Bill Text: MI HR0207 | 2019-2020 | 100th Legislature | Enrolled
Bill Title: A resolution to commemorate December 14, 2019, as the 183rd birthday of the Upper Peninsula in the state of Michigan.
Spectrum: Moderate Partisan Bill (Democrat 29-5)
Status: (Passed) 2019-12-11 - Adopted [HR0207 Detail]
Download: Michigan-2019-HR0207-Enrolled.html
house resolution no.207
Reps. Cambensy, Markkanen, Gay-Dagnogo, Kuppa, Crawford, Hertel, Cherry, Elder, Haadsma, Robinson, Byrd, Yancey, Kennedy, Stone, Cynthia Johnson, Garza, Liberati, Tyrone Carter, Shannon, Bolden, Koleszar, Sowerby, Lasinski, Camilleri, Warren, Sabo, Chirkun, LaFave, Marino, Rabhi, Jones, Love, Kahle and Witwer offered the following resolution:
Whereas, Before Michigan statehood, there existed a dispute between officials in the territory of Michigan and state of Ohio over the rightful claim to land known as the Toledo Strip; and
Whereas, In 1836, federal legislation was enacted, signed into law by President Andrew Jackson, that established the boundaries of the new state of Michigan, granting the Toledo Strip to the state of Ohio and granting the entire area now known as the Upper Peninsula to the state of Michigan. In enacting the legislation, Congress established a final condition before Michigan statehood—“the assent of a convention of delegates elected by the people” of Michigan to the proposed boundaries; and
Whereas, The first convention of delegates that assembled in Michigan in September of 1836 rejected the boundaries proposed by Congress, declaring it an injustice that the boundaries included the Upper Peninsula instead of Toledo; and
Whereas, Fortunately, a new convention of delegates was quickly assembled by Michigan territorial governor Stevens T. Mason in Ann Arbor. On December 14, 1836, in what is now known as the Frostbitten Convention because of the cold temperatures that day, the gathering unanimously agreed to the boundaries as set by Congress, thereby meeting the final condition for statehood and ensuring that Michigan state boundaries would include the entirety of the Upper Peninsula; and
Whereas, On January 26, 1837, with the assent of the convention of delegates received, Michigan became the 26th state in the union, without the approximately 500 square miles of the Toledo Strip but with the approximately 16,500 square miles of the beautiful and resource-rich Upper Peninsula; and
Whereas, On September 9, 2016, more than one hundred citizens and historians gathered at the Sonderegger Symposium XVI, sponsored by the Center for Upper Peninsula Studies at Northern Michigan University, and unanimously agreed to a resolution declaring December 14, the date of the Frostbitten Convention, as the official birthday of the Upper Peninsula; now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the House of Representatives, That the members of this legislative body commemorate December 14, 2019, as the 183rd birthday of the Upper Peninsula in the state of Michigan; and be it further
Resolved, That copies of this resolution be transmitted to Marquette Regional History Center and the Peter White Public Library.
