Slavery was a divisive issue from the very beginning of the United States. The Constitutional Congress worked to create a Constitution that would be acceptable to both free and slave states. The population count was important because the number of Congressmen assigned to each state depended on the size of its population. Free states wanted to exclude counting slaves, as they were not citizens and couldn’t vote. The slave states, on the other hand, wanted to include slaves to increase their representation. The compromise reached was that three-fifths of each state’s slave population would be counted for apportioning Representatives. This postponed, but did not end, the issue of slavery.
This was just the start of compromises meant to address slavery. The Missouri Compromise of 1820 banned slavery in the Louisiana Territory north of the 36th parallel, except in Missouri, which was admitted as a slave state. While much of the land affected by the compromise was unorganized territory, it would eventually shape what became Dakota Territory.
On this date in 1850, Congress passed the Compromise of 1850, which addressed whether slavery would be allowed in the territory acquired from Mexico. California entered the Union as a free state. The Territory of New Mexico allowed slavery. The unorganized territory, which included what would become North Dakota, was left in limbo. After the violence of Bleeding Kansas, legislators were hesitant to tackle the issue in areas they didn’t think would attract slave owners, so they postponed further action.
The United States Congress officially organized Dakota Territory on March 2, 1861. Just two days later, President Abraham Lincoln, newly inaugurated, appointed his friend William Jayne as the first governor. Jayne was a staunch abolitionist. He urged the legislature to pass a law prohibiting slavery in Dakota Territory. In his address to the legislature, he said, "I hope that the free air of Dakota may never be polluted, nor the fair, virgin soil pressed by the footprints of a slave."
However, the legislators were more focused on other pressing matters, like choosing a location for the territorial capital, and ignored Jayne’s plea. In the end, the issue of slavery was settled by the devastation of the Civil War and the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment on January 31, 1865.
Dakota Datebook by Dr. Carole Butcher
Sources:
- Social History for Every Classroom. “Timeline of Compromises Over Slavery.” https://shec.ashp.cuny.edu/items/show/1286 Accessed 2/6/2025.
- Black Wall Street. “Slavery in North Dakota.” https://blackwallstreet.org/blk.resources.dir/cuv.northdakota.html Accessed 2/6/2025.
- Mr. Lincoln and Friends. “William A. Jayne.” https://www.mrlincolnandfriends.org/the-politicians/william-jayne/index.html Accessed 2/6/2025.
- National Archives. “Thirteenth Amendment.” https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/13th-amendment Accessed 2/6/2025.
