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CONTENTS.
Page
Changes in judicial system. " Patriot War" or Canadian Rebel- lion. Expatriation question. Free schools in Detroit. Scrip called in. Political changes. Governor Barry. Movements to improve Indians. Fictitious surveys of public lands. Indian names of northern counties changed. Sale of State railroads. Mexican War. Changes in the Courts. Capital punishment abolished. The Upper Peninsula and its mines. System of surveys. Burt's solar compass. Asylums. Normal School. University. Land Office. Capital removed to Lansing. Adop- tion of new Constitution 480
CHAPTER XVI.
Michigan under the Constitution of 1850. Comparison of the two Con- stitutions. Governors of Michigan. Swamp land grant. Ship canal at the Sault de Ste. Marie built. Mormon occupation of Beaver Island. King Strang. His assassination. Spoiling the Mormons. Obstacles to legal proceedings in the Upper Penin- sula. Prohibitory liquor laws. University affairs. State Reform School. State charitable institutions and commission of charities. Grand jury system changed. Rise of the Republican Party. Military affairs. Embezzlement of State moneys by John Mc- Kinney, State Treasurer. John Owen, his successor, raised funds on his own credit until the tax levies came in. War preparations on the eve of the Rebellion. Michigan during the Rebellion. Rebel seizure of the steamboat Philo Parsons. Governors of the State. Judicial changes. Senators. Attempts to revise the Constitution and their failure. Aid-bonds Ag- ricultural College grants. Salt. Destruction of timber. Phi- lanthropic legislation and measures to carry it out. New State Capitol. State Library. Lady Librarian. Salaries. Summary of progress 540
NOTE TO PAGE 418. - The writer was misled in regard to Mr. De Tocqueville, by a friend's hasty reference, which he discovered, (too late for correction in the text,) arose from a misapprehension. The Memoir of De Tocqueville refers to the first anniversary of the Revolution of July, which he spent in the Michigan woods in the next year, 1831, and not to the Revolution itself. He was in France in 1830. The very lively emotion shown in the reference was retrospective.
OUTLINES
OF THE
POLITICAL HISTORY OF MICHIGAN.
OUTLINES
OF THE
POLITICAL HISTORY OF MICHIGAN.
CHAPTER I.
PRELIMINARY.
THE political history of Michigan, as a com- munity governed by its own laws, dates back but half a century. In the summer of 1824 the first Legislative Council met, composed of nine mem- bers, selected by the President and confirmed by the Senate of the United States out of eighteen persons chosen by the voters of Michigan Territory. In 1827, for the first time a Council of thirteen sat, who were chosen directly by popular vote. Since that time the affairs of the people have been con- trolled by their own representatives, subject, dur- ing the territorial stage, to a veto of the Gover- nor appointed by the United States, and to re- vision by Congress; and since the organization of the State to a qualified veto by their own Governor.
1
2
INTERESTING ERA.
[CHAP. I.
If that only is political history which covers the life of the people as a political commonwealth, it would be safe to begin at the period of en- franchisement, and to confine our attention to the fortunes of this region since that time. The whole population of European descent was then less than twenty thousand. The cultivated lands, if placed together, would not have covered a single county. For about half the year there was no intercourse with the outer world. The completion of the Erie Canal was opening the way for that great course of emigration which has since brought into the West more people than were at that time to be found in all the Northern States; and for some years thereafter a large share of those who left New York and New England to find new homes in the Northwest settled in Michigan. Several of our flourishing towns were founded then or soon after.
The times were notable for other reasons. Some disputed questions of boundary and in- demnity under treaties with Great Britain had just been determined, and the line between the British and American islands in the dividing waters of this frontier had been ascertained, so that the limits of our jurisdiction were fixed for the first time.
The completed half century of the republic found us in treaty relations with the Empire of Russia, and with the new American Republics of North and South America, which our example
3
ORIGIN OF INSTITUTIONS.
CHAP. I.]
had led to independence. The first combined arrangements had been made with Great Britain for checking the slave trade, which the completion of the century finds practically abolished. The history of Michigan, from that period, is one of very rapid progress, and the last fifty years have been remarkable years for the whole civilized world.
But the earliest days of the life of any people must always have some influence on the future, and usually one which determines in no small degree the character of popular institutions and progress. The institutions of the United States are mostly natural developments from those of the earliest settlements; and those, again, were modifications of the older British customs, which have been vigorous and adaptable since times more distant than any of which we have complete histories.
The settlements in Michigan were made very early, and the Canadian annals, to which our first history belongs, date back of most of those of the English colonies. The beginnings of Cana- dian colonization appeared more promising than those of New England or Virginia. None of the thirteen commonwealths that declared their inde- pendence had ever been watched by Great Britain with that solicitude which was spent on the French provinces by their home government, or which has been bestowed on Canada since the other British possessions separated from it.
4
EARLY FRENCH WRITERS.
[CHAP. I.
If the commonwealths within the United States prospered under neglect, and their neighbors suffered from too much home attention, perhaps the experience of a region which has been through both experiences may not be altogether without value as an example of what may be followed, and what may be shunned.
The leading features of the colonial history of Michigan, so far as they show its experience in matters of government, may be given briefly. No sketch would be complete without them. The purposes of this outline will not allow an extended narrative of those romantic adventures which add so much life to the annals of this region. Historians have loved to dwell upon them, and under the hands of such artists as Park- man they have assumed the shape and color of present reality. The older writers have pre- served many brilliant sketches of the remarkable events of their times. Hennepin, always graphic, if not always reliable, was one of the first, if not the very first, who gave a minute description of the country about the great lakes, and who detailed the beginnings of La Salle's discoveries more faithfully than their sequel. La Hontan, who has also been charged with exaggeration in some things, and with some sheer inventions, is never- theless fully corroborated by other witnesses, in a great part of his personal narrative, so far as it concerns our affairs. Charlevoix, who was histor- ian as well as traveller, has left works of sterling
5
COLONIAL DISCORDS.
CHAP. I. |
merit and great interest, and his style is very attractive. He too has left much unsaid, and has, probably without sinister intentions, colored his picture according to the strong prejudices of his order.
The discoveries made among the old records of the Department of the Marine, and in family and other collections, have rendered much of the old histories very unreliable. These papers, which are now coming to the light, show a very strange condition of affairs. There seems never to have been a time when harmony prevailed among all the influential persons or authorities. The Gover- nor was frequently and perhaps generally at war with the Intendant, upon questions of vital policy. The ecclesiastics were opposed to the views of the civil officers, and the religious orders were arrayed secretly or openly against each other. Official letters written in one sense were qualified by private despatches in another. Every leading man had spies upon his conduct, who were them- selves watched by other spies. The whole truth seldom reached France from any source; and the only means of redress open to many of the lead- ing spirits of the colony against those who per- sistently thwarted the Royal intentions in their favor, 'was a personal appeal to the King or his ministers in the mother country. As it was shrewdly remarked by one of the ministers, the King's orders lost their force when they crossed the Bank.
6
INFORMATION SUPPRESSED.
[CHAP. I.
This is readily understood, when it is known that the first public printing press in Canada was set up after the English conquest, about 1764; and no such thing as public opinion was known as an influence in the affairs of government. News could only get abroad as rumor or gossip.
The only books which criticised the conduct of the church or state authorities, or which vin- dicated the reputation of those who were out of favor were published abroad. No writer could publish in France any account which was not satisfactory, as the press was rigidly watched. The writings of Hennepin and La Hontan, printed in Holland, were assailed and denounced as the work of renegades and traitors, and generally discredited, without discriminating between what was claimed to be invention and the rest. Many of the most important documents, which in any other country would have been made public, never saw the light until our time.
The eminent author of the Commentary on the Marine Ordinance of Louis XIV., M. Valin, complains of the labor of delving in the chaos of edicts and public documents in the office of the Admiralty, relating to maritime affairs, which he . speaks of as a prodigious multitude. The collec- tion of public reports and private letters relating to colonial affairs, from civil and ecclesiastical officers and from persons of all occupations, gath- ered together from all parts of the world, during a regime when every one was suspected, and
7
COLONIAL DOCUMENTS.
CHAP. I.]
when colonial gossip was as keenly scrutinised as colonial business, must be enormous. The Domin- ion of Canada has drawn largely upon these de- posits, and the State of New York has published a valuable selection from them. Further ex- cerpts have been secured at different times by General Cass and others. We may hope that when this material has been thoroughly sifted our early history may be made complete.
CHAPTER II.
EARLY EXPLORATIONS.
THE State of Michigan is a part of the terri- tory colonised by the French, and held under the government of New France and Louisiana. It was never properly a part of Louisiana as a sep- arate province, although in some of the ancient maps it appears to have been included in that region. Its affairs were always under the super- vision of the authorities in what was afterwards known as Lower Canada, until the British con- quest of 1760-1763, after which it remained under military control, until by an act of Parliament passed in 1774 it was annexed to the province of Quebec. From its first discovery until the close of the French supremacy its history is a part of the history of Canada, and most of its French inhab- itants were Canadians by birth or connections.
This dependence on Canada was a principal cause why Michigan was not settled earlier, and why after settlements were begun they were not allowed to be multiplied. It was early known that the lands were exceptionally good, and that farming could be made very profitable. But the colonial policy adhered to for a long period did not encourage the pursuit of agriculture. A wil-
9
THE HURONS.
CHAP. II.]
derness was more precious in the eyes of the authorities at Quebec than fields and farms. The change in sentiment, if it ever came, came too late, and one prominent cause for the loss of the American possessions of France, was lack of people.
It is impossible to determine, with any pre- cision, at what time this country was first discov- ered by the French. It must have been visited by travellers or roving traders long before its settlement. The fur trade, and especially the trade in beavers, was the chief and earliest branch of commerce in the colony, and began with its beginnings. The Lake country was considered by Indians and whites as the chief source of sup- ply for beavers, and for most of the more valua-
ble furs and peltries. Long before the Iroquois extended their incursions so far to the west, the peninsula of Upper Canada was a favorite seat of the Ouendats or Hurons, who were more civilized and less nomadic than any of their west- ern neighbors. The undefined region called the Saghinan, or Saginaw country, which seems to have been sometimes spoken of as identical with the Lower Peninsula of Michigan, was famous for its wealth in beasts of the chase; and de-
I The term Huron is French, and was given to these Indians because of the appearance of their hair, which was rough and ridged like the bristles of a wild boar-"hure." Cheveux Relevés was another name of the same meaning-i. e. with hair standing up-applied by Champlain as is supposed to the Ottawas. The name of the Hurons used among themselves was Ouendât, anglicised into Wyandot. Huron was an old name for miners .-- 2 Mezeray, 148.
10
EARLY MISSIONS
[CHAP, II. .
scriptions of it reached the first visitors at Mon- treal and were heard by Jaques Cartier.
It is possible that the wandering traders may have had temporary stations on the borders, but the earliest establishments of which we have any unquestioned 'record were the missions. There are vague references to companies of French passing up and down the strait now known as the Detroit River; and there seems much reason to believe that a village of Hurons existed at or near the present site of Detroit very early in the seventeenth century. There is nothing to indicate that at that period the passage was dangerous. The Huron villages, if the accounts of early tra- vellers are correct, were not much, if any, inferior in their defensive arrangements, or in their habita- tions, to some of the first trading posts and mis- sions. That people, both in language and in habits, showed evidences of aptitude for civiliza- tion beyond the ordinary savages. The earliest missions in the neighborhood of Michigan are supposed to have been those of the Récollet Fathers in Upper Canada, near and on Lake Huron and its affluents, which were founded dur- ing the time of Champlain, who is reported, but perhaps on doubtful authority, to have passed through the strait on one of his journeys, and is claimed by the official memoirs to have discov- ered this region in 1612.1
I Champlain's maps show that he knew the connection between Lake Huron and the lower lakes, though not depicting it with geographical accuracy.
11
EARLY MISSIONS.
CHAP. II.]
Whether any of the missionaries visited this immediate neighborhood during their residence among the Hurons at Georgian Bay is not known. But there is every reason to believe they had a mission of some consequence on the eastern side of Lake Huron, near its outlet and not far north from Port Sarnia.
When the Iroquois overran the Huron coun- try all vestiges of the European settlements dis- appeared. The Lower Peninsula of Michigan having been mostly unoccupied by tribal settle- ments, there was very little to invite invasion. In their western excursions the Iroquois appear on some occasions to have reached the southern borders of Lake Michigan. But there is no evidence that they ever dwelt in the lake region of Michigan; and if they ever traversed it, they retained no hold on it. It was never actually possessed by any but the northern and western tribes, who were independent nations, and owed no fealty, and acknowledged none, to the Iroquois or their allies.
Missions were founded by the Jesuits on the northern and southern borders of the Upper Pen- insula of Michigan. Raymbault and Jogues visited the Sault de Ste. Marie in 1641, but do not seem to have made any establishment, having returned to their mission at Penetanguishine the same year. In 1660 Mesnard coasted along the south shore of Lake Superior as far as the head of Keweenaw Bay, known as L'Anse. Having
12
MESNARD.
[CHAP. II.
wintered there alone among the Indians, he went westward in the spring, passing through Portage Lake, and intending, after crossing the narrow strip of land known as the Portage, (which has been recently opened to navigation by a ship canal,) to continue his journey to Chegoimegon Bay. This is the bay lying south of the Apostle Islands, on one of which, at La Pointe, is a very old settlement and mission. Mesnard had but a single Indian with him, and while this companion was removing the canoe and its contents across the Portage, the missionary, who was an elderly man and quite feeble, strayed into the woods, and disappeared. How he could have been lost beyond the power of an Indian to discover his trail, we are not informed. It is very likely he was deserted, or worse, by a treacherous guide. There is, however, a tradition that he was killed by the Sioux. In October, 1665, Father Allouez established the Mission of Chegoimegon, or La Pointe, which had been the destination of Mesnard. The mission at the Sault de Ste. Marie was founded by Marquette in 1668. The same year or the next a mission was founded on the Island of Michilimackinac, but removed very soon, and as early as 1669 or 1670, to Pointe St. Ignace on the main land north of the Straits of Mackinaw and west of the Island. This place was occupied for many years. The establishment was after- wards, (but when is not precisely known from published authorities,) transferred to the northern
13
MACKINAW MISSION.
CHAP. II.]
point of the Lower Peninsula of Michigan, not far from Cheboygan. In Charlevoix's time (1721) the transfer had been made several years, and the old mission was abandoned and had fallen into decay. In Bellin's map of 1744 it is marked as destroyed. The determination of its precise location has been attended with some difficulty. It derives interest from the fact that the remains of Père Marquette, some years after his death, were removed by the Indians from the place of his first burial, and interred at the church on Pointe St. Ignace."
The missions at the Sault de Ste. Marie and Michilimackinac are regarded as the first com- pletely ascertained settlements within the present State of Michigan. There is, at least, undeniable evidence when these missions were founded. Both places were important centres of influence. But while they may be assumed as the pioneer settlements, until further facts are established, there are some things which deserve reference as indicating a possibility to the contrary.
In 1687, upon a controversy between the Gov- ernor General of Canada (Denonville) and Gov. Dongan of New York, the former and his agents asserted a French occupancy at Mackinaw for more than sixty years, and French occupation on the lower waters of Michigan from twenty-five
I Marquette died on his way to Mackinaw, at the Pere Marquette River, where the town of Ludington is now situated, and was buried there, until disinterred as above mentioned.
14
COUREURS DE BOIS.
[CHAP. II.
to forty years. Gov. Dongan would not admit this, but was not disposed to admit of any pre- vious actual possession at all. Without some definite evidence, such statements can only be regarded as having more or less probability. At the same time it is to be considered that except from missions and military posts no official reports were likely to be received; and that the missionary Relations, except where there was some controversy or difficulty, were not required to refer to the settlements for other purposes, and often ignored them entirely. The existence of defensive posts appears very frequently, in such casual references in public documents and letters as are conclusive, when the same places are not mentioned by historians nor always by travellers.
The monopoly of the fur trade, and the severe provisions against irregular trading had given occasion for a great amount of contraband enter- prise. The men who engaged in this were an adventurous class of active and bold rovers called by the French coureurs de bois, translated by the English in official papers into " bushlopers," " bush- rangers" and "wood runners." Many of these were of the lower classes and dropped readily into the ways of the Indians, adopting their habits and becoming adherents to the tribes. But there were many also, of respectable connections, who betook themselves to a wandering life of hunting and trading, partly from love of adventure, and
15
COUREURS DE BOIS.
CHAP. II.]
partly because they could find no other means of livelihood. There is no reason to regard them as a despicable or essentially vicious race. The men who have been driven to the forest by feudal oppressions and monopolies have usually been possessed of many useful qualities, which a better government could have turned to great advant- age. The outlaws of English and Scottish tradi- tions have generally been popular for good fellow- ship and sympathy with the poor. They are sel-
dom marked by cruelty or treachery. The adven- turers from the English colonies and American States, who have sought refuge in the woods and have been the pioneers of discovery in the remote regions, were not compelled to go except by their own tastes, and have generally been quite as honest in their dealings as any of their more favored brethren, and have, as they deserve, a very good reputation for many manly virtues. The coureurs de bois were seldom, if ever, found guilty of any treachery to the government, which had no claim upon their respect beyond the fact that they were of French blood; and this claim they recognized with pride. The atrocious mono- polies and exactions which were ultimately chief incentives to the first French Revolution, led to a recognition by respectable men of the fact that the offenders against such tyrannical regulations were not necessarily malefactors. Accordingly no lines were drawn between those who sought the woods from love of adventure, and those who
.
16
FAUX-SAULNIERS.
[CHAP. II.
went from necessity, and to save themselves from starving. This was practically admitted by the government itself. In 1713, when the colonial government had begun to realize the value of population, Mons. de Vaudreuil the Governor General wrote very urgently to France to obtain one hundred and fifty faux-saulniers (or contra- band salt makers) who were sent to the galleys for interfering with the salt monopolies of the Farmers General; these would not consent to their going at large in France, but the offenders were not spoken of as in any respect undesirable colonists.1
In 1717 eighty of these faux-saulniers were sent to begin the town of New Orleans.2
These bushrangers were the pioneers of French enterprise and discovery; and in all the military movements in the remote regions, as well as nearer the sea, they were the chief reliance of the gov- ernment. Their intimacy with the tribes led to a great ascendancy in the Indian councils, and the attachment of the savages for these men who were familiar guests in their wigwams, and often mar- ried into the tribes, led to alliances in war. The British governors and agents attributed the whole military success of the French colonies to the bushrangers. In 1700, Robert Livingston in an official report declares, that "we can never ran- counter the French, unless we have bushlopers as
1 2 Charlevoix, 403.
2 2 Charlevoix, 434.
17
IRREGULAR POSTS
CHAP. II.]
well as they."1 And Pownall in his elaborate re- port to the Congress of Albany in 1754, points out very forcibly the advantages of the French military settlements for colonizing purposes on the borders.2
The numbers of these bushrangers were great, and they frequently consorted in large companies. There is every reason to believe that they went into the wilderness and formed temporary or permanent trading posts much earlier than the date of any of the recognized establishments. And while the existence of these posts was doubtless known to the governors and colonial authorities, they were unlawful settlements and obtained no place in the annals of the colony.
In all expeditions towards the unsettled regions, these men formed a necessary part. The fur companies from the earliest days to our own time were obliged to employ their services, and their hardy endurance and untiring good nature are familiar to every one whose memory takes in any reminiscences of the northwestern fur trade. The Jesuit missionaries, however, seem to have held them in great abhorrence. They were no doubt somewhat indisposed to extreme subservi- ence to the clergy, while the claims of the Jesuits went far beyond what was allowed to be their due by the French government or its local repre- sentatives. Their roving habits led in many
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