Missouri Territory

Territory of Missouri
Organized incorporated territoryofUnited States
1812–1821
Flag of the United States
Map of the Territory of Missouri in 1812
Capital	St. Louis
• Type	Organized incorporated territory
History
• Renaming ofLouisiana Territory	4 June 1812
•Territory of Arkansascreated	March 2, 1819
•Missouristatehood	10 August 1821
Preceded by Succeeded by Louisiana Territory Territory of Arkansas Missouri Unorganized territory Indian Territory Rupert's Land

Missouri Territory, formerly Louisiana, 1814 map

TheTerritory of Missouriwas anorganized incorporated territory of the United Statesthat existed from June 4, 1812,until August 10, 1821. In 1819, theTerritory of Arkansaswas created from a portion of its southern area. In 1821, a southeastern portion of the territory was admitted to theUnionas the State ofMissouri,and the rest became unorganized territory for several years.

History

The Missouri Territory was originally known as theLouisiana Territoryand was renamed by theU.S. Congresson June 4, 1812, to avoid confusion with the newstateofLouisiana,which had beenadmitted to the Unionon April 30, 1812.

On October 1, 1812, Governor Clark organized the five administrative districts of the former Louisiana Territory into the first fivecounties of the Missouri Territory.

TheAnglo-American Convention of 1818established the northern boundary of the Missouri Territory with theBritishterritory ofRupert's Landat the49th parallel north.This gave the Missouri Territory theRed River Valleysouth of the 49th parallel and gave Rupert's Land the slice ofMissouri River Valleynorth of 49th parallel. TheAdams–Onís Treatyof 1819 established the southern and western boundaries of the territory with the Spanish territories ofSpanish TexasandSanta Fe de Nuevo México.The United States surrendered a significant portion of the Missouri Territory toSpainin exchange forSpanish Florida.TheConvention of 1818and theAdams–Onís Treatywould be the last significant losses of United States territory from thecontiguous United States,although the cession of lands north of the 49th parallel would turn out to be the onlypermanentcession of U.S. territory (the territories ceded to Spain would be re-taken by the U.S. following theTexas annexationand theMexican–American War).

On March 2, 1819, all of the Missouri Territory south of theparallel 36°30' north,except theMissouri Bootheelbetween theMississippi Riverand theSaint Francis Rivernorth of the36th parallel north,was designated the newTerritory of Arkansaw.(The spelling of Arkansaw would be changed a few years later, although the proper pronunciation of the name would be debated until 1881.) The southeastern portion of the Missouri Territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Missouri on August 10, 1821.

St. Louiswas thecapitalof the Missouri Territory.

The remaining portion of the territory, consisting of the present states ofIowa,Nebraska,andthe Dakotas,most ofKansas,Wyoming,andMontana,and parts ofColorado,MinnesotaandNew Mexico,effectively became anunorganized territoryafter Missouri became a state. In 1834, the portion east of theMissouri Riverwas attached to theMichigan Territory.Over time, variousterritorieswere created in whole or in part from its remaining area:Iowa(1838),Minnesota(1849),KansasandNebraska(both 1854),ColoradoandDakota(both 1861),Idaho(1863),Montana(1864), andWyoming(1868).

In the1820 United States census,15 counties in the Missouri Territoryreported the following population counts:

Rank	County	Population
1	Howard	13,426
2	St. Louis	10,049
3	Cooper	6,959
4	Cape Girardeau	5,968
5	Ste. Genevieve	4,962
6	St. Charles	3,970
7	Pike	3,747
8	Montgomery	3,074
9	Washington	2,769
10	Franklin	2,379
11	New Madrid	2,296
12	Madison	2,047
13	Jefferson	1,835
14	Lincoln	1,662
15	Wayne	1,443
	Missouri Territory	66,586

See also

• Historic regions of the United States
• History of Missouri
• Territorial evolution of the United States

External links

• Peter J. Kastor, Making Missouri American: A crowded frontier in the age of Lewis and Clark