Nebraska Admitted to the Union
Nebraska was officially admitted to the United States on March 1, 1867, becoming the 37th state. The region's history traces back to European exploration in the 16th century, with Francisco Vásquez de Coronado's purported entry in 1541, although scholarly consensus questions his actual presence there. The name "Nebraska" is derived from the Oto Indian words meaning "flat water," referring to the Platte River. Following the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, exploration efforts by figures like Lewis and Clark and later developments in the 1820s led to the establishment of significant migration routes, such as the Oregon Trail. The political landscape in Nebraska evolved under the Kansas-Nebraska Act, which allowed settlers to choose whether to permit slavery, igniting conflicts that influenced its statehood journey. Despite earlier rejections in the 1860s, Nebraska embraced statehood in 1866 when it approved a constitution. The initial capital was Omaha, but it was later moved to Lincoln, reflecting the growing influence of the South Platte region in the state’s governance. Nebraska's admission marked a significant moment in the expansion and political development of the United States during a transformative era.
Nebraska Admitted to the Union
Nebraska Admitted to the Union
Nebraska was admitted to the Union on March 1, 1867. Popular history reports that Francisco Vásquez de Coronado entered Nebraska in 1541 during his unsuccessful search for the mythical kingdom of Quivira and the Seven Cities of Cíbola. Many scholars doubt that he visited the region, however. In any event, few followed in Coronado's alleged footsteps during the next two centuries. Fur traders occasionally passed through, and in 1714 French explorer Etienne Veniard, Sieur de Bourgmont, first called the land “Nebraska.” The word probably comes from the Oto Indian word “Nebrathka” or “Nibthaska,” meaning “flat water,” a reference to the shallow Platte River, a tributary of the Missouri.
The United States acquired title to Nebraska in 1803 as part of the Louisiana Purchase. After that time a number of men investigated the territory, including Lewis and Clark, who passed through in the course of their survey expedition. Major Stephen H. Long called the area a “great desert,” which succinctly reported the impression of most early observers.
Beginning in the 1820s, the Platte Valley, Nebraska's most important topographic feature, became a significant part of the road to the Far West. Fur traders were the first Europeans to use the thoroughfare, and the pioneers soon followed. In 1841 the first group of settlers heading for the vast Oregon region passed through the Platte Valley along the south bank of the river. Their path became the Oregon Trail. In 1847 Brigham Young led the Mormons to Utah along the opposite bank.
Nebraska's political history began with Illinois senator Stephen A. Douglas's dream of a transcontinental railroad with Chicago as its eastern terminus. Congress would not authorize construction of the line until there was a civil government established in the sprawling Nebraska region through which the line would have to pass. Southerners were hesitant to organize the territory, as it lay north of the Missouri Compromise line of demarcation between slave states and free states, and so was potentially a free state that would add to the North's political and economic strength. Douglas overcame their objections with his Kansas-Nebraska Act, which nullified the Missouri Compromise by dividing the region into two territories, with the inhabitants of each having the right to permit or prohibit slavery. The act resulted in bloody feuds between the proslavery and antislavery factions, particularly in Kansas, but enabled the region to be organized as territories.
During its territorial period, Nebraska grew slowly but steadily. Omaha was the capital, and Brownville, Nebraska City, Plattsmouth, and Florence became important towns. The chief business of the region was overland transportation, including wagons, stagecoaches, and, in 1860–1861, the Pony Express. The Homestead Act of 1862 (awarding 160 acres to each pioneer who settled the frontier) and the development of the railroads greatly encouraged immigration. The former made it economically feasible for farmers to obtain land, while the latter made it possible to settle in the interior, away from the territory's eastern boundary, the Missouri River.
Nebraskans rejected opportunities to join the Union in 1860 and 1864, but in 1866 they finally approved a constitution drafted by the territorial legislature. Nebraska became the 37th state on March 1, 1867. The representatives of the populous South Platte region controlled the first state legislature, and moved the capital from Omaha to the village of Lancaster, which they renamed Lincoln.