However, throughout the 19th century, the state legislature frequently adjusted county boundaries.

County creation was intended to fulfill the goal of establishing government over unorganized territory, but a more important goal was encouraging settlement by surveying the land and dividing it into saleable sections.

The legislature frequently changed the administrative attachment of these unorganized counties.

There are many cities and villages that span county boundaries in Michigan, including its capital, Lansing.

This transfer of territory from St. Clair to Macomb was the only county boundary change in Michigan since the early 20th century.

The state constitution of 1850 permitted an incorporated city with a population of at least 20,000 to be organized into a separate county of its own.

[2] No city was ever organized into an independent county in this fashion and when a new Constitution took effect in 1963, the provision was removed.

It excludes counties that existed in the Territory of Michigan or the modern boundaries of the State of Michigan but were created by any other entity (another state, a territorial government, the federal government, etc.)