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The history of fur trading in the northwest deals first with the French. In the great center of fur trade, Wisconsin, trading began as early
30
History of Nebraska.
as 1634. After England obtained possession
FUR
TRADE: of Canada, the period of French trade
French, was followed by many years of Brit- (a)
1634- 1763. ish traffic. This period may be said to British, begin in 1763 and end in 1816, when (b) 1763-
1816. Congress passed a law prohibiting for- eigners from trading within the limits of the United States. The Americans began to compete with the English very early, but the formation of
the large companies of the United States (c) Amer-
1816-34.
ican, begins in 1809, when John Jacob Astor had the American Fur Company char- tered. In 1810 two expeditions were started out,
one by way of the Missouri River. This year
saw a post established at Bellevue. Long before this, however, traders had kept their places of bar- ter on the banks of the Missouri and received the deer and buffalo skins from the Indians. Amer- ican explorers found traders on Nebraska soil soon after the opening of this century. The an- nual value of the fur business was very great. During the forty years up to 1847, the annual value to St. Louis is said to have been from two to three hundred thousand dollars.
The expedition made for the government by Lewis and Clark, starting out in 1804, marks the time when the growing power of the great AMERI- American Republic began to reach out to CAN
PATH-
FIND-
these plains.
Following this were the
ERS. undertakings of Major Long in 1819, W. H. Ashley in 1822, Rev. Samuel Parker in 1835,
31
Explorers, Missionaries, and Traders.
and the well-known expedition of the government under the command of Gen. Fremont in 1842.
By such means as these, information came to the cities and towns of the east, and there began to be an increasing tide of people westward. Traders continued to come to get furs from the Indians, the hunters came for buffalo robes, mis- sionaries came to bring the Gospel to the Indians, and finally the adventurer came to make his for- tune. The missionaries separated, some
MIS-
SION- going to one tribe and some to another. ARIES. One of the very earliest within our bor- ders was Moses Merrill, who lived and preached among the Otoes from 1833 to 1840.1
Following him were many who went to the va- rious tribes to teach them. Great honor is due the men and women who do this work of self-sac- rifice in the early history of any country.
AUTHORITIES AND BOOKS OF REFERENCE.
1. Coronado's Expedition.
H. H. Bancroft's Works, Vols. XVII. and XXVII .: Ari- zona and New Mexico, pp. 33-72, History of the North- west Coast, I., 44-46. In the former a long list of books concerning the subject is given in note 17, p. 37.
Gen. J. H. Simpson, in Smithsonian Reports, 309-340. Judge Savage, in State Hist. Soc. Pub., I., 180-202. Magazine of Amer. Hist., XXIN., 288.
Johnson, Hist. of Nebraska, 33-38.
2. Other early explorations. State Hist. Soc. Pub., II., 114-131; III., 67-73. Bancroft, Arizona and New Mexico, 169. Hale, Kansas and Nebraska (Boston, 1854), 15, 16. Winsor, Narr. and Crit. Hist. of Amer., V., 55, note 2. Johnson, Hist. of Nebr., 43.
1 The diary of Mr. Merrill is found in the State Historical Society Publications, IV., 160-191.
32
History of Nebraska.
3. American Explorations.
Lewis and Clark's Travels, (London, 1815, 3 Vols.) I., 35-65.
Johnson, Hist. of Nebr., 46-55.
Journal of an Exploring Tour, by Rev. Samuel Parker, (Ithaca, 1842), 39-68.
Fremont, Report of the Exploring Expedition (Wash- ington, 1845), 15-22.
4. Fur Trading.
F. J. Turner, Character and Influence of the Fur Trade in Wisconsin, Wis. Hist. Soc. Pub., 1889.
Washington Irving's Works: Astoria, Chaps. I .- III., XIII .- XVII. Bonneville's Adventures, Chaps. II .- IV.
Encyclopædias, under names John Jacob Astor, Fur Trade, etc.
Johnson, Hist. of Nebr., 98, 1361, etc.
Mag. of Amer. Hist., XII., 509.
5. Missionaries.
State Hist. Soc. Pub., II., 133-166; III., 125-143; IV., 157-191.
Johnson, Hist. of Nebr., 98, 1363, etc.
.
·
33
Advance Movements.
IV .- ADVANCE MOVEMENTS.
Two very interesting things happened when the valleys of our state first began to be colonized. They are interesting because they are peculiar, not because they have had a very great effect upon the population of the state. The first is the com- ing of the Mormons into the country. These religious people, with their strange beliefs and practices, were compelled to leave their homes in Illinois in 1844. The next year they took up their journey westward and crossed the Missouri at two or three places. The main colony gathered about six miles north of the present site of Omaha, where their town was called "Winter Quarters." In two years the settlement grew to 15,000 inhab- itants. Such things as the country of-
THE
MOR- fered, they took for food and shelter.
MONS. The amount of forage and timber required to sustain such a fair sized city was not small, and the removal of forests and game disturbed the Indians. The land belonged to the Red Man, and the government was compelled to stand by his rights. The Mormons had to move. From this place they scattered, some crossing the Mis- souri and others making the long, tedious journey to a new home at Salt Lake. Settlements were made here and there by Mormon families, and in some places enough of them collected to maintain
3
34
History of Nebraska.
a church. As late as 1857 they made a settle- ment at Genoa, now in the eastern part of Nance County. A hundred families received shares of the thousand acres which they inclosed GENOA. and in a few years their colony was very prosperous. But the Indians again interfered, for the Pawnees came to occupy the reservation assigned them by the government. Wars be- tween the Pawnees and the Sioux constantly an- noyed them, and in five or six years after Genoa was founded, the Mormons had again dispersed to other parts. At that place are left only earth- works to mark their former abode.
The second feature of interest is the wonderful gold panic which seized the people of the East, when it was announced in 1849 that gold had been discovered in California. The valley of the Platte was the natural avenue by which to ap- proach the mountains, especially from the north- ern states. People arrived in great numbers
THE at the places where the Missouri was GOLD HUNT- crossed, and for a short time the fords of ERS.
the river were crowded. They made their way across the plains with such means as they had, either on foot, or with the ox-team, or on horse-back. Ill prepared for the most part, many perished in the long marches. A few gave up their hope of finding riches and began life as pioneers in the new country. They were among the early settlers of Nebraska, but their number was not large. One must have a strong imagina-
35
Advance Movements.
tion to realize even dimly the long lines of toilers across the continent, the hardships and the heart- aches, and the terrible suffering, which left the whole way marked by castaway garments, by beasts of burden that had perished, and by graves of weary pilgrims. This sad picture points to a moral about fortune-hunting.1
1 Johnson, History of Nebraska, 98-100. Schouler, History of U. S., V., 130-148.
36
History of Nebraska.
V .- THE ACQUISITION OF THE TERRITORY.
Before the organization of the country into territories can be discussed, it is necessary to know how the United States came to own it. When the thirteen original states banded them- selves together into a nation in 1788, the people and their representatives in Congress did not look beyond the Mississippi River. This was the west- ern boundary as mentioned in the treaty of 1783 between the United States and Great Brit-
THE
MIS-
SOURI ain. Spain held the land west of this AS A BOUND. river, which long before had been named ARY. Louisiana for Louis XIV. When two na- tions hold opposite banks of a stream, it is under- stood that both have a right to use it, each one own- ing to the center. In the case of this river, not only did Spain possess the land on the west, but the mouth was entirely in Spanish territory. There Spain owned both sides. All went well as long as the commerce of the people living west of the Al- leghenies was allowed to pass into the Gulf. But Spain was not to be depended on and sometimes closed the mouth of the river. This caused bad feeling between the two nations concerned, and made it very desirable for the United States to obtain at least all of the east bank of the river, if opportunity offered itself. In one of the turns of
37
The Acquisition of the Territory.
European politics in 1800, Spain gave to France the whole country west of the Mississippi, as far as Spanish claims extended. Thomas Jefferson, just elected president, saw a chance for the United States to buy a portion from France. He there- fore told Mr. Livingstone, minister at Paris, to try to make the purchase, and in May, 1803, Mon- roe also was sent to France to aid him. At
THE length Napoleon decided to cede the whole PUR-
CHASE.
of Louisiana to the United States. This seems to have come about, not through the skill of the men trying to make the purchase, but because of the condition in which the affairs of France were at that time. The price of this whole country, from the Mississippi to the Rocky Moun- tains, and from the Gulf of Mexico to British America, was $15,000,000. In the treaty there is nothing said about boundaries. To the north- west very little was known accurately about the extent of the claim, so that little could be said.
A moment's thought makes plain how great a difference this purchase has made in the growth of the United States. What would the career of the Union have been, hemmed in by the Missis- sippi, with European nations on the west? What EFFECT great success this change has brought to THE NA. the idea of a Republic! How much more UPON
TION. dignity and importance among the nations of the world this growth to a land empire has given to the United States! Together with other additions to our domain, it has made the
38
History of Nebraska.
Nation more symmetrical, and has thrown under one flag the slopes of the great Mississippi and Missouri valleys. Who will say that by the ac- quisition of this 900,000 square miles of territory the controlling influence in North America, and perhaps in the Western Hemisphere, did not pass to the United States ?
Very soon after the purchase Congress took steps to form the country into one or more terri- tories, and to extend the laws formally over the land. From that time the maps showed various divisions, but until the prairies were peopled the changes were of small importance. It was mostly " Indian Country" until 1854.
AUTHORITIES AND BOOKS OF REFERENCE.
Henry Adams, Hist. of U. S. during 1st Administration of Th. Jefferson, II., Chaps. II .- VI.
Von Holst, Hist. of U. S., 1750-1832, Chap. V., pp. 183- 188.
Schouler, Hist. of U. S., II., 36-52.
Johnson, Hist. of Nebraska, 44-46, giving a text of the treaty. Morse, Thomas Jefferson, 231. - The American Statesman, 203-210.
.... ...
39
The Kansas-Nebraska Act in Congress.
VI. - THE KANSAS-NEBRASKA ACT IN CONGRESS.1
The beginning of the history of Nebraska as a territory must be studied in the records of Con- gress. Long before there were white people enough in the valley of the Platte to make a small dinner party, the law-makers at Washington had begun to think about forming a territory.
HIS- TORY OF THE TERRI- TORY Government was not needed there yet. It was a political matter. The questions IN POL- about the Oregon boundary, the settle- BEGINS ITICS. ments in California, the Republic of Texas, and the new territory acquired from Mex- ico constantly drew the attention of Congress to matters beyond the Mississippi River. The sub- ject of a new territory at the mouth of the Platte River arose in 1844, ten years before a bill estab- lishing it was really passed by Congress and signed by the president. Efforts were made sev. eral times between 1844 and 1854 to bring this about, and chief among the men interested in it
1 This was called the Nebraska and Kansas Bill, or the Nebraska Bill, during the debates upon it in Congress. The name Nebraska was first suggested as a name for the Territory by William Wilking, Secre- tary of War, in his annual report, on November 30, 1844. He wrote: "The Platt or Nebraska, heing the central stream leading into or from the Great South Pass, would very properly furnish a name for the Ter- ritory, which I propose suggesting to be erected Into a territorial gor- ernment." Congressional Globe, 1st Sess., 33d Cong., App., p. 715.
40
History of Nebraska.
was Stephen A. Douglas. He was a democrat,
STE- and a very shrewd politician. He began PHEN A. his career in Congress in 1843 as a repre- DOUG-
LAS. sentative from Illinois. In 1847 he en- tered the Senate, where he served for twelve years. Mr. Douglas was very prominent in the discussions which led to the organization of Ne- braska, and a study of the bill by which this was done rightly begins with a study of him.
He was prime mover in urging the subject upon Congress. His motives, his ambition, his schemes, all are a part of the history of Nebraska. The influence of this man and the acts of Con- gress from 1844 to 1854 are not alone sufficient to show the reason why Nebraska became a terri- tory when it did. The subject of slavery entered almost everything that was done in Congress for years before Nebraska was organized. Trouble arose in Congress whenever new territories were made, because slave-holders wanted slavery al-
SLAV- lowed and the opposers of slavery at the ERY North desired to prohibit the whole evil. AND
THE There had been an agreement in Congress MISSOU-
RI COM- in 1820, which readers of American His- PRO-
MISE. tory are familiar with under the name of the Missouri Compromise.
By this bill anti-slavery men in Congress had consented not to interfere with the question of slavery in the Southwest. On the other hand, the slavery men had agreed not to introduce slavery into the Louisiana Purchase, north of the
41
The Kansas-Nebraska Act in Congress.
parallel of latitude 36° 30'. Although Mis- souri is north of that line, slavery was not pro- hibited within its limits. Mr. Douglas claimed that the Compromise of 1850 took the place of the Missouri Compromise, because, as he said,
THE the former allowed a territory to have slaves COM-
PRO- MISE
or not, just as it chose. This was not true,
OF 1850. but it served as his pretext. He was the chairman of the Committee on Territories, and reported to the Senate on January 23, 1854, a bill which provided for two territories. In the previous bills only one was mentioned. Mr. Douglas was the author of the section of the bill which contained the idea of a territory reg- SQUAT- ulating slavery within its own boundaries. TER
SOVER-
EIGNTY This doctrine is called "Popular Sover- From the
eignty" or "Squatter Sovereignty." time when the news of the bill spread through the country, every community was stirred EFFECT
OF THE up over the subject. In Congress the KAN-
SAS-NE- BRASKA greatest struggle in its history took place. BILL, "Why should this bill cause such a com- (a) On
(b) On the motion ?" may be asked. It re-opened
Congress
People. the question of slavery, which many sup- posed to have been settled by the compromises. The Kansas-Nebraska Bill, as it is called, brought on the contest between the supporters and the op- posers of slavery. It destroyed the Whig party, and divided the people on the subject of slavery alone. The new Republican Party, whose pur- pose at first was to prevent the spread of slavery
42
History of Nebraska.
and afterwards to stop it altogether, dates from this (c) On time. Inhabitants of Nebraska probably Parties. are not proud of the fact that the bill which organized the valley of the Platte into a territory came from those who upheld slavery, and that it was passed by their votes.1 But they may be glad that the schemes of Mr. Douglas helped only to unite the parties of the North against the one great curse of the Nation, and led directly to the freedom of the slaves. The idea of Popular Sovereignty is not that splendid prin- ciple that the will of a people shall rule supreme, but only a mockery of it.
AUTHORITIES AND BOOKS OF REFERENCE.
Von Holst, History of U. S., 1850-1854. Chaps. VI .- VIII. Schouler, History of the U. S., V., 276-292.
Congressional Globe, Vol. 28, pt. I., 33d Cong. 1st session, p. 221, etc.
Seward's Works (Boston, 1884). IV., 433-479.
Johnson, Hist. Amer. Politics (N. Y., 1884), 157-166.
Sterne, Const. Hist. and Political Development of U. S., 186- 192.
Young, American Statesman. 940-960; Chaps. 75 and 76.
Shepard, Martin Van Buren, 376-379.
Roosevelt, T. H. Benton, 315-349.
Mag of Amer. Hist., XVIII., 478.
Spencer, Hist. of U. S., III., 504-6.
Crafts, Hist. of U. S. of Amer., I.,578-580.
Andrews, Brief Institutes of our Const. Hist., 226.
Davis, Rise and Fall of Confed. Gov't., I., Chap. V.
Lalor Cyclopedia of Pol. Sci., II., 667-670.
SUGGESTIVE TOPICS AND QUESTIONS.
What was the Oregon Boundary matter? See Barrow's Oregon (Commonwealth Series).
Schouler, Hist. of U. S., IV., 504-514.
How did California come to be a part of the U. S .? See
] In its final form, the Kansas-Nebraska bill passed the House May 22, 1854, by a vote of 113 to 100. The Senate approved it three days later by a vote of 35 to 13, and the President signed it on May 30, 1854.
43
The Kansas-Nebraska Act in Congress.
Schouler, Hist. of U. S., IV., 247, 445-7, 528-535.
When did Texas become a republic and how long was it independent ? See Schouler, V., index.
Was Douglas sincere in his views ? Read speeches of Douglas and Lincoln.
44
History of Nebraska.
VII .- THE BILL ITSELF.1
The law passed by Congress to organize the territory of Nebraska resembles an old law of the Continental Congress. Indeed, every time that
ORDI- Congress has passed a law to form a ter-
NANCE OF ritory, the Ordinance of 1787, as this old
1787. law is called, has been the model forit. An act or law which organizes a territorial govern- ment, naming the boundaries, the officers, and the manner of their appointment, is called the Or- ganic Act. Such for our territory was the part ORGAN- of the Kansas-Nebraska act which relates IC ACT. to Nebraska. The whole bill consists of thirty-seven sections, of which the first eighteen apply to Nebraska alone. Three departments were made, just as in the constitutions of the United States and of each state. The general plan is the same everywhere in this Republic, and the territorial constitution, as might have been expected, provided for governor, legislature, and supreme court. The first governor of a territory
EXECU- in the United States was appointed by TIVE OFFI- the President and Senate, and this mode CERS. of appointment has not been changed. In the same manner, a secretary, attorney, and marshal received their offices. The secretary had a term of five years, but the others, including the
1 United States Statutes, X., 277.
45
The Bill Itself.
governor, had one of but four years. It is inter- esting to note that since the time of the Ordi- nance of 1787 these terms of office had increased by one year.
The fourth section of the bill provided for a council of thirteen members and a house of twenty- six. The governor had the usual veto upon leg- islation, which began in 1787 with absolute power to forbid a bill to become a law. It was very soon modified, however, so that a certain majority of members could pass bills over his veto. The three judges of the supreme court received their appointment in the same manner as the governor. LEGIS- This territory had the very same kind of
LA- representation in Congress as the old North-
TURE. west Territory had under the Ordinance of 1787, namely, a delegate to the House of Represen- tatives, with right to discuss and advise concern- ing the territory, but without right to vote. One of the important provisions of the bill TERRI- TORIAL (Sec. 16) reserved two square miles out of
DELE-
GATE. each township for purposes of education, but it seems that Nebraska received no benefit from this while a territory.1 There are certain things in the Organic act that show in whose in- terest the bill was made and by whose votes it was passed. (1) The voters are only the "white" population (Sec. 5). (2) It is especially stated that the two acts of Congress of the years 1793 and 1850, about fugitive slaves, should be in force
] Governor's Message, 9th Session.
46
History of Nebraska.
in the territory (Secs. 9 and 10). (3) In the last half of the 14th section, the Missouri Compromise act is declared of no effect, and the idea of non- intervention by Congress is expressed. This idea was that Congress should not interfere with any state in its own private affairs: that the people should regulate their domestic institutions in their own way, subject only to the Constitution of the United States. This is the doctrine of "Popular Sovereignty." . At the time the old Ordinance of 1787 was passed, there was little opposition when Nathan Dane, a Massachusetts lawyer, moved to add a paragraph prohibiting slavery in the territory north of the Ohio River. Be- tween that time and 1854 things had changed. It was no longer possible to pass a bill with a clause in it prohibiting slavery in a territory, although the land might lie farther north than the Ohio River. The Ordinance of 1787 was the first act of the United States that contained a fu- gitive slave clause and the Kansas-Nebraska Bill was the last.1
1This latter statement remains to be verified, but seems to be true
47
The Territory of Nebraska.
VIII. - THE TERRITORY OF NEBRASKA.
When the territory of Oregon was established in 1848, the summit of the Rocky Mountains be- tween the parallels of 42° and 49° became a part of the boundary. In 1850, at the formation of Utah Territory, the same mountains were made the eastern boundary between the 30th and 40th BOUND_ parallels. When Nebraska was organ-
ARIES. ized, the summit of the Rockies easily be- came the western limit, because it was already a boundary line. Just where the "summit of the Rocky Mountains" is, the members of Congress themselves probably did not know. In Map IV. it is taken as the water-shed, on one side of which the rivers flow to the Gulf of Mexico and on the other to the Pacific Ocean. The western boundary of Minnesota, which was formed into a territory five years before Nebraska, followed the Missouri towards the northwest as far as White Earth River, and then turned northward along this stream to the British line. The northeast bound- ary of the Territory of Nebraska likewise followed these rivers.1
No one need think that the exact location of these lines which Congress had fixed, except the boundary between Kansas and Nebraska, made
1 White Earth River rises south of British America. Doubtless the boundary would be completed by a line drawn north from the source of this river to the 49th parallel.
48
History of Nebraska.
6F
26
20
97
Lor
30
35
Co
43
MAP IV. TERRITORY OF NEBRASKA, 1854-1861.
A. White Earth River.
B. Portion removed by formation of Colorado.
C. Present Limits.
49
The Territory of Nebraska.
any difference at all between the inhabitants of the Territory. The few white persons in the country were at the southeast corner, and the Red Man knew no boundaries. Since the western country was being settled rapidly, these extensive limits could not long remain. In February, 1861, Colorado Territory was created, taking a small piece out of the southwestern corner of Nebraska. Two months later Dakota Territory was formed, which removed all the stretch of country north of the 43d parallel. At the same time two tracts were added to Nebraska from Utah and Washing- ton territories. The effect was to change the western boundary from the indefinite "summit of the Rocky Mountains" to the 33d meridian west of Washington. Nebraska Territory was now nearly four times as long as it was wide, stretch- ing in fact, about fifteen degrees in longitude.
It so remained for two years. At the formation of Idaho Territory, March, 1863, all west of the 27th meridian was taken away. With these def- inite boundaries it remained, even after it became a state in 1867.
The organization of the Territory of Nebraska begins with the appointment of Francis Burt, of South Carolina, as governor, by the president, Franklin Pierce. With the arrival of Mr. ORGAN. Burt at Bellevue, October 7, 1854, came IZA- TION. the enforcement of law in the new settle- ments. Hardly had the governor begun his work when he died, and the secretary, T. B. Cuming, 4
50
110
100
105
104
102
100
98
96
143
70
140
33
31
29
27
25
23
19
MAP V. TERRITORY OF NEBRASKA FROM 1861 TO 1863.
A. Part added from Washington Territory. B. Part added from Utah Territory.
History of Nebraska.
51
The Territory of Nebraska.
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