About
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 Commissions (NHPRC) of the National Archives.
Works
Remonstrance against repealing the act that incorporated the Adams Collegial Institute
Collaboration is restricted.
Remonstrance against repealing the act that incorporated the State Firemen's Association
Collaboration is restricted.
Remonstrance against repealing the act that named Sheboygan Falls the county seat of Sheboygan County
Collaboration is restricted.
Remonstrance against repealing the charter for the Milwaukee & Lisbon Plank Road Company
Collaboration is restricted.
Remonstrance against repealing the charter of the Manitowoc and Manitowoc Rapids Plank Road Company
Collaboration is restricted.
Remonstrance against repealing the charter of the Second Ward Cemetery Association of Milwaukee
Collaboration is restricted.
Remonstrance against repealing the charter of the Wisconsin Marine and Fire Insurance Company
Collaboration is restricted.
Remonstrance against repealing the charter that authorized James F. Chapman to operate a ferry on the Mississippi River at Potosi
Collaboration is restricted.
Remonstrance against repealing the incorporation of the village of Juneau
Collaboration is restricted.
Remonstrance against repealing the Kilbourn City Dam charter
Collaboration is restricted.