state of Ohio and the adjoining territory of Michigan. Poor geographical understanding of the Great Lakes helped produce conflicting state and federal legislation between 1787 and 1805, and varying interpretations of the laws led the governments of Ohio and Michigan to both claim jurisdiction over a region along the border, now known as the Toledo Strip.
But in December, facing a dire financial crisis and pressure from Congress and President Andrew Jackson, the Michigan government called another convention (called the "Frostbitten Convention"), which accepted the compromise, resolving the Toledo War. == Origins == In 1787, the Congress of the Confederation enacted the Northwest Ordinance, which created the Northwest Territory in what is now the upper Midwestern United States.
The Fulton survey was based upon the original 1787 Ordinance Line, and after measuring the line eastward from Lake Michigan to Lake Erie, it found the Ohio boundary to lie south of the mouth of the Maumee River.
and British North America (specifically, the province of Quebec until 1791 and Upper Canada thereafter) ran through the middle of Lake Erie and then up the Detroit River, combined with the prevailing belief regarding the location of the southern tip of Lake Michigan, the framers of the 1802 Ohio Constitution believed it was the intent of Congress that Ohio's northern boundary should certainly be north of the mouth of the Maumee River, and possibly even of the Detroit River.
When Congress passed the Enabling Act of 1802, which authorized Ohio to begin the process of becoming a U.S.
and British North America (specifically, the province of Quebec until 1791 and Upper Canada thereafter) ran through the middle of Lake Erie and then up the Detroit River, combined with the prevailing belief regarding the location of the southern tip of Lake Michigan, the framers of the 1802 Ohio Constitution believed it was the intent of Congress that Ohio's northern boundary should certainly be north of the mouth of the Maumee River, and possibly even of the Detroit River.
Ohio would thus be granted access to most or all of the Lake Erie shoreline west of Pennsylvania, and any other new states carved out of the Northwest Territory would have access to the Great Lakes only via Lakes Michigan, Huron, and Superior. During the Ohio Constitutional Convention in 1802, the delegates allegedly received reports from a fur trapper that Lake Michigan extended significantly farther south than had previously been believed (or mapped).
As a result, Tiffin employed surveyor William Harris to survey not the Ordinance Line, but the line as described in the Ohio Constitution of 1802.
The draft constitution with this proviso was accepted by the United States Congress, but before Ohio's admission to the Union in February 1803, the proposed constitution was referred to a Congressional committee.
state of Ohio and the adjoining territory of Michigan. Poor geographical understanding of the Great Lakes helped produce conflicting state and federal legislation between 1787 and 1805, and varying interpretations of the laws led the governments of Ohio and Michigan to both claim jurisdiction over a region along the border, now known as the Toledo Strip.
The committee's report stated that the clause defining the northern boundary depended on "a fact not yet ascertained" (the latitude of the southern extreme of Lake Michigan), and the members "thought it unnecessary to take it [the provision], at the time, into consideration." When Congress created the Michigan Territory in 1805, it used the Northwest Ordinance's language to define the territory's southern boundary, which therefore differed from that in Ohio's state constitution.
In 1812, Congress approved a request for an official survey of the line.
Delayed because of the War of 1812, it was only after Indiana's admission to the Union in 1816 that work on the survey commenced.
Delayed because of the War of 1812, it was only after Indiana's admission to the Union in 1816 that work on the survey commenced.
From this perspective on the rapidly developing Midwest of the 1820s and 1830s, both states had much to gain by controlling the land in the Toledo Strip. In addition, the Strip west of the Toledo area is a prime location for agriculture, because of its well-drained, fertile loam soil.
Michigan and Ohio both wanted what seemed strategically and economically destined to become an important port and a prosperous region. == Prelude to conflict == In 1820–21, the federal land surveys had reached the disputed area from two directions, progressing southward from a baseline in Michigan and northward from one in Ohio.
By the early 1820s, the growing territory reached the minimum population threshold of 60,000 to qualify for statehood.
One such canal system approved by the Ohio legislature in 1825 was the Miami and Erie Canal that included a connection to the Ohio River and an outflow into Lake Erie via the Maumee River. During the conflict over the Toledo Strip, the Erie Canal was built, linking New York City and the Eastern seaboard to the Great Lakes at Buffalo.
The canal finished in 1825, and immediately became a major route for trade and migration.
From this perspective on the rapidly developing Midwest of the 1820s and 1830s, both states had much to gain by controlling the land in the Toledo Strip. In addition, the Strip west of the Toledo area is a prime location for agriculture, because of its well-drained, fertile loam soil.
When Michigan sought to hold a state constitutional convention in 1833, Congress rejected the request because of the still-disputed Toledo Strip. Ohio asserted that the boundary was firmly established in its constitution and thus Michigan's citizens were simply intruders; the state government refused to negotiate the issue with the Michigan Territory.
In 1833, when Congress rejected Michigan's request for a convention, Adams summed up his opinion on the dispute: "Never in the course of my life have I known a controversy of which all the right was so clearly on one side and all the power so overwhelmingly on the other." == War == Acting as commander-in-chief of Ohio's militia, Governor Lucas—along with General John Bell and about 600 other fully armed militiamen—arrived in Perrysburg, Ohio, southwest of Toledo, on March 31, 1835.
The situation came to a head when Michigan petitioned for statehood in 1835 and sought to include the disputed territory within its boundaries.
In January 1835, frustrated by the political stalemate, Michigan's acting territorial Governor Stevens T.
Mason called for a constitutional convention to be held in May of that year despite Congress' refusal to approve an enabling act authorizing such a state constitution. In February 1835, Ohio passed legislation that set up county governments in the Strip.
The county in which Toledo sat would, later in 1835, be named after incumbent Governor Robert Lucas, a move that further exacerbated the growing tensions with Michigan.
In 1833, when Congress rejected Michigan's request for a convention, Adams summed up his opinion on the dispute: "Never in the course of my life have I known a controversy of which all the right was so clearly on one side and all the power so overwhelmingly on the other." == War == Acting as commander-in-chief of Ohio's militia, Governor Lucas—along with General John Bell and about 600 other fully armed militiamen—arrived in Perrysburg, Ohio, southwest of Toledo, on March 31, 1835.
This presented a political dilemma for Jackson that spurred him to take action that would greatly influence the outcome of the "war". On April 3, 1835, Jackson sent two representatives from Washington, D.C., Richard Rush of Pennsylvania and Benjamin Chew Howard of Maryland, to Toledo to arbitrate the conflict and present a compromise to both governments.
On April 8, 1835, the Monroe County, Michigan sheriff arrived at the home of Major Benjamin F.
The project proceeded without serious incident until April 26, 1835, when the surveying group was attacked by 50 to 60 members of General Brown's militia in the Battle of Phillips Corners.
That news became exaggerated as it traveled north, and soon thereafter the Michigan territorial press dared the Ohio "million" to enter the Strip as they "welcomed them to hospitable graves." In June 1835, Lucas dispatched a delegation consisting of U.S.
Looking for peace, Lucas began making his own efforts to end the conflict, again through federal intervention via Ohio's congressional delegation. In August 1835, at the strong urging of Ohio's Congressmen, Jackson removed Mason as Michigan's Territorial Governor and appointed John S.
In the October 1835 elections, voters approved the draft constitution and elected Mason governor.
The single military confrontation of the "war" ended with a report of shots being fired into the air, incurring no casualties. During the summer of 1836, the United States Congress proposed a compromise whereby Michigan gave up its claim to the strip in exchange for its statehood and about three-quarters of the Upper Peninsula.
Senators chosen by the state legislature in November, Lucius Lyon and John Norvell, were treated with even less respect, being allowed to sit only as spectators in the Senate gallery. On June 15, 1836, Jackson signed a bill that allowed Michigan to become a state, but only after it ceded the Toledo Strip.
Because of the perceived worthlessness of the Upper Peninsula's remote wilderness, a September 1836 special convention in Ann Arbor rejected the offer. As the year wore on, Michigan found itself deep in financial crisis, nearly bankrupt because of the high militia expenses.
Michigan would have been ineligible to receive a share. The "war" unofficially ended on December 14, 1836, at a second convention in Ann Arbor.
Because of these factors, as well as a notable cold spell, the event became known as the Frostbitten Convention. On January 26, 1837, Michigan was admitted to the Union as the 26th state, without the Toledo Strip but with the entire Upper Peninsula. == Subsequent history == The Toledo strip became a permanent part of Ohio, while the Upper Peninsula was considered a worthless wilderness by almost all familiar with the area.
Michigan's loss of of agricultural land and the port of Toledo was offset by the gain of of timber and ore-rich land. Differences of opinion about the exact boundary location continued until a definitive re-survey was performed in 1915.
The 1915 survey was delineated by 71 granite markers, wide by high.
In 1973, they finally obtained a hearing before the U.S.
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