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By Donald D. Nutt The Toledo War1 itself was most unconventional, the actual war lasting but a few days. There were small numbers of people involved and no loss of human life. The dispute was over a strip of land claimed by both the Michigan Territory and the State of Ohio. The principal contenders for this strip of land, known as the Toledo Strip, were Governors Robert Lucas of Ohio and Stevens T. Mason of Michigan. The inglorious outcome for Michigan was the loss of Toledo, its harbor, and the surrounding area of 468 square miles. The war between Michigan and Ohio has been accorded a lesser place in the military annals of the nation. History of the State Line The original east-west state line between Michigan and Ohio was known as the Ordinance Line (1787), and was later altered by the Fulton Line (1818) and the Talcott Line (1834). The Fulton and Talcott Lines practically coincided with each other. The Lines ran a straight course due east of the southernmost tip of Lake Michigan and struck the southwestern shore of Lake Erie after having passed a few miles south of Toledo. It was this Line that the U.S. Attorney General maintained was the correct Line to then President Andrew Jackson (1829-1837). The State of Ohio, when petitioning Congress for statehood in 1802, surveyed a new Line that was north of the previously accepted Line, and somewhat similar to the present day Michigan-Ohio state line. The Toledo Strip The various surveys had, in effect, created a no-man’s-land between Michigan and Ohio. This section of land totaled about 450 square miles and became known as the Toledo Strip. It was a wedge-shaped strip five miles wide at the Indiana border and eight miles wide at Lake Erie. Nearly fifty years of dispute over this tract of land culminated in the Toledo War of 1835. Dispute Settled by Politicians The Michigan Territory was forced into capitulation of the border dispute, not by the Toledo War, but by the politicians. President Andrew Jackson and the U.S. Congress on June 15, 1836 passed an act admitting Michigan into the Union once it surrendered the Toledo Strip to Ohio. Michigan’s petition for statehood was, in effect, being held hostage by the U. S. Congress. As a compromise, in return for the ceding, Congress would add the western three-quarters of the Upper Peninsula to Michigan’s borders. Although little known at the time, the 9,000 square miles given to Michigan would be some of the nation’s most valuable copper, timber, and iron country. One might wonder, "Why did the President and Congress side with Ohio when the U.S. Attorney General made it clear the disputed territory legally belonged to Michigan?" The answer was political expediency. The 1836 Presidential election was close at hand, and the National Democratic Party looked forward to Ohio’s electoral votes. Michigan, as a territory, had no electoral votes to give. Michigan Assents and Becomes a State Michigan’s first convention of assent, meeting in Ann Arbor on September 26, refused to comply with the Act of June 15. The convention had barely adjourned when the difficulties of not having accepted the compromise became evident. Michigan Democrats soon initiated the movement for another convention, realizing the hopelessness of the contest over a boundary "which is assuredly and forever lost to us." Statehood was greatly desired, as were the benefits inherent in statehood. Also, as a state, Michigan would be in a position to share in the surplus for internal improvements. Michigan finally conceded on December 14, 1836 at its second convention of assent, again held in Ann Arbor, and was formally admitted into the Union as the twenty-sixth state on January 26, 1837. 1. George, Sister Mary Karl. The Rise and Fall of Toledo, Michigan ... The Toledo War! (Lansing, Mich.: Michigan Historical Commision, 1971).
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