Editing North Dakota (section)

===Settlement and statehood===
{{main|Dakota Territory}}

European Americans settled in Dakota Territory only sparsely until the late 19th century, when railroads opened up the region. With the advantage of grants of land, they vigorously marketed their properties, extolling the region as ideal for agriculture.

Differences between the northern and southern part caused resentments between the settlers. The northern part was seen by the more populated southern part as somewhat disreputable, "too much controlled by the wild folks, cattle ranchers, fur traders" and too frequently the site of conflict with the indigenous population. The northern part was generally content with remaining a territory. However, following the territorial capital being moved from [[Yankton, South Dakota|Yankton]] in the southern part to Bismarck, the southern part began to call for division. Finally, at the 1887 territorial election, the voters approved splitting the territory into two. The division was done by the seventh standard parallel.<ref>{{Cite magazine |title=Now You Know: Why Are There Two Dakotas? |url=https://time.com/4377423/dakota-north-south-history-two/ |access-date=April 7, 2022 |magazine=Time |language=en |archive-date=April 8, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220408084549/https://time.com/4377423/dakota-north-south-history-two/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2015-10-17 |title=Moving Toward Statehood {{!}} North Dakota Studies |url=http://www.ndstudies.gov/content/moving-toward-statehood |access-date=April 7, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151017234846/http://www.ndstudies.gov/content/moving-toward-statehood |archive-date=October 17, 2015 }}</ref> Other account(s) state that the real reason for the split was a political lure for four Republican senators instead of two from the Republican dominated Dakota Territory and in their push to split the territory, Republican congressmen also ignored the uncomfortable fact that much of the land in the anticipated state of South Dakota belonged to the Sioux.<ref name="richardson">{{cite book |author=Heather Cox Richardson |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-Zi4H7SsSugC |title=Wounded Knee: Party Politics and the Road to an American Massacre |date=November 25, 2013 |publisher=Basic Books |isbn=9780465025114 |page=101 |quote="On February 22, 1889, outgoing President Cleveland signed an omnibus bill that divided the Territory of Dakota in half. The bill also enable the people in the new Territories of North Dakota and South Dakota, as well as the older territories of Montana and Washington, to write state constitutions and elect state governments. The four new states would be admitted into the Union in nine months. This plan cut Democratic New Mexico out of statehood, and split Republican Dakota Territory into two new Republican states. Rather than two new Republican states and two new Democratic states that Congress had considered the previous year, the omnibus bill created three new Republican states and one new Democratic state that Republicans thought they would capture. In their eagerness to admit both Dakotas, Republican congressmen also ignored the uncomfortable fact that much of the land in the anticipated state of South Dakota belonged to the Sioux}}{{Dead link|date=January 2023|bot=InternetArchiveBot|fix-attempted=yes}}</ref><ref name="ndstudies.gov">{{Cite web |title=Section 6: Statehood {{!}} 4th Grade North Dakota Studies |url=https://www.ndstudies.gov/gr4/early-settlement-north-dakota/part-1-early-settlement-north-dakota/section-6-statehood |access-date=2024-11-11 |website=North Dakota Studies Grade 4 Curriculum |language=en}}</ref>

Congress passed an omnibus bill for statehood for North Dakota, [[South Dakota]], [[Montana]], and [[Washington (state)|Washington]], titled the [[Enabling Act of 1889]], on February 22, 1889, during the administration of President [[Grover Cleveland]]. His successor, [[Benjamin Harrison]], signed the proclamations formally admitting North Dakota and South Dakota to the Union on November 2, 1889.<ref name="washington">{{cite web | title = Enabling Act | publisher= Washington State Legislature | url = http://www.leg.wa.gov/History/State/enabling.htm | access-date = August 19, 2007 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070919230052/http://www.leg.wa.gov/History/State/enabling.htm <!-- Bot retrieved archive --> | archive-date = September 19, 2007}}</ref>

There was a rivalry between the two new states over which one would be admitted first. So Harrison directed Secretary of State [[James G. Blaine]] to shuffle the papers and obscure from him which he was signing first to keep both the states happy and to avoid showing favor to either state. The actual order went unrecorded, thus no one knows which of the Dakotas was admitted first.<ref name="using">{{cite web | title=H.I.P. Pocket Change™ Web Site—Coin of the Month | website=usmint.gov | date=September 2006 | url=http://www.usmint.gov:80/kids/coinNews/coinOfTheMonth/2006/09.cfm | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071013151848/http://www.usmint.gov/kids/coinNews/coinOfTheMonth/2006/09.cfm | archive-date=October 13, 2007 | url-status=dead | access-date=November 15, 2018 | df=mdy-all }}</ref><ref name="nd boundaries">{{cite web | title = North Dakota's Boundaries | publisher = North Dakota Geological Survey | year = 2002 | url = https://www.dmr.nd.gov/ndgs//ndnotes/Boundaries/Boundaries.asp | access-date = August 19, 2007 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110721144357/https://www.dmr.nd.gov/ndgs//ndnotes/Boundaries/Boundaries.asp | archive-date = July 21, 2011 | url-status = live }}</ref><ref name="ndstudies.gov"/> However, since ''North Dakota'' alphabetically appears before ''South Dakota'', its proclamation was published first in the Statutes At Large.