Minnesota Territory
How the Outside World Influenced
Territorial Development and
Political
Slides created by Terry L. Shoptaugh, Minnesota State University Moorhead
Background
Elements that determined who
would control the region and how
it would be organized.
Fur Trade
Conducted at first by French
explorers and then largely by the
descendants of French men and
Native American women, the fur trade
in “Minnesota” was very lucrative.
They exchanged furs (usually trapped
by Natives or Meti) for European gods
(cloth, copper kettles, steel knives,
iron tools). The Native Ojibwe,
Dakota, and others in the region
became dependent on such goods,
which the traders then used to
acquire land for European posts and
settlements.
American Revolution
By organizing the military expeditions
that seized Forts Kaskaskia,
Vincennes, and other British posts in
the west, George Rogers Clark (older
brother of William Clark) ensured that
the lands west of the Appalachian
Mountains and north of the Ohio River
would be ceded to the United States in
the Treaty of Paris (1783).
Much of this land was claimed by
Virginia, Connecticut, and others of the
original thirteen states as part of their
original grants from the British crown.
The Continental Congress argued over
these claims for much of the revolution.
Economic Potential
•French explorers, fur traders and British mapmakers all commented on
the potential wealth of the region. Furs had already been tapped, but
several Europeans commented from experience that the fur population of
the region would eventually be exhausted – as had happened in so many
other areas already.
•The pines of the St. Croix Valley were recognized by fur traders as being
of great value, but the potential was not tapped until 1837, when a crew of
loggers began to cut trees and ship the logs, by water, to St. Louis. For
years, logging crews in the St. Croix Valley had to import all the food they
consumed from St. Louis, Chicago, or other towns along the Mississippi
River.
•The land south of the Mississippi was recognized as good for farming.
But fur traders resisted the idea of encouraging large numbers of settlers
– for that would deplete the fur population even more rapidly.
Northwest Ordinance of 1787
•Mandated that the lands west of the first 13 states, and north of
the Ohio River be organized as a territory, and that 3-5 states be
created from it.
•Established the process through which territories became
states.
•Stated that these states “shall forever remain a part of this
Confederacy of the United States of America.”
•Forbade slavery in these new states.
•Gave equal rights under Article 4 -- “whenever any of the said
States shall have sixty thousand free inhabitants therein, such
State shall be admitted, by its delegates, into the Congress of
the United States, on an equal footing with the original States in
all respects whatever, and shall be at liberty to form a
permanent constitution and State government.”
Source of the “Father of Waters”
The Treaty of Paris of 1783 had
mentioned the Mississippi River as
the western boundary of the land
ceded by Great Britain to the United
States – but where the river began
was unknown. This sparked a search
for the river’s source, involving
explorations by such men as Zebulon
Pike, Stephen Long, and Lewis Cass.
The question was not settled until the
mid-1830s when Henry Schoolcraft’s
argument for Lake Itasca was
accepted. All of the explorations had
drawn attention to the area.
Organizing a Territory-- Issues
•By 1800, the lands that later constituted
Minnesota contained Native Americans and
Europeans of French and British culture.
•The U.S. government undertook to place
forts in the “old Northwest” in order to
discourage the British fur trade on American
soil.
•Widespread settlement could not begin until
treaties had been negotiated with Natives.
American Organization of Land
The only parts of “Minnesota” that were organized by the
Northwest Ordinance were those included first in the
Michigan Territory.
Louisiana Purchase
The purchase of the Louisiana region from France in
1803 added to the lands that would form Minnesota.
The 1818 Treaty ceding the Red River basin as far as
Pembina completed the acquisition of lands.
Selkirk Colony
In 1811, Thomas Douglas – Lord Selkirk –
established a farming colony along the Red River, on
land transferred to him by the Hudson’s Bay Co. But
trouble with Meti who, as fur traders, resist farming
led many to desert the colony and move south,
forming another settlement at Pembina.
Cart Trades
Enterprising Americans began using cart trains to
supply residents of Pembina and the Selkirk colony
with goods (in return for furs). This “cart trade” created
trails from St. Paul to the Red River and further
stimulated interest in the region.
Americanizing Business
In 1816, after a great deal of lobbying by American fur interests, Congress
passed the Foreign Intercourse Act, which stated that agents of other
countries who were engaged in “trade in the boundaries of the United
States,” must become naturalized citizens or sell their interests. As a result
French (or Meti) fur agents in the Mississippi-Minnesota River region had to
seek American citizenship.
American Fur Company
The American Fur Company,
controlled by John Jacob Astor
(left) in St. Louis, bought out
British fur interests in “Minnesota”
and along the Missouri River. The
Company proceeded to make a
fortune in muskrat furs, and also
pioneered the use of steamboats
on the rivers and in the Great
Lakes.
Any territory that was to be
organized would have to consider
the interests of the American Fur
Co.
Fort Snelling
Built at the junction of the Mississippi and Minnesota
Rivers, Fort Snelling was the first major step toward
settlement of the area.
Territories
After the boundaries of the State of Michigan were determined, the
lands still east of the Mississippi River together with the lands as far
as the Missouri River were made part of Wisconsin Territory. When
the Iowa Territory was created in 1838, some efforts were made to
include the lands south of the Minnesota River as part of Iowa.
Territorial Resources
Territorial political disputes were usually over the major three major
issues:
• The resources of a region – the pine lands along the St. Croix River
were quite valuable. In the 1840s, investors in Milwaukee and
Madison tried to place the western boundary of Wisconsin at the
Mississippi River, in order to control all the St. Croix pinelands.
•National and/or regional political issues – the growing dispute over
slavery affected the lands of Minnesota because southern states did
not want the slave-free balance in the U.S. Senate to be altered.
•Individual and party ambitions – a Democratic President or
Democratic Congress wanted to strengthen its party’s future by
selecting territorial officers (governor, non-voting representative to
Congress, etc.) that would help the Democrats. Whigs (and later
Republicans) took the same approach.
Land Cessions
Ojibwe cession of 1837
Dakota cession of 1851
Using trade goods, Native indebtedness to fur traders, and the
implied threat of military force, agents of the U.S. Army negotiated
treaties in which land was ceded by the Natives to the American
government. The lands along the Minnesota and Mississippi River
were the first ones opened to settlement for trade and farms.
Establishing St. Paul
Once the 1837 treaty ceding Ojibwe
lands to the government was
accepted by Congress, the first land
rush in the Fort Snelling area began.
The commander of the Fort pushed
many squatters to leave the area –
partly because he wanted to file a
claim on land for himself. Squatters
moved up and down the rivers, some
filing their own claims, others simply
squatting in a new spot.
Pierre Parrant, known as Pig’s Eye for his blind eye, gave his nick-name to a
small settlement 4 miles downstream from the fort. In 1840, the Catholic
mission of St. Paul was built on the edge of the Pig’s Eye settlement, and in
1846 the residents chose St. Paul as the designation for the Post Office
placed at the site. Because it existed so near the Minnesota-Mississippi
confluence, St. Paul was destined to become a major community.
River Trade
As the population along the rivers
grew, so did the number of
steamboats that brought settlers and
goods to St. Paul and the other towns
that began to develop. Soon
commerce in the form of manufactured
goods shipped to “Minnesota” from
Illinois or Missouri began to rival furs
and lumbering as sources of wealth.
St. Croix Valley
Lumbering in the St. Croix Valley became so important that more
food had to be imported to the region to feed the lumber crews.
Joseph Renshaw Brown, with investments in furs and timber,
represented St. Croix in the Wisconsin Territorial Legislature –
and acted to keep the western part of the Valley outside the
State of Wisconsin
What Kind of Territory?
As Wisconsin neared statehood, various interests argued on how
a Minnesota Territory should be drawn. Those who coveted
lands in Canada wanted it to reach northward to the Pigeon
River. Members of the Democratic Party generally liked this
idea, and also wanted lumbering and trade to be a major
resource.
Those who were joining the newly organized Republican Party
wanted a state that would exist between the Mississippi River
and the Missouri River – a state of farmers who would vote
against the expansion of slavery, for a homestead land law, and
for railroad development.
The old investors in furs (including Joseph Brown, Henry Sibley,
Joe Rollette, and others) tended toward the Democratic Party but
mostly wanted a territorial government that would honor the
debts that Native Americans owed to them.
Territory Established
One of the most talented young
statesmen of the 1840s, Stephen
Douglas (Democrat, Illinois
Congressman) used his influence in
1846-47 to keep Iowa from annexing
land from southern “Minnesota” and
Wisconsin from annexing the St. Paul,
St. Anthony’s Falls region. In calling for
the creation of a “MINASOTA” territory,
Douglas was trying to prevent debates
that could harm his presidential
ambitions – while preserving Democratic
Party influence in the northwest.
Douglas got his bill passed in 1849 by
giving his support for a Federal Interior
Department in exchange for a Minnesota
Territory.
Territorial Governor Ramsey
Incoming President Zachary Taylor named
Alexander Ramsey as the first Territorial
governor for Minnesota. Ramsey got on
well with both Whigs and Democrats and
played a key role in negotiating the 1851
treaties with the Sioux for cession of lands
south the Minnesota River.
A critical part of the Treaty negotiations
was the “traders’ papers” which Joseph R.
Brown induced Dakota leaders into
signing – the papers allowed the US
government to give annuity payments
owed the Dakota for their lands directly to
fur interests as payment toward trade
debts. This became a prime contributor to
the “uprising” in 1861.
Organizing the Land
County boundaries – and
the location of county
seats – favored some
and hurt the ambitions of
others. The huge
counties were largely
laid out as administrative
conveniences because
few Americans lived
there as yet.
Farms in the “Suland”
J. Wesley Bond in 1853 called Minnesota’s climate “pure, pleasant and
healthful” and predicted that it would “in time become one of the very best
wheat-growing states in the whole Union.” But in the 1850s, it cost $250-300 to
cultivate 10 to acres (break the ground, plant, harvest, build a home and fence,
and keep livestock). Bank loans carried a 10-12% interest rate and no law yet
existed for free land by “homesteading.” Early farming tended to begin by a
community effort – German immigrants, “colony” groups from the east, etc.
Territory politics turned from furs and lumber toward debt, schools, and roads.
Slavery Issue
Because Dred Scott had been owned by an
Army officer who served at Fort Snelling, this
slave (with anti-slavery legal help) sued for
his freedoms on the grounds that he had
lived in a Territory that forbade slavery.
The Dred Scott decision dominated national
legal and political debates in the mid-1850s.
Most Minnesotans were against slavery
because Southern Congressmen and
Senators blocked the admission of more nonslave states. They refused to vote for a
homestead law, or for Federal funds for
railroads or other “internal improvements.”
Randolph Probstfield
Randolph Probstfield (with his wife Catherine) emigrated from
Germany to Minnesota and became one of the earliest settlers
in the Red River Valley, at the Georgetown fur station. His
experiments in agriculture helped determine what could best
be grown in the Valley.
Westward Ho!
Minnesota entrepreneurs organized
wagon trains of goods for sale in the
Montana-region gold and silver
mines. This profitable trade,
supplementing the cart caravans into
southern Manitoba, blazed routes to
the west that would subsequently be
used by the railroads.
Other plans for development
included schemes for cutting pines in
the ‘north woods’ and exploiting the
large amounts of iron ore found in
the northeastern part of the territory
– but these would require capital and
new technology.
Log structure built in the late 1850s as a freight
station on the Red River, near the site later chosen
for the town of Moorhead.
Opposition to Statehood
“I believe as a legal proposition under the
Constitution . . . that slaves may be held in
these Territories. The moment you admit a
Senator from this State [of Minnesota] he will
be arrogant, assuming, pretentious, FreeSoilish.” -- John B. Thompson, Senator of
Kentucky in opposition to granting Minnesota
statehood in 1857.
As the chances of civil war grew, Minnesota statehood was blocked
by southerners in Congress who were angry over the Kansas debate
and the belief that no territory should be able to prevent slavery. The
delay made Republicans of many Minnesota residents.
Tale of Two Constitutions
Democratic copy
By 1857, when Minnesota applied for
statehood, party rivalry between
Democrats and Republican were so
bitter that members of neither party
would sign the same constitution copy.
Minnesota thus ended up with one
copy signed by Democrats, the other
signed by Republicans.
Republican Copy
The 19th State
When adopted in 1893, the
Minnesota State flag incorporated
parts of its past (the Native
American, the French “North Star”
metaphor, and the importance of
agriculture). But the making of the
Territory and State involved contests
over more resources, national and
regional differences, and personal
ambitions.
The Territorial experience showed
that no part of the U.S. ever exists in
isolation from the rest of the nation.