their way to the falls of the Saint Mary. The first actual settlement by Europeans within the limits of the State was the mission at Sault Sainte Marie, founded by Father Marquette and others in 1668. Three years later Michilimackinac (now Mackinac) was established. In 1679 and 1686 forts were built at the mouth of the Saint Joseph, and at the outlet of Lake Huron, and in 1701 Antoine de la Mothe-Cadillac founded Detroit. Through the entire period of French occupation the town dragged out a painful existence, though the centre of a considerable fur trade and a place of meeting for friendly Indian tribes. The territory, with other French possessions, fell into the hands of the English at the end of the French and Indian War. Detroit was occupied in 1763, but early in May of that year the Indians, loyal to the French, rose under Pontiac (q.v.), massacred the garrison at Mackinac, and besieged Detroit for about five months. The English showed no capacity for government and the country made no progress under their rule. By the Quebec Act of 1774 the territory became a part of Canada, and during the Revolution Detroit was the starting point for many Indian expeditions which laid waste the American frontier. By the Treaty of Paris in 1783 the region passed to the United States, although England did not at once relinquish possession. After 1784 the Indians of the Northwest, deeming themselves unjustly treated by the Americans, waged a bloody warfare against the Western settlements till they were brought to terms by General Wayne in 1795. By the treaty of peace concluded in that year, they ceded large tracts of land on the eastern shore of the southern peninsula of Michigan and in the north to the United States. It was not until July 11, 1786. that the United States took actual possession of Detroit, though the region was included within the boundaries of the Northwest Territory, so called, and amenable to the ordinance of 1787. In 1800 Ohio was set off from the Northwest Territory, including the eastern portion of Michigan, but in 1802 the whole of the Lower Peninsula was annexed to the Territory of Indiana. Its southern boundary was a line drawn east from the southerly extreme of Lake Michigan to Lake Erie. At that time the white population of Michigan was about 4000, consisting for the most part of Canadian traders and coureurs de bois. On June 30, 1805, Michigan was set off as a separate Territory, with substantially its present limits, and Gen. William Hull was appointed Governor. During the War of 1812 the inhabitants were harassed by the British and Indians; Mackinac was captured by the British; Detroit was surrendered by Governor Hull (q.v.); and at Frenchtown, in 1813, a number of American prisoners of war were massacred by the Indians. (For military operations during the War of 1812, see United States.) At different times after 1814 the Indians ceded large tracts of land, and by 1836 all the Lower Peninsula and part of the Upper Peninsula had been freed from Indian title. Surveys were made as early as 1816, and in 1818 a large tract of land was put on the market. In 1819 the Territory was authorized to send a delegate to Congress, and in 1823 the system of rule by a Governor and three judges was replaced by that of a Governor and a council of nine, selected from eighteen chosen by the people; in 1825 the council was increased to thirteen, and after 1827 the members were elected by popular vote. In 1835 a State Constitution was adopted by a convention called for that purpose, but the admission of Michigan into the Union was delayed by a dispute with Ohio concerning a strip of land on the southern boundary. There was danger that the dispute would lead to bloodshed, but in 1836 Congress agreed to admit Michigan upon condition that she should surrender her claim to the disputed territory and accept in lieu thereof a larger area in the Upper Peninsula. The first convention called to consider this proposal, January 26, 1836, rejected it, but it was accepted by a second in December, 1836, and on January 26, 1837, Michigan was admitted into the Union.
The following have been Governors of the State since its organization as a Territory:
| TERRITORIAL | ||
| William Hull | 1805-13 | |
| Lewis Cass | 1813-31 | |
| George B. Porter | 1831-34 | |
| Stevens T. Mason | 1834-35 | |
| John S. Homer | 1835-36 | |
| STATE | ||
| Stevens T. Mason | Democrat | 1836-40 |
| William Woodbridge | Whig | 1840-41 |
| James W. Gordon (acting) | “ | 1841-42 |
| John S. Barry | Democrat | 1842-46 |
| Alpheus Felch | “ | 1846-47 |
| William L. Greenly (acting) | Democrat | 1847-48 |
| Epaphroditus Ransom | Democrat | 1848-50 |
| John S. Barry | “ | 1850-52 |
| Robert McClelland | “ | 1852-53 |
| Andrew Parsons (acting) | “ | 1853-55 |
| Kinley S. Bingham | Republican | 1855-59 |
| Moses Wisner | “ | 1859-61 |
| Austin Blair | “ | 1861-65 |
| Henry H. Crapo | “ | 1865-69 |
| Henry P. Baldwin | “ | 1869-73 |
| John J. Bagley | “ | 1873-77 |
| Charles M. Croswell | “ | 1877-81 |
| David H. Jerome | “ | 1881-83 |
| Josiah W. Begole | Democrat and Greenback | 1883-85 |
| Russel A. Alger | Republican | 1885-87 |
| Cyrus G. Luce | “ | 1887-91 |
| Edwin B. Winans | Democrat | 1891-93 |
| John T. Rich | Republican | 1893-97 |
| Hazen S. Pingree | “ | 1897-1901 |
| Aaron T. Bliss | “ | 1901-05 |
The first printing press in Michigan was set up in 1809, and in 1817 the first newspaper was published at Detroit. The opening of the Erie Canal (1825) poured a vast stream of immigration into Michigan, and at the time of the admission of the State the population was nearly 70,000, many of them from New England and New York. The first bank was established at Detroit, in 1818. and by 1837 there were fifteen such institutions. After 1835 the country went speculation mad, a general banking law was passed in 1837, and the State was flooded with paper money. The panic of 1837 did not interfere with the completion of the elaborate system of internal improvements that had been planned. The State undertook the building of three railways across the Lower Peninsula, but after running greatly into debt was forced in 1846 to sell them to private persons at a loss. An act establishing the University of Michigan was passed in 1817, academies and high schools were projected in 1821, and a board of education was created in 1829, but the common schools did not really come into existence till after 1835, and teaching in the university was begun on an appreciable scale about 1845. In 1847 the capital was removed from Detroit to Lansing. From 1853 to 1876 prohibition of the sale of liquor was a part of the Constitution. In 1876 prohibition was abolished and a heavy liquor tax substituted.
