ENAbout
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 political appointments made by Governor James Duane Doty
Remonstrance against prison contract labor in manufacturing
Remonstrance against proposed amendment to the present game laws of the state
Remonstrance against raising the level of Rush Lake with a dam
Remonstrance against raising the selling price of land along the Fox and Wisconsin Rivers
Remonstrance against raising the tolls on the Milwaukee and Waukesha Plank Road company road
Remonstrance against re-opening a road in the town of Wheatland
Remonstrance against reannexing Fond du Lac County to Brown County
