USA > Michigan > Michigan official directory and legislative manual for the years 1915-1916 > Part 3
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State conventions .- The first state convention for the adoption of a constitution was held at Detroit, May, 1835. An election for the adoption of the constitution, and for the election of state officers was held on the first Monday of the following Octo- ber. The constitution was adopted by a vote of the people, and Stevens T. Mason was elected governor, Edward Mundy, lieutenant governor, and Isaac E. Crary, repre- sentative in congress. The legislature met in November (1835), and elected John Norvell and Lucius Lyon, United States senators for Michigan. Everything was ready for admission into the Union, but the unfortunate boundary dispute with Ohio pre- vented the favorable action of congress at that time.
Finally, by an act approved January 26, 1837, Michigan became the twenty-sixth state of the Union.
MICHIGAN AS A STATE.
First constitution .- The state constitution under which Michigan was admitted into the federal Union contained peculiar features which deserve brief mention. The secretary of state, auditor general and attorney general were appointed by the governor, with the advice and consent of the state senate. The superintendent of public in- struction was appointed by the governor, with the advice and consent of the legislature, in joint vote. The governor and lieutenant governor were elected, and all state officers above mentioned were chosen for a term of two years, as at present. Judges of the supreme court were appointed by the governor, with the advice and consent of the senate, for a term of seven years.
The constitution contained the following provision, which had a considerable in- fluence on the early history of the state: "Internal improvements shall be encouraged by the government of this state; and it shall be the duty of the legislature, as soon as may be, to make provision by law for ascertaining the proper objects of improvement in relation to roads, canals and navigable waters," etc.
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MICHIGAN MANUAL.
Internal improvement scheme .- It so happened that the Hon. Stevens T. Mason, "the boy governor of Michigan," who was the first chief executive of the young state, was in hearty sympathy with the plan of internal improvements for which provision was made in the constitution. With his approval, the legislature speedily passed the necessary laws, and the scheme was put into execution. Arrangements were made to borrow five millions of dollars on bonds issued by the state, and Governor Mason was authorized to negotiate the loan.
Among the various internal improvements which were begun and carried on for several years by the state, two of the most important were the Michigan Central and Southern railroads .* The first named road was to begin at Detroit and extend to the mouth of the St. Joseph river on Lake Michigan. The second was to extend from Monroe to New Buffalo. After an experience of four or five years in prosecuting these enterprises, and others of lesser note, it became evident that it would be better for the state to dispose of the railroads to private corporations; and accordingly the Mich- igan Central and Southern railroads, which were only partially completed, were sold, in 1846, for the sum of two and a half millions of dollars. This was less than they had cost the state, but nevertheless the sale was considered a good bargain. Under the management of their new owners the roads were speedily pushed forward to completion, with some changes in the western portions of their routes.
" Wild-cat" banking .- When Michigan was admitted into the Union, there were fifteen banks doing business within her borders. But among other theories of that time was the notion that banking, like farming and store-keeping, should be free to all. Accordingly, in the spring of 1837, a general banking law was passed by the legis- lature. Under this act "any ten or more freeholders " might engage in banking with a capital of not less than fifty thousand nor more than three hundred thousand dollars. The provisions for the security of the public were loosely framed, and proved utterly worthless in practice. Among other things it was provided that thirty per cent of the entire capital should be paid in, in specie, before commencing business; that debts and bills issued should be secured by mortgages on real estate, etc. The banks were subject to examination and supervision by commissioners. But all provisions of safety were successfully evaded. Banks were started by persons who were mere adventurers, alike destitute of capital and credit. When the bank commissioners started upon their rounds of inspection, bags of coin were secretly and swiftly carried by messengers from one bank to another, so that they were constantly deceived. The requisite amount of coin would be found in the vaults, the commissioners could discover nothing wrong, and the inspection was over. During the following night the coin would be spirited away to the next bank, and counted again as before. Meanwhile these fraudulent banks were issuing bills and getting them into circulation as fast as possible.
The year 1837 is memorable as the time of a great financial panic in the United States. In June of that year, the legislature of Michigan, in the hope of relieving the financial difficulties for the time being, passed a law authorizing the suspension of specie payment until May 16, 1838. But the general banking law remained in force, banks were organ- ized, and bills were issued as fast as possible during the period of suspension.
Banks were located anywhere and everywhere. One was found flourishing in an old saw-mill; and it was humorously asserted that a "hollow stump, to serve as a vault," was all that was needed for a bank in those days.
The greater number of the "wild-cat " banks had, however, suspended operations by the end of the year 1839. But more than a million dollars of worthless bills had been put in circulation. In 1844 the general banking law was declared unconstitu- tional, and "wild-cat " banks caused no further trouble.
Education .- By the ordinance of 1787-creating the northwest territory-and sub- sequent legislation, congress made provision for the support of public schools in this part of the Union. The sixteenth section of every organized township was set apart for the creation of a permanent school fund, of which the interest only is used from year to year. Since 1858, the "primary school fund," as it is called, has been increased by the addition of one-half of the yearly cash receipts from the sale of swamp lands belonging to the state.
*In 1835-6.
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AN OUTLINE HISTORY OF MICHIGAN.
After the state was admitted into the Union, one of the first steps of interest in this connection was the appointment of a superintendent of public instruction. Governor Mason selected for this important office the Rev. John D. Pierce, a congregational clergyman, who was engaged in missionary work among the pioneers of central Michigan.
Father Pierce-as the founder of the Michigan school system is reverently called- wished to place the primary school within the reach of every child in the state; and to establish a state university for the higher culture of advanced students.
The plan which was drawn up by Superintendent Pierce, and passed by act of the legislature in 1837, contained most of the essential features of the present school system. And when it is remembered that Father Pierce was the first state superintendent of public instruction in the United States, we are the better prepared to appreciate the wisdom and foresight of the founder of the Michigan schools.
Pioneers .- Most of the early settlers of interior Michigan came from New England, New York and Ohio. Some of them came from the birth-place of the "town-meet- ing," and they took an active interest in the wise and honest government of their adopted state. Intelligent and public spirited, but prudent as well, they were good and safe citizens.
The style of living was necessarily plain. For clothing, "cheap, coarse cloth an- swered the purpose, and the wives and daughters made it up for use. The pioneers could not be particular about other qualities of their cloth than those of wear and comfort, and nobody would criticise the style or the fit. Silk for the woman and broadcloth for the man were rare extravagancies."*
The first houses were log cabins, and the food of the pioneers, like the clothing, was plain and substantial. Hard work was the order of the day.
Hospitality and genuine friendship are usual characteristics of pioneers, and the "pathfinders" of the Michigan wilderness were bright examples of the general rule. "If one had a barrel of flour it was divided with the others. No one was allowed to want for what another had."t
Mormons in Michigan .- In 1847, a colony of Mormons, under the leadership of James J. Strang, located on Beaver Island. At first the Mormon colony consisted of only five families, but a system of vigorous proselyting increased their numbers to nearly two thousand persons within the few years of their stay on the island. But internal dissensions arose, and Strang was assassinated in 1856. Soon after the death of the leader, the colony was dispersed by an armed band of fishermen from the neigh- boring shores, and the Mormons were given only twenty-four hours to leave the place.
Removal of capital .- From the time of Cadillac's occupancy of Fort Pontchartrain (1701) until 1847, the seat of government was at Detroit, but in the latter year the legislature decided to locate the permanent capital of Michigan at Lansing-then covered by a dense forest, and forty miles distant from a railroad. The project was greeted with both ridicule and severe denunciation at first, but the decision was made and the location proved to be generally satisfactory.
Second constitution .- After the experience of more than a dozen years with the state constitution under which Michigan came into the Union, the people wished to make some changes in the supreme law of the commonwealth, and a convention for that purpose met at Lansing in June, 1850. After careful preparation, a new constitution was submitted to the people, by whom it was adopted.
Among other changes, the second constitution provided for the election, by the people, of all heads of state departments and judges of the supreme court.
Third constitution .- In April, 1906, the people voted that the constitution of 1850 be revised. The delegates assembled at Lansing in October, 1907, and completed the revision in March, 1908. The new constitution was submitted to the people November 3, 1908, and adopted.}
Politics .- When Michigan was admitted into the Union, the democratic party was in power and the governor of the state was a member of that party. Dissatisfaction
*Judge Cooley's "Michigan."
¿Hon. Charles D. Little in "Michigan Pioneer Collections."
#Compiler.
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MICHIGAN MANUAL.
with the financial mismanagement of 1837 and 1838 caused a change in the political control of the state, which was secured by the whig party-headed by William Wood- bridge-for a single term. From 1841 to 1854 the democrats were again in power. In the latter year the newly organized republican party elected its candidates, and with the exception of two terms-1883-85, and 1891-93-has continued in political control of the state to the present time.
Michigan in the civil war .- During the four years of the civil war, Michigan was fortunate in having Austin Blair as her chief executive. Every effort was made to lend all possible support to the United States government in its struggle for existence. Few states were more prompt, and none sent braver soldiers to the front. All told, Michigan furnished 93,700 men, of whom 14,855 died in the service of the nation.
Spanish-American war .- On April 23, 1898, President Mckinley issued his procla- mation calling for 125,000 volunteers to engage in the war with Spain. Michigan's quota of this number was 4,104 to consist of four regiments of infantry of 1,026 officers and men each.
May 25, 1898, the president issued his second call for troops, of which Michigan's quota was one regiment of infantry of a maximum strength of 1,272 men and 47 officers.
The 33d and 34th Michigan formed part of the expedition under command of General Shafter against Santiago. .
The Michigan naval reserves, consisting of eleven officers and two hundred and seventy men, were detailed on the auxiliary cruiser Yosemite and saw service at Havana, Santiago, Guantanamo and San Juan de Puerto Rico.
The 31st regiment served at garrison duty, two months and twelve days on Cuban soil.
The 32d and 35th Michigan regiments were quartered in southern camps, anxiously waiting orders to go to the front, but the sudden termination of the war prevented them from seeing service on foreign soil.
CONCLUSION.
The first half century of state history witnessed many wonderful changes. In 1837 the interior was sparsely settled, and the forests and prairies showed few signs of human industry. Wagon roads were scarce and poor, and there was no completed railroad. Postal arrangements were exceedingly inconvenient, and correspondence was an expensive luxury. The population of the state was 174,467. Cities there were none. Schools, churches and newspapers were few, and the privations of pioneer life were many and severe.
Seventy years have changed the wilderness into more than two hundred thousand cultivated farms. Over eight thousand seven hundred miles of railroads and nine hundred miles of interurban electric roads afford good market and traveling facilities to the people of almost every county in the state. The census reports shows a popu- lation of over two and three-quarter million people. Over eight thousand schools afford instruction to about seven hundred and fifty thousand pupils. Postal facilities have improved a hundred fold.
ADMISSION OF MICHIGAN TO THE UNION.
[5 U. S. Statute at Large, 144.]
AN ACT to admit the State of Michigan into the Union, upon an equal footing with the original states.
WHEREAS, In pursuance of the act of congress of June the fifteenth, eighteen hundred and thirty-six, entitled, "An act to establish the northern boundary of the state of Ohio, and to provide for the admission of the state of Michigan into the Union, upon the conditions therein expressed," a convention of delegates, elected by the people of the said state of Michigan, for the sole purpose of giving their assent to the boundaries of the said state of Michiganl, as described, declared and established in and by the
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AN OUTLINE HISTORY OF MICHIGAN.
said act, did, on the fifteenth of December, eighteen hundred and thirty-six, assent to the provisions of said act, therefore:
SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress Assembled, That the State of Michigan shall be one, and is hereby declared to be one, of the United States of America, and admitted into the Union on an equal footing with the original states, in all respects whatever.
SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That the secretary of the treasury, in carrying into effect the thirteenth and fourteenth sections of the act of the twenty-third of June, eighteen hundred and thirty-six, entitled, "An act to regulate the deposits of the public money," shall consider the said state of Michigan as being one of the United States. Approved Jan. 26, 1837.
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MICHIGAN MANUAL.
DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE.
UNANIMOUSLY PASSED BY THE CONGRESS OF THE THIRTEEN UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, JULY 4, 1776.
When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dis- solve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature's God entitled them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident; that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That, to secure these rights governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed; that whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles, and organizing its powers in such form as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shown, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object, evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security. Such has been the patient sufferance of these colonies and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former system of govern- ment. The history of the present king of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute tyranny over these states. To prove this, let facts be submitted to a candid world:
He has refused his assent to laws the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his governors to pass laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his assent should be obtained, and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of representation in the legislature-a right inestimable to them, and formidable to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the repository of their public records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into a compliance with his measures.
He has dissolved representative houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
He has refused for a long time after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the legislative powers, incapable of annihilation, have returned to the people at large for their exercise; the state remaining, in the meantime, exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
He has endeavored to prevent the population of these states; for that purpose ob- structing the laws for the naturalization of foreigners, refusing to pass others to en- courage their migration hither, and raising the conditions of new appropriations of lands.
He has obstructed the administration of justice by refusing his assent to laws for establishing judiciary powers.
He has made judges dependent on his will alone for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
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DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE.
He has erected a multitude of new offices, and sent hither swarms of officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.
He has kept among us, in time of peace, standing armies, without the consent of our legislatures.
He has affected to render the military independent of, and superior to, the civil power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our consti- tution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his assent to their acts of pretended legislation:
For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us;
For protecting them by mock trial from punishment for any murders which they should commit on the inhabitants of these states;
For cutting off our trade with all parts of the world;
For imposing taxes on us without our consent;
For depriving us, in many cases, of the benefit of trial by jury;
For transporting us beyond seas to be tried for pretended offenses;
For abolishing the free system of English laws in a neighboring province, estab- lishing therein an arbitrary government, and enlarging its boundaries, so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these colonies;
For taking away our charters, abolishing our most valuable laws, and altering funda- mentally the forms of our governments;
For suspending our own legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
He has abdicated government here, by declaring us out of his protection and waging war against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
He is at this time transporting large armies of foreign mercenaries to complete the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun, with circumstances of cruelty and perfidy, scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the head of a civilized nation.
He has constrained our fellow citizens, taken captive on the high seas, to bear arms against their country, to become the executioners of their friends and brethren, or to fall themselves by their hands.
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavored to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers the merciless Indian savages, whose known rule of warfare is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.
In every stage of these oppressions we have petitioned for redress in the most humble terms; our repeated petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.
Nor have we been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them, from time to time, of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them, by the ties of our common kindred, to disavow these usur- pations, which would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They, too, have been deaf to the voice of justice, and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity which denounces our separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, enemies in war; in peace, friends.
We, therefore, the representatives of the United States of America, in general congress assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the name and by the authority of the good people of these colonies, solemnly publish and declare that these united colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent states; and they are absolved from all allegiance to the British crown, and that all political connection between them and the state of Great Britain is, and ought to be totally dissolved, and that as free and independent states, they have full power to levy war, conclude peace, contract alliances, establish commerce
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MICHIGAN MANUAL.
and to do all other acts and things which independent states may of right do. And for the support of this declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor.
JOHN HANCOCK.
SIGNERS OF THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE.
No.
Name.
Colony.
Occupation.
Born.
Died.
1
John Adams.
Massachusetts Bay . ...
Lawyer. .
1735
1826
2
Samuel Adams
Massachusetts Bay .
Merchant ..
1722
1803
3
Josiah Bartlett
New Hampshire.
Physician.
1729
1795
4
Carter Braxton .
Virginia.
Planter.
1736
1797
5
Charles Carroll
Maryland .
Lawyer.
1737
1832
6
Samuel Chase.
Maryland .
Lawyer.
1741
1811
7
Abraham Clark .
New Jersey.
Lawyer.
1726
1794
8 9
William Ellery
Rhode Island, etc. .
Lawyer.
1727
1820
10
William Floyd.
New York.
Farmer.
1734
1821
11
Benjamin Franklin.
Pennsylvania .
Printer ..
1706
1790
12
Elbridge Gerry.
Massachusetts Bay
Merchant .
1744
1814
13
Button Gwinnett
Georgia
Merchant.
1732
1777
14
Lyman Hall .
Georgia .
Physician. .
1725
1790
15
John Hancock.
Massachusetts Bay
Merchant.
1737
1793
16
Benjamin Harrison.
Virginia
Farmer.
1740
1791
17
John Hart.
New Jersey
Farmer.
1708
1780
18
Joseph Hewes.
North Carolina
Merchant.
1730
1779
19
Thomas Heyward, Jr.
South Carolina
Lawyer.
1746
1809
20
William Hooper .
North Carolina.
Lawyer.
1742
1790
21
Stephen Hopkins
Rhode Island, etc.
Farmer.
1707
1785
22
Francis Hopkinson .
New Jersey .
Lawyer
1737
1791
23
Samuel Huntington ..
Connecticut.
Lawyer.
1731
1796
24
Thomas Jefferson.
Virginia
Lawyer.
1743
1826
25
Francis Lightfoot Lee ..
Virginia
Farmer.
1734
1797
26
Richard Henry Lee.
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