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Milestone reached

To the Journal editor:

The Upper Peninsula has something to celebrate on Saturday this year!

It is the 183rd anniversary of the Frostbitten Convention which confirmed the acquisition of the Upper Peninsula by the state of Michigan and allowed our state to become the 26th in the nation in 1837.

The story behind this convention was told by Mark Ruge at the annual Sonderegger Symposium on Northern Michigan University’s campus in 2016. It is a fascinating story.

The details can be accessed online or in an article Mark submitted to “Upper Country: A journal of the Lake Superior Region.” It is ironic that it was bitter cold that day in Ann Arbor where the convention took place, since it was affirming the addition of the often-chilly Upper Peninsula to the Lower Peninsula. Seems it may be especially chilly for this year’s celebration!

As your readers likely know already, the Toledo Compromise was passed by Congress in 1836.

Michigan’s Territorial Government and the state of Ohio had been fighting for the land encompassing Toledo for some time. The Compromise, strongly supported by President Andrew Jackson, gave the Toledo strip to Ohio and the U.P. to Michigan.

This was not a solution acceptable to most Michiganders at the time. The vast resources of the U.P. were not known or appreciated then. And there was no easy way to get from the Upper Peninsula to the Lower Peninsula.

But Congress pressed the Compromise on Michigan and since it was tied to statehood, the then territorial governor, Steven T Mason, pushed for acceptance. The citizens attending the Frostbitten Convention voted to accept it on Dec. 14, 1836. (An earlier convention had rejected it.)

And so this week we have reason to honor the Convention’s decision. And the Marquette Regional History Center is hosting a birthday party in celebration.

The public is welcome to attend from 1-3 p.m. There will be a program where Mark Ruge will review the fascinating history. State Rep. Sarah Cambensy, D-Marquette, will talk about the Resolution which she has been instrumental in getting the state legislature to approve making Saturday a holiday!

Any good reason for an U.P. celebration is a fine idea to me!

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