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 Commission (NHPRC) of the National Archives.
Works
All works are fully transcribed.
Petition for accounting for swamp lands in Kewawunee County
Petition for acquiring money or land to make up for land lost in Mineral Point
Petition for acquiring the banking law used in New York state
Petition for acquiring the funds needed to construct a road from Fond du Lac to towns west
Petition for adding a District Court session in Dane County
Petition for adding a portion of Muscatine County to Scott County
Petition for adding a term to the District Court of Milwaukee County
Petition for adding a term to the District Court of Racine County
Petition for adding a third term to the District Court of Milwaukee submitted by members of the Bar
Petition for adding a tract of land to Bloomfield School District No. 4