Editing Wisconsin Territory (section)

==History==
{{CSS image crop
|Image = Tourist's Pocket Map Of Michigan (Samuel Augustus Mitchell, 1835).jpg
|bSize = 1500
|cWidth = 375
|cHeight = 1000
|oTop = 400
|oLeft = 120
|Location      = right
|Description   = The Wisconsin Territory as depicted on this 1835 Tourist's Pocket Map of Michigan, showing a [[Menominee]]-filled [[Brown County, Wisconsin|Brown County]], Wisconsin that spans the northern half of the territory
}}
There are irregularities in the historical timeline at the outset of the Territory. After Congress refused Michigan's petition for statehood, despite meeting the requirements specified in the [[Northwest Ordinance]], the people of Michigan authorized its constitution in October 1835 and began self-governance at that time. Yet, Michigan did not enter the Union until January 26, 1837, and Congress did not organize the Wisconsin Territory separately from Michigan until July 3, 1836.

Hoping to provide for some continuity in governance during that interim, acting Governor of the Michigan Territory, [[Stevens T. Mason]], issued a proclamation on August 25, 1835, that called for the election of a ''western'' legislative council (the [[Seventh Michigan Territorial Council]]), which became known as the ''Rump Council''. This council was to meet in [[Green Bay, Wisconsin|Green Bay]], Wisconsin, on January 1, 1836. However, because of the controversy between Michigan and [[Ohio]] over the Toledo Strip, known as the [[Toledo War]], President Jackson removed Mason from office on August 15, 1835, and replaced him with [[John S. Horner]]. Horner issued his own proclamation on November 9, 1835, calling for the council to meet on December 1, 1835 — giving delegates less than a month to learn of the change and travel to the meeting. This caused considerable annoyance among the delegates, who ignored it. Even Horner himself neglected to attend. The Council convened on January 1 as previously scheduled, but Horner, while reportedly intending to attend, was delayed by illness and in the Governor's absence the council could do little more than perform some administrative and ceremonial duties. For its concession to the Toledo Strip, Michigan was given the [[Upper Peninsula of Michigan|Upper Peninsula]].<ref>{{cite book|chapter-url=http://www.library.wisc.edu/etext/WIReader/WER0441.html|last=Schafer |first=Joseph |title=Wisconsin Historical Society Proceedings, 1920 |chapter=The Rump Council |location=Madison |publisher=Wisconsin Historical Society |year=1920 }}</ref>

President [[Andrew Jackson]] appointed Henry Dodge Governor and Horner Secretary. The first legislative assembly of the new territory was convened by Governor Dodge at Belmont, in the present [[Lafayette County, Wisconsin|Lafayette County]], on October 25, 1836.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.usgennet.org/usa/wi/state/wihist-2.htm |title=History of Wisconsin – Chapter 2 – Wisconsin as a Territory<!-- Bot generated title --> |access-date=February 10, 2008 |archive-date=October 12, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081012083614/http://www.usgennet.org/usa/wi/state/wihist-2.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref> In 1837, [[Burlington, Iowa|Burlington]], Iowa, became the second territorial capital of the Wisconsin Territory. The next year, the Iowa Territory was created and the capital was moved to Madison.<ref>{{cite book|url=http://iagenweb.org/history/soi/soi31.htm|last1=Mahan |first1=Bruce E. |last2=Gallaher |first2=Ruth A. |title=Stories of Iowa for Boys and Girls |location=New York |publisher=Macmillan |year=1931 }}</ref>

=== Wisconsin Enabling Act ===
In 1846, [[United States Congress|Congress]] approved the Wisconsin Enabling Act, which was the first step on the road to [[Admission to the Union|statehood]] for Wisconsin. Wisconsin would become the fifth state created out of the old [[Northwest Territory]]. Representing the expressed intent of the Wisconsin territorial legislature, [[Morgan Lewis Martin]], Wisconsin's territorial delegate to Congress, initially argued that the proposed state should incorporate all remaining land in the original [[Northwest Territory]] as defined by the [[Northwest Ordinance]] of 1787.<ref name=":23">{{Cite journal|last=Lass|first=William E.|date=Winter 1987|title=Minnesota's Separation from Wisconsin: Boundary Making on the Upper Mississippi Frontier|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/20179067|journal=Minnesota History|volume=50|issue=8|pages=309–320|jstor=20179067}}</ref>

Most members of Congress believed that such a state would be too large. They eventually accepted the argument of [[Stephen A. Douglas]] of [[Illinois]], chairman of the House Committee on Territories, that Congress was not bound by the Northwest Ordinance, and passed legislation allowing a sixth state to be formed from the remnant of the Northwest Territory excluded from the new [[Wisconsin|state of Wisconsin]].<ref name=":23" /><ref name=":11">{{Cite book|last=Wingerd|first=Mary Lethert|title=North Country: The Making of Minnesota|publisher=University of Minnesota Press|year=2010|isbn=978-0-8166-4868-9|location=Minneapolis}}</ref>{{Rp|176}} However, subsequent bills in 1847 and 1848 to organize a new "Territory of Minasota" were rejected on the grounds that "Minasota" did not have anywhere near the 5,000 free adult males required for legal territorial status.<ref name=":11" />

===Wisconsin Territory after Wisconsin became a state===
When Wisconsin became a state on May 29, 1848, no provision was made for the section of land between the [[St. Croix River (Wisconsin–Minnesota)|St. Croix River]] and the [[Upper Mississippi River|Mississippi River]] which had previously been organized as part of Wisconsin Territory.  Additionally when Iowa became a state on December 28, 1846, no provision was made for official organization of the remainder of what had been Iowa Territory.<ref>{{cite book|title=2013 – 2014 Minnesota Legislative Manual (Blue Book) |year=2013 |publisher=Office of the Minnesota Secretary of State |location=Saint Paul, Minnesota |page=50 |chapter=Chapter 2 — Founding Documents |chapter-url=http://www.sos.state.mn.us/2013_MN_legislative_manual/chapters/chapter_2-charters_laws_and_founding_documents.pdf |url=http://www.sos.state.mn.us/index.aspx?page=1744 |access-date=August 19, 2014 |format=PDF }}</ref> 

In the summer of 1848, residents in the area organized themselves and called a series of meetings.  As these meetings commenced, the most recent territorial delegate to congress [[John Hubbard Tweedy|John H. Tweedy]] officially tendered his resignation, thus vacating the seat.  Secretary of State [[John Catlin (politician)|John Catlin]] went to Stillwater, Minnesota, and in the capacity of acting governor of the territory issued writs for a special election to fill the seat, which was won by [[Henry Hastings Sibley|Henry H. Sibley]] on October 30.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Shortridge |first=Wilson P. |date=August 1919 |title=Henry Hastings Sibley and the Minnesota Frontier |url=https://archive.org/details/jstor-20160312 |journal=Minnesota History Bulletin |volume=3 |issue=3 |pages=115–125 |access-date=August 19, 2014 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=The History of Racine and Kenosha Counties, Wisconsin |url=https://archive.org/details/historyracinean00cogoog |access-date=August 25, 2014 |year=1879 |publisher=Western Historical Company |location=Chicago |pages=[https://archive.org/details/historyracinean00cogoog/page/n53 55]–56}}</ref>

When Sibley went to Washington to take his seat in Congress, he was not immediately recognized. Only after a long political battle was he allowed to take his seat on January 15, 1849.  For a period of time, there were simultaneously representatives in Congress from both the State of Wisconsin and the Territory of Wisconsin, an unprecedented situation.  Sibley made it his first order of business to push through the statute necessary to establish the Territory of Minnesota, which occurred on March 3, 1849.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Sibley |first=Henry H. |date=1880 |title=Reminiscences of the Early Days of Minnesota |url=https://archive.org/details/reminiscencesofe00siblrich |journal=Minnesota Historical Collections |access-date=August 18, 2014 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Williams |first=John Fletcher |date=1894 |title=Henry Hastings Sibley: A Memoir |url=https://archive.org/details/henryhastingssib00willrich |journal=Collections of the Minnesota Historical Society |publisher=Minnesota Historical Society |volume=6 |pages=257–310 |access-date=August 19, 2014 }}</ref>