12/5/2013:
When the state of Minnesota was organized in 1858, settlers living to the west of the new state boundary began to examine their own situation. Prior to being carved out as a state, Minnesota had been a part of the much larger Minnesota Territory, which had extended west to the Missouri River. Now, residents living between the Red and Missouri were no longer part of the organized Minnesota Territory, but were living in an essentially unorganized frontier. Without a territorial government, they had lost the political structure, representation, and protections they had previously enjoyed. A movement began calling for a territorial government west of the Red River.
In 1858, congressional bills calling for the organization of Dakota Territory were introduced by Indiana Senator Graham Fitch and Georgia Representative Alexander Stevens. Unfortunately, the creation of the territory was caught up in the question of slavery. Admitting such a large northern territory carried with it the expectation that it would be organized as a ‘free’ territory, and would harbor fugitive and runaway slaves. Most southerners continued to block legislation for the creation of both states and territories above the Mason-Dixon Line, while northerners contested the entrance of southern states.
In less than two years, the slavery debate would ultimately help fuel the outbreak of the Civil War, but at the time, it simply stalled legislation. Fortunately, inhabitants of Dakota found a champion in the person of Captain John Todd, cousin of Mary Todd Lincoln and part-time Dakota Indian trader. Todd campaigned for a Dakota Territory, circulating petitions and holding organizational meetings at Yankton and Vermilion. At one point, he had gathered 478 signatures, which, he claimed, “…comprised practically all of the citizens of Dakota.”
When the 36th Congress convened on this date in 1859, Dakota residents believed they were on the verge of becoming a legitimate territory. Despite the fight put up by Todd and Minnesota Senator Henry Rice, however, the bill was once again tabled, largely due to opposition involving southern slaveholders. Dakota Territory would not be realized until 1861, after the United States had entered the Civil War to decide the question of slavery once and for all. Upon admittance, Captain Todd was selected to serve as Territorial Representative for Dakota in the U.S. Congress.
Dakota Datebook written by Jayme L. Job
Sources:
Kingsbury, George W. 1915. History of Dakota Territory, Volume I. The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company: Chicago.
Lounsberry, Clement Augustus. 1913. Early History of North Dakota: Essential Outlines of AmericanbHistory: pp. 263-264. Liberty Press: Washington, DC.
http://www.history.nd.gov/textbook/unit3_2_intro.html
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/award97/ndfahtml/ngp_nd_terr.html