The history of Fond du Lac County, Wisconsin, Part 6

Author:
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Chicago, Western historical company
Number of Pages: 1082

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Tbe census of the Territory having been taken during the year 1838, showed a population of 18,130, an increase in two years of 6,447.

'The second session of the second legislative assembly commenced on the twenty-first day of January, 1839, agreeable to adjournment. The most important work was the revision of the laws which had been perfected during the recess, by the committee to whom the work was intrusted,

HISTORY OF WISCONSIN.

consisting of three members from each house : from the council, M. L. Martin, Marshall M. Strong, and James Collins ; from the house of representatives, Edward V. Whiton, Augustus Story, and Barlow Shackleford. The act legalizing the revision, took effect on the fourth day of July following. The laws as revised, composed the principal part of those forming the Revised Statutes of 1839, a valuable volume for all classes in the territory-and especially so for the courts and lawyers-during the next ten years. The sine die adjournment of this legislature took place on the rith of March, 1839.

On the 8th of March of this year, Henry Dodge, whose term for three years as governor was about to expire, was again commissioned by the president of the United States, as governor of the Territory of Wisconsin. At the July term of the supreme court, all the judges were pre- sent, and several cases were heard and decided. A seal for the court was also adopted. The attorney general of the Territory at this time was H. N. Wells, who had been commissioned by Governor Dodge, on the 30th of March previous, in place of H. S. Baird, resigned. Wells not being in attendance at this term of the court, Franklin J. Munger was appointed by the judge attorney general for that session. The clerk, John Collin having resigned, Simeon Mills was selected by the court to fill his place. From this time, the supreme court met annually, as pro- vided by law, until Wisconsin became a State.

The next legislature assembled at Madison, on the second of December, 1839. This was the third session of the second legislative assembly of the Territory. The term for which mem- bers of the house were elected, would soon expire; it was therefore desirable that a new appor- tionment should be made. As the census would be taken the ensuing June, by the United States, it would be unnecessary for the Territory to make an additional enumeration. A short session was resolved upon, and then an adjournment until after the completion of the census. One of the subjects occupying largely the attention of the members, was the condition of the capitol, and the conduct of the commissioners intrusted with the money appropriated by congress to defray the cost of its construction. The legislature adjourned on the thirteenth of January, 1840, to meet again on the third of the ensuing August. The completion of the census showed a population for the Territory of thirty thousand seven hundred and forty-four, against eighteen thousand one hundred and thirty, two years previous. Upon the re-assembling of the legisla- ture-which is known as the extra session of the second legislative assembly-at the time agreed , upon, some changes were made in the apportionment of members to the house of representa- tives ; the session lasted but a few days, a final adjournment taking place on the fourteenth of August, 1840. At the July term of the supreme court, Simeon Mills resigned the office of clerk, and La Fayette Kellogg was appointed in his place. Kellogg continued to hold the posi- tion until the state judiciary was organized. At the ensuing election, James Duane Doty was re-elected Territorial delegate, taking his seat for the first time under his second term, on the eighth day of December, 1840, at the commencement of the second session of the twenty-sixth congress.

The first session of the third legislative assembly commence .. on the seventh of December, 1840, with all new members in the house except three. All had recently been elected under the new apportionment. Most of the session was devoted to the ordinary routine of legislation. There was, however, a departure, in the passage of two acts granting divorces, from the usual current of legislative proceedings in the Territory. There was, also, a very interesting contested election case between two members from Brown county. Such was the backwardness in regard to the building of the capitol, at this date, that a large majority of the members stood ready to remove the seat of government to some other place. However, as no particular point could be agreed upon, it remained at Madison. The legislature adjourned on the nineteenth of February,

WISCONSIN TERRITORY.

1841, having continued a term of seventy-five days, the maximum time limited by the organic act.

Francis J. Dunn, appointed by Martin Van Buren, was commissioned in place of William B. Slaughter, as secretary of the Territory, on the 25th of January, 1841, but was himself super- ceded by the appointment of A. P. Field, on the 23d day of April following. On the 15th of March, Daniel Hugunin was commissioned as marshal in place of Edward James, and on the 27th of April, Thomas W. Sutherland succeeded Moses M. Strong as United States attorney for the Territory. On the 26th of June, Governor Dodge commissioned as attorney general of the Territory, M. M. Jackson. On the 13th of September following, Dodge was removed from office by John Tyler, then president of the United States, and James Duane Doty appointed in his place. The appointment of Doty, then the delegate of the Territory in congress, by the president of the United States as governor, and the consequent resignation of the latter of his seat in the house of representatives, caused a vacancy which was filled by the election of Henry Dodge to that office, on the 27th of September, 1841; so that Doty and Dodge changed places. Dodge took his seat for the first time, at the commencement of the second session of the twenty- fifth congress- Monday, December 7, 1841.

About this time, the Milwaukee and Rock river canal imbroglio broke out afresh. The loan agent appointed by the governor to negotiate a loan of one hundred thousand dollars for the work, reported that he had negotiated fifty-six thousand dollars of bonds, which had been issued ; but he did not report what kind of money was to be received for them. Now, the canal commissioners claimed that it was their right and duty not to recognize any loan which was to be paid in such currency as they disapproved of. This dispute defeated the loan, and stopped all work on the canal. During the year 1841, Thomas W. Sutherland succeeded Moses M. Strong as United States attorney. The second session of the third legislative assembly began at Madison, on the sixth of December, 1841. Governor Doty, in his message to that body, boldly avowed the doctrine that no law of the Territory was effective, until expressly approved by congress. " The act," said he, "establishing the government of Wisconsin, in the third sec- tion, requires the secretary of the Territory to transmit annually, on or before the first Monday in December, 'two copies of the laws to the speaker of the house of representatives, for the use of congress.' The sixth section provides that 'all laws of the governor and legislative assembly shall be submitted to, and, if disapproved by the congress of the United States, the same shall be null and of no effect.'" "These provisions," he added, "it seems to me, require the laws to be actually submitted to congress before they take effect. They change the law by which this country was governed while it was a part of Michigan. That law provided that the laws should be reported to congress, and that they should 'be in force in the district until the organization of the general assembly therein, unless disapproved of by congress.'" The governor concluded in these words: "The opinion of my predecessor, which was expressed to the first legislature assembled after the organization of this government, in his message delivered at Belmont on the twenty-sixth day of October, 1836, fully sustains this view of the subject which I have presented. He said: 'We have convened under an act of congress of the United States establishing the Territorial government of Wisconsin, for the purpose of enacting such laws as may be required for the government of the people of this Territory, after their approval by con- gress.'" This construction of the organic act resulted in a lengthy warfare between the gov- ernor and the legislative assembly.

At this session, the Milwaukee and Rock river canal again raised a tumult. "Congress had made a valuable grant of land to the Territory in trust. The Territory was the trustee ; the canal company the cestui que trust. The trust had been accepted, and a large portion of the lands had been sold, one tenth of the purchase money received, and ample securities held

HISTORY OF WISCONSIN.

for the balance." The Territory now, by its legislature, repealed all the laws authorizing a loan, and all which contemplated the expenditure of any money on its part in constructing the canal. The legislature resolved that all connection ought to be dissolved, and the work on the canal by the Territory abandoned, and that the latter ought not further to execute the trust. They resolved also that the congress be requested to divert the grant to such other internal improvements as should be designated by the Territory, subject to the approval of congress; and that, if the latter should decline to make this diversion, it was requested to take back the grant, and dispose of the unsold lands. On the eleventh of February, 1842, a tragedy was enacted in the legislative council, causing great excitement over the whole Territory. On that day, Charles C. P. Arndt, a member from Brown county, was, while that body was in session, shot dead by James R. Vineyard, a member from Grant county. The difficulty grew out of a debate on motion to lay on the table the nomination of Enos S. Baker to the office of sheriff of Grant county. Immediately before adjournment of the council, the parties who had come together, after loud and angry words had been spoken, were separated by the by-standers. When an adjournment had been announced, they met again; whereupon Arndt struck at Vine- yard. The latter then drew a pistol and shot Arndt. He died in a few moments. Vineyard immediately surrendered himself to the sheriff of the county, waived an examination, and was committed to jail. After a short confinement, he was brought before the chief justice of the Territory, on a writ of habeas corpus, and admitted to bail. He was afterward indicted for man- slaughter, was tried and acquitted. Three days after shooting Arndt, Vineyard sent in his resignation as member of the council. That body refused to receive it, or to have it read even ; but at once expelled him. The second and last session of the third legislative assembly came to a close on the eighteenth of February, 1842.

The first session of the fourth legislative' assembly commenced on the fifth day of Decem- ber, 1842. The members had been elected under a new apportionment based upon a census taken in the previous June, which showed a total population for the Territory of forty-six thou- sand six hundred and seventy-eight-an increase of nearly ten thousand in two years. A politi- cal count showed a decided democratic majority in each house. Governor Doty's political proclivities were with the whig party. The contest between him and the legislature now assumed a serions character. He refused to "hold converse " with it, for the reason that, in his opinion, no appropriation had been made by congress to defray the expenses of the session, and, as a consequence, none could be held. The legislature made a representation to congress, then in session, of the objections of the governor, and adjourned on the tenth of December, to meet again on the thirteenth of January, 1843. It was not until the fourth of February following that a quorum in both houses had assembled, when the legislature, through a joint committee, waited on the governor, and informed him that they had again met according to adjournment, and were then ready to proceed to business. Previous to this time, congress had made an appropriation to cover the expenses of the legislature now in session, which it was supposed would remove all conflict about its legality. But the governor had, on the thirtieth day of January previous, issued a proclamation, convening a special session of the legislature on the sixth of March, and still refused to recognize the present one as legal. Both houses then adjourned to the day fixed by the executive. A final adjournment took place on the seventeenth of April following.

The term of two years for which Henry Dodge was elected as delegate, having expired at the close of the third session of the twenty-seventh congress, he was, on the twenty-fifth of Sep- tember, 1843, re-elected, taking his seat for the first time on his second term at the commence- ment of the first session of the twenty-eighth congress, Monday, December 4, 1843. On the thirtieth of October of this year, George Floyd was commissioned by President Tyler as

Weary Fruity (DECEASED.) FOND DU LAC.

WISCONSIN TERRITORY.

secretary of the Territory, in place of A. P. Field.

The second session of the fourth legislative assembly of the Territory, commencing on the fourth of December, 1843, and terminating on the thirty-first of January, 1844-a period of fifty- nine days-accomplished but little worthy of especial mention, except the submission of the question of the formation of a State government to a vote of the people, to be taken at the gene- ral election to be held in September following. The proposition did not succeed at the ballot- box. The third session of the fourth legislative assembly did not commence until the sixth of January, 1845, as the time had been changed to the first Monday in that month for annual meet- ings. Governor Doty having persisted in spelling Wisconsin with a "k" and an "a"-Wis- konsan-and some of the people having adopted his method, it was thought by this legislature a matter of sufficient importance to be checked. So, by a joint resolution, the orthography- Wisconsin-employed in the organic act, was adopted as the true one for the Territory, and has ever since been used. Before the commencement of this session Doty's term of office had expired. He was superseded as governor of the Territory by N. P. Tallmadge, the latter having been appointed on the twenty-first of June, 1844. On the thirty-first of August, Charles M. Prevost was appointed marshal of the Territory, in place of Daniel Hugunin. There was the utmost harmony between Governor Tallmadge and the legislature of the Territory at its session in 1845.

His message, which was delivered to the two houses in person, on the seventeenth of January, was well received. Among other items of interest to which he called the attention of the legis- lative assembly, was one concerning the construction of a railroad to connect Lake Michigan with the Mississippi. "The interests of the Territory," said he, " seem inperiously to demand the con- struction of a railroad, or other communication, from some suitable point on Lake Michigan to the Mississippi river. Much difference of opinion seems to exist as to what it shall be, and how it is to be accomplished. There is a general impression," continued the governor, "that the con- struction of the Milwaukee and Rock river canal, which was intended to connect those waters, is abandoned. It remains to be seen what shall be substituted for it." The session terminated on the twenty-fourth of February, 1845.

James K. Polk having been inaugurated president of the United States on the fourth of March, 1845, Henry Dodge was again put into the gubernatorial chair of the Territory, receiving his appointment on the eighth of April, 1845. Other changes were made by the president during the same year, John B. Rockwell being, on the fourteenth of March, appointed marshal, and W. P. Lynde, on the fourteenth of July, United States attorney for the Territory, Governor Tall- madge, on the twenty-second of January of this year, having commissioned the latter also as attorney general. On the twenty-second of September, Morgan L. Martin was elected delegate to the twenty-ninth congress, as the successor of Henry Dodge.

The fourth and last session of the fourth legislative assembly was organized on the fifth of January, 1846. This session, although a short one, proved very important. Preliminary steps were taken for the formation of a State government. The first Tuesday in April next succeeding was the day fixed upon for the people to vote for or against the proposition. When taken it resulted in a large majority voting in favor of the measure. An act was passed providing for taking the census of the Territory, and for the apportionment by the governor of delegates to form a State constitution, based upon the new enumeration. The delegates were to be elected on the first Monday in September, and the convention was to assemble on the first Monday in October, 1846. The constitution when formned was to be submitted to the vote of the people for adoption or rejection, as, at the close of the session, the terms of members of the council who had been elected for four years, and of the house, who had been elected for two years, all ended. The legislature

HISTORY OF WISCONSIN.

re-organized the election districts, and conferred on the governor the power and duty of making an apportionment, based on the census to be taken, for the next legislative assembly, when, on the third of February, 1846, both houses adjourned sine die. On the twenty-second of January, Governor Dodge appointed A. Hyatt Smith attorney general of the Territory. On the twenty- fourth of February, John Catlin was appointed Territorial secretary by the president.

The census taken in the following June showed a population for the Territory of one hun- dred and fifty-five thousand two hundred and seventy-seven. Delegates having been elected to form a constitution for the proposed new State, met at Madison on the fifth day of October. After completing their labors, they adjourned. This event took place on the sixteenth of December, 1846. The constitution thus formed was submitted to a popular vote on the first Tuesday of April, 1847, and rejected. The first session of the fifth legislative assembly com- menced on the fourth of January of that year. But little was done. Both houses finally adjourned on the eleventh of February, 1847. John H. Tweedy was elected as the successor of Morgan L. Martin, delegate to the thirtieth congress, on the sixth of September following. On the twenty-seventh of that month, Governor Dodge issued a proclamation for a special session of the legislature, to commence on the eighteenth of the ensuing month, to take action concern- ing the admission of Wisconsin into the Union. The two houses assembled on the day named in the proclamation, and a law was passed for the holding of another convention to frame a constitution ; when, after nine days' labor, they adjourned. Delegates to the new convention were elected on the last Monday of November, and that body met at Madison on the fifteenth of December, 1847. A census of the Territory was taken this year, which showed a population of two hundred and ten thousand five hundred and forty-six. The result of the labors of the second constitutional convention was the formation of a constitution, which, being submitted to the people on the second Monday of March, 1848, was duly ratified.

The second and last session of the fifth legislative assembly - the last legislative assembly of Wisconsin Territory-commenced on the seventh of February, 1848, and adjourned sine die on the thirteenth of March following. On the twentieth of the same month, J. H. Tweedy, delegate from Wisconsin, introduced a bill in congress for its admission into the Union. The bill was finally passed; and on the twenty-ninth of May, 1848, Wisconsin became a State. There had been seventeen sessions of the legislative assembly of the Territory, of an average duration of forty days each : the longest one lasted seventy-six days ; the shortest, ten days. So long as the Territory had an existence, the apportionment of thirteen members for the council, and twenty-six for the house of representatives, was continued, as provided in the organic act. There had been, besides those previously mentioned, nine additional counties " set off " by the legislative assembly of the Territory, so that they now numbered in all twenty-eight : Milwaukee, Waukesha, Jefferson, Racine, Walworth, Rock, Green, Washington, Sheboygan, Manitowoc, Calu- met, Brown, Winnebago, Fond du Lac, Marquette, Sauk, Portage, Columbia, Dodge, Dane, Iowa, La Fayette, Grant, Richland, Crawford, Chippewa, St. Croix, and La Pointe.

V .- WISCONSIN AS A STATE.

FIRST ADMINISTRATION. - NELSON DEWEY, GOVERNOR-1848, 1849.

The boundaries prescribed in the act of congress, entitled "An Act to enable the people of Wisconsin Territory to form a Constitution and State Government, and for the admission of such State into the Union," approved August 6, 1846, were accepted by the convention which formed the constitution of Wisconsin, and are described in that instrument as "beginning at the north- east corner of the State of Illinois - that is to say, at a point in the center of Lake Michigan

WISCONSIN AS A STATE.

where the line of forty-two degrees and thirty minutes of north latitude crosses the same ; thence running with the boundary line of the State of Michigan, through Lake Michigan [and] Green bay to the mouth of the Menomonee river ; thence up the channel of the said river to the Brule river ; thence up said last mentioned river to Lake Brule; thence along the southern shore of Lake Brule, in a direct line to the center of the channel between Middle and South islands, in the Lake of the Desert; thence in a direct line to the head waters of the Montreal river, as marked upon the survey made by Captain Cram ; thence down the main channel of the Mon- treal river to the middle of Lake Superior ; thence through the center of Lake Superior to the mouth of the St. Louis river ; thence up the main channel of said river to the first rapids in the same, above the Indian village, according to Nicollett's map; thence due south to the main branch of the River St. Croix ; thence down the main channel of said river to the Mississippi ; thence down the center of the main channel of that river to the northwest corner of the State of Illinois ; thence due east with the northern boundary of the State of Illinois to the place of beginning." The territory included within these lines constitutes the STATE OF WISCONSIN, familiarly known as the " Badger State." All that portion of Wisconsin Territory, as formerly constituted, lying west of so much of the above mentioned boundary as extends from the middle of Lake Superior to the mouth of the St. Croix river, not being included in Wisconsin, the limits of the State are, of course, not identical with those of the Territory as they previously existed.

The State of Wisconsin, thus bounded, is situated between the parallel of forty-two degrees thirty minutes and that of forty-seven degrees, north latitude, and between the eighty-seventh and ninety-third degrees west longitude, nearly. For a portion of its northern border it has Lake Superior, the largest body of fresh water in the world ; for a part of its eastern boundary it has Lake Michigan, almost equal in size to Lake Superior ; while the Mississippi, the largest river in the world but one, forms a large portion of its western boundary. The State of Michi- gan lies on the east ; Illinois on the south ; Iowa and Minnesota on the west. Wisconsin has an average length of about two hundred and sixty miles; an average breadth of two hundred and fifteen miles.

The constitution of Wisconsin, adopted by the people on the second Monday of March, 1848, provided for the election of a governor, lieutenant governor, secretary of state, treasurer, attorney general, members of the State legislature, and members of congress, on the second Monday of the ensuing May. On that day -the 8th of the month-the election was held, which resulted in the choice of Nelson Dewey, for governor ; John E. Holmes, for lieutenant governor ; Thomas McHugh, for secretary of state; Jairus C. Fairchild, for state treasurer ; and James S. Brown, for attorney general. The State was divided into nineteen senatorial, and sixty-six assembly districts, in each of which one member was elected ; it was also divided into two congressional districts, in each of which one member of congress was elected -- William Pitt Lynde in the first district, composed of the counties of Milwaukee, Waukesha, Jefferson, Racine, Walworth, Rock, and Green ; Mason C. Darling, in the second district, composed of the counties of Washington, Sheboygan, Manitowoc, Calumet, Brown, Winnebago, Fond du Lac, Marquette, Sauk, Portage, Columbia, Dodge, Dane, Iowa, La Fayette, Grant, Richland, Craw- ford, Chippewa, St. Croix. and La Pointe -the counties of Richland, Chippewa and La Pointe being unorganized.

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The history of Fond du Lac County, Wisconsin, Part 6

Author: Publication date: 1880 Publisher: Chicago, Western historical company Number of Pages: 1082

Author:
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Chicago, Western historical company
Number of Pages: 1082