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.
Petition for adopting measures to remove the Chippewa Indian tribes from the areas of white settlement in Crawford County
Petition for adopting the Burlington Act on costs and fees
Petition for adopting the Maine liquor law to prevent the destructive effects of alcoholism within the Native American population
Petition for advertising the sale of land for taxes in newspapers
Petition for aiding in the construction of the St. Croix and Lake Superior Railroad Company
Petition for aiding soldiers who have not paid the taxes on land owned in Wisconsin
Petition for allocating funds to care for the children of the late Thomas P. Burnett
Petition for allotting land to the village and town of Geneva
Petition for allowing a Dutch Lutheran clergyman to solemnize the rights of marriage
