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The history of Wisconsin encompasses the story not only of the people who have lived in Wisconsin since it became a state of the U.S., but also that of the Native American tribes who made their homeland in Wisconsin, the French and British colonists who were the first Europeans to live there, and the American settlers who lived in Wisconsin ...
Wisconsin is the 20th-largest state by population and 23rd-largest state by area. It is divided into 72 counties and as of the 2020 census had a population of nearly 5.9 million. [14] Its most populous city is Milwaukee, while its capital and second-most populous city is Madison.
Nov 6, 2009 · Table of Contents. Wisconsin became a U.S. territory following the American Revolution and soon after began attracting settlers looking for work in its mining, lumber and dairy industries.
History. The area known as Wisconsin was first inhabited by various Native American tribes. The Chippewa, Menominee, Oneida, Potawatomi and Ho Chunk (Winnebago) tribes lived in the area until the late 1800s. The first European explorer to reach Wisconsin was Jean Nicolet.
- Overview
- Early history
- Early settlement
- Political and economic maturity
Paleo-Indians, the earliest ancestors of Native Americans, arrived in what is now Wisconsin during or after the retreat of the last continental glacier, about 12,000 years ago. They built effigy mounds, of which at least 20 remain in the Madison area alone. When the first European explorers reached the Wisconsin region in the 1600s, several Native ...
Paleo-Indians, the earliest ancestors of Native Americans, arrived in what is now Wisconsin during or after the retreat of the last continental glacier, about 12,000 years ago. They built effigy mounds, of which at least 20 remain in the Madison area alone. When the first European explorers reached the Wisconsin region in the 1600s, several Native ...
In 1634 French explorer Jean Nicolet was most likely the first European to enter what would become the state of Wisconsin. The area remained under French control until 1763, when it was acquired by the British. It was subsequently ceded to the United States by the Peace of Paris treaties in 1783.
The Americans quickly became interested in settling the land and implemented profound changes. They cleared the land for farms; built houses, roads, and towns; and cut the timber for lumber. They quickly dispossessed the Native Americans of their land through treaties and overwhelming military defeats. They occupied the land, initially in the southwest, as lead miners and subsequently as pioneer farmers. By 1829 more than 4,000 lead miners worked in southwestern Wisconsin, in and around Mineral Point. An influx of immigrants from northern Europe began in the 1830s and grew in volume through the following decades. The Wisconsin Territory (consisting of present-day Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota, and parts of North and South Dakota) was created in 1836. Two years later the territory became smaller when land west of the Mississippi became part of Iowa Territory. Wisconsin was admitted to the union as the 30th state in 1848. By 1850 the population of Wisconsin had increased from about 30,000 to more than 300,000, and most of the agriculturally suitable areas had been occupied by 1880. In the 1880s iron ore was being mined in the north.
Agriculture generally developed after mining and then mostly in the southern two-thirds of the state, where dairying became dominant. (Since 1920 Wisconsin has ranked first in the country in cheese production and at or near the top in the production of milk and other dairy products.) By the 1870s commercial lumbering reached Wisconsin’s northern forests. Timber exploitation continued for about 40 more years, leaving a devastated countryside that only since the mid-20th century has begun to recover through the regrowth of timber and ecofriendly tourism.
Throughout the 1850s Wisconsin was a leader in the abolition of slavery. Slaves passed through the Underground Railroad on their way to Canada. In 1854 Wisconsin abolitionists held meetings in a schoolhouse in Ripon, where they recommended forming a new political party called Republican. (Today the Little White Schoolhouse, which is claimed to be the birthplace of the Republican Party, is a museum and national landmark.) That same year the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled that the Fugitive Slave Act was unconstitutional.
After the American Civil War there emerged a deeply rooted political unrest across the country, partly in reaction against the growing economic and political strength of the railroads and big business. At the turn of the 20th century, the Progressive movement (see Progressive Party) got its start in Wisconsin, bringing reformer Robert M. La Follette (later Wisconsin governor and U.S. senator) to the forefront and resulting in the passage of bills that made the state a leader in social legislation. Among the bills was a corrupt practices act, a worker’s compensation act, and the first state income tax law.
Another outgrowth of the Progressive movement was the “Wisconsin idea.” Operating under the theme “The boundaries of the university campus are the boundaries of the state,” it was an effort to bring together the resources of state government, the University of Wisconsin, and citizens’ groups to solve social, political, and economic problems.
1917 The U.S. enters World War I; many key Wisconsin legislative leaders oppose the war; Wisconsin becomes first state to meet draft requirements; 120,000 soldiers serve in the military, and almost 4,000 die in the war.
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Timeline of important dates and major events in the history of Wisconsin. Illustrated list of events and people from our today in history archives.
