WHY IS MICHIGAN CALLED THE WOLVERINE STATE:
Wolverines are not native to the state of Michigan. Wolverines do, however, live in Canada, Alaska and other really cold places. But, not MI. The few that live in MI are either in a zoo, owned illegally by people as pets or escaped from peoples houses who had them as illegal pets, etc. The ones in MI and all other Northern states were either brought there by people or they walked over the Canadian boarder by themselves.
The real reason for the nickname comes from the: Toledo War between Michigan and Ohio in 1835.
The city of Toledo is in Ohio, but, it is right on the edge of Michigan.
In 1835, the government of Michigan said, "I don't think that city officially belongs to Ohio. We need to claim it as part of our state!"
Wolverines have a reputation for being extremely aggressive animals. They will often attack other animals that are just minding their own business and not trying to harm anything. The Wolverine will attack the other animal for seemingly no good reason at all.
The state of Ohio was just minding their own business and not posing a threat to anybody. One day, the government in Michigan told the state Militia to attack Ohio.
It was quite a surprise when the Michigan Militia invaded Toledo and said, "We, the people of Michigan are taking the city over! The city belongs to us now!"
In 1936, President Jackson put an end to the war. He decided that since Ohio was already a state and Michigan wasn't and since he wanted Ohio's electoral votes in the upcoming election, he would let Ohio keep the city. In exchange, Michigan became an official state. The state also was given about Two Thirds of the Upper Peninsula. It sounded like a bad deal at the time, because nobody wanted the Upper Peninsula. But, it has a lot of: Copper, Iron and Timber. So the state took advantage of that.
After the war, some people in Ohio said, "The state of Michigan has the mentally and temperament of a Wolverine! MI should be known as: The Wolverine State!"
The name Wolverine State stuck. Michigan has had that name ever since.
Eventually, The University of Michigan adopted the name: "Michigan Wolverines".
That's how MI got that name.
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