Louisiana Territory
Territory of Louisiana | |||||||||
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Organized incorporated territory of United States | |||||||||
1805–1812 | |||||||||
Organized incorporated territory | |||||||||
Governor | |||||||||
• 1805–1807 | James Wilkinson | ||||||||
• 1807–1809 | Meriwether Lewis | ||||||||
• 1810–1812 | Benjamin Howard | ||||||||
History | |||||||||
• Established | July 4 1805 | ||||||||
• Renamed Territory of Missouri | June 4 1812 | ||||||||
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The Territory of Louisiana or Louisiana Territory was an
Background
The
Establishment
On March 3, 1805, Congress passed legislation changing the District of Louisiana into the Louisiana Territory, effective July 4, 1805.[3]
Boundaries
The Louisiana Territory included all of the land acquired by the United States in the Louisiana Purchase north of the 33rd parallel. The eastern boundary of the purchase, the Mississippi River, functioned as the territory's eastern limit. Its northern and western boundaries, however, were indefinite, and remained so throughout its existence. The northern boundary with the British territory of Rupert's Land was established by the Treaty of 1818, and the western boundary with the Spanish viceroyalty of New Spain was defined by the Adams–Onís Treaty of 1819.
Subdivisions
The Louisiana Territory had five subdivisions: St. Louis District, St. Charles District, Ste. Genevieve District, Cape Girardeau District, and New Madrid District. In 1806, the territorial legislature created the District of Arkansas from lands ceded by the Osage Nation.[citation needed]
In the 1810 United States census, six counties in the Louisiana Territory, which included five counties in present-day Missouri and one county in present-day Arkansas, reported the following population counts:[4][5]
Rank | County | Population |
---|---|---|
1 | St. Louis | 5,667 |
2 | Ste. Genevieve | 4,620 |
3 | Cape Girardeau | 3,888 |
4 | St. Charles | 3,505 |
5 | New Madrid | 2,103 |
6 | Arkansas | 1,062 |
Louisiana Territory | 20,845 |
Government
The territorial capital was St. Louis.
On March 11, 1805, President Thomas Jefferson appointed Gen. James Wilkinson as the first governor of the Territory of Louisiana.[6] Wilkinson concurrently held the position of
Renaming
On June 4, 1812, the Twelfth U.S. Congress enacted legislation which renamed Louisiana Territory as Missouri Territory, in order to avoid confusion with the recently admitted State of Louisiana.[7]
Current States
The areas of the Louisiana Territory and Orleans Territory now cover several U.S. states, from the Gulf of Mexico to the border of Canada.
U.S. states once part of Louisiana territory include:
- Louisiana
- Arkansas
- Colorado
- Iowa
- Kansas
- Minnesota (part)
- Missouri
- Montana
- Nebraska
- North Dakota
- Oklahoma
- South Dakota
- Texas
- Wyoming
Canadian provinces once part of Louisiana territory include:
See also
- Historic regions of the United States
- Territorial evolution of the United States
- Lewis and Clark Expedition
- Timeline of the Lewis and Clark Expedition
References
- ^ 2 Stat. 331
- ^ "An act erecting Louisiana into two territories, and providing for the temporary government thereof". United States Statutes at Large. Eighth Congress, Session I, Chapter 38, March 26, 1804, pp. 283–289. From Library of Congress, A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation: U.S. Congressional Documents and Debates, 1774–1875. (accessed December 14, 2008)
- ^ "An Act further providing for the government of the district of Louisiana". United States Statutes at Large. Eighth Congress, Session II, Chapter 31, March 3, 1805, pp. 331–332. From Library of Congress, A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation: U.S. Congressional Documents and Debates, 1774–1875. (accessed December 14, 2008)
- ^ Forstall, Richard L. (ed.). Population of the States and Counties of the United States: 1790–1990 (PDF) (Report). United States Census Bureau. p. 17. Retrieved May 18, 2020.
- ^ Forstall, Richard L. (ed.). Population of the States and Counties of the United States: 1790–1990 (PDF) (Report). United States Census Bureau. pp. 95–97. Retrieved May 18, 2020.
- ^ "Commission of James Wilkinson as Governor". Carter, Clarence Edwin, compiler and editor. Territorial Papers of the United States. Vol. XIII (The Territory of Louisiana–Missouri, 1803–1806), pp. 98–99.
- ^ "An Act providing for the government of the territory of Missouri". United States Statutes at Large. Twelfth Congress, Session I, Chapter 95, June 4, 1812, pp. 742–747. From Library of Congress, A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation: U.S. Congressional Documents and Debates, 1774–1875. (accessed December 14, 2008)