in 1834, the brothertown indian nation requested u.s. citizenship and allotment of land by individual title to tribal members (the land had been considered tribal property) in order to avoid being forced to move west again. on march 3, 1839, congress passed an act granting the brothertown indians u.s. citizenship, making them the first indians to acquire it formally. one member, william fowler served in the territorial legislative assembly of the wisconsin territory; two others, alonzo dick and william h. dick, served in the wisconsin state assembly, the first non-whites to do so. several tribal members held office in calumet county, even after the brothertown ceased to be a majority in that county. although william h. dick was elected to the state legislature again in 1871, after that year brothertown indians were active in politics only at the local civil township level.