View source for Dakota Territory

{{Use mdy dates|date=April 2013}}
{{Infobox Former subdivision
|conventional_long_name = Territory of Dakota
|common_name = Dakota Territory
|nation      = the United States
|subdivision = [[Organized incorporated territories of the United States|Organized incorporated territory]]
|
|event_pre   = 
|date_pre    = 
|year_pre    = 
|event_start = Created from [[Nebraska Territory|Nebraska]] & unorganized territories
|date_start  = March 2
|year_start  = 1861
|event1      = [[Idaho Territory]] split off
|date_event1 = March 4
|year_event1 = 1863
|event2      = Land received from [[Idaho Territory]]
|date_event2 = May 28
|year_event2 = 1864
|event3      = [[Wyoming Territory]] split off
|date_event3 = July 25
|year_event3 = 1868
|event_end   = [[North Dakota]] & [[South Dakota]] statehood
|date_end    = November 2
|year_end    = 1889
|p1          = Nebraska Territory
|flag_p1     = US flag 33 stars.svg
|p2          = Unorganized territory
|flag_p2     = US flag 33 stars.svg
|s1          = Idaho Territory
|flag_s1     = US flag 34 stars.svg
|s2          = Wyoming Territory
|flag_s2     = US flag 45 stars.svg
|s3          = North Dakota
|flag_s3     = Flag of North Dakota.svg
|s4          = South Dakota
|flag_s4     = Flag of South Dakota.svg
|image_flag  =
|image_coat  = 
|symbol_type = 
|image_map   = DakotaTerritory.png
|image_map_caption = 
|
|capital      =  [[Yankton, South Dakota|Yankton]] (1861–1883)<br>[[Bismarck, North Dakota|Bismarck]] (1883–1889)
|government_type = Organized incorporated territory
|title_leader = Governor
|leader1      = ''[[List of Governors of Dakota Territory|List]]''
|year_leader1 = 
|leader2      = 
|year_leader2 = 
|leader3      = 
|year_leader3 = 
|leader4      = 
|year_leader4 = 
|legislature  = 
}}

The '''Territory of Dakota''' was an [[organized incorporated territory of the United States]] that existed from March 2, 1861, until November 2, 1889, when the final extent of the reduced territory was split and admitted to the [[United States|Union]] as the states of [[North Dakota|North]] and [[South Dakota]].

== History ==
{{refimprove|date=July 2012}}
The Dakota Territory consisted of the northernmost part of the land acquired in the [[Louisiana Purchase]] of the United States. The name refers to the Dakota branch of the [[Sioux]] tribes which occupied the area at the time. Most of Dakota Territory was formerly part of the [[Minnesota Territory|Minnesota]] and [[Nebraska Territory|Nebraska]] territories. When [[Minnesota]] became a state in 1858, the leftover area between the [[Missouri River]] and Minnesota's western boundary fell unorganized. When the [[Yankton Treaty]] was signed later that year, ceding much of what had been [[Sioux Indian]] land to the U.S. Government, early settlers formed an unofficial [[provisional government]] and unsuccessfully lobbied for United States territory status. Three years later [[President-elect|soon-to-be-President]] [[Abraham Lincoln|Abraham Lincoln's]] cousin-in-law, [[John Blair Smith Todd|J.B.S. Todd]], personally lobbied for territory status and [[Washington, D.C.|Washington]] formally created Dakota Territory. It became an organized territory on March 2, 1861. Upon creation, Dakota Territory included much of present-day [[Montana]] and [[Wyoming]].

== Dakota Territory in the American Civil War ==
Dakota Territory was not directly involved in the [[American Civil War]] but did raise some troops to defend the settlements following the [[Dakota War of 1862]] which triggered hostilities with the [[Sioux]] tribes of Dakota Territory. The [[Department of the Northwest]] sent expeditions into Dakota Territory in 1863, 1864 and 1865. It also established forts in Dakota Territory to protect the frontier settlements of the Territory, [[Iowa]] and [[Minnesota]] and the traffic along the [[Missouri River]].

== Dakota Territory and Statehood ==
Following the Civil War hostilities continued with the Sioux until the [[Treaty of Fort Laramie (1868)|1868 Treaty of Fort Laramie]]. By 1868, creation of new territories reduced Dakota Territory to the present boundaries of [[the Dakotas]]. Territorial counties were defined in 1872, including [[Bottineau County, North Dakota|Bottineau County]], [[Cass County, North Dakota|Cass County]] and others.

After becoming an organized territory, the population increased very slowly during the early years and then very rapidly with the "Dakota Boom" from 1870 to 1880.<ref>''The New Encyclopedia of the American West.''  Ed. Howard R. Lamar. 1998 Yale University Press, New Haven. pp. 282</ref> The white population grew slowly for a number of reasons. Mainly, the Sioux Indians were considered very hostile and a threat to early settlers. They were gradually defeated and were not as severe a threat.<ref>''Encyclopedia of the American West''. Ed. Charles Philips and Alan Axelrod. 1996 Macmillan Reference USA, New York. pp.1200–1201</ref>

The population increase can largely be attributed to the growth of railroads, specifically the [[Northern Pacific Railroad]]. Settlers who came to the Dakota Territory were from other western territories as well as many from Northern and Western Europe. These included large numbers of Norwegians, Germans, Swedes, and Canadians.<ref>John H. Hudson, "Migration to an American Frontier," ''Annals of the Association of American Geographers'',(June 1976), 243–244</ref>

Commerce was originally organized around the [[fur trade]]. It was carried by steamboat along the rivers to the settlements. Gold was discovered in the [[Black Hills]] in 1874 and attracted more settlers, setting off the last [[Great Sioux War of 1876|Sioux War]]. The population surge increased the demand for meat spurring expanded cattle ranching on the territory's vast open ranges. With the advent of the railroad agriculture with wheat became the territory's main cash crop. Economic hardship hit the territory in the 1880s due to lower wheat prices and a drought.<ref>''The New Encyclopedia of the American West'', 282</ref>

[[Image:1886rail-usgenweb-mapproject.jpg|thumb|Dakota Territory, c. 1886]]
The territorial capital was [[Yankton, South Dakota|Yankton]] from 1861 until 1883, when it was moved to [[Bismarck, North Dakota|Bismarck]]. The Dakota Territory was divided into the states of [[North Dakota]] and [[South Dakota]] on November 2, 1889. The admission of two states, as opposed to one, was done for a number of reasons. The two population centers in the territory were in the northeast and southeast corners of the territory, several hundred miles away from each other. And had Dakota been admitted as one state, it would have been the second largest state in the nation, after California (Texas had not yet been readmitted after the Civil war), and there was some pressure to keep new states approximately similar in size.  On a national level, there was pressure from the [[United States Republican Party|Republican Party]] to admit two states to add to their political power in the Senate. {{Citation needed|date=February 2013}}

==In popular culture==
Dakota Territory was the setting for the [[Television syndication|syndicated]] [[Western (genre)|western]] television series, ''[[Man Without a Gun]]'', starring [[Rex Reason]] as newspaper editor Adam McLean and [[Mort Mills]] as [[Marshal]] Frank Tillman. The program aired from 1957–1959.

The [[Walt Disney Pictures|Disney]] musical film ''[[The One and Only, Genuine, Original Family Band]]'' takes place in the Dakota Territory during the time of the [[United States presidential election, 1888|1888 Presidential Election]].

Dakota Territory was the setting for several novels by [[Laura Ingalls Wilder]], including ''By the Shores of Silver Lake'', ''The Long Winter'', ''Little Town on the Prairie'', ''These Happy Golden Years'' and ''The First Four Years''.

Dakota Territory is the main setting for the [[HBO]] TV series "[[Deadwood (TV series)|Deadwood]]". The town Yankton and The Black Hills area are mentioned often in the show.

==See also==
* [[Bibliography of North Dakota history]]
*[[Governors of Dakota Territory]]
*HBO fictional series ''[[Deadwood (TV series)|Deadwood]]'' set in the [[Black Hills]] in the town of [[Deadwood, South Dakota|Deadwood]] in 1876.
*[[Historic regions of the United States]]
*[[History of North Dakota]]
*[[History of South Dakota]]
*[[List of Dakota Territory Civil War units]]
*[[Territorial evolution of the United States]]
**Territory of France that encompassed land that later became part of the Territory of Dakota:
***[[Louisiana (New France)|Louisiane]], 1682–1764 and 1803
**Territory of Spain that was later returned to France:
***[[Louisiana (New Spain)|Luisiana]], 1764–1803
**Territory of the United Kingdom that encompassed land that later became part of the Territory of Dakota:
***[[Rupert's Land]], 1670–1870
**[[U.S. territories]] that encompassed land that later became part of the Territory of Dakota:
***[[Louisiana Purchase]], 1803–1804
***[[District of Louisiana]], 1804–1805
***[[Territory of Louisiana]], 1805–1812
***[[Territory of Missouri]], 1812–1821
***[[Territory of Michigan]], 1805–1837
***[[Territory of Wisconsin]], 1836–1848
***[[Territory of Iowa]], 1838–1846
***[[Territory of Minnesota]], 1849–1858
***[[Territory of Nebraska]], 1854–1867
***[[Territory of Idaho]], 1863–1890
**[[U.S. territories]] that encompassed land that was previously part of the Territory of Dakota:
***[[Territory of Idaho]], 1863–1890
***[[Territory of Montana]], 1864–1889
***[[Territory of Wyoming]], 1868–1890
**US states that encompass land that was once part of the Territory of Dakota:
***[[Nebraska|State of Nebraska]], 1867 (annexed land 1882)
***[[North Dakota|State of North Dakota]], 1889
***[[South Dakota|State of South Dakota]], 1889
***[[Montana|State of Montana]], 1889
***[[Wyoming|State of Wyoming]], 1890
*[[United States Congressional Delegations from Dakota Territory]]

==Notes==
{{reflist|2}}

==External links==
{{EB9 Poster|Dakota}}
*[http://blogs.denverpost.com/captured/2011/02/23/from-the-archive-frontier-life-in-the-west/2713/ Collection of Historical Photographs of the Dakota Territory]
*{{Cite AmCyc|Dakota (territory)|display=Dakota, a territory of the United States}}

{{North Dakota}}
{{South Dakota}}

[[Category:Dakota Territory| ]]
[[Category:Pre-statehood history of North Dakota]]
[[Category:Pre-statehood history of South Dakota]]
[[Category:Pre-statehood history of Wyoming]]
[[Category:1861 establishments in the United States]]
[[Category:1889 disestablishments in the United States]]