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 the proposed route of a road from Milwaukee to White Oak Springs
Remonstrance against the proposed site of a bridge on the Wisconsin River in Wood County
Remonstrance against the repeal of a law authorizing the construction of a new bridge in Watertown
Remonstrance against the terms posed in another petition for building a bridge on the Milwaukee River at Walker's Point
Remonstrance against the U.S. Congress appropriating funds to build a harbor at Southport
Remonstrance against the volunteer fund paying soldiers who are not residents of Neenah
Remonstrance against those opposed to Asa Clark erecting a mill on Pewaukee Lake
Remonstrance against transferring the drainage fund to the school fund in Juneau County
Remonstrance against unincorporating the town of Tyrahnena and returning the town name to Lake Mills
Remonstrance against using a previous survey to route the Tomah and Lake St. Croix railroad
