USA > Wisconsin > Milwaukee County > Milwaukee > History of Milwaukee, city and county, Volume I > Part 3
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Details of the Journey. The route taken was by way of the difficult portage at Sturgeon Bay, where now there is a canal, cutting through the peninsula, and thus saved them a circuit of nearly one hundred and fifty miles. Accompanying his canoe was a flotilla of nine others, containing parties of Pottawatomie and Illinois Indians; and in due time they embarked their little fleet on the waters of Lake Michigan. They encountered storms and the navigation proved difficult. but at length the party arrived at the mouth
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of the Chicago River, which Marquette calls "the river of the Portage,"" early in December. Finding that the stream was frozen over, they eneamped near by at the entrance of the river and engaged in hunting, finding game very abundant. While here the two Frenchmen of the party killed "three buffalo and four deer," besides wild turkeys and partridges, which, con- sidering the locality as we of this day know it, seems difficult to imagine; and this passage in the journal composes the first sketeh on record of the site of the great city of the West.
Ilaving followed the course of the river some "two leagues up," Mar- (muette "resolved to winter there, as it was impossible to go farther." Ilis ailment had returned and a eabin was built for his use and protection. There he remained with his two Frenchmen while his Indian companions returned to their own people. It must be borne in mind that Marquette's destination was the village of Illinois Indians on the Ilinois River, where he and Joliet had been entertained the year before; and that the cabin here spoken of was merely a temporary shelter where he would remain only until spring. But sometime during the interval of the fifteen months since Marquette had pre- viously passed the portage, two Frenehmen had established themselves, about "eighteen leagues beyond, in a beautiful hunting country," and these men in expectation of the holy father's return had prepared a cabin for him, stocked with provisions. This cabin Marquette was not able to reach, and the two hunters, hearing of the good Father's illness, came to the portage to render such assistance as was in their power. One of these Frenchmen was called "the Surgeon," perhaps because he possessed some knowledge of medieine, but his true name is not given. The other was called "La Taupine," that is, "the Tawney," whose proper name was Pierre Morean, a noted coureur de bois of the time. Indians passing that way also gave assistance, and late in March Marquette found himself with strength recovered and able to set out on his journey to the Illinois, though not before he was driven ont of his winter cabin by a sudden rise of the river which obliged him to take refuge near the place now called "Summit."
As in the previous year, Marquette kept a journal which has come down to us among that valuable series of papers called the "Jesuit Relations." This journal is the sheet anchor of all the writers treating of the history of the two journeys of discovery and exploration which we are here narrating. Marquette occupied a portion of the time during his stay at the cabin in writ- ing the memoirs of his voyages. In his journal the good Father breathes the spirit of self-sacrifice, the concern for the conversion and spiritual welfare of the savages; and with it all he shows a keen curiosity and interest in the manners and customs, the country and habitations, of the tribes he meets with.
Winter Quarters of Marquette .- The location of the cabin in which Mar- quette spent the winter of 1674-5 was marked with a cross made of mahogany wood, at the base of which in recent years was placed a bronze tablet with an inscription. The site was fixed upon in 1905 by a committee of the Chicago Historical Society under the guidance of the late Mr. Ossian Guthrie. an in- telligent and devoted student of local antiquities, with a view of marking the
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spot in a suitable manner. An entire day was spent by the party in driving and walking over many miles of country in order to compare the topography with the journal of the missionary, and a series of photographs taken. The investigations resulted in confirming the opinions of Mr. Guthrie, namely, that Marquette's winter cabin was situated on the north bank of the south branch of the Chicago River at the point where now it is intersected by Robey Street, and from which at the present time can be seen, by looking westward, the entrance to the great Drainage Canal.
There is also a monument at Summit a few miles distant from the site of Marqnette's winter cabin, marking the spot where Marquette landed after being flooded out of his winter quarters at Robey Street. This monument is constructed of boulders taken from the Drainage Canal while in process of building, and was placed there in 1895 by the Chicago and Alton Railroad Company. The inscription on the monument reads, "Father Marquette landed here in 1675."
Marquette reached the Illinois village which he called Kaskask'a in the journal of his first visit, and which he refers to as the "mission of La Coneep- cion" in his later journal. This was on the 8th of April, 1675, and on reach- ing the village "he was received as an angel from heaven." There was always an atmosphere of peace wherever the good missionary went, and, no matter how unfavorable the circumstances were, he was the object of solicitude and kind attentions from his followers. From the time that he erossed the portage he discontinued his journal, probably owing to his increasing weakness. The account of the remainder of his journey is written by Father Dablon, his superior at Quebec. Hle summoned the Indians to a grand eouneil and "dis- played four large pictures of the Virgin, harangued the assembly on the mysteries of the Faith, and exhorted them to adopt it." llis hearers were much affected and begged him to remain among them and continue his in- strnetions.
Last Days of Marquette .- But Marquette realized that his life was fast ebbing way, and that it was necessary if possible to reach some of the older missions where he could either recover his health or hand over his responsi- bilities to others. Soon after Easter he started on his return, pledging the Indians on his departure that he or some other one would return to them and carry on the mission. He set out with many tokens of regard on the part of these good people, and as a mark of honor a party of them escorted him for more than thirty leagues on his way, and assisted him with his baggage. Some writers have supposed that he took the route by the Desplaines-Chicago portage, but it is more probable, according to Mason, that he aseended the Kankakee, guided by his Indian friends, and reached the Lake of the Illinois by way of the St. Joseph River. Ilis destination was St. Ignace and his course lay along the eastern shore, which, as yet, was unknown except through reports from the Indians. Now alone with his two companions, he pushed forward with rapidly diminishing strength, until, on the 19th day of May, 1675, the devoted priest felt that his hour had come, and being near a small river, he asked to be placed ashore. Here a bark shed was built by his companions, and the dying man was placed within its rude walls.
Vol. 1-3
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"With perfect cheerfulness and composure," relates Parkman. "he gave directions for his burial, asked their forgiveness for the trouble he had caused them, administered to them the sacrament of penitence, and thanked God that he was permitted to die in the wilderness, a missionary of the Faith and a member of the Jesuit brotherhood." Soon after he expired, and was buried by his companions at that place, while they made their way to St. Ignace with their sad tidings. Two years later a party of Ottawa Indians, who were informed of the death and burial place of Marquette, were passing that way, found the grave, opened it, washed and dried the bones, and placed them in a box of birch bark; and bore them, while chanting funeral songs, to St. Ignace, where they were buried beneath the floor of the chapel of the mission. A statue now stands in a publie place near the water front at the Town of St. Ignace placed there in recent years.
Thus ends the story of Marquette, who is, one may say, the patron saint of the people of Illinois and Wisconsin. He participated with Joliet in dis- covering the Mississippi River and- described its vast expanse of plain and forest. He came again and spent a winter in a rude cabin on the river bank, and from here passed on to his chosen field of work where his last missionary labors were performed. Memorials of him have been placed all over the West, where he spent the last two years of his brief but memorable career. The story has been often told but never loses its interest. "Let it be told in every western home, " writes Pres. E. J. James, and "every good cause in this section will feel the beneficent results of its influence," in awakening a pride in our earliest annals, "and quiekening the spirit of service in all our people. " A statue of Marquette, elad in his robes, has been placed by the State of Wis- consin in Statuary Hall in the Capitol at Washington.
Father Marquette's Successor .- The promise made by Marquette to the Illinois Indians did not long remain unkept. Father Claude Allonez was sum- moned by his superior to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Father Mar- quette, and promptly responded to the eall. Allonez, with two companions, embarked in a canoe at St. Francis Xavier in October, 1676, just two years after Marquette had set out from the same place; but owing to the iee in Green Bay they were not able to reach Lake Michigan until the following February. At length in April, 1677, the party reached "the river that leads to the Illinois," that is, the Chieago River, where they met eighty Indians coming towards them. The chief presented a fire brand 'in one hand and a feathered calumet in the other, from which Allouez discreetly made choice of the latter. The chief then invited the little party of whites to his village, which was some distance from the mouth of the river, "probably." as Mason says, "near the portage where Marquette had passed the winter" two years previously. Allonez remained at this village a short time and then passed on to the Illinois River Mission, which he reached on the 27th of April. After erecting a cross at the mission he returned to Green Bay, as he had made the journey, it seems, "only to acquire the necessary information for the perfect establishment of the mission." He came again the next year. but retired to the Wisconsin Mission in 1679 "upon hearing of the approach of La Salle, who believed that the Jesuits were unfriendly to him, and that
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Allonez in particular had sought to defeat his plans." "The era of the dis- coverer and missionary was now giving place to that of the explorer and colonist," and the great figure of Robert Cavelier de La Salle appears upon the scene.
MILWAUKEE IN THE YEAR 1820
CHAPTER 11
THE ORDINANCE OF 1787
Owing to its profound influence on the later history of the State of Wis- consin and its people some account will here be given of the Ordinance of 1787 and a brief analysis of its provisions.
The Ordinance of 1787 was passed by the Continental Congress on the 13th of July in the year named in the title of the ordinance, and the Federal Constitution was adopted by the same body on the 17th of September of the same year. Thus the famous ordinance enjoys a priority of date of more than two months over that of the constitution. The Ordinance of 1787 has been termed by Senator George F. Iloar "one of the title deeds of American con- stitutional liberty," and it has, indeed, all the authority and foree of an article of the constitution itself.
By the Ordinance of 1787 there were to be formed from the Northwest Territory not less than three nor more than five states. In case there should be only three states formed the ordinance provided that these states should have certain boundaries, with this proviso: "It is further understood and declared that the boundaries of these three states shall be subject so far to be altered, that if Congress shall hereafter find it expedient, they shall have authority to form one or two states in that part of the said territory which lies north of an east and west line drawn through the southerly bend or extreme of Lake Michigan."
Before the formation of states, however, there were territorial divisions. When the Territory of Illinois came to be formed in 1809, the boundaries were established on the same lines as those of the present State of linois except that the territory extended northwards to the boundary line between Canada and the United States. When the Enabling Act (enabling the people of Illi- nois to form a state constitution) was passed, April 18, 1818, the northern boundary of the new State of Illinois was fixed in accordance with the Ord .- nance of 1787, on the east and west line drawn through the southerly or extreme bend of Lake Michigan, afterwards ascertained to be forty-on? degrees and thirty-nine minutes of north latitude.
Nathaniel Pope who was the delegate in Congress from the Territory of Illinois moved an amendment to the bill, which was then under consideration in the committee of the whole, by striking ont that part which defined th> northern boundary and inserting "forty-two degrees and thirty minutes north latitude." The amendment was agreed to and the bill was passed.
The effect of Pope's Amendment was to include within the limits of the new state a strip of country sixty-two miles in width, extending from Lake
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Michigan to the Mississippi River, containing an area of 8,500 square miles of fertile country, diversified with forests and rivers, within which at the present time are located fourteen counties with many populous and pros- perons cities.
Mr. Pope's Argument .- In presenting the amendment to the enabling aet in 1818, Mr. Pope made the following argument: "That the proposed new state (Illinois), by reason of her geographical position, even more than on account of the fertility of her soil, was destined to become populous and influential ; that if her northern boundary was fixed by a line arbitrarily estab- lished rather than naturally determined, and her commerce was to be con- fined to that great artery of communication, the Mississippi River. which washed her entire western border, and to its chief tributary to the south, the Ohio River, there was a possibility that her commercial relations with the South might become so closely connected that in the event of an attempted dismemberment of the Union, Ilinois would east her lot with the southern states.
"On the other hand, " he continued. "to fix the northern boundary of Hli- nois upon such a parallel of latitude as would give to the state jurisdiction over the southwestern shores of Lake Michigan, would be to unite the in- cipient commonwealth to the states of Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York in a bond of common interest well n'gh indissoluble. By the adoption of such a line Ilinois might become at some future time the keystone to the perpetuity of the Union. It was foreseen, even at that early time, that Chicago would be a lake port of great importance, and that a canal would be con- structed across the state between the lake and the Mississippi: and Mr. Pope urged that it was the duty of the National Government to give Illinois an outlet on Lake Michigan, which, with the support of the population back of the coast, would be capable of exercising a decisive influence upon her own affairs, as well as strengthening her position among her sister states."
Effects of Altering the Boundary .- When we refleet that the region affected by Pope's amendment was at that time an ahnost unbroken wilderness, that the advantageous position of Chicago and its contiguous territory was only a matter of speculation. we must recognize in Pope's action in proposing and urging the adoption of his amendment the work of a keen and far-sighted statesman. "No man," says John Moses in his "History of Ilinois." "ever rendered the state a more important service in Congress than did Nathaniel Pope." That the fixing of the northern boundary of the state where it is today had momentons consequences can be seen in the subsequent history of the state. Hlad the northern tier of counties included within the sixty- two mile strip become attached to Wisconsin, as it inevitably would have been, the State of Illinois would have lacked, when issues of tremendous moment were at stake. a vital element in her legislature at the time of the breaking out of the Civil war, an element that Wisconsin did not require. as the Union sentiment in that state was at all times very strong.
Whether or not the splendid support given to the Union cause in the State of Illinois was of such importance as to justify Pope's declaration. when arguing for the amendment, that the state might become "the keystone to
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THE ORDINANCE OF 1787
the perpetuity of the Union," may be regarded differently by historians. But the commanding position occupied by llinois during the Civil war, with one of its citizens in the presidential chair and another leading the armies of the Union, went far to make good the claim made by Pope in his declaration. The part taken by Pope in the boundary matter well illustrates what has been called "his almost superhuman sagacity."
Hon. Clark E. Carr, in an address made in 1911, referred to Pope's dis- tinguished services in the following eloquent words: "Long after that great statesman had passed away, his arguments were tested, in the midst of car- nage and death, in the smoke of battle by brave Illinois heroes, some of them led by his own son. Maj. Gen. John Pope, and proved to be sound."
Analysis and Comments on the Ordinance .- It may be well to recall the opinions of eminent statesmen regarding the importance of the Ord nance of 1787 in the formation of the states under its provisions. A brief summary of the ordinance may here be inserted: These provisions, it is declared, shall "forever remain unalterable unless by common consent": "no person shall be molested on account of his mode of worship or religions sentiments": every person shall be "entitled to the benefits of the writ of habeas corpus and of trial by jury"; "religion, morality and knowledge being necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of educa- tion shall forever be encouraged": "the utmost good faith shall always be observed towards the Indians": there shall be formed "not less than three nor more than five states in the said territory"; "there shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in the said territory otherwise than in the punishment of erimes whereof the party shall have been duly convicted."
Perhaps to some readers the word "ordinaner" as applied to an act of Congress may not be readily understood. Why was it not called an "act" for certainly we should so call it if it had passed in a similar manner at the present day. The term "ordinance" is now lim ted in its use to measures passed in a city council. There is no legal distinction, however, between an ordinance and an aet or statute. The term has gone out of nse as applied to acts of Congress, though at the time of the old Continental Congress it was quite usual to so employ it. But after the United States became a nation, by the rat fication of the Constitution in 1789, the term aet or statute became the usual one.
Lincoln's View of the Ordinance .- In his great Cooper Institute speech Mr. Lincoln referred to the Ordinance of 1787. making use of the provisions therein contained to buttress his arguments against the extension of slavery into the territories. He showed that federal control as to slavery in federal territory, as asserted in the ordinance, was the deliberate expression of the highest power then existing in the country; and that after the Constitution had been ratified, namely, in 1789, an aet was passed by the new Congress "to enforce the Ordinance of 1787, including the prohibition of slavery in the Northwestern Territory, " and that this aet had been signed by George Wash- ington.
Quoting Trom Dr. William F. Poole's treatise on the ordinance, summariz- ing the benefits aceruing to posterity, it is said: "The Ordinance, in the
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.
breadth of its conception, its details, and its results, has been perhaps the most notable instance of legislation that was over enacted by the representa- tives of the American people. It fixed forever the character of the immigra- tion, and of the social, political and educational institutions of the people who were to inhabit this imperial territory-then a wilderness, but now covered by five great states."
Of the ordinance as a whole Daniel Webster said: "We are accustomed to praise the lawgivers of antiquity-we help to perpetuate the fame of Solon and Lycurgus: but I doubt whether one single law, ancient or modern, has prodneed effects of more distinet, marked and lasting character than the Ordinance of 1787."
A Famous Boundary Controversy .- When Wisconsin had arrived at the dignity of territorial existence in 1836, the southern boundary of the territory was naturally placed at the line of the northern boundary of Illinois as it was fixed by "Pope's Amendment" when the latter state was admitted to the Union in 1818; that is, at 42 degrees and 30 minutes north latitude. The Ordinance of 1787, under the terms of which the states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin were afterwards formed. prescribed the northern boundary of the state which became Illinois on an east and west line drawn through the southern bend of Lake Michigan, that is, sixty-two miles south of where it was eventually placed. It was claimed by the Wisconsin statesman of that day that Illinois was not entitled to the strip of land thus enclosed and added to its area. They contended that this land belonged to the new territory and that Congress should repeal that part of the act creat- ing the State of Illinois though it had been a settled transaction for eighteen years.
It will be remembered that by reason of "Pope's Amendment " the line had been changed while the enabling act was passing through Congress so that an area of some eighty-five hundred square miles in the northern part of the state had been added to Illinois against the plain provisions of the Ordinance of 1787.
This tract of country had been rapidly filled with settlers, great projects of publie improvement were under way, and it had thus become a very im- portant addition to the wealth and population of the state. The Wisconsin people appealed to the language of the Ordinance of 1787 which seemed to justify their claim.
The Ordinance of 1787 provided for the erection of three states ont of the northwest territory (which afterwards became Ohio, Indiana and Illi- nois), and further specified that "if Congress shall hereafter find it expedient they shall have authority to form one or two more states in that part of said territory which ties north of an east and west line drawn through the sontherly bend of Lake Michigan," and that this provision was to "forever remain unaltered except by common consent." The Legislature of Wisconsin Territory sent a somewhat belated memorial to Congress nearly three years after the organization of the territory, declaring that the determination of the nothern boundary of Illinois was "directly in collision with and repug- nant to the compact entered into by the original states with people and states
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THE ORDINANCE OF 1787
within the Northwest Territory." Finding that Congress gave no heed to this protest the Legislature passed a resolution that Congress had "vio- lated the Ordinance of 1787," and that "a large and valuable traet of country is now held by the State of Illinois contrary to the manifest right and consent of the people of the territory."
Appeal to the Ordinance of 1787 .- C'ongress, however, still turned a deaf ear to these proceedings, and in 1840 the people living in the disputed traet in Illinois were invited by a resolution of the Territorial Legislature of Wis- consin to holl an eleetion to vote on the question of forming a const tution for the proposed new State of Wisconsin, as if the traet were really a part of Wisconsin Territory. Strange as it may seem, the people of the counties within the disputed traet complied with the invitation, and delegates were chosen to a convention to be held at Rockford. This convention formally deelared that Wisconsin was entitled to the disputed tract as it claimed. Nothing came of this, as it was found that the people of Wisconsin Territory generally regarded the movement for the formation of a state government as premature, and no action was taken on their part in the matter until a year or two later.
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