Michigan Comedians

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butlersrangers
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Michigan Comedians

Post by butlersrangers »

Michigan has produced some hilarious Comedians: Tim Allen, Gilda Radner, Lily Tomlin, Robin Williams .....

We have some witty T-Shirt artists, too!
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FredC
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Re: Michigan Comedians

Post by FredC »

On the shirts the first one is obvious. The second took a while before I remembered the comments of someone from Sweden about social distancing. He was getting tired of the 2 meter distancing and could not wait for covid to be over so they could go back to their usual 4 meters. So a lot of the Norse immigrants ended up in Michigan and social distancing was already part of their lifestyle. Did I get it?

I took Texas history in high school so I missed the Toledo war, still lost on that one.

On the list of great comedians from Michigan you forgot that Chuck guy that keeps us in stitches on the KCA. :-)

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butlersrangers
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Re: Michigan Comedians

Post by butlersrangers »

In the 1830's, when the Territory of Michigan was eligible to become a 'State', it was blocked in the U.S. Congress by the chicanery of the States of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois.

The Ordinance of 1787, planned for the admission of new states to be created from the 'Northwest Territory'. The new states would enter the Union on an equal footing with the existing states.

The Ordinance, (based on faulty maps), established the Michigan Territory's southern boundary as straight east-west line extending from the southern-end of Lake Michigan.
Some parts of what are now northern Ohio and northern Indiana, were oriented to and paid their taxes to the Michigan Territory.
(The port cities of Michigan City, Indiana, and Toledo, Ohio, were considered to be part of Michigan).

The 1830's were the Age of Canal Building. Ohio and Indiana had great works in progress that would facilitate their trade, commerce, agriculture and industry, by connecting the Great Lakes to the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers.
Ohio and Indiana wanted to be in control and have an access to the Great Lakes at the Port of Toledo & mouth of the Maumee River. They fought Michigan in Congress and in the courts.
An Armed Ohio surveying team was arrested by a Michigan Sheriff's posse, after shots were exchanged. The Sheriff from Monroe, Michigan, was stabbed in a Toledo Saloon by Ohio thugs while serving a warrant.

The Militias of Michigan and Ohio were mobilized and prepared to go to war, (The Toledo War). The U.S. Congress stepped in and engineered a compromise, which attempted to placate Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Michigan, by 'screwing' the Wisconsin Territory!

The State of Ohio got a strip of land that gave them control of the Maumee River and the City of Toledo. (Some would say, Ohio lost the "war").

The sneaky State of Indiana had encroached even further north, while Michigan was 'wrestling Ohio', and got a nice beach at Indiana Dunes and the lakeport of Michigan City.

The really sneaky State of Illinois pushed their northern boundary even further, into hapless Wisconsin Territory, to a river that smelled like onions at Fort Dearborn, which eventually became Chicago.

The 'cry baby' Michigan Territory gave up its legitimate claim to the 'Toledo Strip' and ceded land to the nefarious State of Indiana.
In return, Michigan eventually gained 'statehood' (1837) and received a gigantic remote wasteland of a peninsula, (of which originally, Michigan only had part of the eastern tip), that was whacked-off from Wisconsin Territory.
This vast wasteland of the Michigan Upper Peninsula proved to have amazing mineral wealth and great scenic beauty.

In summary, the Territory of Michigan and the State of Ohio went to War. The U.S. Congress got involved and Wisconsin lost.
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Last edited by butlersrangers on Fri Jun 17, 2022 7:05 pm, edited 2 times in total.

FredC
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Re: Michigan Comedians

Post by FredC »

Sounds like you needed a score card to keep up with all that stuff. I remember none of this from US history. Maybe our US history books were written by Texans who had no interest in them northern states.

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butlersrangers
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Re: Michigan Comedians

Post by butlersrangers »

This Northwest Ordinance stuff was set up by the "Articles of Confederation Government".
It happened before our Constitution of 1789 restructured our Federal Government.

A bunch of the original states (colonies) had to give-up their claims to the 'new' territory that was granted to the United States, in the treaty that ended the Revolutionary War.
If the original states had not given up rival claims, things would have gone nowhere and the fledgling country would have failed.

When Kentucky and Tennessee were admitted as states, things were a bit chaotic.

The Ordinance of 1787 gave a logical structure to the 'statehood' process and served as a template for later States.

IMHO - Everyplace has an interesting history, if you dig a bit.
You learned Texas History. Kids in Michigan, use to learn Michigan History.

Nowadays, I don't think this stuff is taught or understood by young people, (much to our shame).

In regard to the 'U.P. Shirt' photos:
Covid 19 resulted in Public Health Officials pushing "Social Distancing", between individuals, as an epidemic intervention.
The Michigan Upper Peninsula was remote and hard to get to, when it was made part of the new State of Michigan (1837).
One still must go 'out of the way' to go to the Michigan U.P. Lots of elbow room up there!

Michiganders aware of our State's history, the friction with Ohio, and the odd path to 'statehood', usually think Michigan 'WON' a lot more than it lost in the quasi Toledo War.
(I guess some humor is very regional or subjective and not so funny, if it has to be explained).
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FredC
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Re: Michigan Comedians

Post by FredC »

butlersrangers wrote: Fri Jun 17, 2022 7:28 pm Michiganders aware of our State's history, the friction with Ohio, and the odd path to 'statehood', usually think Michigan 'WON' a lot more than it lost in the quasi Toledo War.
(I guess some humor is very regional or subjective and not so funny, if it has to be explained).
Well, I see the humor in it now. May have rolled on the floor if I had was better acquainted with the history, but I did learn something and got a chuckle out of it with the explanation. All is good.

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