f Wisconsin."

The Legislative Council of the Michigan Territory, in a memorial which
bears the date of March 1, 1836, went on record to this effect:
"According to the decision of our Federal Court, the population west of
the Mississippi are not within its jurisdiction, a decision which is
presumed to be in accordance with the delegated power of the court and
the acknowledged laws of the land; but that ten or twelve thousand
free-men, citizens of the United States, living in its territory, should
be unprotected in their lives and property, by its courts of civil and
criminal jurisdiction, is an anomaly unparalleled in the annals of
republican legislation. The immediate attention of Congress to this
subject is of vital importance to the people west of the Mississippi."

On the floor of Congress, Mr. Patton of Virginia "adverted to the
peculiar situation of the inhabitants of that Territory [the Territory
which was soon afterwards organized as Wisconsin] they being without
government and without laws." This was in April, 1836. On the same day
Mr. George W. Jones, the delegate from Michigan, declared that the
people of western Wisconsin "are now, and have ever been, without the
pale of judicial tribunals." He "stated that he did not know of a single
set of the laws of the United States within the bounds of the
contemplated Territory."

The position of the Iowa country for several months immediately
preceding the organization of the Territory of Wisconsin was indeed
peculiar. In the eastern part of what had been the Territory of Michigan
the people had framed and adopted a State Constitution. As early as
October, 1835, they elected State officers. But on account of a dispute
with Ohio over boundary lines, Congress was in no hurry to recognize the
new State. Then for a time there were two governments--the Government of
the State of Michigan and the Government of the Territory of
Michigan--each claiming to be the only rightful and legitimate
authority. It was not until January, 1837, that the existence of
Michigan as a State was recognized at Washington.

Lieutenant Albert M. Lea, a United States army officer, who had spent
some time in the country west of the Mississippi did not fail to observe
the anomalous condition of the people. Writing early in 1836, he said:
"It is a matter of some doubt, in fact, whether there be any law at
all among these people; but this question will soon be put to rest by
the organization