I've always wondered what the deal is with Michigan's Upper Peninsula. I've heard rumors about how Michigan came to own this random chunk of land in northern Wisconsin - it was fighting over Chicago with Illinois, it had something to do with Toledo, Ohio, Wisconsin gave it to Michigan out of the goodness of its cheese-loving heart...
So I did a little research to finally get the scoop. It took a few hours of scouring Wikipedia, jotting down notes on my little notepad, and, finally, drawing crappy diagrams (where the LP looks like a mitten and the UP looks like a shark). But I think I've finally figured it out. I would like to note, however, that I may not have all the facts straight, so if you are a Michigan history scholar, feel free to correct me.
The History of Michigan's Upper Peninsula, as interpreted by Crystal1787 - The Northwest Ordinance is passed by the Continental Congress. It states where the Northwest Territory is and what territories have to do to become states. It consists of present-day Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, and parts of Minnesota.
The Ohio area was kicking butt, population-wise, and wanted to become a state. The requirement to become a state was to have a population of 60,000, and Ohio only had 45,000 people, but since it was growing so fast Congress allowed it to become a state.
So in 1800, the Northwest Territory was divided into two territories - the Northwest Territory (green) and the Indiana Territory (yellow).
In 1803, Ohio was admitted as a state. Yay. Everything else became part of Indiana Territory.
Okay, so what happened next? Michigan became a territory in 1805, claiming eastern U.P. The remaining land stayed as Indiana Territory.
Then Indiana and Illinois became states (1816 and 1818, respectively) and the remaining land got added onto Michigan.
Soon Wisconsin territory was formed. I'll spare you the boring details, but here's what it looked like. The portion of the UP that's red unofficially belonged to Wisconsin Territory and Michigan really just wanted the mitten.
*I'm starting to think that Michigan kind of sucked - it lost land to Wisconsin Territory, it was, like, the last state in the midwest to become a state, and, as you will read later, it was kind of whiny.Everything was just peachy until Michigan wanted to become a state. I don't know why it took so long, but it was realized there were some boundary problems with Ohio.
I blame it on the map-making people. Back in 1805, they thought Michigan looked like this:
And the description of Michigan Territory said that Michigan would consist of all the land that reached the bottoms of Lake Michigan and Lake Huron. If you look at this map, you will see that Toledo is situated where Lake Michigan and Lake Erie meet.
SO.. according to Michigan, it
owned that strip of land. And Ohio was like, "no, we were here first and we owned it first so go away." And Michigan was all, "well fine, we're going to send our militia your way and you will all die." And Ohio was like, "bring it."
So Michigan and Ohio were fighting over this little strip of land that was called the Toledo Strip. Back then Toledo was very valuable (unlike the Toledo we know today (just kidding)), so I can understand why they both wanted it so badly. I mean, just look at where it's located - that's prime shipping area, and the land was mostly inaccessible due to major swampage.
Michigan and Ohio each did their bratty little things to try to claim the land. Michigan built roads, established local government, and began collecting taxes. Ohio had the advantage of already being a state and used that power to discourage other states from voting for Michigan's joining of the Union. Michigan's governor passed an act making it a criminal offense for Ohioans to carry out governmental activities in the Strip and set up militia to protect it. Ohio retaliated by setting up their own militia on
their side of the land.
After some battles, a little bit of bloodshed, and a lot of stubbornness from each side, the feds intervened. They told Michigan if it wanted to become a state, it would have to let Ohio keep the Toledo Strip and instead take this hunk of wilderness in northern Wisconsin Territory. Apparently they reached this decision based on political gain (what politician doesn't?), but we'll not go into that now. Michigan agreed, and that is how we got the Michigan we know today.
Poor U.P.... the land nobody wanted. Little did they know that the wild tract of land in northern Wisconsin Territory would actually be full of valuable resources, including copper, iron, and lumber. Who's laughing now, Ohio?? :)
Today's Lunch:Lots of snacking.. no real lunch
Snacks consisted of:
- Cinnamon raisin bagel with whipped cream cheese
- Three hours later, an apple, banana, and two slices of pizza (from Greenbush Bar - thin crust with artichoke hearts, tomatoes, and roasted red pepper)
