USA > Louisiana > The province and the states, a history of the province of Louisiana under France and Spain, and of the territories and states of the United States formed therefrom, Vol. II > Part 46
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The people of Minnesota were authorized to form a constitu- tion and a state government by act of congress approved Febru- ary 26, 1857, the following being the boundaries settled upon: "Beginning at the point in the center of the main channel of the Red River of the North where the boundary line between the United States and the British possessions crosses the same; thence up the main channel of said river to that of the Bois des Sioux river ; thence ( up) the main channel of said river to Lake Travers ; thence up the center of said lake to the southern extrem- ity thereof ; theree in a direct line to the head of Big Stone Lake ; thence through its center to its outlet ; thence by a due south line to the north line of the State of lowa ; thence est along the northern boundary of the said State to the main channel of the Mississippi river ; thence up the main channel of said river and following the boundary line of the State of Wisconsin until the same intersects the St. Louis river: thence down said river to and through Lake Superior on the boundary line of Wisconsin and Michigan, until it interest of donde; in. 1 1. 9 1. United States and the British posse tous; theme up Napon rive: and following said dividing line to the place of beginning." The state of Minnesota was formally admitted to the Union by act approved May 11, 1858.
The bill for the formation of Nebraska Territory, introduced in the United States senate December 4, 18.18, was pioneer work, and nothing of importance resulted. Another bill for the forma- tion of this Territory was presented in the house during the ses- sion of 1852-3, and after passing through the usual order was voted upon February 10, with yS yeas and 43 mays. It went to the senate, and a motion by Senator Douglas to take it from the table for consideration was lost, 20 years, 25 Days. The fol- lowing day he made another motion to the same effect, but with the same result. 'The boundaries set forth in this bill embraced all of the immense tract of country west of Missouri, lowa and Minnesota, north of the Indian Territory to the British posses-
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sions, and westward to the Rocky mountains. In fact, it embraced a strip one-half of a degree wide along the northern border of Indian Territory, Oklahoma and New Mexico as far as the mountains. In the bill were provisions for the subli- vision of this large tract of territory at a later date. The prin- cipal argument in support of the hill was that, as settlers were locating in that territory and needed protection, and as such set- tlements were of great importance along the overland routes to the Pacific coast, they should be given the protection afforded by a territorial form of government. Up to this time nothing had been said concerning such a territory as Kansas.
On the 5th of December, 1853. Senator Dodge. of Jowa, gave notice in the senate that later he should introduce a bill "to .organize a territorial government for the Territory of Nebraska." The boundaries of the proposed Territory were to he "included between the summit of the Rocky mountains on the west, the States of Missouri and lowa on the cast, the parallel of forty- three degrees thirty minutes north latitude on the north, and the Territory of New Mexico and the parallel of thirty-six degrees thirty minutes north latitude on the south." The committee on Territories returned the bill with a substitute defining the bound- aries as follows: "Beginning at the southwest corner of the State of Missouri; thence running west on the line of thirty- six degrees thirty minutes north latitude until it intersects the one hundred and third meridian of longitude West from Green- wich ; thence north on that meridian until it intersects the thirty- eighth parallel of north latitude; thence west on the sol gar- allel of latitude to the summit of the Kod invitons, divine northward along and upon the smannit of said range of mount- ains to the (forty-ninth parallel of latitude; thence castwand to the)* western boundary of the Territory of Minnesota ( White Earth river) ; thence southward on and with said boundary to the Missouri river ; thence down the center of the main channel of said river to the State of Missouri; thence south on and with the western boundary of said State to the place of beginning " These boundaries not proving satisfactory to the committee, the following were finally placed in the bill: "That all that part of the territory of the United States included within the following limits, except such portions thereof as are hereinafter expressly exempted from the operations of this act, to wit : Beginning at a point in the Missouri river where the fortieth parallel of math
. The matter in parenthesis seems to have been omitted from the congressional description.
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latitude crosses the same; thence west on said parallel to the summit of the highlands separating the waters flowing into the Green river of Colorado of the West from the waters flowing into the Great Basin; thence northward on the said highlands to the summit of the Rocky mountains; thence on said summit northward to the ( forty-ninth parallel of north latitude ; thence east on said parallel to the) ' western boundary of the Territory of Minnesota ; thence southward on said boundary to the Mis- souri river ; thence down the main channel of said river to the place of beginning, he, and the same is hereby created into a tem- porary government by the name of the Territory of Nebraska." In the same substitute the following provision was made: "All that part of the Territory of the United States included within the following limits, except such portions thereof as are hele- inafter expressly exempted from the operations of this act, to-wit: Beginning at a point on the western boundary of the State of Missouri, where the thirty-seventh parallel of north lati- tude crosses the same ; thence west on said parallel to the cast- ern boundary of New Mexico; thence north on said boundary to latitude thirty-eight ; thence following said boundary westward to the summit of the highlands dividing the waters flowing into the Colorado of the West, or Green river, from the waters flow- ing into the Great Basin ; thence northward on said summit to the fortieth parallel of latitude; thence cast on said parallel to the western boundary of the State of Missouri; thence south with the western boundary of said State to the place of begin- ning, be, and the same is hereby, created into a temporary pay- ernment by the name of the Harmony of hair . "
It will be observed at this juncture that this was the first time Kansas began to figure in the history of the country. It should also be borne in mind that this date witnessed the first plans for making all the country west of Missouri and Jowa slave territory, should the inhabitants so decide. The plan to form two territories instead of one out of that vast tract and to leave the question of slavery to the inhabitants themselves, was the direct outgrowth in the committee rooms of congress of the numerous petitions which had recently been received by that body. The pro-slavery partisans decided to make an effort to nationalize that institution, and in their deliberations hit upon the plausible scheme to leave the question of slavery to the people themselves. It will be seen that Kansas Territory was not male to include the strip along the northern bonder of what is now
· Omitted from the congressional description.
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1 1
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Indian and Oklahoma Territories, the evident intention being to leave the Indian lands undivided. If the question of slavery was to be left to the inhabitants throughout all the western country, it did not matter, it was realized, whether the parallel of thirty-six degrees thirty minutes was observed or not. So the Territories of Kansas and Nebraska were pushed northward half a degree, leaving abundant room south of Kansas and north of Texas for the aborigines. The plans of the pro-slavery leaders in congress were fathomed by the anti-slavery wing, and imme- diately every step was hotly contested. These reasons for the change were given, as shown by the following extract :
"On January 23, 1854. Mr. Douglas, of Illinois, in the United States senate, stated that the attention of the Committee on Ter- ritories had been called by the chairman of the Committee on Indian Affairs to the fact that the line thirty six degrees thirty minutes north latitude would divide the Cherokee country; whereas, by taking the parallel of thirty- seven degrees of north latitude as the southern boundary of Kansas the line would run between the Cherolives and the Orages; and that the Committee had, therefore, concluded to vang the southern boundary so as not to divide the Cherokee nation, In the terms of the bill."
Mr. English, of Indiana, afterward candidate for vice-president of the United States on the ticket with General Hancock, com- batted the previously proposed boundaries of Kansas Territory. He said: "In the first place, I object to the boundaries pro- posed. The country to be organized into territories, as gentle- men are aware, lies, in the main, adjacent to an! west of the States of Missouri and low, and event wathaily 1 the Territories of Lich, Oregon and perhaps Washington. Now. what are the natural boundaries of these proposed Territories? I design speaking more particularly to the Territory of Kansas, which is the lower and more southern of the two Territories, and the one in which slavery will exist, if it exists in either. Now, of course, all will say that the eastern boundary of the proposed Territory of Kansas should be the present boundary of the State of Missouri ; and I think it is equally clear that the western bound- ary of the proposed Territory of Kansas should be the present boundary of Utah Territory. And I think that this will appear in a much stronger light when we come to consider the nature of the existing boundary of Utah. Sir, what is it? We find it established by lade. We find that it is the crust of summit of the Rocky mountains; a boundary, sir, which no man can mis-
. Senate Reports, First Session, Fiftieth Congress.
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TERRITORIAL, AND STATE BOUNDARIES.
take; a boundary created by the hand of the Almighty, that all men can understand it. I say, sir, that this is the natural bound- ary which should be assigned to that Territory, and I think that this House will be surprised to kiss that it is not the bound- ary proposed by the bill nos under consideration. The framers of this bill propose extending the Territory of Kansas not only from the State of Missouri westward to the Rocky mountains - a distance of perhaps eight hundred miles-a distance equal to the width of the great States of Ohio, Indiana and Illinois -not only to take it to the summit of the Rocky mountains-but to take it beyond and run it down to the region of the Great Salt Lake, so as to include about one third of the Territory of Utah. To that I am opposed. . I think: that gentlemen will be satisfied, when they have examined the map, that the plan proposed of incorporating the territory west of the Rocky mount- ains and cast of the Rocky mountains in the same territory is injudicious. There is no community of interest between the. people on each side, and but little intercourse, nor can there be. They have but little intercourse with each other, and ought not to be placed in the same territory. I have no particular love for the Mormons, nor for their peculiar institutions ; and I know that there is much prejudice existing against that people, and perhaps justly so, in parts of Illinois and Missouri. Yet I am not willing to carry these prejudices to the extent of extending the boundary of this new territory, already too large, so as to include a large portion of Utah."
In answering Mr. English, Mr. Richardson, of Minois, chair- man of the committee reporting, the Mall. ... sons so manifest and so potent in favor of the Email . why the committee have determined upon, that no man here cm resist them when stated. . . One reason why this bound- ary is extended to another territory placed inside of it is this, that every man residing in that portion of the territory taken from the Territory of Utah, comes here and tasks this Govern- ment to take them from under the power under which they are now placed. Bridger, who has lived here thirty years, emigrated to that Territory in 1823, established trading posts in the mount- ains, built up in the waste and howling wilderness a home for himself and family, was finally driven from the possession of that property by the hands of the power of that Government. and is now here in this city. For one, I desire to yield to the application made by this man and there placed in simla circun- stances, when they ask to be placed under a different govern ment. . . The lawless hand that characterizes these pe
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ple ought not to be encouraged and promoted by this Govern- . ment, and for one, I am not for doing so, It is a sufficient rea- son, I have no doubt, when I have stated to the House the rea- sons which have influenced the committee of the two Houses to change this territorial boundary, and it is a sufficient reply to all that has been said about it. . . One grand object for establishing territorial government there now is to cover that line of travel which is pursuing its way to the Pacific ocean, affording protection to the interest's that he along that road of travel. It strikes me that the interests of the emigrants, as they go towards the Pacific ocean, are identical with those of the Territories through which they must pass, and there cannot be any antagonism between them, I think. There may be antag onism between rival routes, but between settlements bing along the same route of travel there must be sympathy and the same interest. The gentleman is mistaken about another thing, that we have established an ideal boundary-that we have passed over the natural boundary and established a mere ideal one. The boundary proposed in this bill is as good a one as can be fixed."
Immediately succeeding the remarks of Mr. Richardson, there followed a sharp parliamentary contest, during which Mr. Eng- lish (of the committee of Territories) asked the consent of the house to make a minority report. After severe contention, this privilege was granted. He thereupon asked to have the proposed boundaries of Kansas Territory changed as follows: "Amend the section defining the boundary of Kansas so as to make the eastern boundary of Utah, viz .. "The summit of the Rocky of uht- ains, the western boundary of Haar Iphone watt. English, his report ( which was not strictly a namolity report) was referred to the committee on Territories.
During the debate, and before the committee had brought in the bill for the election of two territories, Mr. Chase, of Ohio, moved to amend the first substitute (providing for the forma- tion of Nebraska Territory alone) by striking out of the first section all after the word "Nebraska" and inserting the follow- ing: "That all that part of the United States included within the following limits, except such portions thereof as are herein- after expressly exempted from the operations of this act. to wit : Beginning at the southwest corner of the State of Missouri, thence running west on the line of thirty-six degrees thirty min- ntes of north latitude until it intersects the one hundred and third meridian of longitude west from Greenwich; thence north on that meridian until it intersects the thirty-eighth parallel of north latitude; thence west on said parallel of latitude to the summit
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TERRITORIAL AND STATE BOUNDARIES.
of the Rocky mountains; thence northward and along upon the summit of said Rocky mountains to the (forty-ninth parallel of latitude; thence cast to the)+ western boundary of the Territory of Minnesota White Earth river ; thence southward on and with said boundary to the Missouri river ; thence down the said river to the State of Missouri; thence south on and with the west- ern boundary of said State to the place of beginning, be, and the same is hereby, created a temporary government by the name of the Territory of Nebraska." After a protracted and fiery debate, the year and nays were called for on the Chase amend- ment, with the following result: yeas S, nays 34. Mr. Dodge, of lowa, moved to amend so that the proposed boundaries would not interfere with the then present limits of Utah Territory ; car- ried. The bill as amended went to a third reading, by year 29. nays 12. On the final passage of the bill in the senate, the vote stood : yets 37, nays 14, though others voted later by unanimous consent. The title decided upon was, "A bill to organize the Territories of Nebraska and Kansas."
Mr. Giddings, of Ohio, in a speech on the Kansas-Nebraska bill, said: "I lay it down that the French nation claimed title (to the province of Louisiana) solely by that rule or law among nations which gives to the government making the discovery of an important river the country drained by its waters. By that rule and by no other was Louisiana bounded. The Rocky mount- ains, which bounded the tributaries of the Mississippi, was the western boundary of Louisiana as understood by the French mation, as understood by the American nation, as understood by Congress, as understood by all our Hemen den . . .. recent period. This is my view of the matter. I know it to have been so understood by leading men of that day. In the word of the treaty coding Louisiana to us, there was no 100m for misapprehension or misunderstanding of the boundaries. It was Louisiana as held by France previous to her ceding it to Spain. It is, therefore, under the original title of France that we hold that country, bounded as it was while in her possession. Such was the title which we received, and which was held for something like sixteen years. We held the entire country drained by the southern tributaries of the Arkansas, as well as that drained by its northern tributaries. The Middle Park, to which allusion has been made at the other end of the capitol, empties its waters into the Colorado, and not into the Mississippi; and we had no more title to the Maille Park under the Louisiana I'm
' Omitted from the congressional description.
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THE PROVINCE AND THE SEITES.
chase than we had to California of Oregon. I intend to say : the dividing ridge between the Colorado and the waters of the Arkansas was the boundary of that purchase. Now, in 1819, when the negotiation of the treaty with Spain was entered into - some sixteen years subsequent to the treaty with France, by which we obtained this territory- Spain owned the whole conn- try adjacent on the southwest, and then by the treaty with Spain, the boundary between that country and ours was defined and established without following the lines of the 'Louisiana Pur- chase.' In that treaty we surrendered to Spain the whole of the country watered by the southern tributaries of the Arkansas, which empty their waters into that river west of the hundredth degree of longitale. That country, which constituted a part of the Louisiana purchase, was given to Spain, and the boatdary was established on the Arkansas river, instead of on the south- ern divide which separates its tributaries from those streams which run south. Following the Arkansas to its source, the line agreed upon runs thence due north until it strikes the forty- second degree of north latitude, thus giving to us that tract which Fremont describes as the Middle Park, whose waters empty into the Colorado. This tract had belonged to Spain until the rati- fication of our treaty in 1821. It constituted no part of Loni- siana, and did not belong to us when the Missouri compromise was adopted ; and of course could never have been subjected to that compromise, which was confined to the territory ceded to us by France. The Middle Park was held by Spain by force of the same principle which France hel! louisiana by di cos. ery-claiming the whole country watund to the train. of their streams, among which was the Colorado.". In the bill finally agreed upon in 185 1, the following boundaries were given to Kansas and Nebraska :
"That all that part of the Territory of the United States included within the following lits, except such portions thereof as are hereinafter expresshy exempted from the operations of this act, to wit: Beginning at a point on the western boundary of the State of Missouri where the thirty-seventh parallel of north latitude crosses the same; thence west on said parallel to the castern boundary of New Mexico; thence north on said bound- ary to latitude thirty-eight ; thence following said boundary west- ward to the east boundary of the Territory of High on the summit of the Rocky mountains ; thence northward ou said sum-
. This statement should be noted. 'That the United States from Bout to 121/ 1 seused the Times Vilan accountis. but not the middle Park, and after 1.19 it possessed the Father but not da lotta
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mit to the fortieth parallel of latitude; thence east on said pull- allel to the western boundary of the State of Missouri ; thence south with the western boundary of said State to the place of beginning, be, and the same is hereby, created into a temporary Government by the name of the Territory of Kansas: Provided, That nothing in this act contained shall be construed to inhul.it the Government of the United States from dividing said Ter ritory into two or more Territories in such manner and at such times as Congress shall deem convenient and proper, or from attaching any portion of said territory to any other State or Territory of the United States: Provided further, That nothing in this act contained shall be construed to impair the rights of person or property now pertaining to the Indians in said Ter- ritory, so long as such rights shall remain inextinguished by treaty between the United States and such budi ms ; or to include any territory which by treaty with any Indian tribe is not with- out the consent of said tribe to be included within the territorial. limits or jurisdiction of any State or Territory; but all such ter- ritory shall be excepted out of the boundaries and constitute no part of the Territory of Kansas until said tribe shall signify their assent to the President of the United States to be included within the said Territory of Kansas, or to affect the authority of the Government of the United States to make any regulation respect ing such Indians, their lands, property, or other rights, by treaty, law, or otherwise, which it would have been compatent to the Government to make if this act had never passed."
"That all that part of the territory of the United States inclu 1. within the following limits, except auch port : . 11. ; mas hereinafter expressly exempted from the game of this it to-wit: Beginning at a point on the Missouri river where the fortieth parallel of north latitude crosses the same ; thence west on said parallel to the cast boundary of the Territory of this on the summit of the Rocky mountains; thence on said summit northward to the forty ninth parallel of north latitude, there east on said parallel to the western boundary of the Territory of Minnesota; thence southward on said boundary to the Mis- souri river; thence down the main channel of said river to the place of beginning, be, and the same is hereby created into a to- porary Government by the name of the Territory of Nebras .. " The same provision as were attached to the admission of Kom- sas were also attached to the admission of Nel ....
Beginning in 1855 and continuing until 19, the people of the Territory of Kansas nade asmal and continuous efforts 1, secure admission into the Union muder various pretests and
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organizations. No change was asked in the territorial bound- aries. But in the minds of congress, other obstacks were suffi- cient to warrant the rejection of the demands from all sources, and hence it was not until iSor, after the southern members had resigned from congress, that the state was admitted. On Janu. ary 28, 1861, Mr. Grow, of Pennsylvania, said: "It is now five years almost since a bill first passed for the admission of Kan- sas into the Union." It was deemed an opportune time, and accordingly Kansas was given the privileges of statehood.
The people of Nebraska Territory were enabled by the act of congress approved April ty, 1864, to form a constitution and state government, the following being the wording of the con- gressional enactment : "That the inhabitants of that portion of the Territory of Nebraska included in the boundary hereafter designated," etc., etc. "Commencing at a point formed by the intersection of the western boundary of the State of Missouri with the fortieth degree of north latitude ; extending thence. the west along said fortieth degree of north latitude to a point formed by its intersection with the twenty-fifth degree of longitude west from Washington, thence north along said twenty-fifth degree of longitude to a point formed by its intersection with the forty- first degree of north latitude; thence west along said forty -first degree of north latitude to a point formed by its intersection with the twenty-seventh degree of longitude west from Washington ; thence north along said twenty-seventh degree of west longitude to a point formed by its intersection with the forty-third degree of north latitude; thence cast along said ionty third degree of north latitude to the Kryd Bal Hver; Lage dron the : 12 H of the channel of said tiver with its medratings to its function with the Niobrara river; thence down the middle of the chan- nel of said Niobrara river and following the meanderings thereof to its junction with the Missouri river ; thence down the middle of the channel of said Missomi river and following the meander- ings thereof to the place of beginning." This act admitting Nebraska into the Union was vetoed by President Johnson, and was passed by both senate and house over his veto, but was made inoperative nutil certain conditions had been fulfilled. The proc- lanation of March 1, 1867, completed its admission into the Union.
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