About
This collection comprises citizen petitions written to the legislatures of the Wisconsin Territory and later the State of Wisconsin, from 1836 to 1891. At the time, petitions were the only direct means for citizens to communicate with the government.
From requesting dams, roads, and money to build schoolhouses, to recording views on slavery, suffrage, and statehood, these petitions reveal what settlers wished to achieve for their communities, and the ways in which they hoped to connect Wisconsin to the expanding commerce and intellectual life of the United States. These petitions are mostly handwritten in blue and iron gall ink; most petitions comprise a title page, the petition itself, and signature pages.
For more information about this Collection, visit its Online Finding Aid and View the Online Collection.
The work of flattening, scanning, and describing these petitions was funded by a grant from the National Historical Publications and Records Commissions (NHPRC) of the National Archives.
Works
Petition for attaching Calumet County to another county for judicial purposes
Petition for attaching Marquette County to Portage County for judicial purposes
Petition for attaching part of the town of Roxbury to the town of Mazomanie
Petition for attaching Portage County to Dane County for judicial purposes
Petition for attaching the Lemonweir River district to Sauk County
Petition for attaching the town of Calumet to Calumet County
Petition for attaching the town of Decatur to the 2nd Assembly District
Petition for attaching the town of Pasaukie to the town of Howard in Brown County
Petition for attaching the town of Shields to the town of Lowell for town business