Wisconsin
Wis·con·sin
W0186250 (wĭs-kŏn′sĭn) Abbr. WI or Wis.Wisconsin
(wɪsˈkɒnsɪn)Wis•con•sin
(wɪsˈkɒn sən)n.
| Noun | 1. | Wisconsin - a tributary of the Mississippi River in Wisconsin |
| 2. |  Wisconsin - a midwestern state in north central United States |
n.
Wisconsin
See also: National Parks and Monuments (table)National Parks and Monuments
National Parks
Name Type1 Location Year authorized Size
acres (hectares)
Description
Acadia NP SE Maine 1919 48,419 (19,603) Mountain and coast scenery.
..... Click the link for more information.
Wisconsin
(wĭskŏn`sən, –sĭn), upper midwestern state of the United States. It is bounded by Lake Superior and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, from which it is divided in part by the Menominee River (N); Lake Michigan (E); Illinois (S); and Iowa and Minnesota (W), with the Mississippi River forming much of that border.Facts and Figures
Area, 56,154 sq mi (145,439 sq km). Pop. (2010) 5,686,986, a 6% increase since the 2000 census. Capital, Madison. Largest city, Milwaukee. Statehood, May 29, 1848 (30th state). Highest pt., Timms Hill, 1,952 ft (595 m); lowest pt., Lake Michigan, 581 ft (177 m). Nickname, Badger State. Motto, Forward. State bird, robin. State flower, wood violet. State tree, sugar maple. Abbr., Wis.; WI
Geography
The most notable physiographic feature of the state is its profusion of lakes, over 8,500, ranging in size from Lake WinnebagoWinnebago, Lake,
215 sq mi (557 sq km), E Wis.; largest lake in Wisconsin. Fed and drained by the Fox River, the lake is part of an all-water route between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River. Oshkosh and Fond du Lac are on the lake, which is a major recreation area.
..... Click the link for more information. (215 sq mi/557 sq km) to tiny glacial lakes of surprising beauty. The Wisconsin River, with its extensive dam system, runs generally southward through the middle of the state until it turns west (just NW of Madison) to flow into the Mississippi, dividing the state into eastern and western sectors. Running a parallel course just to the east, Wisconsin's major watershed extends in a broad arc from north to south; to the east the Menominee, the Peshtigo, the Wolf, and the Fox rivers flow E and NE into Lake Michigan, while to the west the Chippewa, the Flambeau, and the Black rivers make their way to the Mississippi.
Wisconsin's frontage on lakes Superior and Michigan as well as its many beautiful lakes and streams and its northern woodlands have made it a haven for hunters, fishermen, and water and winter sports enthusiasts. There are numerous state parks, forests, and two national forests. Apostle Islands National Lakeshore and Saint Croix and Lower Saint Croix national scenic rivers (see National Parks and MonumentsNational Parks and Monuments
National Parks
Name Type1 Location Year authorized Size
acres (hectares)
Description
Acadia NP SE Maine 1919 48,419 (19,603) Mountain and coast scenery.
..... Click the link for more information. , table) are also here. MadisonMadison.
1 City (1990 pop. 12,006), seat of Jefferson co., SE Ind., on the Ohio River; settled c.1806, inc. 1838. It is a port of entry and a tobacco marketing center. Among its manufactures are transportation and industrial equipment, shoes, and chemicals.
..... Click the link for more information. is the capital and the second largest city; MilwaukeeMilwaukee
, city (1990 pop. 628,088), seat of Milwaukee co., SE Wis., at the point where the Milwaukee, Menominee, and Kinnickinnic rivers enter Lake Michigan; inc. 1846.
..... Click the link for more information. is the largest city. Green BayGreen Bay,
city (1990 pop. 96,466), seat of Brown co., NE Wis., at the mouth of the Fox River on Green Bay; inc. 1854. An important Great Lakes harbor, Green Bay is a port of entry, with heavy shipping and a large wholesale and jobbing trade.
..... Click the link for more information. and RacineRacine
, industrial city (1990 pop. 84,298), seat of Racine co., SE Wis., on Lake Michigan, at the mouth of the Root River; inc. 1848. It is a port of entry, and its manufactures include farm machinery, automobile parts, stitching machines, tools, corrugated containers, waxes
..... Click the link for more information. are other major cities.
Economy
The rough isolation of Wisconsin's North Woods region is cut by part of the Gogebic range, from which much iron ore was extracted before 1965. Iron mining was resumed briefly in 1969 but has since stopped altogether. Sand and gravel, stone, and lime are other valuable mineral resources; zinc (as well as lead) is mined in the Driftless AreaDriftless Area,
c.13,000 sq mi (33,670 sq km), largely in SW Wis. but extending into SE Minn., NE Iowa, and NW Ill. The continental glacier which covered most surrounding regions did not touch this area, which abounds in caves and sinkholes and has residual, well-drained soil.
..... Click the link for more information. in the southwest. Important copper deposits were discovered in the north in the 1970s.
The state's greatest natural resource since its earliest days has been lumber. Dense forests (white pines in the north, hardwoods elsewhere) once covered all except the southern prairie. While reckless exploitation in the late 19th cent. drastically reduced the magnificent stands, extensive conservation and reforestation measures have saved the valuable lumber industry, and today c.40% of Wisconsin's land area is forested. The pulp, paper, and paper-products industrial complex in Green Bay and Appleton is one of the largest in the nation.
The state's accent, however, is chiefly pastoral. One of the nation's largest dairy herds grazes here, and Wisconsin is the leading state in the production of cheese as well as the second largest milk producer (after California). After dairy products and cattle, the state's most valuable farm commodities are corn and soybeans. Other important crops are hay, oats, potatoes, alfalfa, and a great variety of fruits and vegetables. Food processing, predictably, is one of the state's foremost industries, along with the manufacture of machinery, which is centered in Milwaukee, Madison, and Racine.
Other important manufactures are vehicles and transportation equipment, metal products, medical instruments and equipment, farm implements, and lumber. Almost all Wisconsin's major industries are to be found within metropolitan Milwaukee, where the traditional brewing and meatpacking are rivaled by the manufacture of heavy machinery and diesel and gasoline engines. Wisconsin has numerous ports on the Great Lakes capable of accommodating oceangoing vessels. The superb harbor at Superior (shared with Duluth, Minn.) has sizable shipyards and coal and ore docks that are among the nation's largest. Tourism and outdoor recreation are burgeoning, and several Native American groups operate gambling casinos in the state; through casino enterprises the Winnebago tribe has become one of the state's larger employers.
Government and Higher Education
Wisconsin still operates under its first constitution, adopted in 1848. Its executive branch is headed by a governor elected for a four-year term. Tommy G. Thompson, a Republican, was elected governor in 1986 and reelected in 1990, 1994, and 1998. Lt. Gov. Scott McCallum succeeded Thompson as governor in 2001 when the latter became U.S. secretary of health and human services. In 2002, Jim Doyle, a Democrat, was elected to the office; he was reelected in 2006. Republican Scott Walker was elected governor in 2010, survived a recall vote in 2012, and was reelected in 2014, but he lost to Democrat Tony Evers in 2018. Wisconsin's legislature has a senate with 33 members and an assembly with 99 members. The state elects two senators and eight representatives to the U.S. Congress and has ten electoral votes.
The extensive Univ. of Wisconsin has campuses at Madison (the main campus), Eau Claire, Green Bay, Kenosha, La Crosse, Menomonie, Milwaukee, Oshkosh, Platteville, River Falls, Stevens Point, Superior, and Whitewater. Other notable institutions of higher learning are Beloit College, at Beloit; Lawrence Univ., at Appleton; Marquette Univ., at Milwaukee; and Ripon College, at Ripon.
History
French Fur Trading and the Influx of Eastern Tribes
The Great Lakes offered an easy access from Canada to the region that is now Wisconsin, and the Frenchman Jean Nicolet arrived at the site of Green Bay in 1634 in search of fur pelts and the Northwest Passage. He was followed by other traders and missionaries, among them Radisson and Groseilliers; Marquette and Joliet, who discovered the upper Mississippi; and Aco and Hennepin, from the party of La Salle.
Meanwhile the spread of settlers in the East was bringing the Ottawa, the Huron, and other Native American tribes into Wisconsin, where they in turn displaced the older inhabitants, the Winnebago, the Kickapoo, and others. Similarly, the Ojibwa drove their kinsmen the Sioux westward from Wisconsin. Only the Menominee remained relatively settled.
Nicolas Perrot helped (1667) establish Green Bay as the center of the Wisconsin fur trade, and in 1686 he formally claimed all the region for France. The fur trade flourished despite the 50-year war between the Fox and the French, and the historic Fox-Wisconsin portage was used by generations of traders from Green Bay and Prairie du Chien in their search for beaver and other furs.
British-American Struggles
Like all of New France, Wisconsin fell to the British with the end of the French and Indian WarsFrench and Indian Wars,
1689–1763, the name given by American historians to the North American colonial wars between Great Britain and France in the late 17th and the 18th cent.
..... Click the link for more information. (1763). British traders mingled with the French and eventually gained the bulk of the fur trade. The British hold continued even after the end of the American Revolution, when the Old Northwest formally passed (1783) to the United States and was made (1787) a part of the Northwest Territory. After Jay's TreatyJay's Treaty,
concluded in 1794 between the United States and Great Britain to settle difficulties arising mainly out of violations of the Treaty of Paris of 1783 and to regulate commerce and navigation.
..... Click the link for more information. (1794), northwestern strongholds were turned over to the Americans, but the British continued to dominate the fur trade from the Canadian border. In the War of 1812 Wisconsin again fell into British hands. It was only with the Treaty of Ghent (see Ghent, Treaty ofGhent, Treaty of,
1814, agreement ending the War of 1812 between the United States and Great Britain. It was signed at Ghent, Belgium, on Dec. 24, 1814, and ratified by the U.S. Senate in Feb., 1815. The American commissioners were John Q. Adams, James A.
..... Click the link for more information. ) that effective U.S. territorial control began and that the American Fur Company gained control of much of the fur trade.
Settlement and Native American Resistance
Present-day Wisconsin was transferred from Illinois Territory to Michigan Territory in 1818. By then the fur trade was diminishing, but the lead mines in SW Wisconsin had long been active, and booming lead prices in the 1820s brought the first large rush of settlers. The region's great agricultural potential was also apparent, and after 1825 a considerable number of easterners began arriving via the new Erie Canal and the Great Lakes. They settled in the Milwaukee area and along the waterways. The U.S. army preserved order from key forts established at Green Bay (1816), Prairie du Chien (1816), and Portage (1828) and built bridges, trails, and roads throughout the region. The hostility of the Native Americans toward the incursions of aggressive settlers culminated in the Black Hawk WarBlack Hawk War,
conflict between the Sac and Fox and the United States in 1832. After the War of 1812, whites settling the Illinois country exerted pressure on the Native Americans.
..... Click the link for more information. (1832). This revolt, brutally crushed, was the last Native American resistance of serious consequence in the area.
Territorial Status and Early Statehood
In 1836, Wisconsin was made a territory, and the legislators chose a compromise site for the capital, midway between the Milwaukee and western centers of population; thus the city of Madison was founded. By 1840 population in the territory had risen above 130,000, but the people, fearing higher taxes and stronger government, rejected propositions for statehood four times. In addition, politicians were at first unwilling to yield Wisconsin claims to a strip of land around Chicago and to what is now the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. However, hopes that statehood would bring improved communications and prosperity became dominant; the claims were yielded, and Wisconsin achieved statehood in 1848. The state constitution provided protection for indebted farmers, limited the establishment of banks, and granted liberal suffrage. These measures and the state's rich soil attracted immigrants from Europe.
The influx of Germans to Wisconsin was especially heavy, and some parts of the state assumed the tidy semi-German look that has persisted along with an astonishing survival of the German language. Liberal leaders, like Carl Schurz, came after the failure of the Revolution of 1848 in Germany and added to the intellectual development of the state. Contributions were also made, then and later, by Irish, Scandinavians, Germans who had previously emigrated to the Volga region of Russia, and Poles.
The state's development was not always smooth. Although the state constitution provided for a system of free public schools, the principle was implemented only slowly. Similarly, the Univ. of Wisconsin (chartered 1848) was slow to assume importance. After a referendum (1852) ended the state constitutional ban on banking, farmers and many others mortgaged their property to buy railroad stocks, only to suffer distress when the state's railways went bankrupt in the Panic of 1857.
Late-Nineteenth-Century Political and Economic Developments
Wisconsin was steadily antislavery; the Free-Soil partyFree-Soil party,
in U.S. history, political party that came into existence in 1847–48 chiefly because of rising opposition to the extension of slavery into any of the territories newly acquired from Mexico.
..... Click the link for more information. gained a large following in the state (although the party's homestead plank and economic program were the major attractions). Wisconsin abolitionists played an important part in the formation of the Republican party. In the Civil War Wisconsin quickly rallied to the Union. Copperheads were few, but many War Democrats opposed the abridgment of civil liberties and other aspects of the war effort, and some of the German immigrants, who had left Germany because they opposed compulsory military service, opposed even voluntary war service.
The boom times brought by the war mitigated discontent, and economic and social growth was rapid during the 1860s and after. Railroads and other means of communication linked Wisconsin closely to the East. The meatpacking and brewing industries of Milwaukee began to assume importance in the 1860s. Wheat was briefly dominant especially in S Wisconsin, but was superseded in the 1870s as states further west became wheat producers and Wisconsin shifted to more diversified farming. Its great dairy industry developed, spurred by an influx of skilled dairy farmers from New York and Scandinavia and by the efforts of the Wisconsin Dairymen's Association (est. 1872). In these years the great pine forests of N Wisconsin began to be greatly exploited, and in the 1870s lumbering became the state's most important industry. Oshkosh and La Crosse flourished. With lumbering came large paper and wood products industries, and the opening of iron mines in Minnesota and Michigan promoted the N Great Lake ports and increased industrial opportunities.
Although hard hit in the panics of 1873 and 1898, Wisconsin was generally prosperous in the late 19th cent., and the reform-minded Granger movement and Populist party received less support than in other Midwestern states. A trend toward liberal political views was stimulated in Wisconsin by socialist thought, which was introduced early. Socialism, in a pragmatic and reformist rather than a doctrinaire form, dominated Milwaukee politics for many years and gave the city efficient government, particularly under the leadership of Victor BergerBerger, Victor Louis,
1860–1929, American Socialist leader and congressman, b. Austria-Hungary. After studying at the universities of Budapest and Vienna, he emigrated (1878) to the United States and settled in Milwaukee.
..... Click the link for more information. and Daniel Hoan. Stemming from a different source was the reform spirit of specialized and advanced Wisconsin farmers, who recognized the need for a more viable political and economic framework.
Robert La Follette and the Progressive Movement
In the early 20th cent., reform sentiment blossomed in the Progressive movement, under the tutelage of the Republican leader, Robert M. La FolletteLa Follette, Robert Marion
, 1855–1925, American political leader, U.S. Senator from Wisconsin (1906–25), b. Primrose, Wis. Early Career
Admitted (1880) to the Wisconsin bar, he practiced in Madison, Wis.
..... Click the link for more information. . This pragmatic attempt to achieve good effective government for all and to limit the excessive power of the few resulted in a direct primary law (1903), in legislation to regulate railroads and industry, in pure food acts, in high civil service standards, and in efforts toward cooperative nonpartisan action to solve labor problems. An important adjunct of progressivism was the "Wisconsin idea"—that of linking the facilities and brainpower of the Univ. of Wisconsin to progressive experiments and legislation. The plan owed much to Charles McCarthyMcCarthy, Charles,
1873–1921, American political scientist and author, b. Brockton, Mass. He organized and directed (1901–21) at Madison, Wis., the first official legislative reference library in the country.
..... Click the link for more information. and to the support of university president Charles Van Hise, and it brought such diverse benefits as the spread of scientific agricultural methods and the many labor and other bills drafted by Professor John R. CommonsCommons, John Rogers,
1862–1945, American economist, b. Hollansburg, Ohio, grad. Oberlin, 1888. Influenced by the other social sciences, Commons tried to broaden the scope of economics, especially in his noted Legal Foundations of Capitalism (1924) and
..... Click the link for more information. .
The progressive movement was temporarily halted by World War I. La Follette, some Socialists, and many German-Americans were critical of U.S. involvement in that war, but they were a distinct minority. Wisconsin was generally prosperous in the 1920s; industrialization made rapid strides, reforestation of the once great but now exhausted timberland was stimulated by state legislation, and the dairying industry continued to grow.
Wisconsin was alone in voting for its native son, La Follette, when he ran for president on the Progressive party ticket in 1924, and in the state his policies continued to be carried forward by his sons Robert M. La Follette, Jr., and Philip La Follette. Wisconsin's pioneer old-age pension act (1925) and its unemployment compensation act (1931) served as models for national social security a few years later. The Great Depression of the 1930s struck particularly hard in industrialized Milwaukee, but some relief was provided by the New Deal, and in addition Gov. Philip La Follette attempted, in his "little new deal," to improve agricultural marketing, promote electrification, and enforce fair labor practices.
World War II to the Present
During World War II, Wisconsin's shipbuilding industry flourished, and in the prosperous postwar era, urbanization and industrial growth continued; even in the nationwide slump of the late 1980s, the state's manufacturing sector proved resilient. Wisconsin politics continued to resonate on the national scene. U.S. Sen. Joseph McCarthy aroused controversy with his unsubstantiated anti-Communist campaign of the 1950s, but "McCarthyism" was balanced by other political strains in the state; thus Milwaukee, in the same period, again elected a Socialist mayor, and the Democratic party, long no match for Republican or Progressive forces, has gained strength in state elections since the late 1950s. In the 1990s the state was a pioneer in welfare reform.
Bibliography
See C. W. Rowe, The Effigy Mound Culture of Wisconsin (1956, repr. 1970); A. H. Robinson and J. B. Culver, ed., The Atlas of Wisconsin (1974); C. N. Current, Wisconsin: A History (1977); I. Vogeler, Wisconsin: A Geography (1986); R. C. Nesbit, Wisconsin: A History (rev. ed. 1989); R. F. Fries, The History of Lumbering in Wisconsin (1989).
Wisconsin,
river, c.430 mi (690 km) long, rising in the lake district, NE Wis., and flowing generally SW across central Wis. to the Mississippi River near Prairie du Chien. At Portage it is connected by a short canal with the Fox River, and thus with Lake Michigan. There are many hydroelectric power facilities on the river. The scenic Dells of the Wisconsin are a famous gorge.Wisconsin State Information
www.wisconsin.gov
Area (sq mi):: 65497.82 (land 54310.10; water 11187.72) Population per square mile: 101.90
Population 2005: 5,536,201 State rank: 0 Population change: 2000-20005 3.20%; 1990-2000 9.60% Population 2000: 5,363,675 (White 87.30%; Black or African American 5.70%; Hispanic or Latino 3.60%; Asian 1.70%; Other 3.70%). Foreign born: 3.60%. Median age: 36.00
Income 2000: per capita $21,271; median household $43,791; Population below poverty level: 8.70% Personal per capita income (2000-2003): $28,570-$30,685
Unemployment (2004): 5.00% Unemployment change (from 2000): 1.60% Median travel time to work: 20.80 minutes Working outside county of residence: 26.10%
List of Wisconsin counties:
Wisconsin Parks
- US National Parks
Apostle Islands National Lakeshore Ice Age National Scientific Reserve Saint Croix National Scenic Riverway - Urban Parks
Brown Deer Park Lincoln Park Whitnall Park - State Parks
Amnicon Falls State Park
Aztalan State Park
Belmont Mound State Park
Big Bay State Park
Big Foot Beach State Park
Black River State Forest
Blue Mound State Park
Browntown-Cadiz Springs State Recreation Area
Brule River State Forest
Brunet Island State Park
Buckhorn State Park
Capital Springs Centennial State Recreation Area
Chippewa Moraine Ice Age State Recreation Area
Copper Culture State Park
Copper Falls State Park
Council Grounds State Park
Devil's Lake State Park
Fischer Creek State Recreation Area
Flambeau River State Forest
Governor Dodge State Park
Governor Knowles State Forest
Governor Nelson State Park
Governor Thompson State ParkHarrington Beach State Park
Hartman Creek State Park
Havenwoods State Forest
Heritage Hill State Park
High Cliff State Park
Hoffman Hills Recreation Area
Interstate State Park
Kettle Moraine State Forest - Lapham Peak Unit
Kettle Moraine State Forest - Loew Lake Unit
Kettle Moraine State Forest - Northern Unit
Kettle Moraine State Forest - Pike Lake Unit
Kettle Moraine State Forest - Southern Unit
Kinnickinnic State Park
Kohler-Andrae State Park
Lake Kegonsa State Park
Lake Wissota State Park
Lakeshore State Park
Menominee River Natural Resources Area
Merrick State Park
Mill Bluff State Park
Mirror Lake State Park
Natural Bridge State Park
Nelson Dewey State ParkNew Glarus Woods State Park
Newport State Park
Northern Highland - American Legion State Forest
Pattison State Park
Peninsula State Park
Perrot State Park
Peshtigo River State Forest
Point Beach State Forest
Potawatomi State Park
Rib Mountain State Park
Richard Bong State Recreation Area
Roche-A-Cri State Park
Rock Island State Park
Rocky Arbor State Park
Straight Lake State Park
Tower Hill State Park
Turtle Flambeau Scenic Waters Area
Whitefish Dunes State Park
Wildcat Mountain State Park
Willow Flowage Scenic Waters Area
Willow River State Park
Wyalusing State Park
Yellowstone Lake State Park - Parks and Conservation-Related Organizations - US
Ice Age Park & Trail Foundation
Midwest Association of Fish & Wildlife AgenciesTrees For Tomorrow (TFT)
Upper Mississippi River Conservation Committee (UMRCC) - National Wildlife Refuges
Fox River National Wildlife Refuge
Horicon National Wildlife RefugeNecedah National Wildlife Refuge
Trempealeau National Wildlife RefugeWhittlesey Creek National Wildlife Refuge - National Trails
Ice Age National Scenic Trail Ice Age National Scenic Trail North Country National Scenic Trail - National Scenic Byways
Great River Road - Wisconsin - National Forests
Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest
Wisconsin
a state in the northern United States. Area, 145,400 km2. Population, 4.4 million (1970), 64 percent of which is urban (1960). Its capital is Madison, and its largest city is Milwaukee. Wisconsin occupies a plain between Lakes Michigan and Superior. In the north the soil is podzol; in the south it is brown forest soil. Coniferous and broad-leaved forests cover 42 percent of the state, and there is much meadowland and arable land.
Wisconsin is an industrial agricultural state. Processing industries employ 510,000 people (1968); about 3,000 are employed in mining. Zinc ore is mined on a small scale. Electropower plants produce 5.3 million kV (1968). The most highly developed processing industries are metalworking and machine building (manufacture of agricultural and road-building machinery, tractors, boilers, turbines, and motors). The paper, furniture, woodworking, and food industries are also important. Animal husbandry, especially dairy animals, accounts for about two-thirds of the state’s commercial agricultural production.
Wisconsin is one of the United States’ major producers of cheese and butter and supplies much fresh milk to the country. There are 4.1 million head of cattle, including 2.1 million milch cows (1968). The main crops are fodder grasses, wheat, barley, and silage corn. The state also has horticulture and market gardening. Ship traffic on the Great Lakes is also important.
V. M. GOKHMAN
The first settlement of Europeans in what is today Wisconsin was founded in 1634 by Frenchmen. In 1763, Wisconsin was taken over by Great Britain, and in 1783 it became part of the United States, but until 1816 it remained independent from the British trading company in the area. In 1848 the territory of Wisconsin became a state.
Wisconsin
[wi′skän·sən]Wisconsin
Thirtieth state; admitted on May 29, 1848
State capital: Madison Nicknames: Badger State; America’s Dairyland; Copper
State State motto: Forward State animal: Badger (Taxidea taxus); wildlife animal:
White-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) domestic ani
mal: Dairy cow (Bos taurus)
State ballad: “Oh Wisconsin, Land of My Dreams”
State beverage: Milk
State bird: Robin (Turdus migratorius)
State dance: Polka
State dog: American water spaniel
State fish: Muskellunge (muskie, Esox masquinongy
Mitchell)
State flower: Wood violet (Viola papilionacea)
State fossil: Trilobite (Calymene celebra)
State fruit: Cranberry (vaccinium macrocarpon)
State grain: Corn (Zea mays)
State insect: Honeybee (Apis mellifera)
State mineral: Galena
State rock: Red granite
State soil: Antigo silt loam
State song: “On, Wisconsin!”
State symbol of peace: Mourning dove (Zenaidura macroura
corolinensis linnaus)
State tree: Sugar maple (Acer saccharum)
State waltz: “The Wisconsin Waltz”
More about state symbols at:
www.wisconsin.gov/state/core/wisconsin_state
_symbols.html
dnr.wi.gov/org/caer/ce/eek/nature/state/index.htm
More about the state at:
www.wisconsinhistory.org/
SOURCES:
AmerBkDays-2000, p. 400
AnnivHol-2000, p. 89
STATE OFFICES:
State web site:
www.wisconsin.gov
Office of the Governor
State Capitol
PO Box 7863
Madison, WI 53707
608-266-1212
fax: 608-267-8983
www.wisgov.state.wi.us
Secretary of State PO Box 7848 Madison, WI 53707 608-266-8888 fax: 608-266-3159 www.sos.state.wi.us
Wisconsin Dept of Public Instruction Library Services Div 125 S Webster St PO Box 7841 Madison, WI 53707 608-266-3390 fax: 608-267-1052 www.dpi.state.wi.us/
Legal Holidays:
| Christmas Eve | Dec 24 |
Wisconsin
Wisconsin
WISCONSIN. The name of one of the new states of the United States, of America.
2. The constitution of Wisconsin was adopted by a convention, at Madison, on the first day of February, 1848.
3. The right of suffrage is vested by the third article of the constitution, as follows: Sect. 1. Every male person of the age of twenty-one years or upwards, belonging to either of the following classes, who shall have resided in this state for one year next preceding any election, shall be deemed a qualified elector at such election. 1st. White citizens of the United States. 2d. White persons of foreign birth who shall have declared their intention to become citizens, conformably to the laws of the United States on the subject of naturalization. 3d. Persons of Indian blood who have once been declared by law of congress to be citizens of the United States, any subsequent act of congress to the contrary notwithstanding.
4th. Civilized persons of Indian descent, not members of any tribe; Provided, that the legislature may at any time extend by law the right of suffrage to persons not herein enumerated, but no such law shall be in force until the same shall have been submitted to a vote of the people at a general election, and approved by a majority of all the votes cast at such election.
Sect. 2. No person under guardianship, non compos mentis, or insane shall be qualified to vote at any election; nor shall any person, convicted of treason or felony, be qualified to vote at any election, unless restored to civil rights.
Sect. 3. All votes shall be given by ballot, except for such township officers as may by law be directed or allowed to be otherwise chosen.
Sect. 4. No person shall be deemed to have lost his residence in this state by reason of absence on business of the United States or of this state.
Sect. 5. No soldier, seaman or marine, in the army or navy of the United States, shall be deemed a resident in this state, in consequence of being stationed within the same.
Sect. 6. Laws may be passed excluding from the right of suffrage all persons who have been, or may be convicted of bribery, or larceny, or any infamous crime, and depriving every person who shall make or become directly or indirectly interested in any bet or wager depending upon the result of any election, of the right to vote at such election. 4, The fourth article vests the legislative power in a senate and assembly. These will be separately considered, by taking a view, 1. Of the senate. 2. Of the assembly.
5.-Sec. 1. The senate. It will be proper to examine, first, the qualification of the senators; secondly, the time of their election; third, the duration of their office fourth, the number of senators.
6.-1. The senators must have resided one year within the state, and be qualified electors in the district which they may be chosen to represent. Sect. 6.
7.-2. Senators are elected on the Tuesday following the first Monday of November by the qualified electors of the several districts. One half every year.
8.-3. They hold their office for two years.
9.-4. The senate shall consist of a number of members not more than one-third, nor less than one-fourth of the number of the members of the assembly. Sect. 2.
10.-Sec. 2. The assembly will be, considered in the same order.
11.-1. Members of the assembly must have resided one year in the state, and be qualified electors for the district for which they may be chosen.
12.-2. Members of the assembly are elected at the same time senators are elected.
13.-3. They are elected annually.
14.-4. The number of members of the assembly shall never be less than fifty-four nor more than one hundred.
15. The two houses are invested severally with the following powers:
Sect. 7. Each house shall be the judge of the elections, returns and qualifications of its own members; and a majority of each shall constitute a quorum to do business, but a smaller number may adjourn from day to day, and may compel the attendance of absent members, in such manner and under such penalties as each house may provide.
Sect. 8. Each house may determine the rules of its own proceedings, punish for contempts and disorderly behaviour; and, with the concurrence of two-thirds of all the members elected, expel a member; but no member shall be expelled a second time for the same cause.
Sect. 9. Each house shall choose its own officers, and the senate shall choose a temporary president when the lieutenant-governor shall not attend as president, or shall act as governor.
Sect. 10. Each house shall keep a journal of its proceedings and publish the same, except such parts as require secrecy. The doors of each house shall be kept open, except when the public welfare shall require secrecy. Neither house shall, without the consent of the other, adjourn for more than three days.
16. By the fifth article, the executive power is vested in a governor.
17.-Sect. 1. The executive power shall be vested in a governor, who shall hold his office for two years; a lieutenant governor shall be elected at the same time, and for the same term.
18.-Sect. 2. No person, except a citizen of the United States, and a qualified elector of the state, shall be eligible to the office of governor or lieutenant governor.
19.-Sect. 3. The governor and lieutenant governor shall be elected by the qualified electors of the state, at the times and places of choosing members of the legislature. The persons respectively having the highest, number of votes for governor and lieutenant-governor shall be elected, but in case two or more shall have an equal and the highest number of votes for governor or lieutenant-governor, the two houses of the legislature, at its next annual session, shall forthwith, by joint ballot, choose one of the persons so having an equal and the highest number of votes, for governor or lieutenant governor. The returns of election for governor or lieutenant governor shall be made in such manner as shall be provided by law.
20.-Sect. 4. The governor shall be commander-in-chief of the military. and naval forces of the state. He shall have power to convene the legislature on extraordinary occasions; and in case of invasion, or danger from the prevalence of contagious disease at the seat of government, he may convene them at any other suitable place within the state. He shall communicate to the legislature at every session, the condition of the state; and recommend such matters to them for their consideration as he may deem expedient. He shall transact all necessary business with the officers of the government, civil and military. He shall expedite all such measures as may be resolved upon by the legislature, and shall take care that the laws be faithfully executed.
21.-Sect. 5. The governor shall receive during his continuance in office an annual compensation of one thousand two hundred and fifty dollars.
22.-Sect. 6. The governor shall have the power to grant reprieves, commutations and pardons after conviction for all offences, except treason, and cases of impeachment, upon such conditions and with such restrictions and limitations as he may think proper, subject to such regulations as may be provided by law relative to the manner of applying for pardons. Upon conviction for treason he shall have the power to suspend the execution of the sentence, until the case shall be reported to the legislature at its next meeting, when the legislature shall either pardon, or commute the sentence, direct the execution of the sentence, or grant a further reprieve. He shall annually communicate to the legislature each case of reprieve, commutation or pardon granted, stating the name of the convict, the crime of which he was convicted, the sentence and its date, and the date of the commutation, pardon or reprieve, with his reasons for granting the same.
23.-Sect. 7. In case of the impeachment of the governor, or his removal from office, death, inability from mental or physical disease, resignation or absence from the state, the powers and the duties of the office shall devolve upon the lieutenant-governor for the residue of the term, until the governor, absent or impeached, shall have returned, or the disability shall cease. But when the governor shall, with the consent of the legislature, be out of the state in time of war, at the head of the military force thereof, he shall continue commander-in-chief of the military force of the state.
24.-Sect. 8. The lieutenant-governor shall be president of the senate, but shall have only a casting vote therein. If during a vacancy in the office of governor, the lieutenant governor shall be impeached, displaced, resign, die, or from mental or physical disease, become incapable of performing the duties of his office, or be absent from the state the secretary of state shall act as governor until the vacancy shall be filled, or the disability shall cease.
25.-Sect. 9. The lieutenant governor shall receive double the per them allowance of members of the senate, for every day's attendance as president of the senate, and the same mileage as shall be allowed to members of the legislature.
26.-Sect. 10. Every bill which shall have passed the legislature, shall, before it becomes a law, be presented to the governor; if he approve, he shall sign it, but if not, he shall return it with his objections to that house in which it shall have originated, who shall enter the objections It large upon the journal, and proceed to reconsider it. If after such reconsideration, two-thirds. of the members present shall agree to pass the bill, it shall be sent, together with the objections, to the other house, by which it shall likewise be reconsidered, and if approved by two-thirds of the members present, it shall become a law. But in all such cases, the votes of both houses shall be determined by, yeas and nays, and the names of the members, voting for or against the bill, shall be entered on the journal of each house respectively. If any bill shall not be returned by the governor within three days (Sundays excepted) after it shall have been presented to him, the same shall be a law, unless the legislature shall by their adjournment prevent its return, in which case it shall not be a law.
27. The seventh article establishes the judiciary as follows:
Sect. 1. The court for the trial of impeachments shall be composed of the senate. The house of representatives shall have the power of impeaching all civil officers of this state, for corrupt conduct in office, or for crimes and misdemeanors; but a majority of all the members elected shall concur in an impeachment. On the trial of an impeachment against the governor, the lieutenant governor shall not act as a member of the court. No judicial officer shall exercise his office after he shall have been impeached until his acquittal. Before the trial of an impeachment, the members, of the court shall take an oath or affirmation truly and impartially to try the impeachment according to the evidence; and no person shall be convicted without a concurrence of two-thirds of the members present. Judgment in case of impeachment shall not extend further than to removal from office, or removal from office and disqualification to hold any office of honor, profit or trust under the state; but the party impeached shall be liable to indictment, trial and punishment according to law.
28.-Sect. 2. The judicial power of this state, both as to matters of law and equity, shall be vested in a supreme court, circuit courts, courts of probate, and in justices of the peace. The legislature may also vest such jurisdiction as shall be deemed necessary in municipal courts and shall have power to establish inferior courts in the several counties with limited civil and criminal jurisdiction: Provided, that the jurisdiction which may be vested in municipal courts shall not exceed, in their respective municipalities, that of circuit courts, in their respective circuits, as prescribed in this constitution: And that the legislature shall provide as well for the election of judges of the municipal courts, as of the judges of inferior courts, by the qualified electors of the respective jurisdictions. The term of office of the judges of the said municipal and inferior courts shall not be longer than that of the judges of the circuit court.
29.-Sect, 3. The supreme court, except in cases otherwise provided in this constitution, shall have appellate jurisdiction only, which shall be coextensive with the state; but in no case removed to the supreme court shall a trial by jury be allowed. The supreme court shall have a general superintending control over all inferior courts; it shall have power to issue writs of habeas corpus, mandamus, injunction, quo warranto certiorari, and other original and remedial writs, and to hear and determine the same.
30.-Sect. 4. For the term of five years and thereafter until the legislature shall otherwise provide, the judges of the several courts shall be judges of the supreme court, four of whom shall constitute a quorum, and the concurrence of a majority of the judges present shall be necessary to a decision. The legislature shall have power, if they should think it expedient and necessary to provide by law for the organization of a separate supreme court, with the jurisdiction and powers prescribed in this constitution, to consist of one chief justice and two associate justices, to be elected by the qualified electors of the state, at such time and in such manner as the legislature may provide. The separate supreme court, when so organized, shall not be changed or discontinued by the legislature; the judges thereof shall be so classified that but one of them shall go out of office at the same time, and the term of office shall be the same as provided for the judges of the circuit court. And whenever the legislature may consider it necessary to establish a separate supreme court, they shall have power to reduce the number of circuit court judges to four, and subdivide the judicial circuits, but no such subdivision or reduction shall take effect till after the expiration of the term of some one of the said judges, or till a vacancy occur by some other means.
31. Circuits are established, and they may be changed by the legislature.
Sec. 7. For each circuit there shall be a judge chosen by the qualified electors therein, who shall hold his office as is provided in this constitution until his successor shall be chosen and qualified, and after he shall have been elected, he shall reside in the circuit for which he was elected. One of said judges shall be designated as chief justice, in such manner as the legislature shall provide. And the legislature shall, at its first session, provide by law as well for the election of, as for classifying, the judges of the circuit court to be elected under this constitution, in such manner, that one of the said judges shall go out of office in two years, one in three years, one in four years, one in five years and one in six years, and thereafter the judge elected to fill the office, shall bold the same for six years.
32.-8. The circuit courts shall have original jurisdiction in all matters civil and criminal within this state, not excepted in this constitution, and not hereafter prohibited by law, and appellate jurisdiction from all inferior courts and tribunals, and a supervisory control over the same. They shall also have the power to issue writs of habeas corpus, mandamus, injunction, quo warranto, certiorari, and all other writs necessary to carry into effect their orders, judgments and decrees, and give them a general control over inferior courts and jurisdictions.
33.-Sect. 9. When a vacancy shall happen in the office of a judge of the supreme or circuit court, such vacancy shall be filled by an appointment of the governor, which shall continue until a successor is elected and qualified; and when elected, such successor shall hold his office the residue of the unexpired term. There shall be no election for a judge or judges at any general election for state or county officers, nor within thirty days either before or after such election.
34.-Sect. 10. Each of the judges of the supreme and circuit courts shall receive a salary, payable quarterly, of not less than one thousand five hundred dollars annually; they shall receive no fees of office or other compensation than their salaries; they shall hold no office of public trust, except a judicial office, during the term for which they are respectively elected, and all votes for either of them for any office except a judicial office, given by the legislature or the people, shall be void. No person shall be eligible to the office of judge who shall not at the time of his election be a citizen of the United States, and have attained the age of twenty-five years, and be a qualified elector within the jurisdiction for which he may be chosen.
35.-Sect. 11. The supreme court shall hold at least one term annually at the seat of government of the state at such times as shall be provided by law, and the legislature may provide for holding other terms, and at other places when they may deem it necessary. A circuit court shall be held at least twice a year, in each county of this state, organized for judicial purposes. The judges of the circuit court may hold courts for each other, and shall do so when required by law.
Wisconsin
- noun
Synonyms for Wisconsin
noun a tributary of the Mississippi River in Wisconsin
Synonyms
- Wisconsin River
Related Words
- Badger State
- WI
- Wisconsin
noun a midwestern state in north central United States
Synonyms
- Badger State
- WI
Related Words
- middle west
- Midwest
- midwestern United States
- U.S.A.
- United States
- United States of America
- US
- USA
- America
- the States
- U.S.
- Appleton
- Eau Claire
- Green Bay
- La Crosse
- capital of Wisconsin
- Madison
- Milwaukee
- Racine
- Superior
- Watertown
- Wausau
- Fox River
- Wisconsin
- Wisconsin River
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