Skip Navigation
Michigan Department of Natural ResourcesMichigan.gov, official Web site for the State of Michigan
Michigan.gov Home DNR Home |  Key Topics |  Contact DNR |  DNR Mobile Apps |  Site Map
close print view

JANUARY 26, 1837

Stevens T. Mason

In Washington, D.C., President Andrew Jackson signs the bill making Michigan the nation's 26th state. The enactment ended a struggle that began more than two years earlier, when 23-year-old acting Territorial Governor Stevens T. Mason declared that Michigan had a "right" to be a state, despite Congress's refusal to endorse a state constitutional convention. The struggle had become focused on the ownership of a 500-square-mile stretch of land called the Toledo Strip. Ohioans and Michiganians traded hostile words and then mobilized their militias to assert their claims. While Congress debated the matter, Michiganians wrote a state constitution with several farsighted features, including a comprehensive public education system under a state superintendent. President Jackson's signature also finalized Michigan's acceptance of a congressional proposal giving Toledo to Ohio and the wilderness of the western Upper Peninsula to Michigan.

Contact the Michigan Historical Center.

Updated 06/23/2011

Related Content
 •  MAY 17, 1673
 •  JULY 24, 1701
 •  MAY 7, 1763
 •  JULY 11, 1796
 •  JANUARY 22, 1813
 •  JANUARY 27, 1847
 •  JUNE 22, 1855
 •  JULY 1, 1863
 •  JANUARY 28, 1877
 •  MARCH 6, 1896
 •  MAY 2, 1933
 •  DECEMBER 30, 1936
 •  OCTOBER 1, 1942
 •  NOVEMBER 1, 1957
 •  JANUARY 26, 1987
QR code

Michigan.gov Home |  Report All Poaching 1-800-292-7800 |  Contact DNR |  DNR Home |  State Web Sites |  Spending & Accountability |  Office of Regulatory Reinvention
Link Policy |  Privacy Policy |  Accessibility Policy |  Security Policy | Michigan News | Michigan.gov Survey


Copyright © 2001-2013 State of Michigan