The French regime in Wisconsin ... 1634-1760.

Description

In the years prior to publication of these 3 volumes the Wisconsin Historical Society obtained funding to carry out research in the Paris archives, in order to locate all documents significant for the history of the French regime in the Northwest. That funding also covered translation into English of documents important for Wisconsin history. The three volumes found here contain, in chronological order and in English, all those documents significant for the history of the French regime in Wisconsin. -Volume 1 (which is in fact Volume XVI of the Collections of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin) contains documents for the period 1634-1727. -Volume 2 (actually Volume XVII of the Collections) contains documents for the period 1727-1748. -Volume 3 (actually Volume XVIII of the Collections) contains documents from the French regime for the period of 1743-1760, and also contains documents for the British regime in Wisconsin 1760 -1800, and the Mackinac Register of Marriages 1725-1821.

Description

Vol. I (v. 16): This volume is the first of three volumes devoted to the era of French dominance in the fur trade region of the upper Great Lakes and the upper Mississippi (1634-1763), emphasizing the period between 1634 and 1727. Documents are arranged chronologically with the last entries dating from 1727. Much of the material is from the Jesuit Relations and is summarized or excerpted in translation. Accounts of Native American diplomatic and military histories mingle with narratives, reports, and letters by such explorers, traders, and missionaries as Nicolet, Radisson and Groseilliers, Ménard, Allouez, Perrot, Galinée and Dolier, Dablon, Joliet and Marquette, Le Sueur, and Charlevoix. These men provide extensive information, mediated by their own experiences and adventures, about the customs and practices of the Native American groups with whom they came into contact in the Wisconsin area and other parts of what is now considered to be the Midwest. There is much information about the Fox War, the fur trade, the policies of the French government in both Europe and New France, and life at Michilimackinac, Detroit, and other military posts and missions. An index appears at the end of the volume. Vol. II (v. 17): This volume is the second of three volumes devoted to the era of French dominance of the fur trade region of the upper Great Lakes and the upper Mississippi (1634-1763), emphasizing the period between 1727 and 1748. During this period, Native Americans increasingly participated in economic and cultural transactions with the Europeans. Trading posts at Mackinac and Detroit were linked by trade and travel to subsidiary entrepôts such as Green Bay (La Baye) and Chequamegon (La Pointe). Many of the documents here provide evidence of Fox [Mesquakie] resistance to French dominance and their anti-French alliances with other Native Americans ranging from the Sioux further west to the Six Nations of the Iroquois in the east. Other peoples, such as the Detroit Hurons, the Ottawa, and the Potowatomi [Pottawatomie] are shown playing out localized hostilities in an international arena. After several crippling defeats by the French, tribes loosely confederated against the French revived and revolted during King George's War (1744-1748). The costs of curbing their unrest depleted France's colonial treasury, which the government attempted to restore by leasing posts to the highest bidder. The French government also used its monopoly of the Indian trade to increase prices for supplies sold to their Native-American trading partners. This provoked some of them (such as the Miamis) to develop closer ties with the English. The papers in this volume are arranged chronologically and consist chiefly of translations made from transcripts of papers in French archives, although some previously-published items also appear. They deal with diplomatic, military, and commercial activities, as well as the structures and operations of the French colonial administration. An index appears at the end of the volume. Vol. III (v. 18, p. 1-222): This volume traces the decline of French dominance of the fur trade region of the upper Great Lakes and the upper Mississippi from 1743, when the Sioux allied themselves with the Fox [Mesquakie], to 1760, when the British took control of Mackinac.The third of three volumes, this volume includes many documents that illuminate the role played by Wisconsin's various population groups and economic interests during the American Revolution. An index appears at the end of the volume.

Subjects

Series Statement

• Collections of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin,