Happy birthday, Michigan: 182 years old and still scrapping with Ohio
The Toledo Strip
by Ron and Arlene Kaiser
What do Toledo, Ohio, Michigan Statehood, Robert E. Lee, the Upper Peninsula, Lake Michigan and the Maumee River have in common? Answer: the Toledo War, also known as the Michigan–Ohio War. This little-known conflict back in 1835 and escalated to the two state governors each deploying about 1,000 militiamen.
Armed and ready to do battle, Michiganians and Ohioans lined each side of the Maumee River near Toledo. Only at the intercession of U.S. Congress and President Andrew Jackson were issues begrudgingly resolved. In exchange for Michigan forfeiting a narrow strip of land along its southern border, it gained statehood and the western three-quarters of the Upper Peninsula.
In 1835, Michigan was a territory. The mitten territory and state of Ohio both claimed jurisdiction over a narrow, eight-mile band of land, now known as the Toledo Strip. Because this land provided access to lake Eerie via the Maumee River, Ohio considered it vital for commerce. Then Michigan filed for statehood, and its map forced the issue to a head.
Ohio, with statehood, had a voice in Congress; Michigan as a territory had none. As it happened, the U.S. Treasury had collected a surplus and was constitutionally obligated to return five percent of all public land sales equally among existing states. If Michigan failed to gain statehood by Jan. 1, 1837, it would not qualify to receive any Treasury Surplus, and Michigan public land sales that year had exceeded 4.2 million acres.
A compromise was in the making.
The U.S. Congress proposed that Michigan relinquish its claim to the strip in exchange for its statehood. As a consolation prize, Congress threw the western Upper Peninsula into the kitty.
On Sept. 28, 1836, 49 delegates from across the state gathered for a convention at the Washtenaw County Courthouse in Ann Arbor. After days of intense debate, the delegates rejected the congressional compromise. The prevailing argument was that Congress lacked the authority “to dispose of the territory in a contest between Ohio and Michigan, upon the mere grounds of expediency.”
Comments from a Monroe County representative summarized popular opinion: “The Upper Peninsula could only provide enough Indians for all time and an occasional meal of bear meat.” But one wise, forward-thinking senator countered that the U.P. was well worth the trade because geologists had recently discovered large deposits of copper and iron ore there.
Tensions mounted. Each county elected delegates for a second convention. On Dec. 14, 1836, 82 delegates again gathered in Ann Arbor for what critics called the “Frostbitten Convention,” due to unusually cold temperatures. This time, delegates approved the compromise that would allow Michigan to enter the Union.
On Dec. 27, 1836, President Jackson sent the proceedings of both the September and December conventions to Congress. The results of the latter convention fulfilled the assent requirement, he noted, and Michigan should be admitted to the Union. The Senate voted to recognize Michigan’s December election results, and on Jan. 26, 1837, Michigan became the 26th state.
Washington, D.C. dispatched a fresh, young lieutenant to lead a survey crew and map out the compromise area for the Army Corps of Engineers. The recent top-of-his-class graduate from West Point, was Robert E. Lee. Twenty-four years later with the advent of the Civil War, this seasoned soldier, now General Lee, became commander of the entire Confederate Army.
Many conflicting stories exist as to the Michigan-Ohio War. But other than bouts of mutual taunting and shots fired into the air, this military confrontation ended without incurring any casualties. The war of words ended in compromise.
Still, one has to wonder if deep-seated resentment hasn’t persisted through nearly two centuries to rear its head during Michigan-Ohio State sporting events. Go Michigan!
