The Upper Peninsula War (aka The Canadian - Michigan War)

The Upper Peninsula War (1843-1844; also known as the Canadian - Michigan War) was the conflict between the State of Michigan and Canada over a disputed territorial line in the Upper Peninsula, which led to a secession attempt by the governor of Michigan, Epaphroditus Ransom. The boundary dispute arose out of ambiguous and conflicting mappings of the region, which set the St. Mary’s River through, what is known now as the Upper Peninsula. Governor Ransom feared that the Canadian government would attempt to reclaim sovereignty over the Upper Peninsula. He also feared threats from U.S. President John Tyler to remove him from office. These two political insecurities lead to a brutal crackdown on Canadian residents of Michigan and Ransom’s declaration of independence titled ‘The Cause for Independence’.

The disputed boundary line was set shortly after the War of 1812. During the war of 1812 British Troops captured what was then the Michigan Territory and sovereignty of the territory was briefly returned to Upper Canada. Control of the territory was only restored to the United States after the Treaty of Ghent, which implemented the policy of “Status Quo Ante Bellum” or “Just as Things Were Before the War”. However, true sovereignty of the Upper Peninsula and the islands in the St. Clair River remained contested. After Michigan was awarded the Upper Peninsula as a consolation for its losses in the Toledo War, the issue of sovereignty was reignited.



In 1840, when large mineral deposits (copper and iron) were discovered in the area, French-Canadians began to migrate to the region en masse. Some French-Canadian separatists began to secretly fund the new immigrants to the region – organizing them into regional militias. Michigan Governor Epaphroditius Ransom feared, after being informed of the secret militia funding that the Canadian government was attempting to annex the region. On February 26, 1843, Governor Ransom mobilized a militia force to move into the region. He ordered the militia commanders to crack down on all Canadian citizens and secure the Upper Peninsula borders against a full-fledged Canadian incursion. This troop mobilization lead to a brutal crackdown in the Upper Peninsula – specifically in the towns of St. Ignace (on the south-western edge) and Rudyard (on the eastern border). The conflict was only ended with the capture of Governor Ransom by federal troops on April 1, 1843.

Origins
With the passing of the Act of Union (1840), by the Parliament of the United Kingdom, Upper Canada and Lower Canada where joined into the Province of Canada. With the proclamation of the act, on February 10, 1841, Upper Canada and Lower Canada became, respectively, Canada West and Canada East. This was the beginning of the implementation of Lord Durham’s Report.

In 1838, Lord Durham was assigned the task of investigating the causes of the Rebellions of 1837-1838. The problem, Durham concluded, was essentially animosity between the British and the French inhabitants. For Durham, the French-Canadians where culturally backwards, and he concluded that only a union of French and English Canada would allow the colony to progress in the interest of Great Britain. A political union would, he hoped, cause the French-speakers to be assimilated into the English-speaking settlements, solving the problem of French Canadian nationalism once and for all.

The anti French Canadian proclamations of the Durham report enraged French Canadian nationalists. Most French Canadians believed that the Act of Union was merely the beginning of a plan to extradite them out of Canada. Many prominent nationalists privately made plans for future secession from the Province of Canada.

The disputed boundary line revolved around where the St. Mary’s river was actually situated in the Upper Peninsula. The Lartique map of 1798, which was used by the Canadians to set their territorial lines and define the Ordinance Line of 1812, [1] showed the St. Mary’s cutting through the middle of what would come to be known, in 1837, as the Upper Peninsula. The Canadians long believed that the section of land, east of the St. Mary’s river, was a part of their territory. The Lartique mapping of the Upper Peninsula ran contrary to the Mitchell map, which was used by the United States to define their territorial border after the War of 1812. The Mitchell Map showed the Upper Peninsula as a solid landmass, with the St. Mary’s river on the far eastern edge separating the U.S territory from the Canadian. [2] This 7, 356 square mile piece land, an area half the size of Denmark, would lead to the first hot war between Canadian and American forces since the War of 1812.




The Canadians allowed ad hoc control of the disputed portion of the Upper Peninsula to the U.S. Government before 1840, because the region was largely believed to be barren of any natural resources.[3] The issue of sovereignty was reopened when large mineral deposits were discovered in the Upper Peninsula. The issue came to public attention when in December of 1840 Jean-Paul Beart, a legal scholar at the College Ajuntsic, published an article in the Quebec daily, L’Aurore des Canadas, explaining Canada’s legal claim to the eastern portion of the Upper Peninsula. Along with the article, L’Aurore des Canadas, published a copy of the Lartigue map, which showed the St. Mary’s path through the middle portion of the region.[4] The publishing of this article, with the findings of the 1817 commission, ignited expansionist rhetoric in the capital leading to the enactment of the St Mary’s Migration Act.[5]

The St. Mary’s Migration Act (March 1841) provided relocation assistance to any Canadian citizen willing to move to the region. [6] Learning from the War of 1812, where a loyal Canadian populace thwarted U.S. military advances, the Canadian government hoped that a similarly loyal populace, [7] in the region, would deter the U.S. Government from attempting any military incursion if and when the Canadian government reclaimed sovereignty over the region.

History of Michigan’s independence movement
The State of Michigan, prior to the Governor Ransom’s succession attempt, had a long-standing desire towards secession. [8] Lewis Cass, (1782-1866) Michigan’s Territorial governor from 1813-1831, began his career as an American military officer before stepping into politics at the behest of President James Madison. As governor of the territory, Cass was frequently absent, and several territorial secretaries often served as acting governor in his place. [9]

Read more at:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Hanger65/Upper_Peninsula_War

User:Hanger65/Upper Peninsula War
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