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Did Wisconsin once belong to both the province of Quebec and the state of Virginia?

By Jacob Alabab-Moser
YES

At different points in Wisconsin's history, its territory was considered part of the now-Canadian province of Quebec and the state of Virginia.

Wisconsin's territory became part of British colonial territory under the First Treaty of Paris in 1763. Later, it became a province of British-controlled Quebec under the 1774 Quebec Act. 

In 1783, following the Revolutionary War, British holdings east of the Mississippi, including Wisconsin, were ceded to the United States under the Second Treaty of Paris. 

Until U.S. independence, Virginia officials also argued that the colony had claims to Wisconsin's territory by citing the boundaries of a 1609 charter signed by King James I. These claims ended in 1784 when Virginia ceded its holdings — stretching from present-day Virginia up to Minnesota — to the U.S. government.

This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.
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Wisconsin Watch, the news arm of the nonpartisan, nonprofit Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism, increases the quality and quantity of investigative reporting in Wisconsin, while training current and future investigative journalists. Its work fosters an informed citizenry and strengthens democracy.
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