The history of Detroit and Michigan; or, The metropolis illustrated; a chronological cyclopedia of the past and present, Vol I, Part 23

Author: Farmer, Silas, 1839-1902
Publication date: 1889
Publisher: Detroit, S. Farmer & co
Number of Pages: 1096

USA > Michigan > Wayne County > Detroit > The history of Detroit and Michigan; or, The metropolis illustrated; a chronological cyclopedia of the past and present, Vol I > Part 23

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

By law of 1792 the United States Secretary of State was directed to provide a seal for the officers of the Territory. The seal furnished was really symbolic. It shows the short, thick trunk of a prostrate tree, evidently a buckeye, felled by a wood- man's axe, while near by stands an apple-tree laden with fruit. The buckeye is a species of the horse- chestnut, indigenous to and very numerous on the banks of the Ohio and tributary streams, and not found elsewhere. From this fact the tree derives

THE TER

ER OHIO . THE SEA

Y OF THE U.S

MELIOREM LAPSA LOCAVIT.

SEAL OF NORTHWEST TERRITORY. (Exact size.)

its specific name, Ohioensis. The abundance of these trees gave the name of Buckeye State to Ohio. The tree is called buckeye from the resemblance of the nuts to the beautiful brown eyes of the native deer. The presence of the buckeye tree was an

unfailing evidence of the richest soil, yet the tree was worth little except for its shade. The felling of the useless buckeye, and the substitution of the fruit-tree, gives force to the motto, " Meliorem lapsa locavit." (The fallen has made room for a better.) The aptness of the seal and motto is enforced by the fact that Ohio orchards, almost from the first, have been noted for the profusion and good quality of their fruit. In early days most of the supply for Detroit came from that State.

The first territorial officers were appointed on July 13, 1787. They were as follows : Arthur St. Clair, governor; Samuel H. Parsons, James M. Varnum, and John Cleves Symmes, judges; and Winthrop Sargent, secretary. Governor St. Clair continued in office, even after the Territory of Indi- ana was created, and was the only governor this region had under the Northwest Territory. Win- throp Sargent was succeeded on June 28, 1798, by William Henry Harrison, and he in turn by Charles Willing Byrd. John Rice Jones was attorney-gen- eral in 1800, and William McIntosh, territorial treasurer in 1801.

By law of May 7, 1800, the Northwest Territory N. W. TERRITORY BY LAW May 7, 1800 was divided, and the Ter- ritory of Indiana created ; and on April 30, 1802, Congress provided that when the citizens of the region to be called Ohio adopted a constitution, conforming to certain . Detroit. conditions prescribed by Congress, the region in- FL. Recovery. cluding Detroit should be Kentucky R. attached to the Territory Ohio River. of Indiana. Although a majority of the people of the Territory were op- MAP OF TERRITORIAL BOUNDARY. No. 2. posed to the holding of a convention, and the creation of the State of Ohio, yet a convention was called. It began at Chillicothe on November 1, 1802, and closed Nov- ember 29. Notwithstanding the fact that the pro- posed State of Ohio embraced a portion of what was then Wayne County, and the population of the entire county was counted to make up the requisite number of inhabitants for a State, yet delegates from Wayne County were not admitted to the convention. Neither was the constitution which the convention framed submitted to vote of the people.

The convention modified the conditions made by Congress, the modifications were accepted on March 3, 1803, and the admission of Ohio was thus com- pleted.

TERRITORIAL AND STATE GOVERNMENTS.

Half of what is now the State of Michigan, including Detroit, was thus annexed to Indiana Territory without the wish or consent of the citi- zens, and in defiance of their protests.

The Territory of Indiana.

The officers of Indiana Territory, during our con- nection with that commonwealth, were as follows :

INDIANA TERRITORY BY LAW April 30, 1802.

Mississippi R.

Detroit.

Ohio River.

MAP OF TERRITORIAL BOUNDARY .- NO. 3.

governor, William Henry Harrison; secretary, John Gibson (it was to him that the celebrated chief Logan made his noted speech in 1774); attorney- generals, J. R. Jones and Benjamin Park. The

NDIANATER.

SEAL OF INDIANA TERRITORY. (Exact size.)

officials of Indiana seemed indifferent as to their relation to Detroit, or realized that it was only of a temporary character. A vote of the Territory on September 11, 1804, showed a majority of one hundred and thirty-eight in favor of a General Assembly, and Governor Harrison issued a procla- mation that the Territory had passed into the second

grade of government. On Saturday, October 13, 1804, a town-meeting was held in Detroit to petition the General Government for a separate territory. The "Annals of Congress," pages 20 and 21, show that on December 5, 1804, Mr. Worthington presented the petition of James May and others, praying that that part of Indiana Territory north of an east and west line, extending to the southern boundary of Lake Michigan, may be a separate territory. On December 6 Mr. Worthington also presented the petition of "The Democratic Republicans of the County of Wayne, in the Territory of Indiana," signed by their chairman, Robert Abbott, praying for a division of said Territory. It received the same reference as the previous petition of James May and others.

While these proceedings were being had, an Act of March 26, 1804, which took effect October I, 1804, placed under the government of Indiana all of the newly acquired Territory of Louisiana which lay north of an east and west line on the thirty-third degree of north latitude. For a period of three months Detroit was thus included in a territorial government which had jurisdiction over all of the present States of Michigan, Wisconsin, Iowa, Min- nesota, Missouri, Arkansas, and Nebraska, nearly all of Kansas and Wyoming, over one third of Col- orado and Indian Territories, and all of Dakota, Montana, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington.

The Territory of Michigan.

On January 11, 1805, by a law to take effect June 30, 1805, Congress divided Indiana Territory into two territories, named Indiana and Michigan. The latter was to include that part of Indiana Territory lying north of a line drawn east from the southern end of Lake Michigan to Lake Erie; and on July 2, 1805, the oath of office was administered at De- troit to the Governor and Judges. A territorial seal was adopted on July 9, 1805, probably identical with the private seal of Governor Hull. A seal, designed expressly for a territorial seal, was described by Governor Cass, and recorded on December 1, 1814. The motto, "Tandem fit surculus arbor " (The shoot at length becomes a tree), indicated that a measure of independence was secured by a separate territorial government.

On February 16, 1818, the people of the Territory voted on the question of passing to what was known as the second grade of government, and, strange to say, the majority was against it. In April, 1816, Congress took a strip from the southern part of the Territory, and included it in the bounds of the new State of Indiana. Two years later, on April 18, 1818, Congress increased the size of the Territory by adding to it all of what is now the State of Wiscon- sin and the western half of the Upper Peninsula.

TERRITORIAL AND STATE GOVERNMENTS.

By Act of Congress of July 16, 1819, the Territory was authorized to elect a delegate to Congress. On March 3, 1823, Congress transferred the government of the Territory from the Governor and Judges to the governor and a council of nine persons, to be

MICHIGAN TERRITORY BY LAW January 11, 1805.

MAP OF TERRITORIAL BOUNDARY .-- NO. 4.

'ERRI

E PLURIBUS

UNUM

SEAL OF

GREAT

TANDEM FIT SURCULUS ARBOR

LIGAN.

SEAL OF THE TERRITORY OF MICHIGAN. (Exact size.)

MICHIGAN TERRITORY BY-LAW APRIL, 19, 1816.

Detroit.

MAP OF TERRITORIAL BOUNDARY .- NO. 5.

selected by the President from eighteen persons elected by the people of the Territory.

By Act of January 29, 1827, the people of the Ter- ritory were authorized to elect thirteen persons to constitute the legislative council. A second addition to the territorial limits of Michigan was made on June 28, 1834. All of the present States of Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, and a large part of Dakota, were then included in Michigan Territory. On January 26, 1835, the legislative council provided for the election, on April 4, of eighty-nine delegates to a convention, to form a State constitution. The convention assembled at Detroit on May 11, 1835, and concluded its labors on June 24.

The following delegates from Wayne County were present at the convention : Caleb Harrington, John McDonnell, Ammon Brown, John R. Williams, Theophilus E. Tallman, Alpheus White, George W. Ferrington, Amos Stevens, Asa H. Otis, Conrad Ten Eyck, Charles F. Irwin, Louis Beaufait, Wm. Woodbridge, Peter Van Every, John Biddle, J. D. Davis, and John Norvell.

The convention proposed to Congress that certain lands be set apart for the establishment of schools for the university, and for the erection of public buildings ; and also that the State have a certain number of the salt springs, and a percentage on the sales of all public lands lying within the State. It also asked that the northern boundary should be fixed in accordance with the provisions of the ordi- nance of 1787 and the Act of 1805, which created Michigan Territory.

The constitution, thus prepared, was adopted by the people at an election held the first Monday of October, 1835.

The officers of the Territory of Michigan, so far as known, were as follows. The list is necessarily somewhat incomplete, because the records of ap- pointments by the governor, prior to 1814, were destroyed in the War of 1812:

GOVERNORS.

William Hull, March 1, 1805, to October 29, 1813. Lewis Cass, October 29, 1813, to August 6, 1831. George B. Porter, August 6, 1831, to July 6, 1834. Stevens T. Mason, July 6, 1834, to September 20, 1835.

John S. Horner, September 20, 1835, to Novem- ber 2, 1835.ª

SECRETARIES.

Stanley Griswold, March 1, 1805, to March 18, 1808.

Reuben Attwater, March 18, 1808, to October 15, 1814.

Wm. Woodbridge, October 15, 1814, to January 15, 1828.

TERRITORIAL AND STATE GOVERNMENTS.

James Witherell, January 15, 1828, to May 20, 1830. John T. Mason, May 20, 1830, to July 12, 1831.

Stevens T. Mason, July 12, 1831, to September 30, 1835.

MICHIGAN TERRITORY BY LAW April 18, 1818 ..

Mississippi R.

Detroit.

MAP OF TERRITORIAL BOUNDARY .- No. 6.

John S. Horner, September 30, 1835, to Novem- ber 13, 1835.

TREASURERS.

Frederick Bates, 1805 to November 26, 1806.

Elijah Brush, November 26, 1806, to December 13, 1813.

Robert Abbott, December 13, 1813, to January I, 1830.

Levi Cook, January 1, 1830, to February 19, 1836.

White Earth R.

MICHIGAN TERRITORY BY LAW

June 28, 1834.

Missouri R.

Mississippi R.

MAP OF TERRITORIAL BOUNDARY .- NO. 7.

AUDITORS OF PUBLIC ACCOUNTS.

Robert Abbott, 1809 to February 19, 1836. Solomon Sibley, October 4, 1814, to 1817. George McDougall, October, 1814, to 1817. Richard Smyth, December 21, 1817. James McCloskey, August 8, 1817.

ADJUTANT-GENERALS.

James May, October 3, 1805, to September 29, 1806. George McDougall, September 29, 1806, to August 2, 1818.

John R. Williams, August 2, 1818, to April 14, 1829.

De Garmo Jones, April 14, 1829, to October 23, 1829.

W. L. Newberry, October 23, 1829, to March 14, 1831.

John E. Schwartz, March 14, 1831.

JUDGE-ADVOCATES. A. G. Whitney, - to September, 1823.

B. F. H. Witherell, September, 1823, to -.

QUARTERMASTER-GENERALS.

James McCloskey, August 14, 1818, to -.

SEALERS OF LEATHER.

Calvin Baker, August 10, 1822, to -. Jefferson Morris, March 7, 1834, to -.

The State of Michigan.

The history of the legislation in regard to the boundaries of the Territory and the State of Michi- gan is a history of alternate enlargement and con- traction of her possessions. The autocratic and un- justifiable exclusion of delegates of Wayne County from participation in the convention which carved out the State of Ohio has already been mentioned. In 1828 a proposition was made in Congress to organize a Territory by the name of Huron, and to make the Lake Superior region a part of it. On February 15, 1828, a meeting of citizens of Detroit was held to protest against it, and the project failed. The next effort of this kind, in 1835, was more successful, and is described in connection with the Toledo War.

On March 18, 1836, a public meeting was held in Detroit to Detroit, protest against permitting Ohio to possess the territory in dis- pute, which consisted of about four hundred and seventy square miles on the southern boundary of the State. Meantime, by Act of April 20, 1836, which took effect on July 3, 1836, the State of Wisconsin was created.

All protests against the curtailing of the southern boundary were unavailing; and on June 15, 1836, Congress passed an Act admitting Michigan as a State, provided she would accept of boundaries which gave the disputed territory to Ohio. A few days later, on June 23, Congress passed another Act, accepting the proposition of the convention of 1835, with some modifications, which denied to Michigan the boundary she claimed. This last proposition of

TERRITORIAL AND STATE GOVERNMENTS.

STATE OF MICHIGAN BY LAW April 20, 1836.

Detroit.

MAP OF TERRITORIAL. BOUNDARY .- NO. 8.

Congress occasioned much controversy, agitating the public mind all through 1836. Meetings were held in Detroit, on September 2 and October 12, to oppose the yielding of the territory to Ohio, and to arrange for the election of county officers who would oppose it. Finally the legislature of Michigan Ter- ritory, by Act of July 20, 1836, provided for the election of delegates to a convention, which was to be assembled to settle the question. The following delegates from Wayne County were elected on Sep- tember 12: Titus Dort, D. C. Mckinstry, Louis Beaufait, B. B. Kercheval, Ammon Brown, Eli Bradshaw, H. A. Noyes, and John McDonnell. The convention met at Ann Arbor September 26, 1836, and decided against accepting admission with the boundary as proposed by Congress. On November 14 following the Democratic County Committee issued a circular, recommending the holding of another con- vention at Ann Arbor on December 14. They urged that the people of the State elect delegates to such a convention, saying that, although the vote of the Washtenaw County delegates defeated the ac- ceptance of the proposition of Congress, the people of that county had since then elected members of the Legislature who were in favor of accepting the terms of Congress. They further urged that speedy action was necessary, in order to secure to the new State a share of the surplus revenue that Congress was about to distribute, and also the percentage on sales of public lands in Michigan.

Governor Mason favored the project, and the convention was held as proposed. The following persons were present, as delegates from Wayne County : John R. Williams, Ross Wilkins, Charles Moran, Marshall J. Bacon, D. Goodwin, B. F. H. Witherell, J. E. Schwartz, Reynold Gillett, Eli Brad- shaw, H. A. Noyes, Elihu Morse, Warner Tuttle, A. Y. Murray, James Bucklin, Josiah Mason, and Charles F. Irwin.

This last convention unanimously resolved to accept the prescribed conditions of admission; the validity of its action was recognized by Congress, and on January 26, 1837, the State was, by a new

Act, formally admitted as the twenty-sixth State of the Union.

It thus appears that a convention, called by a political party as such, brought about the admission of Michigan as a State. A suggestive feature of the convention was the fact that there were no delegates present from Monroe County, in which Toledo was then located. The action of the con- vention that provided for the admission of Ohio in 1802, and refused to admit delegates from Wayne County, was thus fully equalled.

The people were now relieved of an anomalous government, neither territorial nor state. Without specific congressional authority, they had possessed a state government, with a full set of officers, for a period of nearly two and a quarter years before the State was recognized as such by Congress. Under the ordinance of 1787, the people of the Territory, however, had a right to a state government, as the Territory contained sixty thousand inhabitants.

The citizens were exceedingly pleased at the final settlement of the question of admission to the Union ; and on February 9, 1837, a great celebra- tion was had in honor of the event. The Brady Guards paraded, twenty-six guns were fired, Jefferson Avenue was illuminated, and bonfires flamed every- where.

A State seal was adopted by the constitutional convention of 1835. On June 2 the president of the convention stated that he had received a design for a seal; and on the same day Mr. Wilkins of Lena- wee offered the following :

Resolved, that the president of the convention tender to Hon- orable Lewis Cass the thanks of this convention, representing the people of Michigan, for the handsome State Seal presented by him to the forthcoming State.

This resolution was laid on the table, and adopted on June 22. On the same day that the design was presented, on motion of Mr. Norvell of Wayne, the following was adopted as part of the proposed con- stitution : "A great seal shall be provided by the governor, to contain device and inscription, described in papers relating thereto, signed by the president of the convention, and deposited in the office of the Secretary of Territory." Concerning the mottoes on the seal, D. B. Duffield, in a letter to General John Robertson, quoted in his "Flags of Michigan," gives this information : He says, " When a law student with Major Lewis Cass, in the year 1841, we had some conversation on the subject, and as I now recall it, he then stated that * *

* the late General Cass selected and modified the celebrated inscription upon the black marble slab that marks the tomb of Sir Christopher Wren in the crypt of St. Paul's Cathedral, of which he was the distinguished archi- tect." That inscription reads, "Si monumentum requiris, circumspice." (If you require a monu- ment, look around you.)

TERRITORIAL AND STATE GOVERNMENTS.

In view of the distinguishing feature of the State, its peninsular character, General Cass modified the inscription as given on Wren's tomb by substituting "quæris peninsulam amonam" for the words " monumentum requiris," so that the motto, in its new form, would read "If you seek a pleasant peninsula, look around you." Mr. Duffield had no facts as to why the word tuebor was used, but surmised that it had reference to the frontier posi- tion of Michigan, as a defender on the border of British territory. More probably it was suggested by the desire and determination of the people to hold the territory on the south, then claimed by Ohio. The holding of that territory occupied a prominent place in the discussions of the very con- vention that adopted the seal. The description of the seal says that it shows a man with a gun in his hand. The word "man " was evidently used design- edly, the idea being that it was a citizen or settler, not a soldier, that stood ready with his gun, saying, " Tuebor," I will defend.

THE

STATE

E PLURIBUS UNUM

THE GREAT

TUEBOR

MICHIGAN

CIRCUMS

GREAT SEAL OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN. (Exact size.)

After fifteen years of growth, a new constitution was deemed desirable. June 3, 1850, the second con- stitutional convention opened its session at Lansing. It concluded its work on August 15. The delegates from Wayne County were : D. Goodwin, H. J. Alvord, J. H. Bagg, A. Brown, P. Desnoyers, E. C. Eaton, H. Fralick, H. T. Backus, B. F. H. Witherell, and J. Gibson. The new constitution was submitted to the people, and approved on the first Tuesday of November, 1850, becoming operative on January I, 1851. The chief points of difference between the Constitution of 1835 and that of 1850 are as follows: By the Constitution of 1835, all judges and all State officers, except the governor and lieutenant-governor, were appointed, and their salaries determined, by

the Legislature. The Constitution of 1850 made these officers elective, and fixed their salaries. The original constitution provided that the Legislature might establish courts, and appoint regents of the university; that of 1850 prescribed what courts should be established, allowing only municipal courts to be created by the Legislature, and pro- vided for the election of regents of the university. The Constitution of 1835 provided for annual ses- sions of the Legislature; that of 1850, for biennial sessions. The one of 1835 prohibited the passage of laws for general corporate organizations, and authorized special charters; that of 1850 prescribed a course directly the reverse. The first constitution provided that private property might be taken for public use by allowing just compensation, and the powers of boards of supervisors were quite re- stricted. The Constitution of 1850 made more stringent provision as to taking private property for public use, and gave larger legislative power to boards of supervisors. The Constitution of 1835 said nothing about the licensing of the sale of liquor; that of 1850 prohibited the Legislature from author- izing licenses for its sale.

A third constitutional convention came together at Lansing, on May 15, 1867, and continued in ses- sion until August 22. The delegates from Wayne County were Robert McClelland, Daniel Goodwin, Peter Desnoyers, Wm. A. Smith, Jonathan Shearer, and W. E. Warner. The result of their labors was disapproved by the people.

In 1873 a constitutional commission, provided for by the Legislature, held sessions at Lansing, from August 27 to October 16, 1873. Ashley Pond and E. W. Meddaugh were delegates from the first dis- trict, which embraced Wayne County. Nearly all of the recommendations of the commission failed of adoption.

The Constitution of 1835 provided that Detroit should be the capital until 1847, when the final location was to be determined by the Legislature. Under a bill approved March 16, 1847, the capital was located at Lansing, and on December 25 it was there established.

The name Lansing was probably given to that town because its first settlers came from Lansing, Tompkins County, N. Y., which town was named after John Lansing, Chancellor of the State of New York from 1801 to 1814.

The State officers and their terms of office, have been :

Governors.

TERMS

BEGAN.

ENDED.

Stevens T. Mason

1835

1840

William Woodbridge

1840

1841

J. Wright Gordon (acting)

1841

1842

John S. Barry

1842

1846

SI QUÆRIS PENINSULAM AMOENAN

A.D

TERRITORIAL AND STATE GOVERNMENTS.

TERMS

BEGAN.

ENDED.

BEGAN.

ENDED.

Alpheus Felch

1846

1847

James B. Porter

1861

1867

William L. Greenly (acting)

1847

1848

Oliver L. Spaulding

1867

1871

Epaphroditus Ransom

1848

1850

Daniel Striker

1871

1875

John S. Barry

1850

1852

E. G. D. Holden

1875

1879

Robert McClelland

1852

1853

William Jenney

1879

1883

Andrew Parsons (acting)

1853

1855

Harry A. Conant

1883

1887

Kinsley S. Bingham

1855

1859

G. R. Osmun

1887

Moses Wisner

1859

1861

Austin Blair

1861

1865

Henry H. Crapo

1865

1869

Henry Howard

1836

1839

Peter Desnoyers

1839

1840

John J. Bagley

1873

1877

Robert Stuart

1840

1841

Charles M. Crosswell

1877

1881

George W. Germain

1841

1842

John J. Adam

1842

1845

J. W. Begole

1883

1885

Russell A. Alger

1885

1887

Cyrus G. Luce

1887

Lieutenant-Governors.

Edward Mundy

1835

1840

J. Wright Gordon

1840

1841

T. J. Drake (acting)

1841

1842

Origen D. Richardson

1842

1846

William L. Greenly

1846

1847

C. P. Bush (acting)

1847

1848

William M. Fenton

1848

1852

Andrew Parsons

1852

1853

G. R. Griswold

1853

1855

George A. Coe

1855

1859

Edmund B. Fairfield

1859

1861

James Birney

1861

Joseph R. Williams

1861

1862

Henry L. Whipple

1842

Charles S. May

1863

1865

E. O. Grosvenor

1865

1867

Dwight May

1867

1869

John J. Adam

1848

1851

Henry H. Holt

1873

1877

John Swegles, Jr.

1851

1855

Alonzo Sessions

1877

1881

Whitney Jones

1855

1859

M. S. Crosby

1881

1885

Archibald Butters

1885

1887

J. H. Macdonald

1887

Secretaries of State.

Kintzing Pritchette

1835

1838

Randolph Manning

1838

1840

Thomas Rowland

1840

1842

Robert P. Eldridge

1842

1846

Gideon O. Whittemore

1846

1848

George W. Peck

1848

1850

George Redfield

1850

Peter Morey

1837

1841

Charles H. Taylor

1850

1853

Zephaniah Platt

1841

1843

William Graves

1853

1855

Elon Farnsworth

1843

1845

John McKinney

1855

1859

Henry N. Walker

1845

1848

Nelson G. Isbell

1859

1861

George V. N. Lothrop

1848

1851

George Redfield

1845

1846

George B. Cooper

1846

1850

Bernard C. Whitemore

1850

1855

Silas M. Holmes

1855

1859

John McKinney

1859

1861

John Owen

1861

1867

Ebenezer O. Grosvenor

1867

1871

Victory P. Collier

1871

1875

William B. McCreery

1875

1879

B. D. Pritchard

1879

1883

Edward H. Butler

1883

1887

G. L. Maltz

1887

Auditor-Generals.

Robert Abbott

1836

1839

Henry Howard

1839

1840

Eurotas P. Hastings

1840

1842

Alpheus Felch

1842

Henry T. Backus

1862

1863

Charles G. Hammond

1842

1845

John J. Adam

1845

1846

Digby V. Bell

1846

1848

Morgan Bates

1869

1873

Daniel L. Case

1859

1861

Langford G. Berry

1861

1863

Emil Anneke

1863

1867

William Humphrey

1867

1875

Ralph Ely

1875

1879

W. Irving Lattimer

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The history of Detroit and Michigan; or, The metropolis illustrated; a chronological cyclopedia of the past and present, Vol I, Part 23

Author: Farmer, Silas, 1839-1902 Publication date: 1889 Publisher: Detroit, S. Farmer & co Number of Pages: 1096

Author: Farmer, Silas, 1839-1902
Publication date: 1889
Publisher: Detroit, S. Farmer & co
Number of Pages: 1096