History DB
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HIS2113_Lesson5_ChallengesStatehood.pptxMichigan history
Challenges of Statehood
Challenges of Statehood
How American policies and plans enabled settlers to establish themselves throughout Michigan.
Identify trends and developments that allowed Michigan’s population to expand rapidly in the early 1800s.
Statehood!
Michigan’s admission to the union was delayed by the Toledo Strip conflict and Washington D.C.’s conflict with Stevens T. Mason.
Mason and other Michiganders’ initially refused congressional terms to cede the Toledo Strip for the UP, but realized they could not fight these terms as long as they remained a territory.
Michigan was admitted to the Union on January 26, 1837 as the 26th state.
Michigan continued to fight for the Toledo Strip, even though it benefited immensely from timber and mineral wealth gained in the UP, most recently in 1966.
Population Explosion
Two developments
Steam powered travel
Opening of the Erie Canal
Most immigrants were from New England, settling in SE portion of the state.
Immigrants from Indiana and Ohio settled in the SW portion of the state.
Two political and social cultures were established.
Settled in areas that could be more readily settled and farmed.
Cash crops
| Year | Population |
| 1820 | 8,765 |
| 1830 | 31,640 |
| 1840 | 212,260 |
| 1850 | 397,654 |
| 1860 | 749,113 |
Developing a New State
Internal Improvements were a priority for the the state government.
Other states set a precedent for investments in infrastructure to support their emerging economies.
The first plan aimed at developing rail lines and water ways.
When two funding banks went bankrupt, the plan could no longer be funded.
Developing a New State
Mining
French and British eras: risk/reward of mining.
Cass’ Northwest Scientific Expedition of 1820
Houghton Report of 1841 – confirmed copper deposits in Keweenaw Peninsula.
Expanding West
Treaty of LaPoint in 1842 – Land purchased from Chippewa
Mining prospectors – first individuals, later, large corporations.
Copper
Chippewa cleared ceded territory by treaty in 1854.
Copper mining required sizable investments before returning a profit.
By civil war, 33 firms operating in the UP who invested over $4 million and employing 4,000 men.
Ontonogon Boulder – “seized” by the Smithsonian in 1843.
Copper
Production continued into the mid 1960s, particularly around Lake Portage and the Quincy Mine.
Production of copper create employment for as many as 40,000 men which led to creation of schools, churches, town in the entire region.
Copper mining also created tremendous profits for investors.
Calumet Mine stock rose from $1 to $1000 from 1866 to 1907
Shareholder paid dividends of $236 million between 1885-1918.
Industry and Commerce
Michigan the USA’s leading iron producer from the mid-1880s to early 1900s
The mining industry was slowed by difficulties in transporting raw materials to east coast and global markets.
Sault Ste. Marie Canal completed in 1855, with considerable effort and expense, to connect Lake Superior to Lake Huron.
4 larger locks over the next century to accommodate larger vessels.
