The Surprising History: Why Michigan Was Given the Upper Peninsula

The Upper Peninsula is inexplicably part of Michigan's identity. Both pleasant peninsulas make the state whole. So would it surprise you today to know that Michigan of the 1830s wanted nothing to do with the Western Upper Peninsula as it was given to Michigan to end the 'Toledo War.'

The fact, known to historians but little known by most Michiganders came to light recently.

The Reluctant Acquisition of the Western UP

In a lighthearted thread on Reddit about a 'Second Toledo War' to expand the state's boundaries led to a particularly insightful comment about the history of the Western UP:

The western 1/3rd of the UP remained unclaimed by both the proposed state of Michigan and subsequent Wisconsin territory so it became a concession for joining the Union.

During negotiations, a concession was made that congress would fund a geological survey headed up by Douglas Houghton if we agreed to take the western UP.

Read that again - the US Congress would fund a survey of the practically unmapped and unknown lands of the Upper Peninsula only if Michigan agreed to make it part of its territory.

The Frostbitten Convention: A Defining Moment

The agreement to accept the Western UP was done at an event known as the Frostbitten Convention, formally the Second Convention to Assent, a gathering of Michigan residents held in Ann Arbor to accept the conditions of the US Congress and become a state.

The key compromise from Congress to the Michiganders, as shared by the UP-based publication Rural Insights,

One might think that such a compromise would make Michiganders happy, but for the most part it did not. In part, because they resented having such conditions placed on their inevitable statehood but also because they believed the Toledo Strip far more valuable than the Upper Peninsula.

At the time, the U.P. was viewed as an isolated wilderness devoid of any financial prospects and full of nothing but “fur traders and Indians.”

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So no one wanted it, but Michigan is today happily stuck with it. However, it may have become the bane of those in the UP who have often looked to separate from the population base of southern Michigan and form a 51st state of Superior.