4th Michigan Territorial Council

4th Michigan Territorial Council
← 3rd Michigan Territorial Council 5th Michigan Territorial Council →
Overview
Legislative body	Michigan Territorial Council
Jurisdiction	Michigan Territory, United States
Meeting place	Detroit
Term	May 11, 1830 (1830-05-11) – March 4, 1831 (1831-03-04)
Michigan Territorial Council
Members	13 members
President	Abraham Edwards
Sessions
1st May 11, 1830 – July 31, 1830 2nd January 4, 1831 – March 4, 1831

The Fourth Michigan Territorial Council was a meeting of the legislative body governing Michigan Territory, known formally as the Legislative Council of the Territory of Michigan. The council met in Detroit in two regular sessions between May 11, 1830, and March 4, 1831, during the terms of Lewis Cass and George B. Porter as territorial governor.

Leadership and organization

Abraham Edwards was president of the council, Edmund A. Brush secretary, and William Meldrum sergeant-at-arms.

Members

A January 1827 act of the United States Congress provided for the direct election of a 13-member legislative council by the people of the territory; the same act gave the council responsibility for determining the apportionment of seats. The council apportioned the seats as follows in an 1828 act:

... the county of Wayne shall form the first electoral district, and shall be entitled to elect four members; the counties of Monroe and Lenawe shall form the second district, and shall be entitled to elect three members; the counties of Macomb and St. Clair shall form the third district, and shall be entitled to elect one member; the county of Oakland shall form the fourth district, and shall be entitled to elect two members; the county of Washtenaw shall form the fifth district, and shall be entitled to elect one member; and the counties of Michilimackinac, Brown, Crawford, and Chippewa shall form the sixth district, and shall be entitled to elect two members of the legislative council.

Members

District	County	Name	Party	Notes
1	Wayne	William Bartow
		William Brown
		William A. Fletcher
		John McDonell	Democratic
2	Lenawee Monroe	Laurent Durocher	Democratic
		Abraham Edwards
		Wolcott Lawrence
3	Macomb St. Clair	John Stockton
4	Oakland	Thomas J. Drake
		Daniel LeRoy
5	Washtenaw	James Kingsley
6	Brown Chippewa Crawford Michilimackinac	Robert Irwin Jr.		Did not appear at second session.
		Henry R. Schoolcraft

References

• Journal of the Legislative Council of the Territory of Michigan: First Session—Fourth Council, Detroit: Edward D. Ellis, 1830, retrieved 2019-10-04 – via HathiTrust
• Journal of the Legislative Council of the Territory of Michigan: Second Session—Fourth Council, Detroit: George L. Whitney, 1831, retrieved 2019-10-04 – via HathiTrust
• Michigan Manual (1907–1908 ed.), Lansing: Wynkoop Hallenbeck Crawford, 1907, retrieved 2019-10-04
• State of Michigan (1874), Laws of the Territory of Michigan, vol. 2, Lansing: W. S. George, retrieved 2019-10-04