# Day of Remembrance and Reconciliation *Proclamation issued August 17, 2012, by Governor Mark Dayton repudiating Governor Alexander Ramsey's 1862 extermination remark.* The **Day of Remembrance and Reconciliation** is a proclamation that Governor [[Mark Dayton]] of [[Minnesota]] issued on August 17, 2012, according to the project's at-issue record.[^1] The record states that the proclamation quoted the 1862 extermination line of Governor [[Alexander Ramsey]] and answered it with a repudiation.[^1] The proclamation's own text is not among the sources assembled for this article. The record of it here rests on the at-issue row, which names two sources: a news outlet and a blog.[^1] The at-issue record sets the repudiation beside what followed it. As of the record's 2026 entry, Ramsey County, its courthouse, the house, and the historical society bearing Ramsey's name all still carry it.[^1] The record assembled here shows no renaming, board action or legislative enactment that followed the proclamation.[^1][^2] The at-issue record anchors this pair to a January 2025 White House presidential action on ending government DEI programs and preferencing.[^3] Ramsey was Ramsey County's namesake. He was also the first president of the [[Minnesota Historical Society]], which he began supplying with his own materials in the 1860s and which interprets him today, according to a validated research dossier.[^2] ## What The at-issue record states that on August 17, 2012, Dayton proclaimed a Day of Remembrance and Reconciliation. According to that record, the proclamation quoted Ramsey's extermination line and replied: "I am appalled by Governor Ramsey's words and by his encouragement of vigilante violence against innocent people; and I repudiate them."[^1] The line it answered was spoken by Ramsey on September 9, 1862, in an address to a special session of the [[Minnesota Legislature]]. He said: "The Sioux Indians of Minnesota must be exterminated or driven forever beyond the borders of the State."[^2] The dossier reports a note from the Minnesota Historical Society that the sentence was not in the prepared manuscript but appeared in all published versions.[^2] The dossier also quotes a Minnesota House publication on the speech. That publication calls the speech "notorious" and says it "provided political justification for the subsequent forced removal of Dakota people from Minnesota in 1863 and the execution of 38 Dakota men in Mankato."[^2] The proclamation was an act of the governor. The record does not show that the Legislature or the Ramsey County board took any action in connection with it.[^1][^2] ## When - **September 9, 1862** — Ramsey addressed the Legislature's special session with the extermination line later quoted in the proclamation.[^2] - **August 17, 2012** — Dayton proclaimed the Day of Remembrance and Reconciliation, according to the at-issue record.[^1] - **December 2024** — The Minnesota Historical Society scheduled four "Victorian Christmas" tours of the [[Alexander Ramsey House]] for December 26. That date is the anniversary of the mass hanging of 38 [[Dakota]] men. The Society cancelled the tours only after the [[Star Tribune]] sought comment.[^2] - **2026** — According to the at-issue record, the county, the courthouse, the house and the historical society still carry Ramsey's name.[^1] ## In the at-issue record - **Pair AI-Ramsey-032 (Tier II, "The Name on the Courthouse").** The pair sets the 2012 repudiation beside the continued use of Ramsey's name fourteen years later.[^1] The record's sources for the pair are a news report and a blog. The pair's anchor is the January 2025 White House presidential action. That action does not itself document the proclamation.[^1][^3] - **The [[Ramsey County Historical Society]].** According to the dossier, the Society publishes a [[Dakota Land Acknowledgement]]. The acknowledgement names Ramsey, quotes the extermination line and lists six commitments. It gives no adoption date and no budget line, and it sets no metric against any of the six. The Society retains the name.[^2] ## Omissions in official accounts - Ramsey County's official history page gives the county's 1849 founding and its original boundaries. According to the dossier, the page does not name Alexander Ramsey or explain the naming.[^2] - Ramsey County government's own land acknowledgement runs to three sentences. It states no board adoption date and does not name Ramsey.[^2] ## Notes [^1]: Minnesota wiki at-issue record, *Pair AI-Ramsey-032* (dated August 17, 2012; entered 2026) — reports Dayton's proclamation, its quoted repudiation, and the continued use of Ramsey's name by the county, courthouse, house and historical society. The row lists two source domains (cbsnews.com; signlanguagebook.wordpress.com), but their URLs are not in the pack. No URL in the pack. [^2]: Research dossier, *Warren E. Burger Apex Dossier* §VI (September 2, 2026; validated) — records Ramsey's September 9, 1862 address and the Minnesota Historical Society's note on its published versions, the Minnesota House publication's description of the speech, and Ramsey's role at the Minnesota Historical Society. It also records the county history page and the county land acknowledgement, the Ramsey County Historical Society's acknowledgement, and the December 2024 tours. The dossier's own source URLs are not in the pack. No URL in the pack. [^3]: The White House, presidential action on ending government DEI programs and preferencing (January 2025) — cited by the at-issue record as the anchor for Pair AI-Ramsey-032; it does not document the 2012 proclamation. https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/ending-radical-and-wasteful-government-dei-programs-and-preferencing/