by john duff » Fri Sep 09, 2005 12:29 pm
I too will be away this weekend (Sat AM til Sun eve). Off to check out Sox-Yanks in Da Bronx among other things. Doubtful I will be able to check in at all. I will leave as long a list of proxies as I'm able- with a focus on players no one else could possibly want. This is in keeping with our theme about Minnesota- the state nobody wanted.
Back in the day, the U.S. spent a good deal of time and effort trying to pawn off Minnesota on Canadia. We were desperate enough to offer to take Newfoundland in exchange, but Canadia wouldn't budge. Troops were mustered, battle hymns were sung. It would be the first war ever fought to give away territory...and then Wisconsin screwed the whole thing up. Wisconsin, acting the part of the pretty girl with the fat friend, said they wouldn't join the U.S. unless Minnesota came along too. Well, they had us. Americans like cheese just too damned much to let Wisconsin walk away.
There was a lot of arm-twisting and cajoling still to be done. The U.S. promised to set Minnesota up with some "nice Carribean Island" if Wisconsin would come along alone, but to no avail. During a heated exchange, a famous epithet was born when Sen. Chauncy Wattles (Whig-Mass.) instructed Sen. Ted Needlebaum (No Nothing-Wis.) to "Go jump in a lake!", a remark intending to highlight the paucity of Minnesota's charms. But to no avail, Wisconsin remained steadfast.
Ironically, Minnesota and Wisconsin soon had a major falling out. (Minnesota actually went so far as to pass a law prohibiting anyone from crossing the border in to Wisconsin while wearing a chicken on their head- Talk about ingratitude!!) But too late, the damage was done. And this, boys and girls, is how Minnesota came to be a State.