# History of Minnesota *Concept article: the history of the U.S. state of Minnesota, from Native American habitation through statehood and industrial development.* Minnesota's history runs from Native American habitation that began during the last glacial period, through French exploration and the fur trade, to territorial organization. It continues through industries built on the state's resources: first fur trading, logging, milling and farming, and later railroads and iron mining.[^1] Organized as [[Minnesota Territory]] in 1849, Minnesota was admitted to the Union on May 11, 1858, as the 32nd state.[^1] Much of the land that settlers took up was opened by treaties the [[Dakota]] signed in 1851, the [[Treaty of Traverse des Sioux]] and the [[Treaty of Mendota]]. The Wikipedia account calls the settlement that followed a land grab described as "pell mell".[^2][^3] A federal investigation of the 1851 treaty-fund matter, the [[Young commission]] (1853), made an adverse finding concerning [[Alexander Ramsey]]. A U.S. Senate report dated February 24, 1854, and adopted the same day, then exonerated him. As reproduced by W. W. Folwell, that report called him "not only free from blame, but highly commendable and meritorious."[^4] The record does not yet establish that wording from a primary source. It traces only to Folwell's appendix, and the printed Senate Executive Journal of the 33rd Congress has not been pulled.[^4] After the Civil War and the Dakota War of 1862, timber and farm resources drove growth. Railroads brought immigrants and carried goods to market, and milling powered by St. Anthony Falls made Minneapolis known as the "milling capital of the world".[^1] Iron ore from open pits in the north was shipped from Duluth and Two Harbors to Great Lakes steel mills. The Great Depression brought mining layoffs and labor tension, which New Deal programs eased. After World War II, computer firms Sperry Rand, Control Data and Cray made the state a technology center. Institutions such as the Guthrie Theater, Minnesota Orchestra and Walker Art Center made the Twin Cities a regional arts center.[^1] ## Native American habitation The state's oldest known human remains are about 9,000 years old and were found near Browns Valley in 1933. The individual, called "Browns Valley Man," lay with tools of Clovis and Folsom type.[^5] At Bradbury Brook, near Mille Lacs Lake, a site in use around 7500 BC is among the earliest evidence of a lasting presence in the area.[^5] "Minnesota Woman" was found in Otter Tail County in 1931. Radiocarbon dating puts her remains at roughly 8,000 years old, near the end of the Eastern Archaic period. She was buried with a conch shell of *Busycon perversa*, a species previously known only from Florida.[^5] As the climate warmed and mammoths and other large animals died out, residents turned to nuts, berries and vegetables. They hunted deer, bison and birds, and made smaller, more specialized stone tools. By about 5000 BC, people along Lake Superior were the first on the continent to work metal. They hammered copper-rich ore into shape and heated it to reduce brittleness, repeating the process until the edges could serve as knives or spear points.[^5] ## European exploration Pierre Esprit Radisson and Médard des Groseilliers traveled along Lake Superior's southern shore in the late 1650s. They were likely the earliest Europeans to encounter the Dakota.[^6] The missionary Claude Allouez, based on Madeline Island, was among the first to explore the lake's north shore and drew an early map of the area in 1671.[^6] In the same period the Ojibwa reached Minnesota in a westward migration, trading furs for guns, and tensions with the Dakota grew.[^6] France concluded a trade treaty with several tribes in 1671. The trader Daniel Greysolon, Sieur du Lhut, soon began dealing with local tribes and in 1679 helped broker peace between the Dakota and Ojibwa.[^6] A Dakota band captured Father [[Louis Hennepin]] and two companions in 1680. During their captivity they named the Falls of Saint Anthony, and du Lhut later negotiated their release. Hennepin's 1683 book, *Description of Louisiana*, embellished much of what he described, including the falls.[^6] ## Territorial foundation and settlement The Second Treaty of Paris (1783) gave the United States the land east of the [[Mississippi River]]. The western part of the future state had been Spanish Louisiana since the Treaty of Fontainebleau (1762).[^7] The United States acquired the larger area west of the river from France in the 1803 Louisiana Purchase.[^7] The Anglo-American Convention of 1818 fixed the boundary with British North America at the 49th parallel west of the Lake of the Woods. Disputes east of the lake lasted until the Webster-Ashburton Treaty of 1842.[^7] The northeast passed in turn through the Northwest, Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin territories. The western and southern areas were not formally organized until 1838, when they joined the Iowa Territory.[^7] [[Fort Snelling]], built to protect U.S. territorial interests, drew early settlers. Some harnessed Saint Anthony Falls for sawmills where [[Minneapolis]] grew, and others settled downriver at what became Saint Paul.[^1] ## Military conflicts Ramsey was in Washington, D.C., in 1861 when Fort Sumter was fired on. He went to the White House to pledge Minnesota's support to President [[Abraham Lincoln]], the first Union [[governor]] to do so. The 1st Minnesota Infantry Regiment were the first soldiers offered to the Union Army.[^3] More than 24,000 Minnesotans served, about one-seventh of the 1860 population, and nearly 3,000 died of wounds or disease. By war's end the state had raised 11 infantry regiments and two sharpshooter units, plus some cavalry and artillery.[^3] At Gettysburg on July 2, 1863, General Winfield Scott Hancock ordered the regiment's 262 men to halt a Confederate assault. All but 47 were killed, wounded or captured, and the regiment lost 17 more facing Pickett's Charge the next day.[^3] The Dakota War of 1862 began during the Civil War. As white settlement pressed in, the Dakota were destitute and some were starving from the loss of game habitat. They had signed the Traverse des Sioux and Mendota treaties in 1851.[^3] ## Economic and social development Immigration followed the 1851 Treaty of Traverse des Sioux, which opened the land to white settlement. In the 1850s the population rose 2,831%, by far the fastest growth in the nation.[^2] The Territory hired an emigration commissioner in New York in 1855. Of an estimated 47 million immigrants who reached the United States between 1820 and 1975, about one million came to or through Minnesota.[^2] The foreign-born share of residents was 37% in the late 1800s, 20% by 1920, and 8.2% (448,397 residents) by 2017.[^2] The 1921 Emergency Quota Act restricted immigration. On the Iron Range, citizens ran night schools teaching Americanization, and an Americanization council formed in 1920.[^2] The Ku Klux Klan reappeared around 1921, took political action against Jews, Catholics and people of color, and held yearly parades in Owatonna. It drew in women and families through church suppers and weddings but faded in the state after about five years.[^2] ## In the Minnesota record ### Who - [[Alexander Ramsey]] was the subject of the 1853 [[Young commission]]'s adverse finding and of the 1854 U.S. Senate exoneration in the 1851 Dakota treaty-fund matter.[^4] ### What - The matter centers on the 1851 Traverse des Sioux traders'-paper transaction, which involved funds under the Traverse des Sioux and Mendota treaties.[^4] - Folwell's reproduction carries the Senate report's own description of Ramsey: "not only free from blame, but highly commendable and meritorious." It also carries two phrases associated with the adverse side of the matter: "could not have been necessary for any reasonable or legitimate purpose" and "to compel acquiescence." None of the three surfaces in a digitized primary source.[^4] ### When - 1851: the Traverse des Sioux traders'-paper transaction.[^4] - 1853: the Young commission investigation.[^4] - February 24, 1854: the U.S. Senate report was issued and adopted the same day. The same-day structure rests on Folwell's reproduction pending the printed Senate Executive Journal.[^4] ### Where - Traverse des Sioux and [[Mendota]], the sites of the two 1851 treaties.[^4][^3] ## Notes [^1]: Wikipedia, *History of Minnesota*, lead section (revision 1372192188, retrieved 2026-10-26) — overview; Minnesota Territory 1849; statehood May 11, 1858; Fort Snelling and early settlement; industrial and cultural development. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Minnesota [^2]: Wikipedia, *History of Minnesota*, "Economic and social development" (revision 1372192188, retrieved 2026-10-26) — immigration after the 1851 treaty, 1850s population growth, foreign-born shares, Emergency Quota Act, Americanization, Ku Klux Klan. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Minnesota [^3]: Wikipedia, *History of Minnesota*, "Military conflicts" (revision 1372192188, retrieved 2026-10-26) — Ramsey's 1861 pledge to Lincoln; Minnesota's Civil War service; Gettysburg; the Dakota War of 1862 and the 1851 treaties. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Minnesota [^4]: W. W. Folwell, *A History of Minnesota*, Internet Archive text (date not in pack) — reproduces (vol. 1, App. 8) the February 24, 1854 U.S. Senate report on the 1851 Traverse des Sioux traders'-paper transaction and its adoption the same day; the only traced source of the quoted wording, which is flagged pending the U.S. Senate Executive Journal, 33rd Cong., and the 1853 Young commission report. https://ia601305.us.archive.org/18/items/historyofminneso02folw/historyofminneso02folw_djvu.txt [^5]: Wikipedia, *History of Minnesota*, "Native American habitation" (revision 1372192188, retrieved 2026-10-26) — Browns Valley Man, Bradbury Brook, Minnesota Woman, early copper working. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Minnesota [^6]: Wikipedia, *History of Minnesota*, "European exploration" (revision 1372192188, retrieved 2026-10-26) — Radisson and Groseilliers, Allouez, Ojibwa migration, the 1671 trade treaty, du Lhut, Hennepin. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Minnesota [^7]: Wikipedia, *History of Minnesota*, "Territorial foundation and settlement" (revision 1372192188, retrieved 2026-10-26) — 1783 Treaty of Paris, Louisiana Purchase, 1818 Convention, Webster-Ashburton Treaty, territorial sequence. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Minnesota