-
The Dakota territory was Made
The United States Congress passed the bill that formed The Dakota Territory. James Buchanan Signed the bill creating the Dakota Territory 2 days before the end of his term. President Lincoln appointed his personal physician, Dr. William Jayne, to be the first governor of the Dakota Territory. The capital of the Dakota Territory was Yankton. -
The Capital move
A big issue was moving the Dakota capital to a more central location. The meeting needed to be held in Yankton. Right before sunrise on April 3, 1883, a train slowly go through the city with the nine-man commision, so the law could be folowed. Now the commision could choose a new capital city. Alexander McKenzie convinced the other commisioners that the next capital should be Bismark.Bismarck offered $100,000 and 320 acres of land. They voted to name Bismarck as the capital of Dakota Territory. -
Montana and Wyoming left
New territories were formed, causing Montana and Wyoming to be dropped from Dakota Territory. The remaining residents of the northern and southern parts of the Dakota Territory did not have much in common, and their ideas grew further apart as time went on. Many residents wanted the territory divided. -
Southern Dakota Wanting to Be a State
People in Southern Dakota weren't hapy.They wanted to become a state and have their own capital.They wrote a constitution and gave it to the U.S.Congres,but Governor Ordway and Alexander McKenzie opposed statehod.They wanted to keep power over the large teritory. Most members of Congres were Democrats well the and the Dakota were mostly Republcans. The Democrats didn't want more Repubicans in Congress. A bill for statehod was presented to Congrss several times before it finally was considered. -
Dividing of the Territory
A crowd gathered as President Harrison prepared to sign the law granting statehood to the 39th and 40th states. The president did not want to show favor to either state by signing that state’s law first. He shuffled the papers and covered up the names of the states. Then he signed each paper and shuffled them again. Nobody knew which paper he had signed first.