The story
History
Early history
Wisconsin has been home to a wide variety of cultures over the past 14,000 years. The first people arrived around 10,000 BCE during the Wisconsin Glaciation. These early inhabitants, called Paleo-Indians, hunted now-extinct ice age animals such as the Boaz mastodon, a prehistoric mastodon skeleton unearthed along with spear points in southwest Wisconsin. After the ice age ended around 8000 BCE, people in the subsequent Archaic period lived by hunting, fishing, and gathering food from wild plants. Agricultural societies emerged gradually over the Woodland period between 1000 BCE to 1000 CE. Toward the end of this period, Wisconsin was the heartland of the "Effigy Mound culture", which built thousands of animal-shaped mounds across the landscape.
Later, between 1000 and 1500 CE, the Mississippian and Oneota cultures built substantial settlements including the fortified village at Aztalan in southeast Wisconsin. The Oneota may be the ancestors of the modern Iowa and Ho-Chunk nations who shared the Wisconsin region with the Menominee at the time of European contact. Other Native American groups living in Wisconsin when Europeans first settled included the Ojibwe, Sauk, Meskwaki, Kickapoo, and Potawatomi, who migrated to Wisconsin from the east between 1500 and 1700.
European settlements
The first European to visit what became Wisconsin was probably the French explorer Jean Nicolet. He canoed west from Georgian Bay through the Great Lakes in 1634, and it is traditionally assumed that he came ashore near Green Bay at Red Banks. Pierre Radisson and Médard des Groseilliers visited Green Bay again in 1654–1666 and Chequamegon Bay in 1659–1660, where they traded for fur with local Native Americans. In 1673, Jacques Marquette and Louis Jolliet became the first to record a journey on the Fox-Wisconsin Waterway all the way to the Mississippi River near Prairie du Chien. Frenchmen like Nicholas Perrot continued to ply the fur trade across Wisconsin through the 17th and 18th centuries, but the French made no permanent settlements in Wisconsin before Great Britain won control of the region following the French and Indian War in 1763. Even so, French traders continued to work in the region after the war, and some, beginning with Charles de Langlade in 1764, settled in Wisconsin permanently, rather than returning to British-controlled Canada.
The British gradually took over Wisconsin during the French and Indian War, taking control of Green Bay in 1761 and gaining control of all of Wisconsin in 1763. Like the French, the British were interested in little but the fur trade. One notable event in the fur trading industry in Wisconsin occurred in 1791, when two free African Americans set up a fur trading post among the Menominee at present-day Marinette. The first permanent settlers, mostly French Canadians, some Anglo-New Englanders and a few African American freedmen, arrived in Wisconsin while it was under British control. Charles de Langlade is generally recognized as the first settler, establishing a trading post at Green Bay in 1745, and moving there permanently in 1764.
Settlement began at Prairie du Chien around 1781. French residents at the Green Bay trading post called it "La Baye" while British fur traders favored "Green Bay" for the green tints the water and shore took on each spring. The British name gradually stuck. The transition to British rule had little adverse effect on French residents, as each side needed the other's cooperation. The French had issued trading licenses sparingly, but the British, eager to maximize profits, extended them freely to both British and French traders. The fur trade reached its peak under British rule, and Wisconsin's first self-sustaining farms were established during this period. From 1763 to 1780, Green Bay was a prosperous community that grew its own food, built graceful cottages, and hosted dances and festivities.
Joseph Roi built the Tank Cottage in Green Bay in 1776. Located in Heritage Hill State Historical Park, it is the oldest standing building from Wisconsin's early years and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
U.S. territory
Wisconsin became a territorial possession of the United States in 1783 after the American Revolutionary War. In 1787, it became part of the Northwest Territory. As territorial boundaries subsequently developed, it was then part of Indiana Territory from 1800 to 1809, Illinois Territory from 1809 to 1818, and Michigan Territory from 1818 to 1836. However, the British remained in control until after the War of 1812, the outcome of which finally established an American presence in the area.
Under American control, the economy of the territory shifted from fur trading to lead mining. The prospect of easy mineral wealth drew immigrants from throughout the U.S. and Europe to the lead deposits at Mineral Point, Dodgeville, and nearby areas. Some miners found shelter in the holes they had dug, and earned the nickname "badgers", leading to Wisconsin's identity as the "Badger State". The sudden influx of white miners prompted tension with the local Native American population. The Winnebago War of 1827 and the Black Hawk War of 1832 culminated in the forced removal of Native Americans from most parts of the state.
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Following these conflicts, the Wisconsin Territory was created by an act of the United States Congress on April 20, 1836. By fall of that year, the best prairie groves of the counties surrounding what is now Milwaukee were occupied by farmers from the New England states.
Statehood
The Great Lakes, via the Erie Canal, facilitated the travel of both Yankee settlers and European immigrants to Wisconsin Territory. Yankees from New England and upstate New York seized a dominant position in law and politics, enacting policies that marginalized the region's earlier Native American and French-Canadian residents. Yankees also speculated in real estate, platted towns such as Racine, Beloit, Burlington, and Janesville, and established schools, civic institutions, and Congregationalist churches. At the same time, many Germans, Irish, Norwegians, and other immigrants also settled in towns and farms across the territory, establishing Catholic and Lutheran institutions.
The growing population allowed Wisconsin to gain statehood on May 29, 1848, as the 30th state. Between 1840 and 1850, Wisconsin's non-Indian population had swollen from 31,000 to 305,000. More than a third of residents (110,500) were foreign born, including 38,000 Germans, 28,000 British immigrants from England, Scotland, and Wales, and 21,000 Irish. Another third (103,000) were Yankees from New England and western New York state. Only about 63,000 residents in 1850 had been born in Wisconsin.
Nelson Dewey, the first governor of Wisconsin, was a Democrat. Dewey oversaw the transition from the territorial to the new state government. He encouraged the development of the state's infrastructure, particularly the construction of new roads, railroads, canals, and harbors, as well as the improvement of the Fox and Wisconsin Rivers. During his administration, the State Board of Public Works was organized. Dewey, an abolitionist, was the first of many Wisconsin governors to advocate against the spread of slavery into new states and territories.
Civil War era and economic growth
Politics in early Wisconsin were defined by the greater national debate over slavery. A free state from its foundation, Wisconsin became a center of northern abolitionism. The debate became especially intense in 1854 after Joshua Glover, a runaway slave from Missouri, was captured in Racine. Glover was taken into custody under the Federal Fugitive Slave Law, but a mob of abolitionists stormed the prison where Glover was held and helped him escape to Canada. In a trial stemming from the incident, the Wisconsin Supreme Court ultimately declared the Fugitive Slave Law unconstitutional. The Republican Party, founded on March 20, 1854, by anti-slavery expansion activists in Ripon, Wisconsin, grew to dominate state politics in the aftermath of these events.
During the American Civil War, around 91,000 troops from Wisconsin fought for the Union. A number of Wisconsin regiments were distinguished, including three that served in the celebrated "Iron Brigade"— the 2nd Wisconsin, 6th Wisconsin, and 7th Wisconsin. The 8th Wisconsin, another hard-fighting regiment, was often accompanied into battle by its mascot, Old Abe, a bald eagle.
Wisconsin's economy also diversified during the early years of statehood. While lead mining diminished, agriculture became a principal occupation in the southern half of the state. Railroads were built across the state to help transport grains to market, and industries like J.I. Case & Company in Racine were founded to build agricultural equipment. Wisconsin briefly became one of the nation's leading producers of wheat during the 1860s. Meanwhile, the lumber industry dominated in the heavily forested northern sections of Wisconsin, and sawmills sprang up in cities such as La Crosse, Eau Claire, and Wausau. These economic activities had severe environmental consequences. By the close of the 19th century, intensive agriculture had devastated soil fertility, and lumbering had deforested most of the state. These conditions forced both wheat agriculture and the lumber industry into a precipitous decline.
Beginning in the 1890s, farmers in Wisconsin shifted from wheat to dairy production to make more sustainable and profitable use of their land. Many immigrants carried cheese-making traditions that, combined with the state's suitable geography and dairy research led by Stephen Babcock at the University of Wisconsin, helped the state build a reputation as "America's Dairyland". Meanwhile, conservationists including Aldo Leopold helped re-establish the state's forests during the early 20th century, paving the way for a more renewable lumber and paper milling industry as well as promoting recreational tourism in the northern woodlands. Manufacturing also boomed in Wisconsin during the early 20th century, driven by an immense immigrant workforce arriving from Europe. Industries in cities like Milwaukee ranged from brewing and food processing to heavy machine production and tool-making, leading Wisconsin to rank 8th among U.S. states in total product value by 1910.
Progressive era and World Wars
The early 20th century was notable for the emergence of progressive politics championed by Robert M. La Follette, who served as governor from 1901 to 1906 and U.S. senator from 1906 to 1925. Between 1901 and 1914, Progressive Republicans in Wisconsin created the nation's first comprehensive statewide primary election system, the first effective workplace injury compensation law, and the first state income tax, making taxation proportional to actual earnings.
During World War I, due to the neutrality of Wisconsin and many of its Republicans, Progressives, and Conservatives, including Germans and Scandinavians who were a significant proportion of the state's population, Wisconsin began to be accused of being the "Traitor State" by many "hyper patriots."
As the war raged on in Europe, La Follette led the antiwar movement in Wisconsin and steered a group of progressive senators in blocking a bill by President Woodrow Wilson that would have armed merchant ships with guns. Many Wisconsin politicians, such as Emanuel L. Philipp and Irvine Lenroot, were accused of having divided loyalties. Even with outspoken opponents to the war, at the onset of the war, many Wisconsinites would abandon neutrality. Businesses, labor and farms all enjoyed prosperity from the war. With over 118,000 going into military service, Wisconsin was the first state to report for the national drafts conducted by the U.S. military. As governor, Philipp was successful in combating anti-German hysteria in the state.
The progressive Wisconsin Idea also promoted the statewide expansion of the University of Wisconsin through the UW–Extension system at this time. In 1932, UW economics professors John R. Commons and Harold Groves helped Wisconsin create the United States' first unemployment compensation program. Other Wisconsin Idea scholars at the university generated the plan that became the New Deal's Social Security Act of 1935, with Wisconsin expert Arthur J. Altmeyer playing a key role.
After La Follette died, his sons Philip and Robert Jr. took over the Wisconsin Republican Party, later founding the Wisconsin Progressive Party as a successor to their father's Progressive Party. It gained momentum in the mid-1930s with support from President Franklin D. Roosevelt and progressive Democrats, winning offices statewide and in Congress. The party declined after Philip, facing scandal and accusations of authoritarianism, lost reelection in 1938 to Julius P. Heil and left politics to serve in World War II. The National Progressives of America, an organization Philip had hoped would precede a national realignment, then faltered.
The last Progressive candidate elected governor of Wisconsin was Orland S. Loomis, in 1942. He died before taking office. The Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled that Republican Lieutenant Governor Walter S. Goodland would serve Loomis's term as governor. In 1946, the Wisconsin Progressives voted to dissolve and rejoin the Republican Party.
Mid-20th century to present
In World War II's immediate aftermath, Wisconsinites were divided over issues such as the creation of the United Nations, support for the European recovery, and the growth of the Soviet Union's power. But when Europe divided into Communist and capitalist camps, and with the Progressive Party's collapse, Robert La Follette Jr. rejoined the Republican Party of Wisconsin to run in the 1946 Senate election. He narrowly lost to Joseph McCarthy in the Republican primary. After the Chinese Communist Revolution of 1949, public opinion began to continue move toward support for the protection of democracy and capitalism against Communist expansion.
Wisconsin took part in several political extremes in the mid- to late 20th century, ranging from the anti-communist crusades of Senator McCarthy in the 1950s, to the founding of Earth Day by environmental advocate Gaylord Nelson in 1970. During radical protests against the Vietnam War at UW-Madison, an attack by anarchists culminated in the Sterling Hall bombing in August 1970. The state undertook welfare reform under Republican Governor Tommy Thompson during the 1990s. Its economy also underwent further transformations toward the end of the 20th century, as heavy industry and manufacturing declined in favor of a service economy based on medicine, education, agribusiness, and tourism.
In 2011, Wisconsin became the focus of some controversy when newly elected governor Scott Walker proposed and then passed and enacted 2011 Wisconsin Act 10, which made large changes in the areas of collective bargaining, compensation, retirement, health insurance, and sick leave of public sector employees, among other changes. A series of major protests by union supporters took place that year in protest to the changes, and Walker survived a recall election held the next year in 2012, becoming the first governor in U.S. history to do so. Also in 2012, Congressman Paul Ryan became the first Wisconsinite to appear on a major party ticket, as Republican nominee Mitt Romney's running mate in the 2012 United States presidential election. Ryan was elected Speaker of the House in 2015.
Since 2023, five University of Wisconsin branch campuses have closed, one has gone entirely online, and one has stopped using several of its buildings. Many have expressed concern about the Wisconsin Idea's future since these closures.
Recreation
The varied landscape of Wisconsin makes the state a popular vacation destination for outdoor recreation. Winter events include skiing, ice fishing and snowmobile derbies. Wisconsin is situated on two Great Lakes and has many inland lakes of varied size; the state contains 11,188 square miles (28,980 km2) of water, more than all but three other states—Alaska, Michigan, and Florida. The Wisconsin Shipwreck Coast National Marine Sanctuary was established in 2021 in the waters of Lake Michigan off Wisconsin and is the site of a large number of historically significant shipwrecks.
Outdoor activities are popular in Wisconsin, especially hunting and fishing. One of the most prevalent game animals is the whitetail deer. Each year in Wisconsin, well over 600,000 deer-hunting licenses are sold. In 2008, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources projected the pre-hunt deer population to be between 1.5 and 1.7 million.
From Wikipedia’s article on Wisconsin, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.5