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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 Commission (NHPRC) of the National Archives.
Works
All works are fully transcribed.
Remonstrance against legalizing a road from Wingville to Viroqua
Remonstrance against legalizing a tax assessed in the town of Delavan for building a schoolhouse
Remonstrance against legalizing a town meeting that approved a "bounty" for volunteer soldiers
Remonstrance against legalizing a town vote that would pay enlisted men
Remonstrance against legalizing the acts of school officials in a school district in LeRoy
Remonstrance against legalizing the bonds issued for the Chicago and North Western Railroad Company
Remonstrance against legalizing the election and the acts of the Justice of the Peace for Dane County
Remonstrance against legalizing the issuance of bonds for the Chicago and North Western Railroad Company
Remonstrance against legalizing the official acts of the town of Turtle Superintendent of Schools
Remonstrance against legalizing the proceedings of a town meeting on paying military wages for volunteers
