Wisconsin, state, United States: British-American Struggles

Like all of New France, Wisconsin fell to the British with the end of the French and Indian Wars (1763). British traders mingled with the French and eventually gained the bulk of the fur trade. The British hold continued even after the end of the American Revolution, when the Old Northwest formally passed (1783) to the United States and was made (1787) a part of the Northwest Territory. After Jay's Treaty (1794), northwestern strongholds were turned over to the Americans, but the British continued to dominate the fur trade from the Canadian border. In the War of 1812 Wisconsin again fell into British hands. It was only with the Treaty of Ghent (see Ghent, Treaty of) that effective U.S. territorial control began and that the American Fur Company gained control of much of the fur trade.

Sections in this article:

• Introduction
• World War II to the Present
• Robert La Follette and the Progressive Movement
• Late-Nineteenth-Century Political and Economic Developments
• Territorial Status and Early Statehood
• Settlement and Native American Resistance
• British-American Struggles
• French Fur Trading and the Influx of Eastern Tribes
• Government and Higher Education
• Economy
• Geography
• Facts and Figures

The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2024, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.

See more Encyclopedia articles on: U.S. Political Geography