the sole purpose of giving the assent herein required ; as soon as the assent herein required shall be given, the President of the United States shall announce the same by proclamation, and thereupon, and without any further proceeding on the part of Congress, the admission of the said State into the Union as one of the United States of America, on an equal footing with the origi- ginal States, shall be considered as complete; and the sena- tors and representative who have been elected by the said State as its representatives in the Congress of the United States, shall be entitled to take their seats in the Senate and House of Representatives respectively, without further delay."
In September, 1836, a convention was called at Ann Arbor, for the purpose of considering the condition annexed to the admission of Michigan into the Union and it was rejected. This rejection was based on the fact that Congress had no right to annex such condition to the admission of Michigan into the Union, because her boundaries had been already de- fined by the ordinance of 1787, and her Constitution had been declared republican, and had been organized in con- formity to the ordinance, which provided, that when she should have attained a population of sixty thousand, she should be admitted upon the floor of Congress upon an equal footing with the original States.
On this question local dissensions sprung up, and public opinion was divided. Subsequent to this convention, a new convention, comprised of delegates from the different counties, was called on the 14th day of December of the same year, and the condition was recognized. This accession was made on the ground of expediency, and to secure the benefits of union and the divisions of the surplus reve- mies. The question then arose, whether this second conven- tion was empowered to accede to the terms of admission pre- scribed in the Act of Congress providing for the admission of the State of Michigan into the Union. The President of the
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United States did not deem himself authorized to issue his proclamation on the action of this second convention, but concluded to lay the whole matter before Congress, to be ad- judged. In opposition to the validity of this second conven- tion, Mr. John C. Calhoun, of South Carolina, and others, made the point that this convention was, in the first place, unauthorized by the Act of Congress; and, secondly, that the only legal convention authorized by that act had rejected the terms prescribed by Congress ; and lastly, that the con- vention itself was not a fair expression of the will of the peo- ple of Michigan. Mr. Thomas H. Benton took ground in behalf of admission, and solemnly declared that he would en- camp npon the floor of the Senate until Michigan was admit- ted as a State into the Federal Union. After a protracted dis- cussion, the question was decided in favor of admission, and she was admitted as a State into the Federal Government. In addition, therefore, to the tract included in the peninsular portion of the territory, there is a tract of about twenty-five thousand square miles north-west of Lake Michigan append- ed by the terms of the late Act of Congress; so that, at the present time, the domain of the State embraces an aggregate of about sixty-five thousand square miles. Previous to this period her territorial domain had been abridged by the or- ganization of the territory of Wisconsin in 1836. Subjoined is the Constitution of the State.
In April of 1834, it was ascertained that there were eighty- seven thousand two hundred and seventy-three free inhabit- ants within the then limits of Michigan. The establishment of a constitution, and the admission of Michigan as a member of the Union, constituted a marked epoch. From this period she burst forth with newness of life. Before she had been in a state of wardship and dependence ; her officers were appoint- cd, and her policy controlled, by the Federal Government, a power which could not appreciate all her local wants. Her- cules had sprung from the cradle. A system of measures was now adopted to effect a vigorous aud extensive system of internal improvements throughout the State. From her great local advantages she had already become an important
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mart for eastern capital ; and the rapid increase of population called upon the State to effectuate substantial and thorough benefits, both for the improvement of their moral and physi- cal condition, and to develope the resources of the country. Within the last few years, it is probable that no section of the United States has advanced more rapidly than the State of Michigan, and it seems to be a matter of great importance to proportion the public works to the growing wants of the State. The villages, which had sprung up in its different sections, and the settlements which had been scattered over the whole peninsula, seemed to call upon the State itself to carry for- ward these works. Besides remodelling its laws, it was made an important feature of state policy to project certain impor- tant works across the peninsula .* In order to prosecute these projects the Governor was authorised to effect a loan not ex- ceeding five millions of dollars, on which the credit of the State was to be pledged. The Board of Commis- sioners of Internal Improvements were authorised to cause surveys to be made of three railroad routes across the penin- sula of Michigan. The first of these routes was to commence at Detroit in the county of Wayne, and to terminate at the mouth of the St. Joseph River in the county of Berrien ; this was to be called the Central railroad. The second was to commence at the navigable waters of the River Raisin, pass through the village of Monroe in the county of Monroe, and to terminate at New Buffalo in Berrien county. This is deno- minated the Southern railroad. The third is to commence at Palmer near the mouth of the Black River, in the county of St. Clair, and to terminate at the navigable waters of the Grand River in the county of Kent, or on Lake Michigan in the county of Ottawa. 'This last is denominated the Northern railroad. For the construction of these three works, the sum of five hundred and fifty thousand dollars has been appropriated by the legislature. The sum of twenty thousand dollars has
* Four States have thus been carved out of the North-western Territory, Wis- consin remains to be created. The Constitution of Ohio was organized in 1802, Indiana in 1816. Illinois in 1818, Michigan in 1835.
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also been appropriated for the survey of a canal, or a canal and railroad, commencing at Mt. Clement on the Clinton River, and to terminate at or near the mouth of the Kalamaroo River ; for the survey of a canal to unite the waters of the Sa- ginaw with the navigable waters of the Maple or Grand Rivers ; and for the purchase of surveyors' and other instru- ments ; and also for the survey of the St. Joseph, Kalamazoo, and Grand Rivers, for the purpose of improving the naviga- tion. Forty thousand dollars were also appropriated for the construction of a canal, or a canal and railroad on the route from Mt. Clemens to Kalamazoo, if such a work was deemed necessary. Fifteen thousand dollars was also appropriated for the construction of a canal which should unite the waters of the Saginaw with the Grand or Maple Rivers, if such a work was deemed necessary to be constructed. A project for a ship canal around the Sault de St. Marie, opening navigation with Lake Superior, is now in action. These several projected works of internal improvement lay the foundation for the ra- pid development of its resources. They will furnish means and motives for immigration to the State, will bring all its pro- ducts into market, and bind together, as with iron chains, its interests and its action. Besides these projected improve- ments, a geological survey has been commenced under the cognizance of the State, which will doubtless reveal its sour- ces of as yet undiscovered wealth beneath the surface of the State. The important cause of education, which is acknow- ledged to lie at the foundation of good government and na- tional happiness, has received extraordinary attention under State cognizance. The beneficent provision, which has been made by Government for the erection of a State university, has been carried out, by framing this establishment on a wise and liberal foundation. Its endowment, if well husbanded, will make it probably the wealthiest institution of the United States. The cause of popular education is now ri- pening, and a vigorous system of common instruction will soon be felt throughout every section of the State.
By the report of the superintendent of Public Instru ction, published on January 5th, 1837, it appears that there are in the
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peninsula of Michigan 1,100 square miles devoted to the cause of primary education, which, estimated at the minimum price of their actual value, will produce $520,000. The erection of the University of Michigan, which is endowed with 72 sections of land, will also go forward upon the same magnificent scale.
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