History.—The territory now embraced in isconsin has belonged successively to Spain, France, Great Britain and the United States. The Spanish rule was theoretical rather than :.ctual, and need not he dwelt upon in this sketch The French rule dates from the advent of French explorers on the Upper Lakes, about the middle of the 17th century. The first white explorer known to have visited Wisconsin was Jean Nicolet, who in 1634 came to the shores of Green Bay. seeking there the fabled civilization and wealth of distant China. Three decades later Jesuit missions were established at Lapointe on Lake Superior and at Depere on Green Bay. In 1673 Jolliet and Marquette crossed Wisconsin by the Fox-Wisconsin River route on their famous journey of discovery of the upper Mississippi. Thenceforward for 150 years Wisconsin was the haunt of the fur trader and the abode, as in primeval times, of the red man. As an outpost of New France it shared the economic and political fortunes of that colony. As early as the War of the Span ish Succession Frenchmen and Indians from Wisconsin made the long journey to Lower Canada to participate in the war against the Iroquois and the English. Wisconsin Indians as sisted in the massacre of Braddock's army near Pittsburgh in 1755, and elsewhere throughout the ensuing war with the English. The British regime. beginning upon the overthrow of New France in 1763, nominally lasted until the Treaty of Paris of 1783 or (from another point of view) until the cession of the British posts in the Northwest in 17%. Actually, how ever. the English held practically full sway over the Indian and French population at least until 1816. when the United States at length definitely asserted its authority by establishing regular army posts at Green Bay (Fort Howard) and Prairie du Chien (Fort (raw ford). Nominally, however. Wisconsin by the Ordinance of 1787 became a part of the Northwest Territory. Upon the admission of Ohio to statehood. as a portion of the remainder of the original Northwest Territory, ‘Visconsin became a part of the new Indiana Territory. In I24)) it fell under the jurisdiction of Illinois Territory, and upon the admission of Illinois to statehood in 1812 was added to Michigan Territory. Here rested until 1836. when Michigan lecame a State, and Wisconsin Territory itself was or ganized, with boundaries including all of modern Iowa and Minnesota and much of North and South Dakota. The greater part of this do minion was shorn away by the erection of Iowa Territory from its southern and western por tion in 1838, and 10 years later 'Wisconsin, with its present boundaries, became a State of the Union. Following the of 1812 for a decade and a half Wisconsin remained dedi cated to savagery and the fur trade. The Black Hawk War of 1202, however, broke for all time the Indian domination of the State. Already the lead mine region of southwestern Wisconsin was being exploited by hard miners, chiefly from Illinois, Missouri and Kentucky, and close upon the Black Hawk War came a tide of settlement. Cities sprang up like magic,
farming communities were developed almost over night and an era of hopeful speculation and laborious settlement ensued. In 1830 the census returns showed a white population of slightly over 3,000, wholly confined to the lead mines and the old French settlements of Green Prairie du Chien. In 1840 there were 30 Cm round numbers) and in 1850, 300,000. Milwaukee in 1835 contained three families of white affiliations; in the summer of 1836 town lots were selling at $2,000 and more. The wild boom shortly burst, of course, hut there are men still living who have witnessed the growth of Milwaukee from a village of 1,000 popula tion to the present city of almost half a million.
Thus in the generation from 1830 to 1860 the Wisconsin wilderness was transformed into a thriving American commonwealth of three quarters of a million souls. The virgin re o4.irces of soil and forest were tapped, the framework of government and society was firmly erected. The frontier State — still a wilderness at the time of South Carolina's nullification ordinance in 1832— in the Civil War poured over 90,000 soldiers into the South to assist the war for the preservation of the Union. When admitted to statehood in 18.48 Wisconsin was a typical frontier commonwealth, and the citizens were for the most part ardent Democrats. Despite the existence in south western Wisconsin of a strong clement of southern origin, the progress of the anti-slavery dispute in a few years broke the power of the Democratic party. In 1854 at Ripon was en acted one of the earliest movements looking to the organization of the new Republican party. In 1856 a Republican governor was elected. Since that date the Republican party has domi nated the State electing every governor but three, and carrying every presidential election but one. The outstanding political feature of recent years has been the cleavage in the Re control of the State administration. Their gov ernor (E L. Philipp) was re-elected in 1916, although in the same year Senator La Follette was re-elected, receiving in the partyprimary a heavy majority over his °Stalwart* oppo nent. The outbreak of war in Europe in 1914 produced a sharp division of sentiment in Wis consin, with respect to the merits of the con tending parties and the attitude of our gov ernment and nation toward the war. When the United States entered the contest in April 1917, the people of Wisconsin, with substantial unanimity, came to the support of the govern ment against the national foe. In numerous ways the State set the example to the entire country of enthusiastic and far-sighted support of the war. Her draft returns were reported first of all the States, she originated the State and county councils of defense, and the observ ance of wheatless and meatless days. The years 1917 and 1918 again demonstrated to the world that the creditable record for patriotism and efficiency made by Wisconsin in tl.e Civil War was more than duplicated in the contest.