Wisconsin, state, United States: Government and Higher Education

Wisconsin still operates under its first constitution, adopted in 1848. Its executive branch is headed by a governor elected for a four-year term. Wisconsin's legislature has a senate with 33 members and an assembly with 99 members. The state elects two senators and eight representatives to the U.S. Congress and has ten electoral votes. The state's politics are deeply divided, with the more liberal cities counterbalanced by the conservative rural population.

The extensive Univ. of Wisconsin has campuses at Madison (the main campus), Eau Claire, Green Bay, Kenosha, La Crosse, Menomonie, Milwaukee, Oshkosh, Platteville, River Falls, Stevens Point, Superior, and Whitewater. Other notable institutions of higher learning are Beloit College, at Beloit; Lawrence Univ., at Appleton; Marquette Univ., at Milwaukee; and Ripon College, at Ripon.

Sections in this article:

• Introduction
• World War II to the Present
• Robert La Follette and the Progressive Movement
• Late-Nineteenth-Century Political and Economic Developments
• Territorial Status and Early Statehood
• Settlement and Native American Resistance
• British-American Struggles
• French Fur Trading and the Influx of Eastern Tribes
• Government and Higher Education
• Economy
• Geography
• Facts and Figures

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