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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
All works are fully transcribed.
Petition for allowing the Register of Deeds for Brown County to hold office in Green Bay
Petition for allowing the residents of Fond du Lac to vote on a location for the high school
Petition for allowing the school fund to be used to pay for plank roads throughout the state
Petition for allowing the voters of Lafayette County to select the county seat
Petition for allowing the voters to decide on the issue of county courts
Petition for allowing the Wisconsin Mineral & Transportation Company to hold and own land
Petition for allowing towns and villages to levy a special tax to collect bounties for war volunteers
Petition for allowing towns to control the county drainage funds
Petition for allowing voters in Delavan to determine if the town will grant licenses for the sale of liquor
Petition for allowing voters the right to decide the question of bridges on the Milwaukee River
