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| 1830s in the united states | |
The Toledo War of 1835 - 1836 was a largely bloodless Boundary Dispute between the state of Ohio and the Michigan Territory of the United States over a 468 square mile (1,210 km²) strip of land (the ''"Toledo Strip"'') including what is now the city of Toledo, Ohio . It is also referred to variously as the '''Ohio-Michigan War''', the '''Battle of Phillip's Crossing''', the '''Ohio-Michigan Boundary War''' and the '''Michigan-Ohio War'''. The land in question was officially made part of the Michigan Territory by Congress in 1805, but the lack of accurate maps at the time led the land to be claimed by both governments. Due to the strategic importance of the land (specifically, the port of Maumee Bay ), both sent out militias to stake their claims. While only one injury resulted from the conflict, the state of Ohio, with its 21 members in Congress (compared to Michigan's single non-voting delegate), was able to stall Michigan's admission to the Union as a state until they gave up the disputed land in exchange for the western half of the Upper Peninsula . Considered a poor deal for Michigan at the time, the eventual discovery of copper and other valuable natural resources in the Upper Peninsula have led some to spectulate that Michigan, in fact, was the ultimate winner of the Toledo War. BACKGROUND The dispute known as the Toledo War was centered about a piece of land called the "Toledo Strip" (which includes present day Toledo, Ohio ) that was claimed by both the state of Ohio and the Michigan Territory . It was originated in 1787 , when the Northwest Ordinance defined a parallel of latitude running from the extreme southern tip of Lake Michigan eastward, to divide the new Northwest Territory for administrative purposes (and eventually into separate states should settlers later petition for statehood). The precise location of that Ordinance Line later (1835-36) became the subject of the "war" between the State of Ohio and the then-territory of Michigan . The land included in this line is what is known as present day Williams, Fulton and Lucas Counties, including the city of Toledo and areas north of Bryan, Ohio and Wauseon, Ohio. At the time of the Ordinance, the exact location of the southern tip of Lake Michigan was not known, but the most highly regarded map (the "Mitchell Map" {Link without Title} ) placed it at a latitude just south of present day Detroit, Michigan . It was thus assumed by the framers of Ohio's constitution that Congress' intent in the Ordinance was that Ohio would control the entire Lake Erie shoreline west of the Pennsylvania border, while the territory or state to the north of the line would have Great Lakes access via Lakes Michigan, Huron , and Superior . During the Ohio Constitutional Convention of 1802,[http://publications.ohiohistory.org/ohstemplate.cfm?action=detail&Page=0004154.html&StartPage=127&EndPage=198&volume=4&newtitle=Volume%204%20Page%20127] reports were received from trappers that Lake Michigan extended significantly further south than maps or popular belief indicated. It was even possible that the parallel extending east from Lake Michigan' southern end may not intersect Lake Erie at all, or perhaps would intersect it somewhere between Sandusky Bay and Maumee Bay , meaning that the mouth of the Maumee River might not lie within Ohio boundaries. Therefore the Ohio convention delegates included a provision in the draft constitution that ''if'' these reports about the actual location of the southern terminus of Lake Michigan were correct, the state boundary line would be angled so as to intersect Lake Erie at the "most northerly cape of the Miami [Maumee] Bay", thus placing much of the Maumee River watershed, and all of the southern shore of Lake Erie west of Pennsylvania, in Ohio. The draft constitution, with this proviso, was accepted by the United States Congress, and Ohio was then admitted into the Union. However, before accepting the state constitution, it was referred to a committee in which the clause defining the northern boundary was decided to depend upon "a fact not yet ascertained" and the committee "thought it unnecessary to take it, at this time, into consideration" [http://publications.ohiohistory.org/ohstemplate.cfm?action=detail&Page=0004153.html&StartPage=127&EndPage=198&volume=4&newtitle=Volume%204%20Page%20127 / When Congress established the Michigan Territory in 1805, after Ohio had been accepted as a state of the Union, it explicitly used the exact language of the 1787 Ordinance to define the southern boundary of the territory. When Michigan applied to become a state in 1835, it claimed the ''originally'' designated Ordinance Line as its southern boundary. By this time it was known that such a line would intersect Lake Erie southeast of the mouth of the Maumee, thus giving Michigan control of the port city almost certain to grow there (now Toledo, Ohio ), and all of the Lake Erie shoreline from there north to the mouth of the Detroit River . The discrepancy between the original Ordinance Line and Ohio's state constitutional version defined an area that later became known as the "Toledo Strip", and Ohio refused to cede it. "WAR" Governor Stevens T. Mason ( 1811 - 1843 )]] governor Robert Lucas ( 1832 - 1836 )]] Prior to Michigan statehood, the area in the Toledo Strip was surveyed as part of the Michigan Survey . Land sales were recorded in Monroe, Michigan and Civil Township s attached to counties in Michigan Territory were organized. As Michigan approached the threshold for becoming a state, Ohio's Governor Robert Lucas drew counties and set up County governments in the strip. Toledo was placed within Lucas County of Ohio, named after the governor. Michigan's youthful governor Stevens T. Mason responded by sending a Militia force to the area. Lucas did the same. The Strip was at the time covered with dense Arborvitae swamps (collectively known as the " Great Black Swamp "), which today have been almost totally drained to create farm land. The two militias got lost for weeks and never actually found each other in the swamps. Though at one point a Monroe County, Michigan , deputy was stabbed while arresting an Ohio man in a tavern, no one else was seriously injured. The U.S. Congress agreed to grant Michigan statehood in 1836 , but only if it relinquished its claim to the disputed tract. In exchange, Michigan would be granted the western two-thirds of the Upper Peninsula (the eastern portion was already part of the Territory). At the time this appeared to make Ohio the winner because the Upper Peninsula was thought to be worthless; only later was the extent of its rich Mineral and timber resources learned. The "war" ended at a Michigan territorial convention in Ann Arbor on December 14 , 1836 , at which Peter Morey, a delegate from Lenawee County, Michigan , put forward a resolution noting that though the delegates "solemnly protest" the conditions of admission to the union, they would nevertheless agree to the terms "as a token of our respect for the Congress of the United States, and a convincing evidence of our love for the union, and our desire to be admitted to partake of its privileges." The bitterness between Ohio and Michigan led to the meeting being referred to as "the Frostbitten Convention." Michigan was admitted to the Union on January 26 , 1837 , becoming the 26th state. MISCELLANY Traces of the original Ordinance Line can still be seen in northwestern Ohio and northern Indiana. The northern boundary of Ottawa County follows the original Ordinance Line. Many township boundaries also follow that line and many old north-south roads are offset as they cross the line. The line is identified on topographical maps as the ''Old Indian Treaty Boundary'', and on county road maps as "Old State Line Road". There were still disagreements about the exact location of the line and mileposts along it until 1915, when a definitive resurvey occurred. Granite monuments 18 inches (50 cm) high were established as official boundary survey markers and can be seen alongside many of the roads crossing the state line west of Toledo. This resurvey did ''not'' follow a straight line from Indiana to Maumee Bay, but rather attempted to follow the actual course of previous surveys, so as to minimize impacts to land owners who would otherwise have had their land or residences change states. Two individuals who later went on to fame were involved in the controversy. Robert E. Lee resurveyed the original Ordinance, or Fulton, line in 1834, and Arthur M. Schlesinger wrote a brief history of the conflict at the time of the 1915 re-survey. John Quincy Adams , who at the time represented Massachusetts in Congress, supported Michigan and summed up his opinion on the dispute: "Never in the course of my life have I known a controversy of which all the right so clearly on one side and all the power so overwhelmingly on the other." The boundary between Ohio and Michigan in Lake Erie was not finally resolved until a U.S. Supreme Court ruling, '' Michigan V. Ohio '', in 1973 (see Below ). A common (but unsubstantiated) legend claims that Ohioans gave Michigan its nickname, "The Wolverine State", because Michigander s were vicious and bloodthirsty during the Toledo War. The Wolverine is not a common sight in Michigan, having been extirpated from the state in the early 1800s . SEE ALSO EXTERNAL LINKS
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