tacked the entire proposition in a partisan speech and a resolution was passed that "the time has not yet arrived when it [the consideration of statehood] is expedient." The Whigs thereupon called a meeting at the capitol which discussed the matter favorably, and passed resolutions for a state government, and the boundaries of the Ordinance of 1787.

The legislature, none the less, refused to consider the subject, and the discussion went to the people. Most of the newspapers of the territory, then numbering nine, came out in opposition to statehood; about this time, however, the Doty party secured possession of the Wisconsin Enquirer at Madison, which began a series of editorials favoring the state project. Doty even went so far as to send an official message to Governor Carlin, of Illinois, requiring him to desist from selecting state lands in the disputed Illinois tract. Doty's opponents claimed that he feared removal by the federal government, and was providing a berth for himself in the new state government he planned to establish. Be this as it may, on August 18, 1842 he issued a proclamation wherein without legislative sanction he summoned the people to vote at the September election "yea" or "nay" on the question of state government and the original southern boundary. The Democratic convention of the territory condemned this measure as executive usurpation. The vote at the September election was negligible, the 619 votes for and the 1,821 against proving indifference rather than active hostility to the attainment of statehood.

The next year Doty was still more deeply embroiled with the Democratic majority of the territorial legislature. Nevertheless in his message, delivered in March, 1843, he reverted to the proposition for a referendum on statehood. The legislature refused to consider the question, but some of the opposition suggested the advisability of such a movement in order to "shake off Doty's tyranny."

A new cleavage of opinion appears about this time. The southern counties bordering on Illinois began to favor im

mediate statehood. Racine, for example, fast filling up and establishing commercial connections with the northern Illinois villages adopted a memorial favoring a movement towards statehood and the inclusion of northern Illinois. The northern Wisconsin counties, however, were still oppressed by the dread of being overpowered by the southern in the event of annexation. The Green Bay Republican, although a Whig organ, declared that "Few, very few, can be found in favor of our admission to the Union at this time." Meanwhile the Whig convention, which met in July, discussed the advantages of a state government, and recommended the measure to its constituents. Doty, following his precedent of the preceding year, issued, August 23, 1843, a second proclamation charging the legislature with negligence in not providing for a referendum on statehood, and claiming a territorial population of over sixty thousand inhabitants. These he summoned once more to vote on the question of a state government, but omitted all reference to the inclusion. of Illinois. The vote was again very small, and except in Racine County was adverse to the measure. That county gave a majority of 251 in favor. The entire vote was 541 for and 1,276 against, less in actual numbers than that of the preceding year. Ten counties, however, made no returns at all.

Nothing daunted by this serious setback Doty returned to the proposal at the December session of the legislature of 1843. Almost his entire message was devoted to a discussion of the importance of statehood, and the righteousness of Wisconsin's claim to "the integrity of her territorial boundaries" and her ancient "birthright." The Milwaukee Courier referred to the message as "the same old tune on the same old string," but none the less new forces were at work which compelled the consideration of the question and removed it from the domain of party prejudice. The growing size of the population could no longer be ignored. All parties agreed that the requisite 60,000 inhabitants would

be available before the territory could become a sovereign state. The approach of a presidential campaign made the politicians restive in a state of "babyhood and political vassalage." The large foreign population desired to secure the political privileges they had come so far to seek, all the more that the Native American or Know Nothing party was advocating their exclusion from the polls. The advantages of statehood in stimulating immigration and the influx of capital were held by many to outweigh the advantages of federal care for the territory.

A remarkable change in sentiment animated the legislature: the Democratic leaders, who had stoutly opposed the measure in 1842 and 1843, now spoke enthusiastically not only for state government, but for the maintenance of the ancient limits. In the Council Moses M. Strong, chairman of the committee on the "infringement of boundaries" presented a long report covering the history of Wisconsin's grievances. He declared that if these were not compensated Wisconsin "would remain a state out of the Union and possess, exercise, and enjoy all the rights, privileges, and powers of the sovereign, independent state of Wisconsin, and if difficulties must ensue, we could appeal with confidence to the Great Umpire of nations to adjust them." The Democratic volte face was due to a desire to conciliate the foreign vote, which the Whigs were alienating by a leaning towards Native Americanism. About the time the Council report was delivered a large German mass meeting was held in Milwaukee which passed resolutions in favor of state government, and prepared a petition with 1,200 signatures requesting the right to vote for delegates to a constitutional convention. In January, 1844 two bills passed the legislature: One provided for a referendum on the subject of state government, and if it carried, for the immediate calling of a constitutional convention; the other provided that "all the free white male inhabitants who shall have resided in the said territory three months" should be entitled to vote on

the question of statehood and for delegates to a constitutional convention. The legislature also prepared a memorial to Congress reciting the wrongs the territory had endured by the infringement of its boundaries at the admission of Illinois and Michigan, and under the Webster-Ashburton Treaty wherein (it was claimed) 10,000 square miles of territory belonging to the fifth state of the Old Northwest had been surrendered to the British government. So belligerent was the tone of this document that one representative remarked it ought to be entitled "A declaration of war against Great Britain, Illinois, Michigan, and the United States." The memorial concluded by agreeing to accept compensation from Congress in the form of desirable internal improvements such as harbors, canals, and a railway. It seems at the present time impossible that a document, which one of its advocates admitted would arouse in Congress nothing but a smile, could have seriously occupied the attention of the territorial legislature. Nevertheless the memorial was passed by both houses and presented by the territorial delegate to the House of Representatives, where it was speedily suppressed in the committee on territories.

Had the vote on the subject of immediate preparation. for statehood occurred in April, 1844 it probably would have carried, and Wisconsin might have entered the Union before her western neighbor, Iowa. Both the Democratic and the Whig press favored the measure, the foreign population was eager to exercise its rights, and the Liberty party element desired additional northern members in both houses of Congress. In the territorial press much attention was devoted to the subject. The chief objections offered were constitutional and economic. Some of the legal minds of the community contended that a state could not be formed without the concurrent action of Congress, and that it was wiser to wait until an enabling act could be secured to place Wisconsin on a proper footing. The financial obligations of a state were much discussed, and the fear was freely ex

pressed that the necessary taxation would prove a heavy burden to the young community, all the more that the distribution act had been suspended. Local considerations influenced other voters. The Southwest was hostile to the participation of foreigners, since this would give preponderance to the lakeboard counties. The new settlements on the upper Mississippi and the St. Croix desired delay until a new territory could be formed for their region. By midsummer of 1844 interest in statehood had so waned that the matter was seldom mentioned in the press, whose columns were filled with the excitement of the presidential campaign. The retirement of Governor Doty removed the executive support for the measure. The Democratic leaders repudiated the agency of their party in its favor, and declared that the executive junta had forced them to dare to submit the measure to the people. Rejection was anticipated, and at the September election only 1,503 votes were recorded in favor to 5,343 against adopting a state government. Thus the fourth attempt to secure a referendum vote in favor of statehood for Wisconsin failed. Governor Tallmadge in his message to the legislature of 1845 accepted the decision of the people as putting the matter at rest for the time being, and the project was not revived until 1846.

In the meantime political conditions had been reversed. The Democratic party had secured possession of the entire territorial government. During the summer and autumn of 1845 the press continually agitated for a new referendum. Two causes operated to change public opinion. One was the growing population, which was believed to be twice the prescribed 60,000. The other was the penurious policy of Congress concerning territorial appropriations. In May, 1845, the Madison Argus declared that Congress was trying to drive the territory into a state government. A lesser influence was dissatisfaction with the territorial judiciary, and a desire to control the choice of judges. By 1845 the question transcended party differences. The Wisconsin Repub