Chapter 7 Minnesota Newcomers
St. Paul History: Origins of St. Paul
Lesson 1: Transportation
· People traveled to Minnesota in many different ways:
steamboat
train
stagecoach
oxcart
foot
canoe
Lesson 2: The Minnesota School Teacher
· Harriet Bishop arrived in St. Paul in the year 1847: Youtube: Harriet Bishop
she was the first school teacher
· The National Board of Popular Education recruited her to teach in St. Paul
· In 1847, St. Paul had the following:
not many people
muddy streets
log huts for houses
· The first St. Paul school was like this:
abandoned blacksmith shop
small windows that didn’t let in much light
mud and log walls
snakes and rats lurked in corners
· Bishop cleaned up the school house and opened in three days
Lesson 3: Strong Feelings
temperance: noun, a movement whose people worked to make alcohol illegal
· Bishop set up the first St. Paul Sunday school
· Bishop organized a temperance group
They worked to make drinking alcohol illegal
· Bishop hoped these organizations would help “civilize” Minnesota
· Bishop and other New Englanders had strong feelings about::
- democracy -schools
- laws - churches
Lesson 4: Minnesota Territory
· In 1848, 61 men met in Stillwater to chose a delegate for Minnesota in Washington
They chose Henry Sibley as their delegate
· Minnesota became a territory in the year 1849
- 1st Minnesota Territory Governor: Alexander Ramsey YouTube: Alexander Ramsey House
· An advantage to becoming a territory is
Minnesota now had a delegate in the U.S. Congress and had some say in the national government
Lesson 5: Turning Point
· In the year 1852, white settlers started pouring into MN
However, they weren’t supposed to come until 1854
· White settlers came to MN because:
they hoped to own their own land
they hoped to be their own boss
Minnesota landscape was similar to their homeland
Lesson 6: The Reservation System
reservation: land set aside by the U.S. government specifically for the Indians
· White settlers pushed Indians off of their land
· U.S. government set up the reservation system to:
keep Indians separate from white settlers
encourage Indians to give up their traditions
Lesson 7: The Swedish Immigrant
immigrant: a person who comes to a country to live there
· In 1853, Hans Mattson arrived from Sweden
He boarded a ship across the Atlantic Ocean at age 17
He led immigrants to Minnesota at age 20
He claimed land 12 miles west of Red Wing
· During Mattson’s first winter he had many problems, like:
extremely cold weather
very little shelter
supplies and food ran out
· Mattson and others survived the winter until steamboats arrived in the spring with more supplies
Lesson 8: A Community Grows
Hemlandet: “The Homeland” –a Swedish language newspaper
Vasa: Mattson’s township, named after a Swedish king
emigrate: a verb, to leave your own country
· Mattson wrote letters that were published in “Hemlandet”
he described life in Minnesota and urged others to come
· Mattson’s township was named Vasa in the year 1855
· People emigrated from Europe because:
Norwegian jobs and land were scarce
They wanted to escape famine in Ireland
They wanted to escape wars in Germany
· New communities started developing where almost no one spoke English
Vasa
New Ulm
New Prague
St. Patrick
Scandia
Heidelberg
Lesson 9: Attracting Newcomers
recruiter: somebody who encourages others to join a group
immigrate: a verb, to move into another area
· People were immigrating to Minnesota because:
Newcomers wrote letters home glorifying Minnesota and encouraging them to come
Editors and politicians praised Minnesota and exaggerated the climate, land, and opportunity
· Recruiters mislead, or lied to, newcomers by exaggerating what Minnesota was really like
Lesson 10: Minnesota Statehood
· Advantages to becoming a state:
control own finances
attract railroad companies
a “real” voice in national affairs
· May 11, 1858—Minnesota became a state
Henry Sibley is the first governor