Missouri Territory

Territory of Missouri
Organized incorporated territory of the United States
← 1812–1821 →   →   →
Flag of the United States
A map of the Territory of Missouri in 1812
Government		Organized incorporated territory
History
•	Renaming of Louisiana Territory	July 4, 1812
•	Territory of Arkansas created	July 4, 1819
•	Missouri statehood	August 10, 1821

The Territory of Missouri was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from June 4, 1812 until August 10, 1821, when the southeastern portion of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Missouri.

History

The Missouri Territory was originally known as the Louisiana Territory and was renamed by the U.S. Congress in June of 1812, to avoid confusion with the new state of Louisiana, which had joined the Union on April 30, 1812.

On October 1, 1812, Governor Clark organized the five administrative districts of the former Louisiana Territory into counties, which later became the first five counties of the state of Missouri.

The Anglo-American Convention of 1818 established the northern boundary of the Missouri Territory with the British territory of Rupert's Land at the 49th parallel north. This gave the Missouri Territory the Red River Valley south of the 49th parallel and gave Rupert's Land the slice of Missouri River Valley north of 49th parallel. The Adams–Onís Treaty of 1819 established the southern and western boundaries of the territory with the Spanish territories of Tejas and Santa Fe de Nuevo México. The United States surrendered a significant portion of the Missouri Territory to Spain in exchange for Spanish Florida. The Convention of 1818 and the Adams–Onís Treaty would be the last significant losses of United States territory from the contiguous United States.

On March 2, 1819, all of the Missouri Territory south of the parallel 36°30' north, except the Missouri Bootheel between the Mississippi River and the Saint Francis River north of the 36th parallel north, was designated the new Territory of Arkansaw. (The spelling of Arkansaw would be changed a few years later, although the proper pronunciation of the name would be debated until 1881.) The southeastern portion of the Missouri Territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Missouri on August 10, 1821.

St. Louis was the capital of the Missouri Territory.

The remaining portion of the territory, consisting of the present states of Iowa, Nebraska, and the Dakotas, most of Kansas, Wyoming, and Montana, and parts of Colorado and Minnesota, effectively became an unorganized territory after Missouri became a state. In 1834, the portion east of the Missouri River was attached to the Michigan Territory. Over time, various territories were created in whole or in part from its remaining area: Iowa (1838), Minnesota (1849), Kansas and Nebraska (both 1854), Colorado and Dakota (both 1861), Idaho (1863), Montana (1864), and Wyoming (1868).

See also

• Historic regions of the United States
• History of Missouri
• Territorial evolution of the United States
  • Territory of France that encompassed land that would later become part of the Territory of Missouri:
    • Louisiane, 1682–1764 and 1803
  • Territory of Spain that would later be returned to France:
    • Luisiana, 1764–1803
  • With the Anglo-American Convention of 1818, the United States and the United Kingdom settled the border dispute between the Territory of Missouri and Rupert's Land.
  • With the Adams–Onís Treaty of 1819, the United States and Spain settled border disputes between the Territory of Missouri and Santa Fé de Nuevo Méjico and Tejas.
  • U.S. territories that encompassed land that would later become part of the Territory of Missouri:
    • Louisiana Purchase, 1803–1804
    • District of Louisiana, 1804–1805
    • Territory of Louisiana, 1805–1812
  • U.S. territories that encompassed land that was previously part of the Territory of Missouri:
    • Territory of Arkansaw, 1819–1836
    • Indian Territory, 1834–1907
    • Territory of Iowa, 1838–1849
    • Territory of Minnesota, 1849–1858
    • Territory of New Mexico, 1850–1912
    • Territory of Kansas, 1854–1861
    • Territory of Nebraska, 1854–1867
    • Territory of Colorado, 1861–1876
    • Territory of Dakota, 1861–1889
    • Territory of Montana, 1864–1889
    • Territory of Wyoming, 1868–1890
    • Territory of Oklahoma, 1890–1907
  • U.S. states that encompass land that was once part of the Territory of Missouri:
    • State of Missouri, 1821
    • State of Arkansas, 1836
    • State of Texas, 1845
    • State of Iowa, 1849
    • State of Minnesota, 1858
    • State of Kansas, 1861
    • State of Nebraska, 1867
    • State of Colorado, 1876
    • State of North Dakota, 1889
    • State of South Dakota, 1889
    • State of Montana, 1889
    • State of Wyoming, 1890
    • State of Oklahoma, 1907
    • State of New Mexico, 1912
• Territorial evolution of Canada
  • Provinces of Canada that encompass land in the Missouri River drainage basin:
    • Province of Saskatchewan, 1905
    • Province of Alberta, 1905

External links

• Peter J. Kastor, Making Missouri American: A crowded frontier in the age of Lewis and Clark