MICHIGAN

MICHIGAN (population 9,938,444 in 2000) is bounded to the west by Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Lake Michigan; to the north by Lake Superior; to the east by Lakes Huron and St. Clair; and to the south by Ohio and Indiana. Though well into the interior of the nation, its two peninsulas are formed by the Great Lakes in such a way that provides an extensive coastline. Known as the "automobile state," its history is far more diverse than that nickname implies.

Government and Strategy, 1622–1796

During the period of exploration and colonial rule, the Michigan area had strategic and commercial value derived from its position in the Great Lakes region. Under the French, and later the British, the area proved an important source of furs easily transported on the extensive natural waterways. Based on early travel accounts, historians know that Samuel de Champlain sent Etienne Bruûlé west along the upper parts of Lake Huron to search for a water route to the Pacific Ocean. Sometime in 1622, they surmise Bruûlé reached the Sault Sainte Marie area. In 1668 the first formal settlement, a mission, was established by Rev. Jacques Marquette at the Sault, followed by a second at St. Ignace in 1671. Shortly thereafter, the French settlers claimed the land for Louis XIV. To secure their hold on the emerging and lucrative fur trade, the French Crown

established forts at strategic points. Fort Ponchartrain at Detroit (meaning the straits), established in 1701, was the first permanent French settlement in the Lower Peninsula. Antoine de Cadillac established the fort and settlement as a fur center.

French control over the area passed to the British in 1763, who fortified Detroit and outposts at Michilimackinac. In 1780, in response to the revolution in the thirteen colonies, the British established a fortification at Mackinac Island that still stands today.

At the time of American independence, the area of Michigan was very much on the frontier. In 1787, the Northwest Ordinance made Michigan a part of the newly established Northwest Territory. In 1794, an American force under the command of Anthony Wayne defeated a British-inspired Native American confederacy. Although the British formally ceded the area of Michigan to the United States through the Treaty of Paris in 1783, the British did not actually leave Fort Mackinac and Detroit until 1796. Only then were the political institutions recognized by the Northwest Territory gradually implemented. By 1803, Michigan had become a part of the Indiana Territory. On 1 July 1805, in response to the petitions of Detroit residents, Congress authorized the creation of the Michigan Territory, with Detroit designated as its capital.

Agriculture and Market, 1796–1850

Though John Jacob Astor founded the American Fur Company with headquarters on Mackinac Island in 1808, the fur trade that had been the economic basis for European settlement in the Michigan area was already in decline. In the first decades of the nineteenth century, a project was begun to survey the lands of southern Michigan. Today's grid of townships was first laid out by the Surveyor General of the United States. Land offices opened in Detroit and Monroe, where settlers could purchase a substantial farm for a very modest cost. The value of this opportunity increased enormously in 1825 when the Erie Canal opened to traffic and linked Michigan lands to the lucrative markets of the Northeast. The response was dramatic, as many chose to move to Michigan from the exhausted lands of upper New York State and elsewhere. Between 1820 and 1840, the population of European origin in Michigan increased from 8,767 to 212,267. Most of the settlement was east to west in the lower part of the state along the Chicago Road, which was developed between 1825 and 1835. Ann Arbor, Marshall, and Kalamazoo were among the market towns that were established. The prospects for farming in Michigan were promoted abroad by real estate interests, which attracted a diverse group of settlers that included Irish, German, and Dutch immigrants. These settlers brought with them a variety of religious beliefs and institutions. This diversity would continue to increase in scope and complexity throughout the subsequent history of the state.

The rapid population growth propelled arguments for statehood, and in 1835 it was authorized by territorial election. However, contention over the border with Ohio, finally resolved by the so-called Toledo War, delayed statehood to 1837 and ensured the inclusion of the Upper Peninsula as part of the new state. Stevens T. Mason, who had been appointed at the age of 19 in 1831 to succeed Lewis Cass as territorial governor, was appointed first governor of the new state in 1837. The new constitution provided for a university to be established, and offers of land were received from a number of towns. Ann Arbor was chosen for the institution. In 1817, three Native American tribes donated lands to the territorial university established in Detroit, but were sold to benefit the new campus in Ann Arbor. The spread of population across the lower part of state made Detroit impractical as a state capitol, and, after considerable debate, the more centrally located city of Lansing was selected in 1847.

Extracting Timber and Minerals, 1850–1910

Agriculture in Michigan flourished in the southern most part of the state. However, with the expansion of a rail network and a good supply of Great Lakes shipping vessels, the state was in an excellent position to move heavier raw materials with relative ease. The lands in the northern two thirds of the state remained largely untouched and covered with timber. By 1860, Michigan had more than 800 timber mills and was shipping forest products throughout the Northeast. At its peak, in the years around 1890, Michigan was producing more than $60 million in timber per year. The lumber industry was largely homegrown, which meant that the revenue generated would remain, for the most part, in the state. Such was not the case with minerals extracted in the upper part of the state.

One of the first acts of the new state legislature was to commission Douglas Houghton, professor at the state chartered university in Ann Arbor, to survey the geologic resources of Michigan. Houghton noted large deposits of copper in the Upper Peninsula. In 1844, iron was discovered. By the late 1860s, rail transport made it possible to move the iron and copper. The capital for many of the mines and the transport infrastructure came from the eastern states, most notably Massachusetts. Consequently, a significant portion of returns on those investments went east. By the late nineteenth century, copper and iron production nearly equaled the value of lumber production.

This extractive economy had a profound impact on the state. Whole cities were established to serve as centers for the finance and distribution of these raw materials. Bay City, Saginaw, and Traverse City, for example, were established as lumber centers. Houghton, Hancock, Marquette, and others were mining centers. The mines and the lumber trade drew immigrants from Italy, Finland, Sweden, Germany, and Ireland, among others.

The state's population was as diverse as any in the nation. As such, tensions were a part of the political landscape. In the mid-nineteenth century, nativist and anti Catholic sentiment led to internal dissension in both the Whig and Democratic Parties. In 1854, a new political coalition, the Republican Party, emerged more tolerant and opposed to the extension of slavery. This new party would dominate politics in the state until the depression of the 1930s. At the time of the Civil War, Michigan supported the Union cause, sending ninety thousand men into service.

By the dawn of the twentieth century, the state's population had surged to 2,240,982, with more than 40 percent foreign-born or children of foreign-born. There were tensions with in various groups. For example, the Dutch split between Christian Reformed and the Reformed Church in America in the mid-nineteenth century. The Polish community was split over the Kolasinski affair in the 1890s. There were conflicts with in the German community at the time of World War I, chronicled in the pages of the daily Detroiter Abend-Post.

Automobile and Manufacturing, 1910 to the Present

Many manufacturing centers had been established in Michigan before the appearance of the automobile in the state. Most notably, Grand Rapids had emerged by the 1870s as a national center for furniture. Drawing from local and imported sources of lumber, as well as a population of expert craftsmen, its furniture could be shipped by rail to most destinations in the country. Kalamazoo had paper manufacturers, Battle Creek had health food factories that became the foundation for its famed breakfast food industry, and Detroit had factories that made rail cars, stoves, and other goods. However, it was only with the emergence of the automobile that Michigan became known as an urban industrial state.

At the turn of the twentieth century, Ransom Olds, Henry Ford, Henry Leland, David Buick, and Roy Chapin were among many in the state working on the idea of attaching a motor to wheels to make a personal transport vehicle. There were others working with the concept out-side the state, but with well-established engine works and carriage manufacturers in Michigan, along with a transport infrastructure in place, the state was an ideal place to pursue these ideas on a large scale.

The auto manufacturers in Michigan came to dominate the industry through innovation and organization. Henry Ford's application of the assembly line so transformed the economies of production that what had been an expensively crafted luxury good became a mass-produced consumer good with in reach of a large segment of the population. This innovation, more than any other, led to the dominance of Michigan in the automobile industry. Several independent auto producers amalgamated under a corporate framework called General Motors (conceived by William Durant of Flint, Michigan), and it, too, realized economies of scale and market power that raised significantly the barriers to entry for new mass producers of automobiles. By 1920, the automotive industry in Michigan employed 127,000 and had an output valued at $1,330,000,000.

While Michigan was well known as a manufacturing state by the 1920s, it was only in the 1940s that the world would come to realize the enormous industrial capacity of the state. In 1940, at the request of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, William Knudsen, then president of General Motors, directed the changeover of the auto plants to war production. The production output of tanks and planes earned the state the appellation "arsenal of democracy."

The transformation of Michigan from an agricultural and extractive economy to one of the leading industrial economies of the world was not without stress and cultural tensions. The demand for labor to work in the new auto factories and then to sustain production during two world wars brought a huge influx of workers into the state. These were from nearly every country in the world, but most notably Canada, Poland, and Germany. In response, many in the state embraced new ideas of the Progressive Era, which manifested in programs of change and reform as well as restriction and control. Hazen Pingree, as mayor of Detroit in the 1870s, was an early proponent of government regulation of public transport and utilities. Chase Osborn, a Progressive governor (1911–1912), introduced the concept of workers' compensation to the state, among other reform measures. The Detroit Citizens League, the Grand Rapids Furniture Manufacturers Association, and other groups formed to protect the interests of the urban elite in the face of changes brought on by rapid urban industrial growth.

The Detroit Urban League, along with a host of ethnic and church-based associations, helped maintain individual and group identities. These organizations structured urban and town life with a focus on assimilation. The demand for workers was so strong during World War II that many people, both white and African American, migrated from the South to work in the factories. Though always a diverse state, Michigan by 1940 was among the most diverse in the country. With boom and bust cycles in the industrial economy, combined with cultures of intolerance, the population had its stresses—most notably manifested in the Detroit racial disturbances of 1943. There was also an elegance that emerged in Detroit and other cities in the 1920s. Detroit, a prosperous city and the fourth largest in America, built monuments, parks, museums, libraries, office towers, and great estates. During this time, stately houses were built in Grosse Pointe, Flint, Pontiac, Grand Rapids, and other industrial towns emblematic of the fruits of the new automobile industry. With railroads and highways leading north, grand houses and hotels appeared on the lakeshore along the coastline of Upper Michigan, a precursor to the vigorous travel industry that would emerge in the later half of the twentieth century.

As the industrial capacity of the state developed, so, too, did the size of the labor force. There had been tensions from the start, as indicated by the Grand Rapids Furniture strike of 1912, and the attempts to unionize the cereal industry in Battle Creek. Michigan became a real bulwark for the labor movement, with the establishment of the United Automobile Workers (UAW) in 1935. There had been a series of strikes and protests brought on by the severe economic depression of the 1930s. However, the "sit-down strike" of 1936–1937 in Flint was the event that brought recognition to the UAW as the sole bargaining representative for workers at General Motors. Soon thereafter, the union represented all workers employed with Ford Motor Company and other smaller firms.

By the 1930s, Michigan had an enormous industrial capacity. As a result, the effects of the depression were particularly difficult. A variety of voices emerged in the state. Frank Murphy became an early advocate of New Deal reform, first as mayor of Detroit (1930–1933) and later as governor (1937–1938). He eagerly worked with Franklin D. Roosevelt to establish governmental assistance to the many unemployed and dislocated. Another voice that arose from Detroit was that of Rev. Charles Coughlin. This Roman Catholic priest, from his pulpit in Royal Oak, Michigan, gained a huge national following for his radio broadcasts. At first a supporter of the New Deal, he was later discredited as his critiques became more harsh and anti-Semitic. Henry Ford, too, weighed in with extensive critiques in his Dearborn Independent, pushing his own particular notions of American values, which he was able to exemplify in his three-dimensional recreation of the ideal American environment at his museum he called "Greenfield Village."

The end of World War II brought a rebirth of the strength of the Democratic Party in the state. Neil Staebler was the architect of a new strategy of reaching out to each segment of the population, combined with a high sense of morality in politics. G. Mennen Williams, known as "Soapy" because he was heir to the Mennen soap fortune, was the party's candidate for governor in 1948. Narrowly elected, he was able to establish the newly defined party and stay in office for six consecutive terms through 1960. Among his many achievements was the completion of the bridge at the straits of Mackinac in 1957, which linked the two peninsulas of the state.

Unionization proved an economic benefit for the state and set the foundation for middle-class prosperity that had a huge impact on Flint, Pontiac, Ypsilanti, as well as Detroit and its suburbs. The post–World War II economy was booming, bringing higher wages, new roads, and the automobile, significantly changing the urban and social landscape of the state. Many people in the cities relocated to the newly developed suburbs. The movement involved prosperous white residents almost entirely, leaving older residents and those of African American descent with in the city limits. This exacerbated a racial divide that increasingly defined city and state politics. The population of Detroit began to decline until, in the year 2000, it was nearly half its high point of 1,849,568 in 1950. New shopping malls siphoned the retail trade from the city centers. The once elegant streets of downtown Flint, Grand Rapids, and Detroit became relatively sparsely populated.

This isolation of race and poverty with in the cities erupted in a series of violent confrontations in 1967. Detroit's riot captured national attention; there were also disturbances in Pontiac, Flint, Grand Rapids, Lansing, and Kalamazoo, all of which further encouraged the abandonment of the cities. At the same time, throughout the latter half of the twentieth century the state population steadily grew, mostly in new suburban subdivisions, to the point that cities such as Southfield, Birmingham, Troy, Ann Arbor, and East Grand Rapids took on functions formerly associated with older urban downtowns. Also, a general prosperity in the Midwest increased the demand for lakefront property. A continuing building boom transformed Petoskey, Harbor Springs, Charlevoix, Traverse City, and Alpena.

The prosperity of the state, however, suffered in the later decades of the twentieth century. The lumber was exhausted, as were the mines of the Upper Peninsula. The value of agricultural production was at the same level as in the 1920s. The furniture industry had moved south, and foreign competition had severely challenged the automotive industry. Michigan became the very symbol of the "rust belt," with aging factories and a seeming inability to compete in a new global economy. Under George Romney and William Milliken, the Republican Party controlled the governorship from 1963 through 1983. During the late 1970s and early 1980s, the state's economy was in deep recession. A split in the state's Republican Party led to the election of the Democrat James Blanchard as the state continued a struggle to regain competitiveness in its old industries, while trying to diversify its economic base. In 1990, Republicans regained the governorship under John Engler, a representative of the more conservative wing of the party. His program of vigorous cost cutting and welfare reform, combined with the general economic boom in the country as a whole, restored Michigan to the point that, in 1993, it had achieved more growth than any industrial state in the union.

By the turn of the twenty-first century, the economy had rebounded due to the internationalization of the automobile industry, the development of high-tech activities, and the persistent growth of the tourist industry based on the state's extensive lakeshore. Michigan contained a large number of prosperous towns, characterized by new office buildings and a high rate of new residential construction. There were important initiatives to revive old downtowns, most notably with new cultural facilities in Grand Rapids and Detroit; the latter city also built a new stadium for major league baseball. The new century, however, brought new challenges. A stalled economy revived the need for cost cutting in state government and in the corporate sector. The effects of the attacks on the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., on 11 September 2001 had a particular impact on the state of Michigan, which, in Dearborn, had the largest Arab American community in the country. The slowed economy, coupled with the national tragedies, again focused attention on the diversity of Michigan's population and on the historic reliance of the state on a single industry.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Dunbar, Willis, and George May. Michigan: A History of the Wolverine State. 3d rev. ed. Grand Rapids, Mich.: W.B. Eerdmans, 1995.

Kern, John. A Short History of Michigan. Lansing: Michigan Department of State, 1977.

Hathaway, Richard J., ed. Michigan: Visions of Our Past. East Lansing: Michigan State University Press, 1989.

Poremba, David Lee, ed. Detroit in Its World Setting: A Three-Hundred Year Chronology. Detroit, Mich.: Wayne State University Press, 2001.

Francis X.Blouin

See alsoAutomobile Industry ; Michigan, Upper Peninsula of ; University of Michigan .

Michigan , upper midwestern state of the United States. It consists of two peninsulas thrusting into the Great Lakes and has borders with Ohio and Indiana (S), Wisconsin (W), and the Canadian province of Ontario (N,E).

Facts and Figures

Area, 58,216 sq mi (150,779 sq km). Pop. (2000) 9,938,444, a 6.9% increase since the 1990 census. Capital, Lansing. Largest city, Detroit. Statehood, Jan. 26, 1837 (26th state). Highest pt., Mt. Curwood, 1,980 ft (604 m); lowest pt., Lake Erie, 572 ft (174 m). Nickname, Wolverine State. Motto,Si Quaeris Peninsulam Amoenam Circumspice [If You Seek a Pleasant Peninsula, Look about You]. State bird, robin. State flower, apple blossom. State tree, white pine. Abbr., Mich.; MI

Geography

The Lower Peninsula, shaped like a mitten, is separated from Ontario, Canada, on the east by Lake Erie and Lake Huron, and by the Detroit River and the St. Clair River, which together link these two Great Lakes. It is bordered by Lake Michigan on the west, across which lies Wisconsin. The Upper Peninsula lies northeast of Wisconsin between Lake Michigan and Lake Superior, and is separated from Ontario by the narrow St. Marys River.

The Upper Peninsula. known as the U.P. (its residents call themselves Yoopers), is separated from the Lower Peninsula by the Straits of Mackinac; a bridge connecting the two peninsulas was opened in 1957 and has spurred the development of the Upper Peninsula. The eastern portion of the Upper Peninsula has swampy flats and limestone hills on the Lake Michigan shore, while sandstone ridges rise abruptly from the rough waters of Lake Superior; in the west the land rises to forested mountains, still rich in copper and iron.

The northern Michigan wilds, numerous inland lakes, and some 3,000 mi (4,800 km) of shoreline, combined with a pleasantly cool summer climate, have long attracted vacationers. In the winter Michigan's snow-covered hills bring skiers from all over the Midwest. Places of interest in the state include Greenfield Village, a re-creation of a 19th-century American village, and the Henry Ford Museum, both at Dearborn ; Pictured Rocks and Sleeping Bear Dunes national lakeshores; and Isle Royal National Park.

Lansing is the capital, and Detroit is the largest city. Other major cities are Grand Rapids , Sterling Heights , Warren , Flint , and Ann Arbor .

Economy

The Upper Peninsula is northern woods country, with what has been described as "ten months of winter and two months of poor sledding." The abundance of furred animals and forests early attracted fur traders and lumberjacks. Animals were trapped out, virgin forests were stripped, and, in addition, pure copper and high-grade iron ore were rapidly wrested from the earth, so that virtually all of the Upper Peninsula's mines have been closed. Deer, bear, and other game in the forests, as well as abundant fish in streams and lakes, keep the area a rich hunting and fishing ground. Selective cutting and replanting of trees are now employed in the second-growth forests.

The Lower Peninsula is less wild, but in parts no less beautiful, than the Upper. Its forests were also cut over in the lumber boom of the late 19th cent., when Michigan was briefly the world leader in lumber production. The soil of these cut-over lands, unlike the productive earth in other areas of the Lower Peninsula, proved generally unsuitable for agriculture, and reforestation has been undertaken.

The Lower Peninsula has its own mineral riches, including gypsum, sandstone, limestone, salt, cement, sand, and gravel, but its great wealth lies in the many farms and factories. The surrounding waters temper the climate, providing a long growing season. Fields of grain and corn cover much of the southern counties, and Michigan's noted fruit belt lines the shore of Lake Michigan (the state leads the nation in the production of cherries). Dairying is the most lucrative farm business. Corn is the chief crop, followed by greenhouse products, soybeans, apples, carrots, celery, cucumbers, and other vegetables.

Manufacturing accounts for 30% of Michigan's economic production, more than twice as much as any other sector. The manufacture of automobiles and transportation equipment is by far the state's chief industry, and Detroit, Dearborn, Flint, Pontiac, and Lansing are historic centers of automobile production, although the industry is now in dramatic decline throughout the state. The automobile industry's mass-production methods, developed here, were the core of the early-20th-century industrial revolution. Other Michigan manufactures include nonelectrical machinery, fabricated metal products, primary metals, chemicals, and food products. Among Michigan's most important industrial centers are Saginaw , Bay City , Muskegon , and Jackson . The chemical industry in Midland is one of the nation's largest; Kalamazoo is an important paper-manufacturing and pharmaceuticals center; Grand Rapids is noted for its furniture, and Battle Creek for its breakfast foods.

Although mining contributes less to income in the state than either agriculture or manufacturing, Michigan still has important nonfuel mineral production, chiefly of iron ore, cement, sand, and gravel, and is a leading producer of peat, bromine, calcium-magnesium chloride, gypsum, and magnesium compounds. Abundant natural beauty and excellent fishing help to make tourism a major Michigan industry. Michigan's historic lack of manufacturing diversity has made it particularly susceptible to the fluctuations of the national economy, and in recent years it has tried to diversify, attracting high-technology industry and developing the service sector.

Government and Higher Education

Michigan's constitution, adopted in 1963, provides for a governor serving a term of four years, who may be reelected. The state legislature is made up of a senate with 38 members and a house of representatives with 110 members. Michigan sends 15 representatives and 2 senators to the U.S. Congress and has 17 electoral votes in presidential elections. John Engler, a Republican, was elected governor in 1990 and reelected in 1994 and 1998. In 2002, a Democrat, Jennifer Granholm, was elected to succeed him; she was reelected in 2006. Republican Rick Snyder was elected to the office in 2010.

Institutions of higher education include the Univ. of Michigan, at Ann Arbor, Dearborn, and Flint; Michigan State Univ., at East Lansing; the Univ. of Detroit Mercy and Wayne State Univ., at Detroit; Western Michigan Univ. and Kalamazoo College, at Kalamazoo; Eastern Michigan Univ., at Ypsilanti; Northern Michigan Univ., at Marquette; Central Michigan Univ., at Mt. Pleasant; and many other private and state colleges.

History

Native Americans and French Explorers

The Ojibwa , the Ottawa , the Potawatomi , and other Algonquian-speaking Native American groups were living in Michigan when the French explorer Étienne Brulé landed at the narrows of Sault Ste. Marie in 1618, probably the first European to have reached present Michigan. Later French explorers, traders, and missionaries came, including Jean Nicolet, who was searching for the Northwest Passage; Jacques Marquette, who founded a mission in the Mackinac region; and the empire builder, Robert Cavelier, sieur de La Salle, who came on the Griffon, the first ship to sail the Great Lakes. French posts were scattered along the lakes and the rivers, and Mackinac Island (in the Straits of Mackinac) became a center of the fur trade. Fort Pontchartrain, later Detroit, was founded in 1701 by Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac. The vast region was weakly held by France until lost to Great Britain in the last conflict (1754–63) of the French and Indian Wars .

Resistance to British Occupation

The Native Americans of Michigan, who had lived in peace with the French, resented the coming of the British, who were the allies of the much-hated Iroquois tribes. Under Pontiac they revolted (see Pontiac's Rebellion ) against the British occupation. The rebellion, which began in 1763, was short-lived, ending in 1766, and the Native Americans subsequently supported the British during the American Revolution. Native American resistance to U.S. control was effectively ended at the Battle of Fallen Timbers in 1794 with the victory of Gen. Anthony Wayne. Despite provisions of the Treaty of Paris, which ended the American Revolution (1783; see Paris, Treaty of ), the British held stubbornly to Detroit and Mackinac until 1796.

After passage of the Northwest Ordinance in 1787, Michigan became part of the Northwest Territory . However, even after the Northwest Territory was broken up and Detroit was made (1805) capital of Michigan Territory, British agents still maintained great influence over the Native Americans, who fought on the British side in the War of 1812. In that war Mackinac and Detroit fell almost immediately to the British as a result of the ineffective control of U.S. Gen. William Hull and his troops. Michigan remained in British hands through most of the war until Gen. William Henry Harrison in the battle of Thames and Oliver Hazard Perry in the battle of Lake Erie restored U.S. control.

Settlement and Statehood

After peace came, pioneers moved into Michigan. The policy of pushing Native Americans westward and opening the lands for settlement was largely due to the efforts of Gen. Lewis Cass, who was governor of Michigan Territory (1813–31) and later a U.S. Senator. Steamboat navigation on the Great Lakes and sale of public lands in Detroit both began in 1818, and the Erie Canal was opened in 1825. Farmers came to the Michigan fields, and the first sawmills were built along the rivers.

The move toward statehood was slowed by the desire of Ohio and Indiana to absorb parts of present S Michigan, and by the opposition of southern states to the admission of another free state. The Michigan electorate organized a government without U.S. sanction and in 1836 operated as a state, although outside the Union. To resolve the boundary dispute Congress proposed that the Toledo strip be ceded to Ohio and Indiana with compensation to Michigan of land in the Upper Peninsula. Though the Michigan electorate rejected the offer, a group of Democratic leaders accepted it, and by their acceptance Michigan became a state in 1837. (The admission of Arkansas as a slaveholding state offset that of Michigan as a free state.) Detroit served as the capital until 1847, when it was replaced by Lansing.

After statehood, Michigan promptly adopted a program of internal improvement through the building of railroads, roads, and canals, including the Soo Locks Ship Canal at Sault Ste. Marie. At the same time lumbering was expanding, and the population grew as German, Irish, and Dutch immigrants arrived. In 1854 the Republican party was organized at Jackson, Mich. During the Civil War, Michigan fought on the side of the Union, contributing 90,000 troops to the cause.

Reform Movements

After the war the state remained firmly Republican until 1882. Then Michigan farmers, moved by the same financial difficulties and outrage at high transportation and storage rates that aroused other Western farmers, supported movements advocating agrarian interests, such as the Granger movement and the Greenback party . The farmers joined with the growing numbers of workers in the mines and lumber camps to elect a Greenback-Democratic governor in 1882 and succeeded in getting legislation passed for agrarian improvement and public welfare.

Reforms influenced by the labor movement were the creation of a state board of labor (1883), a law enforcing a 10-hr day (1885), and a moderate child-labor law (1887). The lumbering business, with its yield of wealth to the timber barons, declined to virtual inactivity. Some of the loggers joined the ranks of industrial workers, which were further swelled by many Polish and Norwegian immigrants.

Assembly Lines and Labor Strife

With the invention of the automobile and the construction of automotive plants, industry in Michigan was altered radically. Henry Ford established the Ford Motor Company in 1903 and introduced conveyor-belt assembly lines in 1918. General Motors and the Chrysler Corporation were established shortly after Ford. Along with the development of mass-production methods came the growth of the labor movement. In the 1930s, when the automobile industry was well established in the state, labor unions struggled for recognition. The conflict between labor and the automotive industry, which continued into the 1940s, included sit-down strikes and was sometimes violent. Walter Reuther , a pioneer of the labor movement, was elected president of the United Automobile Workers (UAW) in 1946.

In World War II Michigan produced large numbers of tanks, airplanes, and other war matériel. Industrial production again expanded after the Korean War broke out in 1950, and the opening of the Saint Lawrence Seaway in 1959 increased export trade by bringing many oceangoing vessels to the port of Detroit. In the early 1960s, however, economic growth lagged and unemployment became a problem in the state.

Racial Tensions and Recession

Detroit was shaken by severe race riots in 1967 that left 43 persons dead and many injured, in addition to causing $200 million in damage. In the wake of the rioting, programs were undertaken to improve housing facilities and job opportunities in the city, but these failed as the city suffered massive outmigration. While Detroit deteriorated, the suburbs experienced dramatic growth, spreading throughout SE Michigan. Resistance to busing was a major political issue in the state in the early 1970s.

The state's dependence on the auto industry was exhibited during the recession of the early 1980s, when car sales slumped, many factories were closed and Michigan's unemployment rate at over 15% was the nation's highest. The federal government helped bail out the Chrysler Corporation in 1979, authorizing $1.5 billion in loan guarantees. After a brief period of recovery through limited diversification of the state economy, Michigan was again especially hard hit by national recession and continuing foreign competition in the early 1990s, and it continued to suffer large, mainly auto-related manufacturing job losses over the next two decades.

Bibliography

See J. A. Door, Jr., and D. F. Eschman, Geology of Michigan (1970); A. R. Gilpin, Territory of Michigan, 1805–1887 (1971); R. A. Santer, Michigan: Heart of the Great Lakes (1977); L. M. Sommers, ed., Atlas of Michigan (1977) and et al., Michigan: A Geography (1984). B. Blenz, The Encyclopedia of Michigan (1981); B. Rubenstein and L. Ziewacz, Michigan (1981).

MICHIGAN

Ann Arbor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207

Detroit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219

Grand Rapids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235

Kalamazoo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247

Lansing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259

The State in Brief

Nickname: Wolverine State; Great Lakes State

Motto: Si quaeris peninsulam amoenam circumspice (If you seek a pleasant peninsula, look about you)

Flower: Apple blossom

Bird: Robin

Area: 96,716 square miles (2000; U.S. rank: 11th)

Elevation: 572 feet to 1,980 feet above sea level

Climate: Temperate with well-defined seasons, tempered by surrounding water; colder in upper peninsula

Admitted to Union: January 26, 1837

Capital: Lansing

Head Official: Governor Jennifer Granholm (D) (until 2007)

Population

1980: 9,262,000

1990: 9,368,000

2000: 9,938,480

2004 estimate: 10,112,620

Percent change, 1990–2000: 6.9%

U.S. rank in 2004: 8th

Percent of residents born in state: 75.4% (2000)

Density: 175 people per square mile (2000)

2002 FBI Crime Index Total: 389,366

Racial and Ethnic Characteristics (2000)

White: 7,966,053

Black or African American: 1,412,742

American Indian and Alaska Native: 58,479

Asian: 176,510

Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander: 2,692

Hispanic or Latino (may be of any race): 323,877

Other: 129,552

Age Characteristics (2000)

Population under 5 years old: 672,005

Population 5 to 19 years old: 2,212,060

Percent of population 65 years and over: 12.3%

Median age: 35.5 years (2000)

Vital Statistics

Total number of births (2003): 131,024

Total number of deaths (2003): 86,644 (infant deaths, 1,130)

AIDS cases reported through 2003: 5,584

Economy

Major industries: Manufacturing; trade; agriculture; finance, insurance, and real estate; services

Unemployment rate: 6.9% (March 2005)

Per capita income: $31,196 (2003; U.S. rank: 20th)

Median household income: $45,176 (3-year average, 2001-2003)

Percentage of persons below poverty level: 10.8% (3-year average, 2001-2003)

Income tax rate: 4.0%

Sales tax rate: 6.0%

Michigan State in n central USA, bordered by four of the Great Lakes; the capital is Lansing. The largest city is Detroit. First settled by the French in the 17th century, the region was ceded to Britain after the Seven Years' War. The British finally left the area in 1796, and Michigan became a US territory in 1805, achieving full statehood in 1837. The opening of the Erie Canal in 1825 aided its growth, but the real industrial boom came with the development of the motor vehicle industry in the early 20th century. Michigan is made up of two peninsulas separated by the Straits of Mackinac, which connect lakes Michigan and Huron. The Upper Peninsula has swampland on the ne lake shore and mountains in the w. Copper and iron ore are mined and timber is a valuable resource. The Lower Peninsula is also forested and mineral deposits include oil, gypsum, sandstone, and limestone. In the s cereal crops are cultivated and livestock rearing is important. The Lower Peninsula has most of Michigan's population. Industries: motor vehicles, primary and fabricated metals, chemicals, food products. Area: 150,544sq km (58,110sq mi). Pop. (2000) 9,938,444.

MICHIGAN

Strategically located on four of the Great Lakes, the state of Michigan was carved out of the old Northwest Territory. Before the advent of good roads and waterways it was known as a remote, wild place full of dense forests. By the mid-1800s, however, when settlers cleared the land and began to make it habitable, Michigan represented what historian Bruce Catton called the "great American feeling of being en route to the unknown, to something new." With a forested, still somewhat undeveloped area in the north, the state now owes much of its economic health to its own industrialized south, particularly to the automobile industry headquartered in Detroit.

In the 1600s the French were the earliest explorers of present-day Michigan, among them Etienne Brul and Jean Nicolet. Father Jacques Marquette established trading posts at Sault Ste. Marie and St. Ignace. Antoine Laumet de la Mothe Cadillac also established the settlement which later became Detroit. In this period Native Americans such as the Hurons, the Miamis, and the Potawatomis were important furtrading partners with white settlers.

The fur trade, however, did not really encourage the growth of Detroit or Michigan. The area Ottawa chief, Pontiac, led several tribes in an uprising against the British. Pontiac's Conspiracy (1763) succeeded in capturing many British garrisons and the fort at Detroit, but as the Indian tribal alliance weakened the British were able to regain their holdings. The populace in what would later become Michigan sided with the British during the American Revolution (1775–1783), fearing that a massive influx of American settlers would destroy the fur trade as land was cleared for farming. Although Americans had nominal control of Michigan by terms of the Treaty of Paris after 1783, the British continued to occupy the territory for 13 years. A part of the new Northwest Territory, the region came into full U.S. possession in 1796.

During the War of 1812 (1812–1814) the region became a center of battles between the Americans and British, who refused to accept American sovereignty over the area. The territory was finally in the hands of the United States in 1814. The opening of the Erie Canal in 1825 marked the beginning of a push to settle southern Michigan territory by allowing an inexpensive, convenient route from New York City to Michigan. As the fur trade diminished, so did the value of the Native Americans to the non-indigenous population, and gradually most Indian lands were ceded to the federal government. A few tribes stayed on reservations within the territory. Following the "Toledo War" of 1835, ( which settled the question of whether Toledo would be part of Michigan or Ohio) Michigan territory was granted the upper peninsula in exchange for land that it had claimed in northern Ohio. Michigan was granted statehood in 1837.

As the fur traders had feared, farmers soon began to clear land in Michigan. By 1850, 85 percent of the population in the lower peninsula was dependent on farming in some way. Soon northern areas of Michigan were also being exploited for their vast timber supplies, as well as for their rich mineral deposits. Millions of tons of iron ore were extracted near Marquette and Houghton in the upper peninsula, and copper was mined on the Keweenaw Peninsula. The transportation of iron ore and copper to markets in south Michigan and development of the rest of the country was facilitated by the opening of a canal in 1855 to bypass rapids at Sault Ste. Marie.

At first transportation routes in the state were primarily on Lakes Michigan, Superior, Huron, and Erie, each of which touched Michigan. The first railroad was chartered in Michigan in 1830, but until after the American Civil War (1861–1865), railroad construction was slow in the state compared to other states. Until automobiles came into widespread use in the 1920s, many interurban lines connected cities in southern Michigan. In fact, most mass transportation was decimated by the advent of the automobile until public transit systems began to make a comeback in the 1970s with the help of the federal government. A boon to transportation in the state was the opening of the Mackinac Bridge in 1957, connecting the lower and upper peninsulas. In addition, the St. Lawrence Seaway, opened in 1959, brought many oceangoing ships to Michigan ports.

As timber and minerals began to be depleted in the late nineteenth century, industry took on new importance in the state. The city of Battle Creek became the center of the cereal industry with the establishment of the Post and Kellogg companies. Dow Chemical and Upjohn also became major producers of chemicals and drugs during this period. Grand Rapids produced furniture, and Kalamazoo had paper mills.

However, the automobile industry became the real lifeblood of Michigan. Just after the turn of the century the first "horseless carriage" in the state was produced by Ransom E. Olds, followed by the first Cadillac and the first Ford. William Durant made General Motors a success; Henry Ford produced the first Model T in 1908 and introduced the first assembly line several years later. The Chrysler Corporation was established in 1925.

As more and more people bought new automobiles, more concrete highways were being built, producing an even higher demand for automobiles. In the 1930s, however, when the nation's economy collapsed during the Great Depression (1929–1939), over half of Michigan's factory workers were unemployed. This desperate situation, along with ineffective management by Republicans at the state and national levels, helped to precipitate the rise of labor unions in the state. In 1936–1937 the massive sit-down strike staged by the United Auto Workers (UAW), an affiliate of the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO), signaled the growing strength of unions in the auto industry. By 1941 the UAW had organized the entire industry and the state, as a whole, had become pro-union. The population of Michigan, moreover, was increasingly centered in its cities, primarily in Detroit and the southern part of the state. As industry took over the economy, the northern two-thirds of the state lost population and became increasingly economically depressed.

Due to the strong influence of unions in Michigan, politics was dominated by the Democratic party, until Republicans captured the state House in 1962. They held on to power until 1982, when Michigan was seized with a serious recession, causing more than 15 percent unemployment in the state. The recession's effect on the auto industry was devastating. American car makers had not foreseen that the public was losing interest in large, gas-hungry vehicles. In addition, Japanese car companies were making serious inroads into the American car market. The Chrysler Corporation was granted a $1.2 billion federal grant to avoid bankruptcy in 1979, thousands of autoworkers left the state, and many auto-related industries closed their doors. The state's tax base was reduced, causing massive reductions in the state budget in 1983.

This downturn, of course, was due to the state's heavy dependence on the auto industry. By the late 1980s, as the industry slowly began to recover, attempts were being made to diversify the economy. The number of factory workers dropped by 30 percent in the ten years after 1970, while new jobs were created in the engineering and technology fields as companies turned to more automation. At the same time, the service and wholesale-retail sectors began to grow. The state government, General Motors, and the UAW all applied significant funds to job retraining programs. Still, by the mid-1990s, the manufacture of transportation equipment was still the most important industry in Michigan; 28 percent of all U.S. automobiles were still being produced in the state, but the unemployment rate was decreasing steadily.

Despite the economic ups and downs that the state had experienced, it remained a favorable location for workers. Strong labor unions, which count over 24 percent of all workers and 34 percent of factory workers as members, have kept wages and benefits high. The per capita income in 1996 was nearly $25,000, ranking Michigan sixteenth among all states. Next to manufacturing, agriculture is the most important sector of the economy, ranking 20th in the nation in income. Attractions such as the Great Lakes, inland lakes and forests, and historic sites such as Dearborn's Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village also make tourism very important to the economy of Michigan.

See also: Automobile Industry, Chrysler Corporation, William Durant, Erie Canal, Henry Ford, General Motors, Model T

FURTHER READING

Bald, F.C. Michigan in Four Centuries, rev. ed. New York: Harper and Row, 1961.

Catton, Bruce. Michigan: A Bicentennial History. New York: Norton, 1976.

Dunbar, Willis F., and George S. May. Michigan: A History of the Wolverine State, 3rd rev. ed. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1995.

Fuller, George N., ed. Michigan: A Centennial History of the State. 5 vols. Chicago: Lewis, 1939.

Rubenstein, Bruce A. Michigan, A History of the Great Lakes State. Wheeling, IL: Harlan Davidson, 1995.

it is not possible to tell the story of [michigan] without putting the internal combustion engine, the rubber tire, and the white desert-ribbons of the concrete highway on to the center of the stage.

bruce catton, michigan: a bicentennial history, 1976

Michigan, USA A state which borders four of the five Great Lakes. The Ojibwa (Chippewa) named the area Michi Gama ‘Great Lake’ or ‘Great Water’ and it is after Lake Michigan, the third largest, that the state is named. Part of Canada until ceded to the USA in 1783, it became the Michigan Territory when separated from Indiana in 1805. It joined the Union in 1837 as the 26th state.

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