Image via Wisconsin Historical Images
Happy Wisconsin Statehood Day! Or as I like to call it, Thank You James K. Polk For Allowing Us Into the Union Day. Oh, sure, the members of the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate in Congress Assembled had something to do with it too, I suppose, but without President Polk's approval, we'd still be a territory. Of course, we wouldn't even be that if Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, and the other men who negotiated the Treaty of Paris in 1783, so thumbs up to those guys too.
It should be noted that Wisconsin was not the only state brought into the union by James K. Polk; Florida, Texas, and Iowa also joined during his single term in office. But Wisconsin was the last, suggesting that he realized that he'd finally gotten it right.
