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Constituent state of the United States of America. Although its 58,527 square miles (151,586 square kilometres) rank the state only 23rd in size nationally, the inclusion of Great Lakes waters over which it has jurisdiction raises the figure to 97,102 square miles (251,495 square kilometres), placing it 10th. The capital is Lansing. The state's name is derived from an Ojibwa (Chippewa) Indian word meaning “large lake.”
Michigan is the only one of the 49 continental states to be split into two large land segments: the sparsely populated but mineral-rich Upper Peninsula slices eastward from northern Wisconsin between Lakes Superior and Michigan, and the mitten-shaped Lower Peninsula reaches northward from Indiana and Ohio. The two landmasses have been connected since 1957 by “Big Mac,” the five-mile (eight-kilometre) Mackinac Bridge across the Straits of Mackinac, which separate Lake Michigan on the west from Lake Huron on the east. Between Lake Huron and Lake Erie, in the southeast, the Lower Peninsula is separated from the Canadian province of Ontario by Lake St. Clair and the St. Clair and Detroit rivers.
Since its admission on Jan. 26, 1837, as the 26th state of the Union and the fourth to be carved from the Northwest Territory, Michigan has become a mainspring in the economic life of the United States; the name of its largest city, Detroit, has become a byword throughout the world for the American automotive industry. The state also has retained its prominence in agriculture, and, because of its many inland lakes, its borders on four of the five Great Lakes, and its many wilderness tracts, Michigan has evolved into one of the nation's leading tourist regions.
More than 70 percent of the state's residents live in urban areas, with a heavy concentration in the industrialized centres of the Lower Peninsula. This factor, together with a broad array of ethnic and national stocks among the people and a high number of lesser-skilled workers attracted to Michigan by the union-dominated labour scene, has created in many cities the typical marks of economic progress and poverty existing side by side, with a sometimes tenuous social stability. The state government coordinates a vast network of programs attempting to reduce these contrasts, and it has provided a system of public higher education that is among the most diversified and renowned in the nation.
![The Midwest. [Credit: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.]](http://images.bookrags.com/images/eb/4839.gif) The Midwest. [Credit: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.]
The mildly rolling countryside of Michigan appealed to the early agricultural settlers. Elevations are not high. The highest point in the Lower Peninsula, near Cadillac, rises only about 1,600 feet (488 metres). Elevations rise to over 1,900 feet only in the western Upper Peninsula.
Several physical features of Michigan are appealing. The sand dunes on the Lake Michigan shore are used annually by thousands of vacationers, and state forests, parks, and wildlife areas, containing more than 4,000,000 acres (1,619,000 hectares) of wooded land, include varied landscapes that have helped Michigan to become a major tourist attraction of the Midwest.
Michigan's rivers, the majority of them in the southern part of the Lower Peninsula, drain vast interior areas. Most of them are shallow and narrow. Their navigability and the ease of bridging them encouraged settlement. Several of the rivers, especially in the Upper Peninsula, have falls to serve as a basis for waterpower.
![Shore of Lake Superior near the mouth of the Mosquito River in Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, &elipsis; [Credit: © Terry Donnelly from TSW—CLICK/Chicago]](http://images.bookrags.com/images/eb/4862.gif) Shore of Lake Superior near the mouth of the Mosquito River in Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, &elipsis; [Credit: © Terry Donnelly from TSW—CLICK/Chicago]
Michigan's 11,000 inland lakes range in size from a few acres to the 20,000 acres (8,000 hectares) of Houghton Lake in the north central Lower Peninsula. The shores of many lakes are ringed with summer cottages, as are the shores of the Great Lakes in many places. Two recreational areas in the state include the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore on Lake Superior and the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore on Lake Michigan.
About 500 islands dot the lakes and rivers. Belle Isle, a public recreation centre, and Grosse Ile, largely residential, are well-known features of the Detroit River. Mackinac Island is a resort on which motor vehicles are prohibited. Isle Royale, a virgin wilderness of nearly 900 square miles, is a national park in western Lake Superior.
Michigan soils vary with the diversity of climate, landforms, and water conditions. Clays and loams in the southern Lower Peninsula permit extensive agriculture, while unproductive sandy soils dominate in the northern Lower Peninsula. The Upper Peninsula has a few acres of fertile loam, but most of the soil is sandy and similar to the northern Lower Peninsula. Bog or muck soils, which were created as inland lakes became filled with organic matter, are found throughout the state, especially in the southeastern Lower Peninsula. These soils are particularly important for vegetable production.
The Great Lakes cool the hot winds of summer and warm the cold winds of winter, giving Michigan a milder climate than some other north central states. Although the Upper Peninsula is cooler, the temperature ranges in the far northern and far southern cities do not differ excessively. In the far north, Sault Sainte Marie has an average January temperature of about 14° to 16° F (-10° C to -9° C) and an average July temperature of about 64° F (18° C). In Detroit, in the southeast, the respective averages are 26° F (-3° C) and 73° F (22.8° C). The greatest amount of moisture is received in southern Michigan, and the state's average is about 31 inches (787 millimetres). The central portion of the state has less precipitation than does the Upper Peninsula, and the coastal strip along Lake Michigan receives an unusually large snowfall from westerly storm fronts moving across the lake. The growing season ranges from approximately three months in the Upper Peninsula to as long as six months in the more southerly portions of the Lower Peninsula.
Almost all of Michigan was once heavily wooded, with genuine prairies or clearings found only in the southwest. Hardwood timbers included the hickory, ash, oak, and hemlock, though the white and Norway pine were the most common timber in the north. Animals native to the area are numerous. Whitefish, lake trout, and salmon in abundance swim in the Great Lakes, and many of Michigan's streams contain various edible trout. The Department of Natural Resources operates hatcheries and encourages tourism around the inland lakes, where perch, pike, and bass abound. The beaver was sought eagerly by early traders, and other fur-bearing mammals were also found in large numbers. Deer and bears, as well as quail and ducks, remain numerous in many counties.
Many of Michigan's people think of their state as divided into the Upper and Lower Peninsula, but the two physiographic divisions, the Superior Upland and the Central Lowland, follow this plan only in part. The Upland comprises the rugged western region of the Upper Peninsula, where the abundance of copper and iron ores has made the area economically dependent on the mining industries. Ironwood, Iron Mountain, Hancock, Houghton, and Marquette are among the larger cities. Agriculture is insignificant, but tourism and recreation offer possibilities for diversifying the economy.
Geographic and historical forces unite the eastern counties of the Upper Peninsula with the Lower Peninsula north of the Bay City–Muskegon corridor to create the area known as northern Michigan. There the white pine forests were exploited. The sandy soil, with adequate moisture, produces an abundant yield of potatoes and grain. Fruit growing along the Lake Michigan shore north to Traverse City has succeeded because the lake's influence prevents early killing frosts. The towns in the north serve as regional centres for tourists and farmers and often as headquarters for governmental services. Many of the larger communities have attracted small-scale manufacturing. Cities include Sault Sainte Marie, Petoskey, Ludington, Manistee, Cadillac, and Traverse City.
South of the Bay City–Muskegon corridor a fertile clay soil and a longer growing season permit a wider variety of crops, especially grains. The southern agricultural counties produce much of the state's agricultural wealth. The region also contains industrial concentrations and numerous large cities, including Detroit, the sixth largest U.S. city, Flint, Lansing, Grand Rapids, and Battle Creek.
The diverse backgrounds of Michigan's people have been important in shaping the state's character. The percentage of foreign-born and first-generation citizens is small, however, even in Detroit.
Germans were the most numerous of the early non-English-speaking immigrants. Detroit had a large German community by the mid-1830s, as did several rural counties by 1850. The large Irish population was basically urban, although Irish farmers were found in southern Michigan and by 1860 in the Upper Peninsula. Dutch influences are still observable in western counties around Holland, where Dutch settlers pioneered successfully in 1847. Finns and the Cornish have been important in the economic and cultural life of the Upper Peninsula. Early Polish immigrants settled in rural areas until the 1890s, when a large number of Poles became concentrated in Detroit. The city's present-day population includes many people of Polish ancestry. More recently Hispanics, Asians, and immigrants from the Middle East have contributed to Michigan's ethnic mix.
The most significant population phenomenon of the 20th century has been the growth of the black population, from fewer than 16,000 in 1900 to well over 1,000,000 by the late 20th century. More than 60 percent live in Detroit, which has become nearly two-thirds black. Many blacks have moved to suburbs with long-established black neighbourhoods. They also have moved into older neighbourhoods and central city areas where the prices of homes are not exceptionally high. The majority of the newer Detroit suburbs, however, have very small black populations.
Michigan's religious history differs somewhat from that of many of the other Midwestern states. Because the first European settlers in Detroit were Roman Catholic, many immigrants of that faith were attracted to the city even before the large Irish, Italian, and Polish immigrations of the 19th century. Detroit was made a diocese in 1833 and an archdiocese in 1937. Other dioceses were established at Marquette, Grand Rapids, Lansing, Saginaw, Gaylord, and Kalamazoo. Of the Protestant denominations, Lutheranism has had many German and Scandinavian adherents, while Methodism has been important in both rural and urban Michigan. The first Dutch settlers were members of the Christian Reformed church, which was opposed to the state church of the Dutch. The Michigan group was highly independent and conservative in its doctrine and social mores. There also are large numbers of Presbyterians, Baptists, and Episcopalians. Altogether, Michigan has almost 200 Protestant denominations, some with only small memberships. The first Jewish immigrants to come to Michigan were of German background. In 1851 Detroit Jews founded a synagogue. Synagogues throughout the state reflect all forms of Judaism.
Michigan's economy, following a period of dependence in the 19th century on mining and lumbering, began in the second decade of the 20th century to be dominated by the automobile industry. Despite contributions from agriculture, tourism, forestry, and industries, producing goods such as office furniture, cereal, oil, chemicals, and pharmaceuticals, Michigan remained tied to the fortunes of the auto companies. The oil embargo of the late 1970s, combined with a dramatic increase in imports of foreign cars and a national economic recession, caused an economic crisis in Michigan. Between 1979 and 1982 the state's unemployment level climbed above 15 percent, the highest in the nation. Since then the auto industry has made a modest recovery, and Michigan's government and business leaders have initiated programs to expand the state's manufacturing base, to attract new high-technology firms, and to promote the service sector of the economy. Nevertheless, the automotive industry continues to dominate the economy, accounting for about one-third of all manufacturing employment and one-third of the total value added by manufacture.
The state government maintains many research divisions that offer assistance to various segments of the economy. The Department of Agriculture administers divisions of animal health, marketing, and soil conservation. The state tax structure attempts to avoid discrimination against the private sector. Michigan has had a workers' compensation law since 1912. Extensive programs of social legislation, including unemployment compensation, were undertaken in Michigan before World War II and have since been broadened.
Michigan is one of the nation's leading producers of iron ore, accounting for nearly one-third of the total national output, but changes in the U.S. steel industry have severely affected iron ore mining in the state. In 1984 all mining activities in the Menominee Range ceased, although production continued in the Marquette Range in Marquette county. Some deposits of gypsum for cement and of salt have not been touched, and the search for petroleum and natural gas continues.
Despite a continuing decline in the number of farms, Michigan's fertile soils make it a major agricultural state. The future of Michigan's agriculture is, however, dependent in part on prices. Many farmers work part-time in industry or for the government, an important factor in the economy of many rural communities. Corn is Michigan's major field crop, but the state is best known for its fruit production. Michigan leads the nation in the production of cherries and is a major producer of apples. The state usually is also the leading producer of dry beans in the United States. Christmas trees are another important agricultural product. Michigan forests also produce large quantities of pulpwood products, and the timber industry is undergoing a revival.
Many reasons have been advanced for the rise of the automotive industry in Detroit. The city long had been noted for the manufacture of carriages, wagons, bicycles, and marine engines, and it had a large number of skilled and semiskilled labourers and an available supply of investment capital. Other cities, however, offered inducements equal to those of Detroit, and during the pioneering phase of the industry Detroit had a number of rivals.
Personalities played a major role in making Detroit the world's automotive centre. The industry began with Ransom E. Olds of Lansing, whose father manufactured gasoline engines. Olds's success by 1901 focused the attention of automotive people on Detroit. Henry Ford brought even greater fame. Organizing the Ford Motor Company in 1903, he was by 1908 confining production to the standard, low-priced Model T. He emphasized ease of repair, garage service, and the utility of his product. W.C. Durant of Flint recognized that the automobile would be purchased by persons who desired transportation rather than by faddist motorists. He hoped through the formation of a company with large-scale capital to speed up technological advances and thus capture a large portion of the untapped middle-class market. The General Motors Corporation stands as a testimony to his thinking.
The industry paid high wages, and many automotive workers became members of the middle class. Because of the high wages there was little interest in unionism until the Great Depression of the 1930s.
The automotive industry also played an important role in the growth of Flint, Pontiac, and Lansing. Grand Rapids attained prominence through its furniture industry, and Battle Creek is known nationally for its cereals.
Tourism brings Michigan millions of dollars annually, depending on the protection of forests, rivers, lakes, and shorelines from careless development and pollution.
The first railroad in Michigan, the Erie and Kalamazoo, was completed between Toledo and Adrian in 1836, and by 1870 the state had more than 1,600 miles of rail. The peak of 9,000 miles in 1910 has since been reduced by well over half. In contrast, the gains in motor vehicle ownership have been staggering. State and local governments have combined to give Michigan a modern system of state highways, county roads, and city streets. The interstate express system has been built largely with federal assistance.
Air passenger service in Michigan began in 1926. Detroit Metropolitan Airport services millions of airline passengers annually, and there are some 20 other major airports throughout the state and several small commuter airlines. Much of the airfreight of metropolitan Detroit is handled at the Willow Run Airport, a facility constructed as a bomber plant during World War II.
The waterways carry tremendous tonnage, with many of the state's exports shipped from Detroit's harbour. Ores and other bulk materials destined for the interstate trade are generally sent by water.
The constitution of 1963 included a number of provisions to streamline government and make it more responsive to the problems of a modern industrial and urban society. Amendments may be submitted to the electorate by the legislature or by initiative petitions, but all amendments must be approved by a referendum of the voters.
Executive power is vested in the governor, who serves for four years. The governor is nominated by a primary election, but the lieutenant governor is chosen by party convention. Administrative commissions appointed by the governor are responsible to the executive and to several advisory commissions. The majority of the important governmental services are combined under departments responsible to the governor. A few of these bodies, such as the State Highway Commission, must be bipartisan.
The legislative branch comprises the Senate of 38 members elected for four-year terms and the House of Representatives of 110 members elected for two-year terms. The legislative districts are redefined by a special bipartisan commission after each federal census. The highest court is a seven-member state supreme court. The state also has a court of appeals, circuit courts, probate courts, and courts of limited jurisdiction that are specified by the legislature.
Michigan has more than 2,600 local governmental units, including counties, municipalities, townships, school districts, and such special districts as park authorities. Although the majority of counties are governed by a board of supervisors, the home-rule privilege allows larger counties to entrust management to county commissioners. Extensive privileges of home rule are authorized for the cities as well. School districts are classified by population and enjoy differing privileges of government.
The precinct is the primary unit of political party organization, and the precinct delegates carry considerable importance in the annual party conventions, where candidates are nominated for lieutenant governor, attorney general, secretary of state, and the members of the boards that govern the state system of higher education and the State Board of Education. Justices of the Supreme Court are nominated on a nonpartisan ballot. The state party conventions also select delegates to the national presidential conventions.
Black political interest grew out of the Civil Rights movement, and civil rights groups have encouraged the political awareness of black voters. Blacks have been nominated for major state and local offices by both parties; Coleman Young was elected the first black mayor of Detroit in 1973. William Lucas, nominated in 1986 by the Republican Party, was the first black to run for governor of Michigan; he was defeated by incumbent James Blanchard. Unions have been very active in Michigan politics, and the United Automobile Workers has endorsed candidates at the municipal, state, and national levels.
The personal and corporate income tax is the major source of general revenue, though federal aid and receipts from the sales tax and property tax play a major role in assuring the financial structure of the state. Gasoline and vehicle tax revenues are reserved exclusively for highways.
Many of the legislature's major appropriation bills are for support of Michigan's numerous public institutions of higher learning, including many community colleges. Large sums, however, are returned to the local districts for public elementary and secondary schools. Many of these schools, both in the inner-city areas and in the suburbs, are frequently studied to identify problems, and experiments in improved methods of instruction are often conducted by educators and psychologists from the state's universities. Adequate and equitable funding for school districts is a continuing concern. Beginning in 1988, Michigan offered state residents an opportunity to invest in the Michigan Educational Trust Fund. The program guarantees tuition for an investor's child who later enrolls in a Michigan college or university.
In 1817 Judge Augustus Woodward, one of the major figures in the state's early history, conceived the idea of a “Catholepistemiad,” an academy of universal knowledge. This was achieved in some measure in 1837, when the University of Michigan opened in Ann Arbor. It has since come to be widely regarded as one of the nation's finest universities, with programs on both the undergraduate and graduate levels. In 1849 a teacher-training institution, which later became Eastern Michigan University, began instruction at Ypsilanti. In 1855 the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, now Michigan State University, was established in East Lansing. The latter shares much of the wide regard of its rival in Ann Arbor, having moved far beyond its early identification with agriculture in many areas of research and scholarship. The Michigan Technological University at Houghton, a state institution, was established in 1885 as the Michigan Mining School. In 1956 the state acquired Wayne University, a Detroit municipal university. Wayne State University, as it was renamed, has fostered much educational experimentation, and in the 1960s its campus and physical plant became landmarks in U.S. educational architecture through the designs of the American architect Minoru Yamasaki.
Michigan is also the home of widely recognized specialized schools. In 1927 the School of Music was founded in Interlochen, the forerunner of the National Music Camp that now offers instruction in music, dramatics, and related arts. The Cranbrook and Kingswood schools in Bloomfield Hills, designed by Eliel Saarinen, pioneered advanced art courses for students of high-school age.
The Department of Public Health regulates the operation, construction, and licensing of health care facilities, including hospitals, nursing homes, homes for the aged, and long-term care units. Michigan devotes a major portion of its annual budget to social programs. A psychiatric hospital in Kalamazoo that received patients as early as 1859 was a forerunner of a number of other institutions caring for the needy. Since 1936 many of the state welfare services have followed a federal formula in transmitting aid to units of local government. Payments to recipients of old-age assistance, for example, and aid to dependent children, the blind, and the disabled have required special personnel at the state level, though disbursal of most funds is done locally.
Detroit dominated the cultural life of early Michigan, and the multifaceted backgrounds of its population gave it a cosmopolitan atmosphere. The state's first traveling theatrical companies performed in Detroit, and an opera house was erected there before the Civil War. In 1819 the Young Men's Society was organized by Lewis Cass, who led many early civic endeavours, to promote debates, lectures, and general intellectual life.
The pioneer farmers, however, had little time for cultural pursuits. The community dance that eased the strains of plowing or harvesting and the county fairs that provided a ritual summation of the year's achievements were important. Michigan's culture, then, tended to become broadly based on popular life, having many of the aspects of “mass culture.” In the major parks the city of Detroit promoted band concerts and, later, symphony concerts to bring other types of music to thousands. The Detroit Institute of Arts, maintained municipally, has always emphasized exhibits that appeal to a broad public.
Michigan celebrated its sesquicentennial in 1987 with historical events as well as programs that explored contemporary issues. The Michigan Historical Commission has designated sites of historic importance, such as the location of early settlements and the first home of the Ford Motor Company. Many cities emphasize Homecoming Day, usually the anniversary date of the incorporation of the community. Local folk festivals have been given a greater emphasis. Holland's Tulip Time Festival, held each May, has become an event of more than local importance. The annual Bavarian Festival, in Frankenmuth, appeals to others besides those of German background. Traverse City sponsors a popular National Cherry Festival. Several cities in the north commemorate the lumbering era with Paul Bunyan Days. Many ethnic groups in Detroit and other cities sponsor folk festivals that recall their cultural ties to Europe. The Museum of African-American History in Detroit is a continuing reminder of the black population's distinguished heritage.
The Detroit Institute of Arts, founded in 1885, holds one of the nation's major collections. The Muskegon Museum of Art, founded in 1911, the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts, and the Grand Rapids Art Museum have won recognition. Lansing is the home of the Michigan Historical Museum, famous for its military and Indian collections, while many county museums commemorate local history. In 1988 the state museum, state library, and state archives moved into a new building in Lansing that showcases the state's cultural resources.
The state library was founded in 1828. A state library board was created in 1936, and major public libraries are found in the larger cities. Among the outstanding special libraries are the William L. Clements Library at the University of Michigan, specializing in American history; the Burton Historical Collection of the Detroit Public Library, specializing in local history and genealogy; the Clarke Historical Library at Central Michigan University, with collections on state and regional history; and the Gerald R. Ford Museum in Grand Rapids and the Gerald R. Ford Library in Ann Arbor.
Outdoor recreation in Michigan is dominated by woods and water. As early as the 1830s, the Great Lakes were a favourite vacation lure for Eastern travelers. Today residents of southern Michigan and tourists from other areas flock to the state's shores and forests to swim, fish, hike, and hunt. Beginning in 1919, the state developed a state park system, and there are now some 90 state-operated parks and recreation areas. In addition, Michigan's 3,900,000 acres of state forest and 25,000,000 acres of national forest constitute the largest expanse of public forestland in any state east of the Rocky Mountains.
Organized team sports began with the establishment of baseball teams in several Michigan cities during the late 1850s and early 1860s. In 1881, when the Detroit team began to compete nationally, the state's love affair with the Tigers began. American football is the predominant college sport, with the heated traditional rivalry between the University of Michigan and Michigan State University being the highlight of each season. Professional football, hockey, and basketball teams from the Detroit area claim loyal fans.
In the 17th century the Indian population of what is present-day Michigan was estimated at between 12,000 and 15,000. The majority of these Indians, including the Ottawa, Ojibwa, Miami, and Potawatomi, belonged to the Algonquian linguistic group. A lesser number, located primarily in southeastern Michigan, were Huron and Wendat (Wyandot). The Ottawa and Ojibwa aided the French in the development and expansion of the fur trade. The Ottawa, with their commercial interests, had developed a type of canoe that was highly serviceable in the Great Lakes area. The Potawatomi Indians were identified more with the culture of the woods. The Huron were the most advanced in their agricultural practices. All the Indians of the Michigan area lived in small communities and were unfamiliar with the concept of private property.
Étienne Brulé, the first European to visit the area (1622), was the forerunner of numerous explorers, missionaries, and fur traders who paved the way for French control over Michigan. The oldest community in Michigan is Sault Sainte Marie, founded in 1668 at a site where in 1641 missionaries held services for 2,000 Ojibwa. In 1701 Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac established Detroit as a fur-trading centre and administrative post; it soon became the leading French community in the entire Great Lakes area. The French, and later the English and Americans, also maintained a fort at the Straits of Mackinac.
In 1760 the French garrisons were surrendered to an English force, and in 1763, by the Treaty of Paris, England acquired jurisdiction over Canada and the French empire east of the Mississippi River except for New Orleans. Under English rule Michigan remained a part of Canada. During the American Revolution Detroit was a major supply centre for British troops, who raided the Kentucky country until 1779, when the British general Henry Hamilton was captured.
Although Michigan had been awarded to the United States in 1783, the British refused to leave Detroit and other major military posts until 1796. In 1787 it was made a part of the newly created Northwest Territory. Indian opposition to U.S. rule in the area was ended by the victory of Anthony Wayne at the Battle of Fallen Timbers, near present-day Toledo, Ohio. After 1796 the Americanizing of the regions was accomplished within a few years. Detroit became the capital of the Michigan Territory, which was separated in 1805 from Indiana. Although the first governor, William Hull, surrendered Detroit to the British early in the War of 1812, American rule was restored late in 1813 by the victory of Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry at the Battle of Lake Erie.
The real growth of Michigan Territory began soon after the war, with the new governor, Lewis Cass, encouraging settlement and promoting growth. New modes of transportation were even more significant. In 1818 steamship navigation linked Detroit and Buffalo, N.Y., inaugurating a new era in lake transportation. Cass's crude highway chain from Detroit to Chicago, Saginaw, and Port Huron helped to establish the patterns of settlement in the interior. Completion of the Erie Canal in 1825 made Detroit a leading distribution point for settlers seeking new homes in the Great Lakes area.
Michigan was anxious for statehood so that it might undertake a more ambitious program of internal improvements. The first constitution was enacted in 1835, but statehood was delayed until 1837 by the Toledo War, a boundary dispute with Ohio. In return for relinquishing its claims to the mouth of the Maumee River, at Toledo, Michigan was awarded the western half of the Upper Peninsula as well as the eastern portion, which was historically part of the territory.
The state grew rapidly through the 1840s and '50s. Thousands of prospective agricultural settlers, including many foreign-born, established new homes in the state. Detroit and other leading cities profited, and in the 1840s the rich iron and copper resources of the Upper Peninsula became known. The state capital was moved from Detroit to the more central location of Lansing in 1847. Tension over the slavery issue resulted in the formation of the present-day Republican Party at Jackson in July 1854.
Throughout the American Civil War, Michigan made major contributions to the Union cause, losing some 14,000 of its 90,000 men who served. A black regiment from Michigan included enlistees from many states and from Ontario. The Republican Party became dominant after the war. In the 1890s Hazen Pingree, mayor of Detroit and subsequently governor, as well as other leaders, implemented progressive legislation.
Before 1900 all of Michigan's 83 counties had been settled, and agriculture, lumbering, mining, and manufacturing created a stirring economic tempo. Throughout the 20th century, however, the economy has been dominated by the automotive industry. During World War I, industrial production at all levels was intensified. The emergence of new problems connected with urban and industrial growth was recognized by features of the state's third constitution, approved in 1908.
The Great Depression was unusually severe in Michigan, the industrial products of which were not among the necessities of life; unemployment and deflation were far above the national averages. In 1932 Michigan departed from the Republican fold, thereafter becoming one of the doubtful, or swing, states, and organized labour became a powerful political and economic factor. In 1937 the United Automobile Workers became the bargaining agent for production workers at General Motors Corporation, and by the outbreak of World War II it was the dominant union in all automotive plants. During the war Detroit became known as the Arsenal of Democracy, and industrial production continued at a peak afterward to restock the nation with new cars and other war-depleted consumer goods.
Since World War II Michigan has experienced both racial polarization, as attested by the Detroit riots of 1943 and 1967, and strong efforts to equalize opportunity for minorities, the handicapped, and women. The 1963 Michigan constitution was the first in the nation to provide for a Department of Civil Rights.
The postwar years were also a period of explosive development in the suburbs and rapid expansion of the state's highway system. Inner cities, however, beginning in the late 1950s, declined in population, industries, and services. Detroit's Renaissance Center, a high-rise riverfront hotel, retail, and business development, stands as a symbol of the state's dedication to making its cities attractive and livable.
The severe recession of the late 1970s and early 1980s caused widespread unemployment, business failures, and cuts in state government services. Since then, government, business, and education have cooperated in their efforts to attract new industry, broaden opportunities for young people, strengthen the work force, and promote the expanding tourist industry.
Sidney Glazer
Richard J. Hathaway
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Michigan from Encyclopedia Brittanica. ©2009 Encyclopedia Brittanica. All rights reserved.
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