Editing Nebraska Territory

{{Short description|Former organized incorporated territory of the United States (1854–1867)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=April 2013}}
{{Infobox former subdivision
|conventional_long_name = Territory of Nebraska
|common_name       = Nebraska Territory
|nation            = the United States
|subdivision       = [[Organized incorporated territories of the United States|Organized incorporated territory]]
|event_pre         =
|date_pre          =
|event_start       = [[Kansas–Nebraska Act]]
|date_start        = May 30,
|year_start        = 1854
|event1            = [[Colorado Territory]] formed
|date_event1       = February 28, 1861
|event2            = [[Dakota Territory]] formed
|date_event2       = March 2, 1861
|event3            = [[Idaho Territory]] formed
|date_event3       = March 3, 1863
|event_end         = [[Nebraska|Statehood]]
|date_end          = March 1,
|year_end          = 1867
|p1                = Territories of the United States#Formerly unorganized territories{{!}}Unorganized territory
|flag_p1           = U.S. flag, 31 stars.svg
|p2                = Washington Territory
|flag_p2           = US flag 33 stars.svg
|s1                = Colorado Territory
|flag_s1           = US flag 33 stars.svg
|s2                = Dakota Territory
|flag_s2           = US flag 33 stars.svg
|s3                = Idaho Territory
|flag_s3           = US flag 34 stars.svg
|s4                = Nebraska
|flag_s4           = Flag of Nebraska.svg
|image_flag        =
|image_coat        =
|symbol_type       =
|image_map         = Nebraskaterritory.PNG
|image_map_caption =
|capital           = [[Omaha, Nebraska|Omaha]]
|government_type   = Organized incorporated territory
|title_leader      = Governor
|leader1           = ''[[List of Governors of Nebraska Territory|List]]''
|year_leader1      =
|leader2           =
|year_leader2      =
|leader3           =
|year_leader3      =
|leader4           =
|year_leader4      =
|legislature       =
}}

The '''Territory of Nebraska''' was an [[organized incorporated territory of the United States]] that existed from May 30, 1854,<ref>{{USStat|10|277}}</ref> until March 1, 1867, when the final extent of the territory was admitted to the [[United States|Union]] as the [[Nebraska|state of Nebraska]]. The Nebraska Territory was created by the [[Kansas–Nebraska Act]] of 1854. The territorial capital was [[Omaha, Nebraska|Omaha]]. The territory encompassed areas of what is today Nebraska, [[Wyoming]], [[South Dakota]], [[North Dakota]], [[Colorado]], and [[Montana]].

==History==
{{Historical populations
|type= USA
|1860|28841
|footnote=Source: 1860;<ref>{{cite report|editor-last=Forstall|editor-first=Richard L.|title=Population of the States and Counties of the United States: 1790–1990|page=3|publisher=[[United States Census Bureau]]|url=https://www2.census.gov/library/publications/decennial/1990/population-of-states-and-counties-us-1790-1990/population-of-states-and-counties-of-the-united-states-1790-1990.pdf|access-date=May 18, 2020}}</ref>
}}

An [[enabling act]] was passed by the [[United States Congress|Congress of the United States]] in 1864. Delegates for a constitutional convention were elected; this convention did not produce a constitution. Two years later, in 1866, a constitution was drafted and voted upon. It was approved by 100 votes. However, a clause in this constitution that limited suffrage to "free white males" delayed Nebraska's entry into the Union for almost a year. The 1866 enabling act for the state was subject to a [[pocket veto]] by [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic Party]] / [[War Democrat]] and new 17th [[President of the United States|President]] [[Andrew Johnson]] 1808-1875, served 1865-1869), When the Congress reconvened in 1867, it passed another bill to create the new 37th   [[Nebraska|state of Nebraska]], on the condition that Nebraska's new proposed first [[Constitution of Nebraska|state constitution]] be amended to remove the suffrage clause. This bill was also vetoed by President Johnson. The then dominant [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican Party]]-controlled by [[Radical Republicans]] in the Congress, then overrode his veto, with the required two-thirds super majority..
{{Further|History of slavery in Nebraska}}

===Early settlement===
[[File: William Walker (Wyandot leader).jpg|thumb|300px|left|[[William Walker (Wyandot leader)|William Walker]] (1800–1874), a leader of the Wyandot people and a prominent citizen of early-day Kansas. Elected provisional Governor of the Nebraska Territory July 23,1853.]]

[[File:USA, Nebraska Territory, $1 City of Omaha 1857 Banknote II, obverse.jpeg|left|thumb|$1 City of Omaha 1857 uniface banknote. The note is signed by [[Jesse Lowe]] in his function as Mayor of Omaha City. It was issued as scrip in 1857 to help fund the erection of the territorial capitol building at Omaha.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Bank Note, City of Omaha, $1; Scrip, 1857|last1=City of Omaha|first1=Nebraska|publisher=Nebraska State Historical Society|location=Lincoln, NE|access-date=4 October 2015|url=http://nebraskahistory.pastperfectonline.com/webobject/C57ECA2C-CAB8-40D6-A1EF-160287429413}}</ref> ]]
Several trading posts, forts and towns were established in the previous area of the original [[Louisiana Purchase]] of 1803, abd the organization of the subsequent [[Louisiana Territory]] (1804-1812) and the following [[Missouri Territory]] of 1812-1821 (until admission of Missouri as the xx state that year of 1821, in the southeastern corner of the former larger territory. Later decades saw the new Western lands as temporarily unorganized federal territory between the [[Mississippi River]] in the east across the [[Great Plains]] to the far western [[Rocky Mountains]]. That status endured for 33 years from 1821 to the establishment of new official federal territories for [[Kansas Territory]] and the one further north in the Nebraska lands, both in 1854. 

From the early [[19th century]] through 1867, including [[Fontenelle's Post]] founded in the present-day site of [[Bellevue, Nebraska|Bellevue]] in 1806. It was first mentioned in [[fur trading]] records in 1823. [[Fort Lisa (Nebraska)|Fort Lisa]], founded by [[Manuel Lisa]] (1772-1820), (near present-day [[Dodge Park]] in [[North Omaha]]), was founded in 1812, although Lisa had earlier founded posts further up the upper [[Missouri River]] in future [[Dakota Territory]] ([[North Dakota]]) and [[Montana Territory]] ([[Montana]]). [[Fort Atkinson (Nebraska)|Fort Atkinson]], was founded on the [[Fort Atkinson (Nebraska)#Council Bluff: frontier post|Council Bluff]] in 1819; in 1822 [[Cabanne's Trading Post]] was founded nearby on the [[Missouri River]]. [[Mormon]] ([[The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints]]) settlers founded [[Cutler's Park, Nebraska|Cutler's Park]] in 1846, and the town of Bellevue was incorporated in 1853. Nearby [[Omaha City]] was founded in 1854, with [[Nebraska City, Nebraska|Nebraska City]] and [[Kearney, Nebraska|Kearney]] incorporated in 1855. The influential towns of [[Brownville, Nebraska|Brownville]] and [[Fontanelle, Nebraska|Fontanelle]] were founded that year as well. The early village of [[Lincoln, Nebraska|Lancaster]], (later called and renamed Lincoln), was founded in 1856, along with the towns of [[Saratoga, Nebraska Territory|Saratoga]], South Nebraska City and [[Florence, Nebraska|Florence]].<ref>Federal Writers Project. (1939) ''Nebraska''. Lincoln, NE: Nebraska State Historical Society. p 49.</ref>

===Early press===
The first newspaper published in the terrain that would become Nebraska Territory and following 37th State of Nebraska, was a weekly military journal stationed at the [[United States Army]] post of [[Fort Atkinson (Nebraska)|Fort Atkinson]] that was published for five years, from 1822 to 1827, before the fort was closed.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=http://nebnewspapers.unl.edu/nebraska_publishing/|title=Nebraska Publishing|last=Walter|first=Katherine|website=Nebraska Newspapers|publisher=University of Nebraska-Lincoln}}</ref> Thirty years later the Nebraska Territory was being settled and print media appeared serving the dual purposes of sharing the news and promoting the area for further [[Human settlement|settlement]]. In 1854, one of the first was the ''[[Nebraska Palladium]]'' (and ''Platte Valley Advocate'').<ref name=":0" /> was the first newspaper to be printed / published in the territory; however, it would last less than a year. These territorial newspapers were efficient but rough and many of the papers folded under quickly changed owners, financial stability or consolidated with other publications. By 1860, the growing Nebraska Territory had twelve weekly publications, one biweekly and one monthly, with a combined circulation of 9,750. After [[Nebraska|statehood]] in 1867 the newspaper business expanded greatly.<ref>Federal Writers Project. (1939) ''Nebraska''. Lincoln, NE: Nebraska State Historical Society. p 134.</ref>

[[File:NE Palladium.jpg|thumb|The front page of the December 6, 1854 issue of the ''[[Nebraska Palladium]]'' (and ''Platte Valley Advocate''), the first newspaper to be published in the [[Nebraska Territory]]]]
[[File:NE Advertiser.jpg|thumb|The front page of the May 4, 1857 issue of the ''Nebraska Advertiser'' founded by Robert Wilkinson Furnas, in [[Brownville, Nebraska|Brownville, Nebraska Territory]]]]

{| class="wikitable"
!align="center" colspan="6"|'''Pioneer Print Media in the<br>federal Nebraska Territory (1854-1867)'''<ref>Federal Writers Project. (1939) ''Nebraska''. Lincoln, NE: Nebraska State Historical Society. p 133.</ref>
|-
! Name
! Print period
! Location
! Notes
|-
| ''[[Nebraska Palladium|Nebraska Palladium and Platte Valley Advocate]]''
| July 15, 1854 –55
| [[Bellevue, Nebraska|Bellevue]], Nebraska Territory 
| Edited by Thomas Morton
|-
|''[[Omaha Nebraskian|Nebraskian]]''
|1854–64
|[[Omaha, Nebraska|Omaha]], Nebraska Territory 
|
|-
|Bellevue gazette
|October 23, 1856 – Oct. 1858
|[[Bellevue, Nebraska|Bellevue]], Nebraska Territory [[Douglas, Nebraska|Douglas]], Nebraska Territory 
|Published by S.A. Strickland & Co.<ref>{{Cite journal|url=http://nebnewspapers.unl.edu/lccn/sn85033100/|title=About Bellevue gazette|last=Walter|first=Katherine|website=Nebraska Newspapers|publisher=University of Nebraska-Lincoln}}</ref>
|-
|Dakota City Herald
|July 15, 1857 –1860
|[[Dakota City, Nebraska|Dakota City]], Nebraska Territory 
|Published by John L. Dailey
|-
| ''[[Nebraska Advertiser]]''
| June 7, 1856 – July 16, 1909
| [[Brownville, Nebraska|Brownville]], Nebraska Territory 
| Edited by [[Robert W. Furnas]]<ref>{{Cite journal|url=http://nebnewspapers.unl.edu/lccn/sn84020109/|title=About Nebraska Advertiser|last=Walter|first=Katherine|website=Nebraska Newspaper|publisher=University of Nebraska-Lincoln}}</ref>
|-
| ''Huntsman's Echo''
| 1858–1861
| [[Wood River, Nebraska|Wood River]], ([[Buffalo County, Nebraska|Buffalo County]]), Nebraska Territory 
| Edited by Joseph E. Johnson, this paper was influential with [[Oregon Trail]] pioneers on [[wagon trains]].
|-
| ''[[Nebraska Republican]]''
| 1858
| [[Omaha, Nebraska|Omaha]], Nebraska Territory 
| The first paper in the Territory to have mechanical presses, this was later succeeded by the ''Omaha Republican'', and in 1871 absorbed the ''[[Omaha Tribune]]'', (ancestor of the current ''[[Omaha World Herald]]'').
|-
| ''[[Nebraska Farmer]]''
| 1859
| [[Brownville, Nebraska|Brownville]], Nebraska Territory 
| Edited by [[Robert Wilkinson Furnas|Robert W. Furnas]] the Farmer was the first [[agriculture|agricultural]] publication in Nebraska Territory and continues to be one of the modern state's longest running journals
|-
| ''Peru Orchardist''
|
| [[Peru, Nebraska|Peru]]
|
|-
| ''[[Omaha Daily Telegraph|Daily Telegraph]]''
| 1860
| [[Omaha, Nebraska|Omaha]], Nebraska Territory 
|
|-
| ''Nebraska Deutsche Zeitung''
| 1861
| [[Nebraska City, Nebraska|Nebraska City]], Nebraska Territory 
| Published by Frank Renner, this [[German language]] paper was circulated nationally among [[German Americans]] and many copies even found their way back across the [[Atlantic Ocean]] to [[Europe]] in [[19th century]] [[History of Germany|Germany]] with its various divided states in [[South Germany]] and the [[North German Confederation]] / [[Prussia]]. It is credited with bringing many European German settlers to the Territory.
|-
| ''[[Omaha Daily Herald|Daily Herald]]''
| 1865
| [[Omaha, Nebraska|Omaha]], Nebraska Territory 
| Edited by [[George L. Miller]], this paper was influential in bringing the [[transcontinental railroad]] of its eastern two-thirds of the line of the [[Union Pacific Railroad]] to Omaha for its eastern terminus . starting point in the [[1860s]]. Another ancestor of the current major daily newspaper in the state's largest city and river port town, of the ''[[Omaha World Herald]]''
|-
|}

===Early military posts===
With a variety of early fur trading posts, [[Fort Atkinson (Nebraska)|Fort Atkinson]], founded in 1819, was the location of the first military post in what became the Nebraska Territory, as well as its first school.<ref>(n.d.) [http://www.worldalmanacforkids.com/explore/states/nebraska.html#fw..ne021300.a30.c10 World Almanac for Kids: Nebraska: Education] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070210154112/http://www.worldalmanacforkids.com/explore/states/nebraska.html#fw..ne021300.a30.c10 |date=February 10, 2007 }}.</ref> Other posts in the Nebraska Territory included [[Fort Kearny]] near present-day Kearney; [[Fort McPherson, Nebraska|Fort McPherson]] near present-day [[Maxwell, Nebraska|Maxwell]]; [[Fort Mitchell, Nebraska|Fort Mitchell]] near present-day [[Scottsbluff, Nebraska|Scottsbluff]]; [[Fort Randall]], in what is now South Dakota; and [[Fort Caspar]], [[Fort Halleck (Wyoming)|Fort Halleck]], [[Fort Laramie]], and [[Fort Sanders (Wyoming)|Fort Sanders]], in what is now Wyoming.
{{Further|:Category:Forts in Nebraska}}

==Boundaries==
[[File:Survey monument JF00-072 from W 2.JPG|thumb|[[Site No. JF00-072]]: The Nebraska–Kansas state line at the intersection of Nebraska counties Thayer and Jefferson and Kansas counties Washington and Republic]]
[[File:Territory of Nebraska (Illustration).png|thumb|Map of the territory of Nebraska and seal of the Nebraska Territory]]
The Nebraska Territory's original boundaries (as specified by its [[organized territory|Organic Act]]) included much of the original [[Louisiana Purchase]]; the territory's boundaries were:
* Southern: [[40th parallel north|40°&nbsp;N]] (the current [[Kansas]]–Nebraska border);
* Western: the [[Continental Divide]] between the Pacific and the Atlantic/Arctic Oceans;
* Northern: [[49th parallel north|49°&nbsp;N]] (the U.S.–[[British North America]] border);
* Eastern: the [[White Earth River (North Dakota)|White Earth]] and [[Missouri River|Missouri]] rivers.

===Subsequent territory creation===
Upon creation, the territory encompassed most of the northern [[Great Plains]], much of the upper Missouri River basin and the eastern portions of the northern [[Rocky Mountains]]. The Nebraska Territory gradually reduced in size as new territories were created in the 1860s.

The [[Colorado Territory]] was formed February 28, 1861 from portions of the territory south of 41°&nbsp;N and west of 102°03′&nbsp;W (25°&nbsp;W of Washington, D.C.) (an area that includes present-day [[Fort Collins, Colorado|Fort Collins]], [[Greeley, Colorado|Greeley]] and the portions of [[Boulder, Colorado|Boulder]] north of [[Baseline Road (Colorado)|Baseline Road]], in addition to portions of [[Kansas Territory]], [[New Mexico Territory]], and [[Utah Territory]]).

March 2, 1861, saw the creation of the [[Dakota Territory]]. It was made of all of the portions of Nebraska Territory north of 43°&nbsp;N (the present-day Nebraska–[[South Dakota]] border), along with the portion of present-day Nebraska between 43°&nbsp;N and the [[Keya Paha River|Keya Paha]] and [[Niobrara River|Niobrara]] rivers (this land would be returned to Nebraska in 1882). The act creating the Dakota Territory also included provisions granting Nebraska small portions of Utah Territory and [[Washington Territory]]—present-day southwestern [[Wyoming]] bounded by 41°&nbsp;N, 110°03′&nbsp;W (33°&nbsp;W of Washington, D.C.), 43°&nbsp;N, and the Continental Divide. These portions had not been part of the Louisiana Purchase; rather, they had been part of [[Oregon Country]] and became part of the United States in 1846.

On March 3, 1863, the [[Idaho Territory]] was formed of all the territory west of 104°03′&nbsp;W (27°&nbsp;W of Washington, D.C.).

==See also==
{{Portal|Colorado|History}}
* [[Nebraska in the American Civil War]]
* [[California Trail]]
* [[First transcontinental railroad]]
* [[Historic regions of the United States]]
* [[History of Nebraska]]
* [[Landmarks of the Nebraska Territory]]
* [[Mormon Trail]]
* [[Oregon Trail]]
* [[Territorial evolution of the United States]]
* [[Timeline of Racial Tension in Omaha, Nebraska]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20030729041106/http://www.kancoll.org/books/andreas_ne/territory/territory-p2.html "Nebraska as a Territory," ''History of the State of Nebraska,'' Chicago: A. T. Andreas, 1882]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20041228075218/http://www.rootsweb.com/~neresour/OLLibrary/MWHNE/mwhne388.htm History of Nebraska]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20060519091312/http://www.unicam.state.ne.us/bluebook/stategov/general/history.pdf History of Nebraska State Government Organization (PDF)]

{{Territories of the United States}}
{{Authority control}}
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[[Category:Nebraska Territory| ]]
[[Category:Former organized territories of the United States]]
[[Category:History of the American West]]
[[Category:Pre-statehood history of Nebraska]]
[[Category:Pre-statehood history of Colorado]]
[[Category:Pre-statehood history of Montana]]
[[Category:Pre-statehood history of South Dakota]]
[[Category:Pre-statehood history of North Dakota]]
[[Category:Pre-statehood history of Utah]]
[[Category:Pre-statehood history of Wyoming]]
[[Category:1854 establishments in Nebraska Territory]]
[[Category:1867 disestablishments in the United States]]
[[Category:States and territories established in 1854]]
[[Category:States and territories disestablished in 1867]]