On October 5, 1835 Michigan voters went to the polls to elect the state’s first governor and state legislature and to approve its first state constitution. It was a time of great apprehension. Was Michigan a state or not? In the eyes of most Michiganians we were a state. In the eyes of the federal government — whose opinion mattered more — we were still a territory. Voters overwhelmingly elected Stephen T. Mason governor. The 24-year old Mason, who had led the fight to make Michigan a state, received 7,508 votes; his closest competitor received a mere 814.
Interestingly enough, only “free, adult, white male taxpayers” could vote according to the state History Division’s “Short History of Michigan.”
Source : Michigan History, September/October 2004, p. 5
Bill Laitner, This Week in Michigan History, Detroit Free Press, October 4, 2008, B.4.