USA > Michigan > Outlines of the political history of Michigan > Part 32
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In 1839, the election changed the political con- trol of the State, and placed it in the hands of the Whig party, William Woodbridge being Governor, and James Wright Gordon Lieutenant Governor. The Legislature had already been changed so far as to elect Augustus S. Porter as Senator, to succeed Lucius Lyon. The great
515
GOVERNOR BARRY
CHAP. XV.]
popular uprising which, in 1840, elected William Henry Harrison to the Presidency, had secured him a large following in Michigan, where many of his old friends and admirers of the Democratic party as well as Whigs voted for him. His un- fortunate death, and the quarrels of Congress with his successor Mr. Tyler, produced a reaction, and John S. Barry, who assumed the Governor- ship in 1842, had a series of Democratic suc- cessors, until the organization of the Republican party in 1854, when Kinsley S. Bingham was chosen, and has been followed ever since by Republican Governors. Governor Woodbridge was elected Senator to succeed Mr. Norvell in 1841, by a coalition of Democrats with some members of the Whig party, who thus defeated Lieutenant Governor Gordon, the nominee of the party. Governor Woodbridge remained in the Senate during his full term of six years, after which he took no part in public affairs.
Governor Barry was so prominent during the remainder of his career, that few men are better remembered among our State officials. He was more popular in his later than in his earlier in- cumbency, and never appeared very anxious to seek popularity. His political views were some- what extreme, and at times he became very ob- noxious to his opponents on that ground; and many regarded his public economy as narrow and parsimonious. It is nevertheless no more than justice to his memory to vindicate him from this
516
GOVERNOR BARRY.
[CHAP. XV.
charge. He has on more than one occasion manifested the most liberal views, where the public good required liberality ; and it was due to the combined efforts of Governor Barry and Chancellor Farnsworth that the Insane Asylum at Kalamazoo was planned on a broad basis, instead of reduced to dimensions and surroundings which would have rendered it abortive. It is equally true, (as those who were familiar with his course while ex-officio presiding officer of the Board of Regents can testify,) that he was one of the best friends the University ever had, and that he never allowed political reasons to intrude where they did not belong. It never was the fortune of the writer to agree with Governor Barry in politics, but he cannot justly abstain from bearing testi- mony that he was not the mean man he has been sometimes supposed to be, and that the State and its institutions have derived lasting benefit from his rigid integrity and fidelity. When the resources of a State will permit liberal outlays for laudable purposes, parsimony may become reprehensible. But in Governor Barry's early official career, it required the utmost economy to preserve the public credit at all; and there was no time while he was in office when it was not desirable. The recent experiences of municipal plundering and venality in various parts of the country, and the waste of public property to enable knaves to outshine their honest neighbors, have not indicated any serious danger that exactness in guarding the
517
CONDITION OF INDIANS.
CHAP. XV.]
treasury is running to excess, or in need of discouragement.
At various times, from 1836 to 1842, treaties had been made with the Indians, whereby in the latter year the entire tribal titles had been extin- guished, except as to a few special reservations. The Indians in the Lower Peninsula were mostly removed west of the Mississippi. It had long been felt that it was unjust to prevent them from hav- ing opportunities of civilization, which could only be obtained by giving them property to be held
individually, and not by communities. The L'Arbre Croche Indians, as long back as the Pontiac war, had been a well-behaved community, and had pros- pered by honest industry. In 1844, the Legislature requested the Michigan Senators and Representa- tives to endeavor to procure for them the position of American citizens. In 1847, the privilege was asked that any Indians in the State might be al- lowed to pre-empt and retain such lands as they occupied and cultivated, on the same footing with others. It is not pleasant to notice that the per- sistent attempts of Michigan to secure to the ori- ginal holders of the soil a chance to become civ- ilized possessors of homes in the country of their fathers, have been thwarted. Although by the Constitution of 1850, the resident civilized Indians, who had separated from their tribes, were admitted to the privilege of voting, yet it was held by the United States Supreme Court, in United States v. Holliday, (3 Wallace, 40,) that it was impossible
518
TRIBAL RELATIONS.
[CHAP. XV.
for an Indian to withdraw from his tribal relations without the consent of the United States. As this must be accepted as law, it is time Congress changed it. While we assert the right of every- body else to go where he pleases, and to change his allegiance as often as he chooses, it seems that the guardianship of the government over these persons annihilates their free agency, and compels them to barbarism, no matter how much they may desire to escape it. This rule has a double action, which was very well exemplified in 1840, in the partially successful efforts of the British agents at the Manitoulins to draw over Indian colonists into Canada. They proposed to include the Michigan half-breed settlers as Indians, in their distribution of presents. In a meeting of Indians and half-breeds, in May, 1840, on the Canada side of the Sault, Shingwauk, the head chief, referred to this as a part of the scheme of such a colony. Addressing the American Indians, he said: "Whether the thing you ask from the British government will be granted or not, we do not know, but if the half-breeds will consent to be under us as Indians, we hope it will be granted. This is what our fathers told us. The half-breeds on our side have nearly all consented." Where the mixed blood is in even quantities, it is not irrational for Indians as well as white men to claim its allegiance.
A serious trouble arose in 1841, from the discovery that a considerable quantity of public
519
CHAP. XV.] FRAUDULENT SURVEYS. NAMES OF COUNTIES.
lands put in market, including eighty-one townships lying mostly north and west of the Saginaw Bay, had never been surveyed, but had been platted and returned on fictitious surveys. This discovery was first suggested by the State Topographer, Mr. Higgins, who found, in protracting his State map, that the lakes and water courses in the region in question presented the appearance of a very symmetrical tree, with leaves and branches so very regular that it seemed unlikely the country could be truly represented. The Legislature, in 1842, called the attention of the government to the fact, and to the fraud that would be thereby committed on purchasers whose lands were not to be found.
In 1840 Indian names were given to twenty- nine of the northern counties in the Lower Pe- ninsula, many of which were names of distinguished chiefs, who had signed the treaties made at differ- ent times since the Revolution. In 1843, sixteen of these were re-named. In one case a Michigan Indian name was changed for a Florida chief's name, Osceola. Anamickee, or Thunder, the ap- propriate name for the county including Thunder Bay, (and the name of a chief,) was transmogri- fied into Alpena-perhaps a phonetic rendering of Alpina, if dime novels were then extant. Five were borrowed from Ireland, one from New York, one (Montmorency) might have been suggested from several quarters, and the remainder were of no special significance. Kishkauko, the patro-
520
MARRIED WOMEN. TEXAS AND OREGON. [CHAP. XV.
nymic of the head chief of Saginaw for over a century, was exchanged for Charlevoix-a very proper name, but one which might have been dropped elsewhere as well. The reason for this is not known.
In 1844, an important step was taken, by se- curing to married women their property (real and personal) free from the control of their husbands. This has since been fixed by the Constitution.
The Legislature, for two or three successive years, expressed itself in favor of the annexation of Texas, and the assertion of the Oregon title up to fifty-four degrees and forty minutes of north latitude. That boundary was left unsettled by Mr. Webster in the Ashburton treaty of 1842, but compromised by Mr. Buchanan by the Treaty of 1846, in which it was brought down to the forty-ninth parallel. Unfortunately, the careless use of language created another ambiguity in the San Juan de Fuca boundary on the Pacific, which was recently decided in favor of the United States by the Emperor of Germany, after nearly thirty years' dispute. We have been singularly unfor,- tunate in not getting our boundary treaties with Great Britain so as to make the lines definite and unambiguous.
In 1846, the State disposed of the Central and Southern Railroads, and ceased to own any pub- lic works, (as she has since kept aloof from them,) and left the building of railroads to private en- terprise, which is much better adapted to their
521
MEXICAN WAR. COUNTY COURTS.
CHAP. XV.]
management than the agencies of a republican government.
In that year the Mexican war broke out. While there was much difference of opinion about the acquisition of Texas, there was none about the duty of Americans to maintain their country against the assaults of her enemies. The call for volunteers was readily responded to, and the Michigan soldiers, both volunteers and regulars, did no discredit to the State. Resolutions were adopted by the Legislature in 1847, asserting the right of the United States, and urging the ener- getic prosecution of the war; expressing admira- tion for the conduct of the army on the Rio Grande and at Monterey ; declaring it the duty of the nation to extend the free principles of the ordinance of 1787 over any territory which should be acquired, and voting money for the equipment of volunteers.
About this time a considerable change was made in the judicial system. For three or four years a majority of the legal business of the State was required to be brought into county courts, with elected judges, paid at first by fees, and afterwards by a discretionary salary from the county treasury. These courts were introduced on an idea that they would render justice speedily, cheaply and satisfactorily. In some counties able men presided in them, and gave satisfaction. This, however, was not so general as to be customary, and the method of doing business deprived par-
522
JUDICIAL SYSTEM.
[CHAP. XV.
ties of some of the most important legal safe- guards to the impartial selection of juries. Nei- ther delays nor expenses were lessened, but, in the end, increased, as every needless intermediate tribunal has always been found to operate. They did not in many counties command respect, and became disorderly. When the constitution of 1850 was adopted they were, by universal consent, discontinued as worse than failures.
The revision of 1846 abolished the court of chancery, and transferred the disposition of equity cases to the circuit courts. This plan has worked very well-its only drawback being the incapacity of some county clerks to keep their records and business in proper shape, and the habit which sometimes prevails of unduly postponing equity hearings to accommodate the common law issues. Our system has become so far simplified that the unnecessary distinctions between law and equity have mostly disappeared, and equity proceedings are only flexible remedies to reach the cases which cannot properly be tried on common-law issues. Facilities exist for having juries pass upon such facts as may require it, without the old necessity of having them sent before another tribunal. It is very much safer to have cases of all kinds dis- posed of before courts familiar with all departments of the law. Those courts have always acted most judiciously where legal and equitable, and civil and criminal, questions are all subject to decision. To make any system of laws work well, there must
523
RULES OF EVIDENCE.
CHAP. XV.]
be harmony among all its departments; and specialists are often unsafe counsellors, because they give undue importance to their subjects, and magnify forms and multiply distinctions beyond reason, while they are peculiarly disposed to in- dulge in theories of conduct that ignore the in- finite variety of human action.
The revision of 1846 began some valuable re- forms in the rules of evidence, which have now been carried still further. Witnesses were no longer excluded from testifying by reason of in- terest, opinion, or character, but all such objec- tions were made to go to their credibility; and juries and courts were allowed, if they believed their statements, to act upon them. The old rules were senseless, and well calculated to defeat the ends of justice. The only rules of exclusion that rest on real and sensible reasons of policy, are those which prevent parties from violating confi- dences, and from criminating themselves. The revision wisely recognized this, in protecting the confidences of patients to physicians, and religious confidences, as well as those of lawyers and clients, and in the domestic relations of husband and wife. The necessity of encouraging fidelity in confiden- tial relations, is much greater than that of encour- aging litigation ; and rules which would destroy manly honor and private faith would be poorly compensated by the small occasional gain that might ensue to persons contending in the courts, by en- larging their field of inquisitiveness.
524
CAPITAL PUNISHMENT ABOLISHED.
[CHAP. XV.
This revision also enabled parties in some cases to obtain the testimony of their adversaries in law courts, whenever it could have been ob- tained for the same purpose by bill of discovery in equity. This was only one step towards the entire removal of the disability of parties to testify like other witnesses,-a measure which has been approved by experience.
The greatest change in criminal law was the abolition of capital punishment. The previous laws in regard to felonies had, during the earlier Territorial days, confined the death-penalty to murder. This crime had then been divided into degrees. Murder in the first degree, which em- braced only the more deliberate and cruel kinds of murder, was punished by death, while murder in the second degree was subject to a graduated and partly discretionary imprisonment. The crime of murder in the first degree was now made punishable by imprisonment for life, with no dis- cretion to reduce it. The statistics of crime have never been so thoroughly intelligible that any one can determine very safely what effect this change has had. It is very doubtful how far the degree of punishment has any direct bearing on the minds of those who commit this atrocious crime. There is, no doubt, an indirect influence exercised on public opinion by all penal statutes, which reaches criminals and innocent persons alike, and produces some effect on their estimate of conduct. But very few have been known to calculate on
525
CHAP. XV.] CAPITAL PUNISHMENT. ELECTIVE JUDGES
the measure of punishment, before committing homicide, or other violent assaults. There has been no popular or general expression which would indicate a desire to restore the death pen- alty, and it is questionable whether, if existing, it would be disturbed, if left to a popular vote. The change made in 1846 was not either demanded or condemned by the general sentiment. Murders had not been common in the State, and then, as now, whatever opinions there were upon the sub- ject were not the result of study or experience, but rather of pre-existing ideas and differing theories. The circumstances of individual crimes are so different that criminal statistics are among the least valuable means of reaching safe conclu- sions on the relations of crime and punishment ; and few subjects attract less public attention than the bulk of criminal legislation. The Criminal Statutes of the United States have seldom called forth any debate in Congress, and State laws of the same kind are very apt to be adopted with- out much discussion. A change so radical as the removal of the gallows from among the instru- ments of punishment could not fail to create much comment, but it did not elicit any full expression of popular feeling.
The Supreme Court, which began with three judges, was increased in 1838 to four, and in 1848 to five; and in 1849 a constitutional amendment was proposed, (and afterwards adopted) making them elective.
526
UPPER PENINSULA
[CHAP. XV.
The Upper Peninsula, although the Indian title was extinguished in 1842, remained unsettled for some time. The want of shipping on the lake prevented the development of business, and the want of business prevented the building of vessels. Without a canal to give communication below, it seemed likely the opening of this country would be indefinitely postponed. Year after year the Legislature urged the matter before Congress, and more than one effort was made to secure a right of way for a corporation to build the canal. Some malign influence baulked every effort, until one might imagine the Military Reserve and all its surroundings were too hallowed ground for commerce to tread. In the face of these obstruc- tions, nothing was left but to wait patiently until interests should appear, which would be influen- tial enough to overcome the mischief.
A first essential to settlement was a complete survey of the lands, or of enough to furnish a foothold for business. The early explorations of Dr. Houghton had determined the true character of the mineral region, but his revelations were so remarkable as to disturb scientific theories, and that was a serious affair not to be lightly accepted. In his earlier excursions he found it impossible to make complete surveys upon the ground, because the compass-needle was subject to such great and varying fluctuations as to render it inefficient. This difficulty was removed by the genius of a Michigan scientific inventor, William A. Burt, who
527
CHAP. XV.] SOLAR COMPASS COMBINED SURVEYS.
had been for many years prominent as a govern- ment surveyor and engineer, and who devised a simple and elegant instrument which was indepen- dent of magnetic disturbances. This was the now well known solar compass. This remarkable in- vention not only furnished the means of determin- ing at a glance a true meridian, but had combined with it various other functions, which made it, in a compact form, one of the most useful pieces of scientific mechanism ever put together. By means of this the work of the mineral land surveys be- came easy and accurate. At the same time Dr. Houghton devised another plan-so simple that the stupidity which failed to appreciate it is marvellous -of combining the linear with the geological survey, and carrying all on together. This would be more economical than any other, and would locate with exactness every important discovery.
The public surveys in Michigan were carried on under a system devised originally for the Northwest Territory. A principal meridian line was first run, and a principal base line upon a parallel of latitude. All the surveys were made so as to be reckoned east or west of the meridian, and north or south of the base. The survey dis- trict was divided off into townships, nominally six miles square, but always narrower at the north than at the south side, because of the conver- gence of the bounding meridians. Each township was divided into thirty-six sections, nominally one
528
DOCTOR HOUGHTON'S SYSTEM.
[CHAP. XV.
mile square, but really affected by the same con- vergence, except that, instead of the loss being distributed equally among all the sections, it was thrown upon the north and west sides of the town- ship. The more rapid convergence of the lines as they approached higher latitudes rendered it necessary to adopt at intervals new, or correction- al bases, from which to run the town lines north- ward. Each section was divisible into sixteenths, but was not usually surveyed in fact into these minute divisions, but lines were run at half mile intervals. Dr. Houghton's plan was to have on these lines, or on still more frequent subdividing lines when necessary, notes taken of everything of geological value, and of its exact position, and if not exactly on the line, to have its bearings and distances noted. In this way, when the maps were made up from the surveyor's notes, every mineral bed or other important object would ap- pear in its exact place, and could be located and followed up without difficulty at any time, if a more thorough examination by the geologist should be required, without loss of time, in new explorations. Mr. Burt, who was a good explorer and a man of science, at once appreciated the value of this plan. Dr. Houghton succeeded in obtaining au- thority from the General Land Office to try its efficacy, and undertook the survey in person, in company with Mr. Burt, and other competent as- sistants. The work was done with the facility and exactness which he anticipated. But at the close
529
CHAP. XV.] HOUGHTON'S DEATH. MINING.
of his first season, on the 13th of October, 1845, Dr. Houghton was overtaken by a storm while in a small boat near Eagle River, and perished. All the important notes of his season's work were lost with him. His death was deeply mourned through- out the State. It was an irreparable loss to the Upper Peninsula, for his place was not filled by those who partook his views or believed in his plans; and a system which with diligence and sa- gacity was feasible, and in all respects admirable, was dropped. All the subsequent explorations have been independent and fragmentary.
Enough was now known to stimulate mining enterprise. The United States, in advance of further complete surveys, issued permits or licenses to locate tracts of land for mining purposes, and leases were granted of these locations, which were surveyed in a rectangular form, but seldom exactly conforming to the survey lines subsequently estab- lished. Companies were formed to work these locations, and the remarkable developments soon created a great excitement, until mining companies furnished a greater source of speculation than wildcat banking. Nevertheless the companies very generally were got up for actual mining, and spent much time and money in developing their property. The earliest companies were not incor- porated. In 1847, the Legislature remonstrated against the action of the government in leaving the rights of these lessees in a condition of un- certainty, and urged that such action be had as 34
530
MINING DIFFICULTIES.
[CHAP. XV.
to remove doubts as to their title. The lands were afterwards sold and conveyed in fee simple.
The supplies to the early mines were taken up to the Sault by vessels or steamboats. There they were carted, and afterwards carried upon a short tram-railway, to the head of the rapids, and taken further by coasting boats, until a vessel or two could be obtained. The first propellers and . steamers on Lake Superior, were moved past the Rapids in a sort of cradle or frame, on rollers. In 1851, or 1852, the last of these steamers, the Sam Ward, was taken over in the same way. From the landing places the supplies were taken back to the mines on pack-horses or mules in summer, and with dog-trains or sleds in winter. The mineral, until roads were made, came down to the landings chiefly during the winter on sleds.
The enormous expense of supplies, and the loss of money by inexperience and extravagance, rendered most of the first enterprises costly, and many of them were ruinous. But the spirit of enterprise was proof against all these trials, and the country became a scene of busy labor and great activity. Its early settlers, as was natural in such a region, were men of intelligence and enlarged ideas, and their influence has been per- manent. Few countries have had a larger share of valuable citizens, or a smaller number of drones or paupers.
After the sale of the railroads, and the re- newal of activity in business, which had begun to
531
ASYLUMS.
CHAP. XV .]
bring out the public resources more evidently, the attention of the people was turned to some objects which had been neglected, chiefly from want of means. At this time the penitentiary at Jackson was the principal institution directly maintained by the State. The number of persons disabled from ordinary pursuits began to attract consideration. In 1848, preliminary steps were taken to provide asylums for the deaf, dumb and blind, and for the insane. Commissioners were appointed to select locations, and erect buildings, and put the institutions in operation ; and eight sections of salt lands were appropriated. At that time the number of such asylums in the United States was not large, and their requirements were not well under- stood. The Board determined, before doing more, to get such a thorough knowledge of the different asylums as would enable them to act discreetly, and to secure such further appropriations as they should find necessary. Chancellor Farnsworth visited in person all the institutions of that kind in the United States. Dr. Pitcher and Mr. Bela Hubbard had made a study of the treatment of insanity, and were well informed upon the con- dition of the principal asylums. The Insane Asylum had received liberal offers at Kalamazoo, including a tract of ten acres, which was by many supposed to be large enough. Governor Barry and Chancellor Farnsworth secured the selection of one hundred and sixty acres, by agreeing to retain it if not confirmed, and finally it was wisely
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