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 building a schoolhouse and public hall in Algoma
Collaboration is restricted.
Remonstrance against building a schoolhouse in school district no. 2 in Sun Prairie
Collaboration is restricted.
Remonstrance against building a state road through the town of Eden
Collaboration is restricted.
Remonstrance against building a territorial road from Milwaukee to Janesville to Fort Atkinson
Collaboration is restricted.
Remonstrance against building bridges at Lake Winnebago and Little Butte des Morts Lake
Collaboration is restricted.
Remonstrance against buying or leasing the new schoolhouse erected in school district no. 4 in Beloit
Collaboration is restricted.
Remonstrance against calling for a vote to relocate the county seat of Ashland County to the village of La Pointe
Collaboration is restricted.
Remonstrance against changing the boundaries of Green Lake County
Collaboration is restricted.
Remonstrance against changing the boundaries of Jefferson County
Collaboration is restricted.
Remonstrance against changing the boundaries of the city of Janesville
Collaboration is restricted.