Minnesota’s Newcomers

Chapter 7

Minnesota• Until about 1850, most people living in Minnesota were Indians• By the 1860s, white settlers were the majority• 1851: 6,000 whites• 1854: 30,000• 1857: 150,000It was a popular destination for people migrating

Population Growth

• Prospect of land drew more people to Minnesota than California during the gold rush

• Minnesota’s white population grew a whopping 3,545 percent from 1849 – 1860

• Ojibwe population grew from 4,800 – 7,500• Dakota population fell from 6,292 - 374

whites Ojibwe Dakota0

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Series 1Series 2

Population Growth

Transportation

• 1847: steamboats started making stops at the village of St. Paul

• Carried people and supplies

• Boats ran from April – November

• Oxcarts were also popular ways to travel

Before 1847:• People came by foot or canoe

After 1850:• Steamboats made regular stops at the village of St. Paul• Carried people and supplies• Immigrants traveled by train to Galena, Illinois• Then boarded the steamboats

Transportation: Then

The boats could run only from April to November, when the river was clear of ice.

Four steamboats arrive at the port of St. Paul

If you were traveling in 1850. . . A trip from Galena, Illinois to St. Paul, Minnesota would take you:

2 days by steamboat 6 days by stagecoach

Transportation Then and Now

Traveling by car today, this trip would take only 5 hours and 15 minutes!

St. Paul

An Example of Travel Conditions

What a horrible morning! The wind is strong and the waves are high.The ship is rolling

from side to side so much that it is impossible to stand up without getting dizzy.

We are all terribly seasick. I would never have believed that a person could vomit as

much as I have this morning.Conditions on the lower levels are beyond

description. Since the toilets are so far away from these parts of the ship the passengers use chamber pots, which they leave on the floor. The rocking of the ship, however, has capsized many of these vessels, spreading

filth in every direction. To make matters worse, people in the upper beds cannot help vomiting on their fellow suffers in the lower

beds.--A German immigrant named Franz Joseph Ennemoser

Excerpt from Three Immigrant Stories, Jeffrey A. Hess. A component of The Immigrant Experience: A Minnesota History Resource Unit. Copyright 1977 by the Minnesota Historical Society.

A Long Journey

St. Paul

People traveled far to get to their new home in Minnesota. Notice the section from Galena to St. Paul. That part alone took anywhere from 2 to 6 days. Now, think about how long it would have taken to get there from New York or Boston. Look at the water and land routes. For many, this was AFTER they’d already traveled from another country across the Atlantic Ocean. Sometimes, these trips took months to complete.

Immigrants• An immigrants story handout and activity

A person who emigrates also immigrates.

Harriet Bishop• First school teacher in Minnesota• Grew up in Vermont• Few careers open to women at

that time• http://youtu.be/eJF985ArVEQ

Harriet Bishop

• In Harriet’s day, St. Paul was mostly log huts• Streets were rutted and muddy• Only a few hundred people lived there• Read page 93: Start at Harriet Bishop …• Today, many schools are named after Harriet

Bishop• http://www.isd191.org/schools/harriet-bishop

-elementary

Harriet Bishop’s Achievements

• Goal: To help “civilize” the frontier

• Established St. Paul’s first Sunday school

• Helped organize a temperance group

• Raised money for community projects

• Read quote page 93

Becoming a Territory

• Must have 5000 adults living in it

• A convention has to elect a legislature and a non-voting representative to the U.S. Congress

• U.S. Congress passes a law creating the territory and authorizing its legislature to make laws

• Minnesota had 4,535 adults• Sixty-one men met in

Stillwater in 1848 to elect Henry Sibley to represent them in Congress

• Congress created Minnesota Territory on March 3, 1849.

• Alexander Ramsey became first governor of the territory

Whites Trespass

• 1852: White settlers were pouring into MN• They were supposed to stay away until 1854• They claimed land they hoped to buy from the

gov’t when it became legal to do so• Showed little concern for Indians who were

living there

New Arrivals

• Whites came with hopes of owning land and being their own boss

• Many came from Europe and New England

• Land ownership was a source of wealth and status

• To many, the landscape was familiar to home

• Swede’s, German’s, Norwegian’s, Irish• Read story of The Swedish Immigrant,

– pages 96-97Hans Mattson

A Community Grows

• Mattson wrote letters that were published in a Swedish newspaper in Chicago

• He described life in Minnesota and urged others to come

• Read quote page 98• Who else was coming to Minnesota?

Newcomers

• Norwegians: left because jobs were scarce

• Irish: escape famine• Germans: fleeing wars• New England and the East• Whole communities that did not

speak English sprung up– New Ulm, New Prague, Scandia to

name a few

Minnesota Statehood32nd State: May 11, 1858

• Congress must pass a law allowing a territory to become a state

• A group of residents must convene to write the state constitution

• Voters must approve the constitution and elect officials and legislators

• Congress must pass a law admitting the state into the Union

• 1857: Congress passed the law allowing Minnesota to begin the process toward statehood

• Minnesota’s constitution was written at a convention in Stillwater

• Minnesotans approved the constitution and Henry Sibley was elected governor

• Congress admitted Minnesota into the Union