Introduction to History of Wisconsin
Archeological evidence indicates that prehistoric hunters may have roamed the Wisconsin region as early as 10,000 B.C. By about 2000 B.C. they had been succeeded by people of the Old Copper Culture, who may have been the first in North America to have a knowledge of metalworking. Mound Builders inhabited the area during the Adena (1000 B.C. to 200 A.D. ), Hopewell (300 to 700), and Mississippian (700 to 1500) periods. By the 17th century, when Europeans first reached the region, it was occupied by various Indian tribes. Among the most prominent were the Chippewas (Ojibways) and the Winnebagos.
Important dates in Wisconsin1634 Jean Nicolet, a French explorer, landed on the Green Bay shore.c. 1670 Fathers Claude Jean Allouez and Louis Andre founded a missionary center at De Pere.1673 Louis Jolliet and Father Jacques Marquette traveled through the Wisconsin region.1740 The French defeated the Fox Indians.1763 England received the Wisconsin region from France under terms of the Treaty of Paris.1783 Wisconsin became part of the United States.1836 Congress created the Wisconsin Territory.1848 Wisconsin became the 30th state on May 29.1871 About 1,200 persons were killed in a forest fire that destroyed Peshtigo and nearby villages.1872 William D. Hoard and others organized the Wisconsin Dairymen's Association.1901 Robert M. La Follette, Sr., became governor, and the Progressive era began.1911 The state legislature set up a teachers' pension, established a commission to settle labor disputes, and passed other progressive legislation.1924 Robert M. La Follette, Sr., was defeated as the Progressive Party candidate for President of the United States.1932 Wisconsin passed the first state unemployment-compensation act.1958 Gaylord Nelson became the first Democrat to win election as governor since 1932.1964 Wisconsin became the first state to have its legislative districts reapportioned by its supreme court.1971 The state legislature created a state university system--the University of Wisconsin System.1987 Wisconsin adopted a state lottery to increase government revenues.Exploration and the Fur Trade
French explorers and fur traders coming from Canada by way of the Great Lakes were the first Europeans to enter the Wisconsin region. In 1634 Jean Nicolet became the first explorer known to have reached Wisconsin. He landed at the site of what is now Green Bay while seeking a water passage to the Pacific Ocean. Between 1654 and 1660 Pierre Radisson and Sieur de Groseilliers led several fur trading expeditions to Wisconsin; in 1659 they established a trading post at Chequamegon Bay, on Lake Superior. Father Claude Allouez, a French Jesuit, landed in the Green Bay area in 1669 and in 1671 established the first permanent mission in Wisconsin at what is now De Pere.
In 1673 Louis Joliet and Père Marquette discovered that the Fox and Wisconsin rivers formed a natural route from Lake Michigan to the Mississippi River, thus opening the way for exploration of the Mississippi Valley. From 1678 to 1689 Daniel Greysolon (Sieur Duluth) traveled through northern Wisconsin negotiating treaties with the Indians to expand trading into that area. In 1682 Sieur de La Salle claimed Wisconsin for France.
French traders developed a thriving fur trade with the various tribes and dominated the trade until well into the 18th century. Some of the Indians eventually turned against the French. The Fox Indians led an alliance of tribes that battled the French off and on for about 50 years, but the coalition collapsed in 1733 and the tribes surrendered.
United States Possession
During the 18th century, British traders began to move into the area. The conflict that arose between the French and the British over the lucrative fur trade and the expansion of their North American empires eventually led to the French and Indian War, 1754–63. Under the Treaty of Paris (1763) France ceded the area that included Wisconsin to Great Britain. Wisconsin later became part of the hunting lands reserved for Britain's Indian allies, and, in 1774, part of the royal province of Quebec.
Wisconsin came into United States possession by the Treaty of Paris of 1783, which ended the Revolutionary War. Between 1784 and 1786, territory in Wisconsin was claimed by Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Virginia under provisions of their colonial charters. The claims were given up, however, and the land was added to the public domain of the United States. In 1787 Wisconsin became part of the Northwest Territory. After that it was part of Indiana Territory (1800–09), Illinois Territory (1809–18), and Michigan Territory (1818–36).
Meanwhile, the British continued to control the fur trade. It was not until British traders withdrew after the War of 1812 that United States influence was first felt in Wisconsin. The American Fur Company established posts in the Great Lakes area and soon controlled the industry in Wisconsin. By 1820, however, beaver and other fur-bearing animals had become scarce, and the fur trade moved further west.
Wisconsin Territory
Construction of forts by the U.S. Army at Green Bay and Prairie du Chien in 1816 paved the way for the first significant white settlement. The discovery of lead deposits in southwestern Wisconsin in 1822 brought miners from England and settlers from the eastern United States. The population rose from a few hundred whites in 1825 to about 10,000 in 1830.
The Indians resented the invasion of their lands by the settlers. In 1832 Chief Black Hawk and his band of some 1,000 Sac and Fox Indians, who had earlier been forced west of the Mississippi, moved back into northern Illinois in an effort to reclaim tribal lands. White settlers, fearing an uprising, forced Black Hawk into southwestern Wisconsin and defeated him at the Bad Axe River. Within several years after the Black Hawk War, Wisconsin tribes had ceded their lands to the United States.
On April 20, 1836, Congress created Wisconsin Territory. At that time it included parts of the present states of Iowa, Minnesota, and the Dakotas. When Iowa Territory was created in 1838, the Mississippi became Wisconsin's western boundary. The present boundaries were set up in 1848. Madison was made the territorial capital.
Statehood
Wisconsin's population grew rapidly during territorial days. The removal of the Indians to reservations and the sale of cheap land made the area attractive to European immigrants. The population jumped from 30,000 in 1840 to about 300,000 in 1850. Germans coming into Wisconsin in large numbers at that time settled mainly in Milwaukee and other towns along Lake Michigan.
Wisconsin citizens rejected proposals for statehood several times because they feared higher taxes and centralized government. But they soon realized that statehood would bring internal improvements and economic prosperity, and in 1846 they voted to join the Union. A constitution was adopted, Nelson Dewey was elected governor, and Wisconsin was admitted May 29, 1848, the 30th state.
Growth and Development
During the 1850's the state became involved in the growing controversy over slavery. Wisconsinites were generally opposed to slavery and bitterly resented the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854. In March, 1854, a group of opponents to the act met several times in Ripon; they ended their meetings by founding the Republican party.
Wisconsin vigorously supported the Union in the Civil War. Its troops fought in every major battle. During this period Milwaukee developed into a leading port city and manufacturing center. Wheat farming and lumbering became important industries.
The latter part of the 19th century was a time of continued growth for the state. Wheat declined as a cash crop, but farmers replaced it with numerous other crops. Dairy farming also became common, and milk production and cheese making grew rapidly after 1870. The most important industry in the 1870's was lumbering, but unhampered exploitation of forest lands soon led to a serious depletion of the state's timber reserves. In 1871 a forest fire destroyed the town of Peshtigo and more than 1,000,000 acres (405,000 hectares) of timber. About 1,500 persons were killed.
Progressive Era
During the 1890's a split developed within the state Republican party, which had controlled Wisconsin politics since the Civil War. The party itself was ruled by bosses who represented lumber and railroad interests. A reform movement led by Robert M. La Follette, a Madison lawyer, was supported by small farmers, dissident Republicans, and social reform groups.
La Follette was elected governor in 1900 and reelected in 1902 and 1904. His administration enacted significant social, political, and economic reforms, including effective railroad regulation, a civil service program, a workmen's compensation law, and the nation's first primary election law.
La Follette's program for bringing about effective government reform came to be called "Progressivism." His administration worked closely with the University of Wisconsin, and the concept of using university facilities and faculty to help promote progressive legislation was known as the "Wisconsin Idea." After La Follette was elected to the U.S. Senate (1905) further reforms were enacted by other progressive governors. In 1911 Victor L. Berger of Milwaukee became the first Socialist to be elected to the U.S. House of Representatives.
During the 1920's Wisconsin was generally prosperous, as industrialization spread and dairying increased in importance. In 1924 various farmers' groups, liberals, Socialists, and dissidents from both major political parties formed the League for Progressive Political Action, popularly called the Progressive party. It nominated La Follette for President. In the election, La Follette polled almost five million votes but carried only Wisconsin.
During the 1930's Wisconsin, along with the rest of the nation, was hit hard by the Great Depression. Much-needed social legislation was enacted under governor Philip F. La Follette, a son of Robert. Some of this legislation served as a model for later federal social security laws.
World War II and After
Prosperity returned in the 1940's. The state's dairy products were in demand, and shipbuilding became an important wartime industry. The opening of the St. Lawrence Seaway in 1959 made Milwaukee a world port. Meanwhile, in 1946 Wisconsin voters elected to the U.S. Senate Joseph R. McCarthy, whose anti-Communist activities during the early 1950's made him one of the most controversial figures in national politics.
Beginning in the late 1960's, social unrest in the state led to several troublesome incidents. There were disruptive civil-rights demonstrations in Madison and Milwaukee in 1969. In 1970 the University of Wisconsin in Madison was the scene of bombings by antiwar radicals. In 1975 Menominee Indians briefly occupied an abandoned abbey near Gresham, demanding that it be given to them for use as a hospital. Most of the unrest, however, had subsided by the late 1970's.
In the 1970's, Wisconsin had employment and income levels above the national average and experienced a growth in population due to migration into the state. The economy faltered during the recession of the early 1980's but rebounded strongly. The 1990 census showed continued growth in population, again due to migration into the state.
In 1996 Wisconsin passed a sweeping welfare reform law that had been under consideration for three years; it took effect in April 1998.