This document contains the text of a bill that was passed by the Minnesota Territorial Legislature in 1857 to transfer the capital of Minnesota from St. Paul to St. Peter. This document has been determined to have been written at that time, but it is most likely a working copy of the document that was passed by the legislature. Joseph Rolette, a member of the legislature who was opposed to the transfer of the capitol, disappeared with the original bill and failed to return it in time for it to be properly signed by Territorial Governor Willis Gorman, who had, in the meantime, signed a copy of the document that Rolette had taken. Governor Gorman's action was declared to be illegal by a Judge R. R. Nelson, thus ending the attempt to move the capitol.
litho print, may be hand-colored; view of Fort Snelling from the Mississippi River from opposite shore looking up towards the Round House and Barracks with ferryboat crossing the river; man standing in foreground on shore
Contributing Institution:
Hennepin County Library, James K. Hosmer Special Collections Library
These are the handwritten first Rules of Court for the Minnesota Territory, as recorded by Harvey Wilson, District Court clerk in Stillwater, St. Croix County, Minnesota Territory on August 13, 1849.
Outlines Ramsey's vision of government in Minnesota, touching on virtually every conceivable phase and aspect of the state. Identifies progress already achieved, what is in progress and what is yet to come.