Show in T the h e wolverine state Is years old 1 ad by ELMO SCOTT WATSON jurn N JANUARY 26 the state of michigan will celebrate its x one hundredth birthday i jr now there may be someone who will take exception to J Tit that bat statement and say but michigan has already cele prated berated her centennial she did that two years ago and the united states post office department recognizing november 1 1835 as the wolverine states birthday issued a special commemorative stamp in her honor all of which is perfectly true and if you look in some reference books find november 1 1835 given as the date of admission to the union but in others also also find january 26 1837 as the date so how can a state have two birthdays and which is correct november 1 1835 ir or january 26 the answer is that both of them are more or less correct abut that the latter has the better claim to being the real birthday and thereby hangs the tale of the paradoxical position in which the state of michigan found itself a century ago for at that time it had passed the territorial stage had a regularly organized state government and was in the united states but it was neither territory nor state of the united states to get at the origins of all this situation it is necessary to go back to the year 1755 when michigan was still a part of the empire of his Britt brittanie anic majesty king george III of england in ahat that year one john mitchell an english physician and scientist published in london a great map of america in eight large sheets this map was accepted as the 1 r basis for determining the bounda blunda ries from that time until after the treaty of peace which ended the revolution mitchell s idea of the lay of the land in the old north west was rather hazy so there were a number of errors in his map some of these were fortu nate for the united states fo for r they enabled the new nation to lay claim to more land than it would haye have obtained if the map had been correct mitchell s mistake mitchell made the mistake of charting the foot of lake michi gan in latitude 41 degrees 20 minutes instead of 41 degrees 37 minutes his map was used as a guide in 1787 when congress adopted an ordinance for the government of the northwest territory including the present states of ohio michigan indiana illinois and wisconsin the ardi nance provided that two of the five states should lie ile north of an east cast and west line drawn through the southern bend or extreme of lake Mic michigan lugan 11 the preamble of the ordinance also stated that its articles should I 1 forever re main unalterable unless by corn com mon consent in 1800 ohio was set off from the northwest territory ing the eastern portion of michigan but in 1802 the whole of the lower peninsula was annexed to the territory of indiana in that year also congress authorized the people of ohio to form a state government for entrance into the union accordingly a conven tion was held to draw up a con ution A trapper told the delegates that the actual foot of lake michigan was some dis tance south of the point shown on mitchell s map so the canny N buckeyes Buc keyes determined to get all that was coming to them that if the east and west ne laid down by congress should biall 1 11 so far south as to miss lake erie ohio would then claim all ferri territory tory to the northernmost cape of miami bay on june 30 1805 michigan was set 00 off as a separate territory with substantially its present ii lim in its and gen william hull w was as appointed its first territorial gov emor hull is chiefly kemem bared because of his surrender of detroit to the british at the out break of the war of 1812 when he gave up that strategic post without making any attempt to defend it he was succeeded the following year as governor by lewis cass one of the most re figures in american history because of his imp imbor or tance in the history of michi michigan gan he will be considered at more length later in this article A louth ful governor cass served as governor go vernoi until antu 1831 when he was succeeded by george BO an porter who died in july 1834 serving as secre tary of the territory under porter was a nineteen year old virginian named stevens thomson ma son he had come to michigan from kentucky and after for por ter s death he was made acting governor As such he played a leading role in the exciting but bloodless toledo war but before beginning the story of that affair it is necessary to cut back briefly to 1805 when michigan was nade a territory the act of congress creating the territory of michigan fixed the southern boundary as provided in the ordinance of 1787 the result was that the new territory tein tory claimed a strip of land some five or six miles wide across the entire southern side of lake erie including the port of toledo but retorted the buck eyes our land we laid claim to it three years ago and we intend to have it so there was an acrid dispute which dragged along unsettled for 30 years by 1835 michigan was ready to become a state and sought to enforce its claim on the lake erie strip but ohio had its miami and erie canal system under construction and wanted an outlet for it in toledo mason the youthful governor of michigan denounced this I 1 ohio steal and the people of his state backed him up in his determination to assert michigan s claim to the lake erie strip in march 1835 he rushed a thousand michigan nuh tiamen into toledo resolved to hold it against the buckeyes at all costs at the same time gov robert lucas of ohio called out his mi 7 xi 41 CASS CLIFF MEMORIAL on mackinac island litia and marched to perrysburg Perrys burg with of them to protect the ohio surveyors who were running a northern boundary line far enough north to include toledo moreover the ohio legislature formed a county out of the dis buted territory including toledo and gave it the name of lucas in honor of their governor an early night court 11 when the michigan militia forcibly ejected the ohio survey ors it was up to lucas to assert not only military but judicial sovereignty over this region he began issuing commissions to county officers and at midnight one night while the michigan de fenders of toledo slept a group of buckeyes stole into the town with law books and judicial pa pers and hurriedly went through the formalities of holding court having done this they raced their horses back to the protection of the ohio troops michigan s retort to such actions was to catch and imprison every inhabitant of the disputed tern terri tory who accepted a commission from governor lucas or other wise indicated allegiance to ohio next the ohio legislature in special session appropriated and authorized its fight ing governor to borrow more to maintain ohio s juris juristic dic 4 1 I 1 0 0 V T P T A 0 fc 2 A 1 I 1 t 4 K OIL W x 11 16 JOHN MITCHELLS 1755 55 MAP OF THE OLD NORTHWEST tion over the lake erie strip the ohio adjutant general reported to lucas that 10 mill mili tia were ready to march and drive the Michi ganders out of lu cas county where fights between the rival factions were occurring almost daily jackson intervenes As the situation became in crea creakingly creasm singly gly critical the federal government began to take notice president andrew jackson re quested both sides to declare a truce until congress could settle the dispute that was perfectly satisfactory to the buckeyes Buc keyes for they knew that the president was on their side in the matter in congress illinois and indiana lined up with ohio and her cause was further aided in august 1835 when governor mason was removed from office for his war like activities general brown then disbanded the michigan troops and the toledo war I 1 was over while it was in progress mich igan had begun its long struggle for statehood in january 1835 the territorial legislature had passed an act enabling the peo pie of michigan to form a gov eminent and draw up a conati aution by a census taken the previous year there were some 87 residents in michigan 27 more than the minimum of 60 demanded by congress A constitutional convention was held on may 11 and not only was a constitution drawn up but an election of state officers mem bers to the legislature and rep to congress was planned for the first monday in october congress was unwilling to ac capt michigan s bid for statehood because of the southern bound ary described in the state conati aution because the election of 1838 1836 was at hand and the ad ministration was afraid of losing the important bloc of electoral votes from ohio indiana and II 11 lanois if the michigan boundaries were accepted and because the ad admittance ce of michigan would upset the equilibrium of pro and anti slave slates states at the state election former governor mason more popular than ever because of his activity around toledo was elected governor and during the first three days of november 1835 a de facto state was organized michigan s representative and her two senators were refused their seats in congress although senator thomas benton of missouri championed the cause of the wolverines in reporting the sen ate bill for admission for more than a year the wordy battle and the parliamentary struggle had continued all this time michigan existed in the em ern barr assing position of being a government within the boundaries of the united states and yet not a part of the union victory at last finally congress proposed a compromise ohio was to get the disputed seven mile wide strip and in return michigan was given the upper peninsula although the east end of the pe had always been michi gan s in this trade michigan gained the lake superior copper district although its true value was not known for some time arkansas having been admitted to the union the slave states no longer opposed michigan s en trance and on january 26 1837 the wolverine state was formally admitted into the union earlier in this article reference was made to the importance of one man in the history of the state which is celebrating its one hundredth birthday on january 26 although lewis cass did not play any direct part in the gle of michigan for statehood had it not been for his earlier activities there might not have been a commonwealth of michigan or at least its entrance into the sisterhood of states might have been delayed even longer cass was born in new hampshire in 1782 and at an early age coined joined his father in ohio where the elder cass a major in the army was commandant at fort hamilton young cass studied law began his practice at zanesville zanes Zane ville in 1802 and at the age of twenty five was elected to the ohio volunteers then a colonel in the regular army and as a brigadier general fought under harrison at the battle of the thames where the great indian chief tecumseh was killed cass long service A few weeks later general cass was appointed governor of the territory of michigan and with the exception of a few occasional cas ional absences he lived in that territory for the next 18 years he was also ex officio superintendent of indian affairs and concerning his work in that capacity one biographer has declared it is no exaggeration to say that to his exertions and milu ence is due the actual possession ofa the old northwest lie ile negotiated a score of treaties of great importance traveled through the wilderness studying how he could civilize the red man and how he might open up the vast western region to peaceful settlement he ile started surveys built roads and military works lighthouses along the lake shore arranged counties and townships started the democratic machinery of self government and made the laws which were codified and published and have since been known as the cass code the record of his management of the indian affairs is one al most without parallel in the history of the united states 11 in 1831 cass was appointed secretary of war in jackson s cabinet and served there until 1836 when he was made ambas to france he resigned in 1842 because he disapproved of the webster ashburton treaty which fixed the boundary line between canada and maine and which gave england the better military frontier returning to michigan cass was elected to A the united states senate in 1845 and served until 1857 except for a brief period in 1848 while he was the democratic nominee for the presidency but was defeated by gen zachary taylor in 1852 he lost the democratic nomma nomina tion to franklin pierce and in 1857 he was appointed secretary of slate state by president buchanan but resigned in 1860 because of buchanan s refusal to strengthen the forts in charleston harbor although cass was sympathetic to the south until the time of secession he became one of lm lin coin coln s staunchest supporters dur ing the civil war he died in detroit in 1866 A es ern newspaper union |