“Perhaps the most attractive feature of the State, after its rare natural beauty, is its refreshing attitude toward adventurous experiment… One sees this spirit operating in the State’s cooperatives, the largest number in America…[W]ith greater economic security has come a new kind of pride, and today every town of any size boasts its park, playgrounds, and scenic drives.” -WPA Federal Writers Project Guide to Minnesota, 1938 [6]

Through the first half of 2009, contending camps in the recount of the senate election between Norm Coleman and Al Franken drew the headlines – and late night comedy lines about a senate race that seems to never end. But another story of nonpartisan civic effort was taking shape behind the scenes, as thousands of volunteers and state officials joined to make the recount fair and credible. The recount had been triggered automatically by the official vote tally on November 18, as an initial Coleman lead of 726 votes on election day had shrunk to 215. This was a change “well within the normal range in the days immediately following an election, when county officials double check and verify election night tabulations reported to our office,” according to Secretary of State Mark Ritchie. And 215 was well under the one half of one percent margin that triggers a mandatory recount according to state law. A hand recount took place in 110 locations across the state. Ballots that were challenged were sent to a five person State Canvassing Board panel consisting of Ritchie, two state Supreme Court justices appointed by a Republican governor, one judge appointed by an Independence Party governor, and one judge elected in a non-partisan election. On December 12, the Board voted unanimously that counties sort through rejected absentee ballots, and counts and recounts continued until January 5, broadcast live online by independent news outlet The UpTake. The Board certified the recounted vote totals on January 5th, with Franken ahead by 225 votes. In all thousands of volunteers of all political persuasions took part in ensuring the election returns. After a court challenge, a subsequent trail conducted by a a three judge panel, and an appeal, the Minnesota Supreme Court ruled unanimously that Al Franken was entitled to be certified winner. Coleman announced he would not appeal and congratulated Franken by phone. Republican Governor Tim Pawlenty and Secretary of State Ritchie signed the certificate on June 30. [7]

The recount effort followed an intense political year in which tens of thousands of volunteers participated in the election. In addition to efforts by political parties, a variety of governmental and also nonpartisan civic groups made get out the vote efforts. For instance, the Secretary of State’s office sponsored a highly successful “Vote in Honor of a Veteran,” in which citizens could offer a tribute to a family member, friend, or someone they admired. One woman from Ely, Minnesota, wrote in honor of Justin, a soldier in the Gulf War:

“Justin, my grandson, enlisted in the Navy while still in High School. He served in the Gulf War from Jan 07 to September 07. He starts his 2nd tour of duty again this January. This tour will be hard for him because since his last tour he and his wife have had a baby. Brayden is 2 months old. I know Justin is thinking about all of the accomplishments that Brayden will make while he’s gone & going to miss: that first tooth, seeing him sit up for the first time…simply watching him grow. I just hope he knows how very proud we all are of him and how anxious I am to hold that new baby.”

Election activity was an indication of a very broad culture of civic involvement and roductive citizenship.

Minnesota is the twelfth largest state geographically and the twenty-first most populous, with just over five million residents. Minnesota, created from the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory, entered the Union as the thirty-second state on May 11, 1858. It is known as the “Land of 10,000 Lakes,” though the total is closer to 15,000, and its name comes from an Indian word for “sky-tinted water.” The lakes, forests, parks, and wilderness areas create a beautiful tapestry of outdoor recreational opportunities. These public facilities, as well as many of public buildings, were the legacy of citizen work in New Deal public works projects like the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), the Works Progress Administration (WPA), and the National Youth Administration. The 1938 WPA Guide to the state, reissued by the Minnesota Historical Society in 1983, conveys the rich patterns of civic life and involvement which have been so distinctive.

Most Minnesotans live in the Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan area, the Twin Cities, which is a major center in the upper Midwest for transportation, business, and industry, and an internationally known arts community. There is also a vibrant farming sector and tourist industry. Most Minnesotans are of Nordic and German descent, but there is increasing ethnic diversity in recent decades with substantial immigration from Africa, Asia, and Latin America.

Minnesota grew with exuberant speed following statehood in 1858 – from a population of 5,354 in 1850 to 780,773 three decades later; 71 percent of those new residents were European immigrants of the first and second generation. Business leaders lured immigrants by “high-pressure salesmanship,” as the WPA Minnesota Guide of 1938 put it. And they made money in the process. But many business leaders also often had a civic side. In the Twin Cities, the “refinements of civilization” were second to none, said observer Julian Ralph. Railroad tycoon James J. Hill’s mansion walls were lined by “the best efforts of Munkacsy, Diaz, Tadema, Detaille, Messionier and many other masters,” while “the literature of two continents, freshened by the constant arrival of the best periodicals, is ready at hand and well marked for use.” [8]

The state’s established leaders helped to create a tradition of cooperative civic work in which contributions to public and civic amenities was seen as the mark of success. “Second Generation devoted to Pursuits of Culture,” wrote Bertha Heilbom with the Minnesota Historical Society, in the special 75th issue of the St. Paul Pioneer Press commemorating statehood, December 31, 1933. “Those who grew up in Minnesota during the period immediately after the Civil War saw Minnesota emerge from a frontier state and grow into a modern commonwealth.” Heilbom profiled Charles M. Loring, president of the Minneapolis Park board from 1883 to 1890, who laid the foundations for that city’s system of parks. “He published articles, gave illustrated lectures, and in various other ways made clear to the people of the state the advantages of parks and civic improvement.” The St. Paul Pioneer Press issue also described civic efforts spearheaded by leading citizens to build libraries and schools, colleges and universities, orchestras, art galleries, theater and symphonies that complemented the growth of business and industry. [9]

The “spirit of adventurous experiment” was also an egalitarian and democratic culture that immigrants created. Swedish immigrants wrote home thousands of “America letters.” One described the “the democracy that obtained in the new country,” as the WPA Guide put it. “Caste lines in Sweden were severely restrictive [but] here was a land where everyone was a landlord and servants sat down to table with the masters.” “I am my own master, like the other creatures of God,” wrote another immigrant, after two and a half years. “Neither is my cap worn out from lifting it in the presence of gentlemen. There is no class distinction here between high and low, rich and poor, no make-believe, no ‘title sickness’ or artificial ceremonies…” [10]

Civic spirit and productive citizenship infused grassroots movements for reform in the state. In 1866 Olson H. Kellogg founded the National Grange of the Patrons of Husbandry, a society among farmers which organized cooperatives and fought to control economic concentrations of power, establishing the principle that “railroads and other corporations ‘clothed with public interest’ were properly subject to public regulation. The Grange, open to women as well as men, emphasized the social and intellectual enrichment of rural life, sponsoring a variety of educational efforts. The Farmers Alliances, a network of cooperatives that built on the Granges in the 1880s across the state, organized neighborhood gatherings, newspapers, lectures, and reading circles, as well as cooperatives. Similarly, suffragists in Minnesota combined the fight for equal rights with reading circles and book clubs. They led in the creation of libraries.

The state’s tradition of citizenship in which citizens of all walks of life join together to produce things of lasting public benefit is especially illustrated in the history of education. As often as not schools borrowed from educational centers in the life of the community as much as the other way around. In Minneapolis, the formative experiences of Richard Green growing up revolved around black churches, extended family networks, and especially the Phyllis Wheatley Settlement house on the North Side, the heart of the African-American community. Gertrude Brown, director of Phyllis Wheatley from 1924 to 1937, created an intellectual powerhouse, where cultural and intellectual leaders of national and international statue often visited. She was widely seen as an outstanding educator, concerned about the civic and public leadership potential of every child in the neighborhood. She schooled a generation of future civil rights, political, and civic leaders. Green remembered Wheatley as a community “commons,” a civic center full of public activities and relationships that shaped his vision for public schools: “commons” for an information age. His vision, in turn, inspired educators and families in Minneapolis, where he served as school superintendent in the 1980s, and led him to be chosen chancellor of New York public schools, before an untimely death. Like the commons of old, Wheatley was “the focal point” of social life and more. It taught values of hard work, self-discipline, accountability, achievement, and giving back. “Even though we were not a community of wealth, it certainly was a community of cooperation and helping the young people grow up in a healthy manner.” Settlement workers and others who sustained Wheatley “would smack your ass in a minute if you got out of line.” [11]

The state also has a history of both racial conflict and efforts at racial inclusion. The tragic Dakota War with Indians of 1862, were desperate from hunger and forced removal from tribal lands, resulted in the mass execution of 38 Dakota men, some of whom had not been involved in the fighting.

In contrast, Minnesota’s legacy includes the story of the First Minnesota, a regiment of farmers and shopkeepers, Germans, Swedes, Irish, and Yankees who were among the first to volunteer for the Union army. At the Battle of Gettysburg, the 262 members of the First Minnesota, outnumbered more than eight to one by Confederate soldiers, charged the Alabama regiments and turned back their assault on the key position at Cemetery Ridge, the
center of the Union line of defense. Many believed that their action may have saved the Union, and as long as they lived the veterans of First Minnesota were celebrated as local heroes. The members of First Minnesota helped to establish a long tradition of leadership in the fight for freedom and racial justice. Senator Hubert Humphrey’s famous speech at the 1948 Democratic convention demanding a fair employment plan was an example. So was Congressman Al Quie’s offer, as a Republican office holder in 1968, of office space to those encamped at Resurrection City, the civil rights poor people’s march. In 2006 Keith Ellison was elected to Congress from the Fifth Congressional District, the first Muslim to hold national office.