How could a stamp issued in 1935 mark the centennial of a state that didn’t officially join the union until January 1937? And could the stamp provide some useful ideas to help Joe Biden manage the pressure of being president?

Those are the questions behind today’s #stampoftheday, a 3-cent stamp issued in November 1935 that clearly states “1835 Michigan Centennial 1935” (and reissued in May 1936 as part of a four-stamp souvenir sheet, released in conjunction with the Third International Philatelic Exhibition, which was held in New York City.) But Michigan didn’t officially join the union until January 26, 1837.

How could the Post Office make such an obvious mistake? Here’s the story. After the American Revolution, what is now Michigan was been part of the Northwest Territory and then most of it became part of the new Indiana Territory. In 1805 Congress created the territory of Michigan, which included the state’s Lower Peninsula and initially, the eastern portion of its Upper Peninsula (UP). (The boundaries were expanded to include the whole peninsula in 1819). Completion of the Erie Canal in 1825 attracted many settlers and the growing population pressed for statehood.

In October 1835, the state’s voters ratified a proposed state constitution, which should have been the last step to statehood. But there was a small problem. Michigan and Ohio (which had become a state in 1803) disagreed over the location of their border because both states claimed jurisdiction over a 468-square-mile (1,210 km2) region along the border near Toledo. This led to the so-called “Toledo War,” in which both states deployed militias on opposite sides of the Maumee River. But besides mutual taunting, the two forces had few interactions.

Because of the dispute, however, Congress and President Jackson refused to support Michigan’s request to join the union. Finally, in the summer of 1836, Jackson signed a bill offering a compromise path forward. Michigan could become a state but only if it renounced its claim to the Toledo Strip. In return, Congress would expand Michigan’s border to three-quarters of the UP. The state’s residents balked and rejected the plan at a September constitutional convention. But in December, the territory’s government, which was facing a fiscal crisis and was under pressure from Congress and President Andrew Jackson to resolve the issue, called another convention (called the “Frostbitten Convention”) which accepted the compromise. This, by the way, turned out to be something of a boon because it turned out that there were many valuable minerals under the UP’s land.

So the 1835 on the stamp refers to when the state applied to join the union.

But wait, there’s some more to this story because in addition to contributing to confusion about the centennial’s date, the stamp also was part of a mini-controversy about the number and subject of stamps issued when President Franklin D. Roosevelt was in office. An avid stamp collector, Roosevelt offered many suggestions for what should be portrayed on stamps and how they should be designed. As the New York Times, which regularly covered issues related to stamps noted in July 1936, “the present administration, easily the most ‘stamp-minded’ in our history and headed by a philatelist President, has added thirty new issues to the United States postage album since March 1933,” when it took office. This unusually large output, the Times noted, included a series of states commemorating not only Michigan’s admission to the union but also notable anniversaries in the histories of Connecticut, Rhode Island, Arkansas, Texas and Oregon as well.

These changes generated both significant revenues and some noteworthy controversy. In August 1937, for example, the Times, reported, “Currently in the philatelic press and in newspaper stamp columns controversy is raging as to whether Uncle Sam is issuing too many stamps for its philatelic pocketbook to absorb.” Moreover, the article noted, “the complaints appearing in the philatelic press are not alone that the hobby is officially being made too expensive but [also] that too many…relatively unimportant events are being postally remembered.” Not only were an increasing number of stamps focused on specific states, but they also highlighted new subjects, such as the formation of the Northwest Territory and the birth of Virginia Dare, the first English child born in North America. “Collectors are being told in effect, that ‘nobody ever heard of the Northwest Territory’ and that ‘Virginia was an obscure figure in American history’-and hence the two stamps should never have been printed,” reported the Times, which added, “analysis of the government’s philatelic program of the past suggests to thinking collectors, however, that these two stamps fit into the pattern of American history as has gradually been put together through the medium of postal vignettes.”

In addition to pushing the Post Office to issue more stamps, Roosevelt often backed specific topics and took a keen interest in each new stamp’s design. Roosevelt, for example, reportedly pushed to make Michigan’s state seal a central part of that stamp’s design. Such deep interest, the Times noted in a lengthy September 1937 about Roosevelt, the philatelist.

“As with many other collectors,” the article noted, “the chief joy Mr. Roosevelt derives from his stamps comes from the hours he spends alone with them. It is a soothing pastime, philately, and in periods of political stress the President has frequently put affairs of State deliberately aside, gone to his room and spread his albums and stamps on bed and table. He has spent hours there, mentally detached from tension and gaining strength for new tests and decisions.

The Roosevelt stamp collection may, as its owner has insisted, ‘contain little of high value’ intrinsically speaking, but to a man who must occasionally find some temporary escape from the burdens of high office it must be well-nigh invaluable.”

I’m sure Donald Trump didn’t collect stamps. I wonder if Joe Biden does or if, perhaps, he should take it up now.

Be well, stay safe, find some temporary escapes from your burdens, fight for justice, and work for peace.