The history of Sauk County, Wisconsin, containing an account of settlement, growth, development and resources biographical sketches the whole preceded by a history of Wisconsin, Part 6

Author: Western historical company, Chicago, pub
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Chicago, Western historical company
Number of Pages: 840

USA > Wisconsin > Sauk County > The history of Sauk County, Wisconsin, containing an account of settlement, growth, development and resources biographical sketches the whole preceded by a history of Wisconsin > Part 6

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HISTORY OF WISCONSIN.

the grant and some of the leading politicians of the time-the whole scheme proved a curse and a blight rather than a blessing, and eventuating, of course, in the total failure of the project. There had been much Territorial and State legislation concerning the matter ; but very little work, meanwhile, was done on the canal. It is only within the year 1875 that an apparent quietus has been given to the subject, and legislative enactments forever put at rest.

Fourteen counties were set off during this session of the legislature at Burlington -- all west of the Mississippi. They were Benton, Buchanan, Cedar, Clinton, Delaware, Fayette, Jackson, Johnson, Jones, Keokuk, Linn, Slaughter, Scott and Clayton. One hundred and five acts and twenty joint resolutions were passed. On the 20th of January, 1838, both houses adjourned until the second Monday of June following.

The census of the Territory having been taken in May, the special session of the first legis- lature commenced on the eleventh of June, 1838, at Burlington, pursuant to adjournment, mainly for the purpose of making a new apportionment of members of the house. This was effected by giving twelve members to the counties east of the Mississippi, and fourteen to those west of that stream, to be contingent, however, upon the division of the Territory, which measure was not only then before congress, but had been actually passed by that body, though unknown to the Territorial legislature. The law made it incumbent on the governor, in the event of the Terri- tory being divided before the next general election, to make an apportionment for the part remaining,-enacting that the one made by the act of the legislature should, in that case, have no effect. Having provided that the next session should be held at Madison, the legislative body adjourned sine die on the twenty-fifth of June, 1838, the public buildings at the new capital having been put under contract in April, previous. Up to this time, the officers of the Territory at large, appointed by the president of the United States at its organization, had remained unchanged, except that the secretary, John S. Horner, had been removed and his place given to William B. Slaughter, by appointment, dated February 16, 1837. Now there were two other changes made. On the nineteenth of June, Edward James was commissioned marshal, and on the fifth of July, Moses M. Strong was commissioned attorney of the United States for the Ter- ritory. By an act of congress, approved June 12, 1838, to divide the Territory of Wisconsin, and to establish a Territorial government west of the Mississippi, it was provided that from and after the third day of July following, all that part of Wisconsin Territory lying west of that river and west of a line drawn due north from its headwaters or sources to the Territorial line, for the purposes of a Territorial government should be set apart and known by the name of Iowa. It was further enacted that the Territory of Wisconsin should thereafter extend westward only to the Mississippi. It will be seen therefore that all that portion of the present State of Minnesota, extending eastward from the Mississippi to the St. Croix and northward to the United States boundary line, was then a part of Wisconsin Territory, even after the organization of the Terri -. tory of Iowa. The census taken in May, just previous to the passage of this act, gave a total population to the several counties of the Territory, east of the Mississippi, of 18,149.

On the third Monday of July, 1838, the annual terms of the supreme court -the first one after the re-organization of the Territory of Wisconsin-was held at Madison. There were present Chief Justice Dunn and Associate Judge Frazer. After admitting five attorneys to practice, hearing several motions, and granting several rules, the court adjourned. All the terms of the Supreme Court thereafter were held at Madison.

At an election held in the Territory on the tenth day of September, 1838, James Duane Doty received the highest number of votes for the office of delegate to congress, and was declared by Governor Dodge duly elected, by a certificate of election, issued on the twenty-seventh day of October following. Upon the commencement of the third session of the twenty-fifth congress

WISCONSIN TERRITORY.

on Monday, December 10, 1838, Isaac E. Crary, member from Michigan, announced to the chair of the house of representatives that Doty was in attendance as delegate from Wisconsin Terri- tory, and moved that he be qualified. Jones, the former delegate, then rose and protested against Doty's right to the seat, claiming that his (Jones') term had not expired. The basis for his claim was that under the act of 1817, a delegate must be elected only for one congress, and not for parts of two congressional terms; that his term as a delegate from Wisconsin did not commence until the fourth of March, 1837, and consequently would not expire until the fourth of March, 1839. The subject was finally referred to the committee of elections. This com- mittee, on the fourteenth of January, 1839, reported in favor of Doty's right to his seat as dele- gate, submitting a resolution to that effect which passed the house by a vote of one hundred and sixty-five to twenty-five. Whereupon Doty was qualified as delegate from Wisconsin Territory, and took his seat at the date last mentioned.

On the 8th of November, Andrew G. Miller was appointed by Martin Van Buren, then president of the United States, associate judge of the supreme court, to succeed Judge Frazer, who died at Milwaukee, on the 18th of October. During this year, Moses M. Strong succeeded W. W. Chapman as United States attorney for the Territory.

On the 26th day of November, 1838, the legislature of the re-organized Territory of Wis- consin-being the first session of the second legislative assembly-met at Madison. Governor Dodge, in his message, recommended an investigation of the banks then in operation, memorial- izing congress for a grant of lands for the improvement of the Fox river of Green bay and the Wisconsin; the revision of the laws; the division of the Territory into judicial districts; the justice of granting to all miners who have obtained the ownership of mineral grounds under the regulations of the superintendent of the United States lead mines, either by discovery or pur- chase, the right of pre-emption ; and the improvement of the harbors on Lake Michigan.

The attention of this Legislature was directed to the mode in which the commissioners of public buildings had discharged their duties There was an investigation of the three banks then in operation in the Territory-one at Green Bay, one at Mineral Point, and the other at Milwaukee. A plan, also, for the revision of the laws of the Territory was considered. A new assignment was made for the holding of district courts. Chief Justice Dunn was assigned to the first district, composed of the counties of Iowa, Grant and Crawford ; Judge Irvin to the second, composed of the counties of Dane, Jefferson, Rock, Walworth and Green; while Judge Miller was assigned to the third district, composed of Milwaukee, Brown and Racine counties-includ- ing therein the unorganized counties of Washington and Dodge, which, for judicial purposes, were, when constituted by name and boundary, attached to Milwaukee county, and had so remained since that date. The legislature adjourned on the 22d of December, to meet again on the 21st of the following month. "Although," said the president of the council, upon the occasion of the adjournment, "but few acts of a general character have been passed, as the discussions and action of this body have been chiefly confined to bills of a local nature, and to the passage off memorials to the parent government in behalf of the great interests of the Territory; yet it is believed that the concurrent resolutions of the two houses authorizing a revision of the laws, is a measure of infinite importance to the true interests of the people, and to the credit and charac- ter of the Territory." ..

The 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 11th 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 Catlin 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 serious 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

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 formed 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

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The history of Sauk County, Wisconsin, containing an account of settlement, growth, development and resources biographical sketches the whole preceded by a history of Wisconsin, Part 6

Author: Western historical company, Chicago, pub Publication date: 1880 Publisher: Chicago, Western historical company Number of Pages: 840

Author: Western historical company, Chicago, pub
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Chicago, Western historical company
Number of Pages: 840