When Congress approved the admission of Minnesota, the 32nd state featured a sparse population, an acrimonious political climate and a depressed economy.

The approximately 195,000 inhabitants included about 180,000 Euro-Americans, 15,000 Native Americans and several hundred African-Americans. The whites and African-Americans were concentrated in the state’s southeast quarter. Only several hundred lived north of a line from Taylors Falls to Little Falls and west of a Little Falls-Albany-Glencoe-New Ulm-Blue Earth line. Settlers were first attracted to the deciduous forest zone because of its acclaimed fertility, the abundant supply of wood for fuel and shelter and the proximity of navigable rivers.

American-born Euro-Americans outnumbered foreign born by a two-to-one margin. The principal birthplaces of the native born were Minnesota, New York State and New England. Irish and Norwegians followed Germans, by far the leading foreign-born ethnicity.

The population was primarily rural, very young and had a male majority. Nearly one of every three Minnesotans was 10 years old or younger. Males constituted about 54 percent of the populace.

Ramsey, Hennepin and Washington were the most populous counties. St. Paul, with nearly 10,000 residents, was by far the largest city. St. Anthony (the present-day University of Minnesota East Bank area), with about 3,000 people, was its closest competitor. Winona, with about 2,200 inhabitants, was the largest community in southern Minnesota. Mankato and Rochester, whose populations were approximately 1,400 and 1,300 respectively, were the next largest.

Rancorous discord between Democrats and Republicans dominated politics. Their differences, exacerbated by the emotional debate over slavery, had caused the parties to hold separate constitutional conventions in the summer of 1857. Democrats, who generally defended the continuation of slavery, were the conservatives. The young, liberal Republican Party was antislavery and pro-homestead (i.e. grant free federal land to settlers).

Despite the rising appeal of the anti-slavery and free soil movements, the Democrats prevailed in the first election of state officials on Oct. 13, 1857.

Former fur trader Henry H. Sibley was elected governor and the Democrats also won all other state executive offices as well as control of the 37-member Senate and the 80-member House of Representatives. The three Democratic candidates for U.S. House of Representatives (although Congress subsequently limited Minnesota to two) all won. The state Legislature, convened prior to statehood, chose two Democrats, Henry Mower Rice and James Shields, as U.S. senators.

The economy was in dire straits. During the mid-1850s boom, when Minnesota Territory gained about 100,000 people, property values soared. But the deceptive gains were stimulated by rampant land speculation. The bubble burst in late summer 1857, when a New York City stock market crash set off the Panic of 1857. As a frontier debtor region, Minnesota’s fragile economy collapsed as eastern creditors demanded repayments. During the depression, which persisted until the Civil War, foreclosure notices and announcements of sheriffs sales were regular features in Minnesota newspapers.

Prior to statehood, Minnesota’s promoters envisioned a vibrant economy based on agriculture, lumbering and mining. With no knowledge of iron ore, they anticipated copper would soon be found west of Lake Superior.

Even though it was adversely affected by the depression, lumbering was the state’s most important commercial enterprise. Sawmills concentrated on the St. Croix River at or near Stillwater and on the Mississippi at St. Anthony and Wabasha annually produced about 70,000,000 board feet of lumber, lathe and shingles. These products, logs and wild animal furs were Minnesota’s only exports.

Agriculture engaged the most people. But it was still in a subsistence phase with no out-of-state cash markets. Averaging about 150 acres (nearly a half-mile square), farms were quite large. However, only about one-seventh of the farmland was cultivated. With only hand labor, clearing trees was a slow, labor-intensive process. But even on naturally-cleared land, farmers relying on walking plows and cradle scythes had to limit their tillage.

Wheat was the ranking crop in both acreage and yield. Corn, oats and potatoes were the other major crops. Most of the wheat was processed by local flour mills, which were variously powered by water wheels, Dutch-type windmills and stationary steam engines. But, despite this manufacturing, Minnesota had to import some flour. Other than home consumption for people and their animals, corn, oats and potatoes were bartered locally for salt and other groceries, lumber, clothing, cloth, drugs and confectioneries.

Minnesotans yearned for railroads, but the nearest one was at Prairie du Chien, Wis. Steamboating, with St. Paul as the leading port for both the Mississippi and the Minnesota rivers, was the most technologically advanced technology. Stagecoaches and wagons serviced inland communities. Farm transportation was by wagons, buggies and carts. Oxen were more commonly used as farm draft animals than horses.

St. Paulites became aware of Minnesota’s admission soon after the steamboat Milwaukee bearing a telegraphic dispatch from Prairie du Chien reached the capital city at 6 a.m. on May 13. Within hours, the St. Paul Daily Pioneer and Democrat announced the event with an extra issue. Some city residents celebrated that evening by firing revolvers and shotguns, exploding firecrackers and drinking beer. The news was subsequently disseminated through the state by newspaper exchanges and word-of-mouth.