North Dakota Admitted to the Union
North Dakota was admitted to the United States as the 39th state on November 2, 1889, following a protracted political conflict with South Dakota over the location of a capital city. This division stemmed from tensions between the northern and southern parts of the Dakota Territory during the late 19th century. The region has a rich history that predates statehood, marked by significant interactions between European explorers and various Native American tribes, including the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara. These tribes had established farming and nomadic lifestyles long before European settlement began in earnest.
The area's early European exploration was highlighted by the Lewis and Clark Expedition in 1804, which facilitated knowledge about the land and its tribes. The establishment of trading posts, particularly by British fur companies, played a crucial role in economic activities in North Dakota. Despite the challenges posed by conflicts and resistance from native tribes, the completion of the Northern Pacific Railway in 1881 significantly boosted settlement efforts. Ultimately, North Dakota's statehood was achieved alongside South Dakota, marking a significant moment in the region's transition from a territory to statehood under President Benjamin Harrison’s proclamation.
North Dakota Admitted to the Union
North Dakota Admitted to the Union
As a result of political feuding between the northern and southern parts of the Dakota Territory, North Dakota and South Dakota were admitted to the Union as separate states on November 2, 1889. The two areas had been unable to agree on a capital city, and the argument had grown increasingly more heated during the 1870s and 1880s. Thus North Dakota, with its capital at Bismarck, became the 39th state of the United States, and South Dakota, with its capital at Pierre, became the 40th state.
At the time of the first recorded visit by a European to the region now constituting North Dakota, namely by French-Canadian explorer Pierre Gaultier de Varennes de La Vérendrye in 1738, approximately ten native tribes inhabited the area. Some, such as the Mandan, Arikara, and Hidatsa, lived in villages and were farmers. Other tribes, including the Assiniboin, Crow, and Dakota, were nomadic. They hunted buffalo, whose meat provided food and whose skin they used for clothing and tepees. The Cheyenne and Cree tribes, also in the region, were seminomadic.
The central and southwestern area of what is now North Dakota formed part of the territory of Louisiana, which passed from French to Spanish control by the secret Treaty of Fontainebleau in 1762. Great Britain controlled the rest of the area. The North West Fur Company, a privately owned British fur trading company, built the first trading post in 1797 at the confluence of the Pembina River and the Red River of the North in the extreme northeastern corner of North Dakota. Numerous fur trading posts were subsequently established in the British region by various companies, including the Hudson's Bay and North West Fur companies. British fur traders operated not only in the British -dominated valley of the Red River, but also along the Missouri River where Spain permitted them to do a certain amount of trading with the native tribes. Spanish fur traders were also active.
Even after the secret Treaty of San Ildefonso, which returned the vast Louisiana region to France in 1800, Louisiana temporarily remained under Spanish administration. When the United States acquired the huge Louisiana territory through the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, what had been the Spanish-held part of North Dakota was transferred to the American government. Meriwether Lewis and William Clark were dispatched by President Thomas Jefferson to explore the newly acquired territory, which had roughly doubled the size of the United States. By the fall of 1804 they reached the point on the eastern bank of the Missouri River (about 14 miles west of what was later Washburn, North Dakota), where they build Fort Mandan.
During the winter that Lewis and Clark spent at the fort, the friendly Hidatsa and Mandan tribes provided supplies for the continuation of their journey to the Pacific coast. Also of great value was the information that the natives provided, as well as the presence of Sacagawea, a Shoshone woman who had been captured by the Hidatsa. The Hidatsa sold her to Toussaint Charbonneau, a Canadian trapper, who then married her. Both Charbonneau and Sacagawea acted as interpreters for Lewis and Clark, but Sacagawea's greatest contribution to the success of the expedition was her ability to guide the party through her home area and procure needed horses from her fellow Shoshone.
Scottish immigrants led by a member of the Hudson's Bay Company, Thomas Douglas (the Earl of Selkirk), came by way of Canada in 1812 to establish at Pembina the first permanent settlement in the region. So bitter was the rivalry between the various fur trading companies, however, that the settlers were twice driven from their homes by members of the North West Fur Company before Pembina could be established as a permanent settlement.
Meanwhile, Great Britain had refused to recognize American sovereignty in the area, claiming the territory for itself. After the War of 1812, however, Britain formally gave up its claim to the region in 1818 when an agreement between the two countries fixed the 49th Parallel as the boundary between the United States and British North America. This line runs from the Lake of the Woods west to the Rocky Mountains, establishing in the process what serves today as the northern boundary of North Dakota.
From the time of the Lewis and Clark expedition, the Missouri River had been a main avenue of transportation for the fur traders. For almost three decades, small boats plied its waters. Then, in 1832 the Yellowstone became the first steamboat to navigate within the area of North Dakota. The steamboat traveled as far as Fort Union, which had been built in 1828 by the American Fur Company of financier John Jacob Astor, the same trading company that owned the Yellowstone.
Fort Union was located close to the western border of North Dakota, at the confluence of the Yellowstone and Missouri Rivers. For four decades it was the largest and most important trading post in the upper Missouri region, and it also served as the gathering place for native tribes, artists, scientists, and missionaries. The region attracted such noted persons as John James Audubon, the ornithologist and painter of birds, and George Catlin, the American artist and author who painted hundreds of native portraits and scenes from life. Their various works, including personal journals, provide valuable historical material on the North Dakota area.
Settlement of the region was slow, and the fur traders had it virtually to themselves for a long time. Several native tribes also forcibly resisted the incursions by settlers on their lands. Eventually, a number of American military posts were established. The first was Fort Abercrombie, built in 1857 on the Red River at the eastern border of the state. Despite Sitting Bull's famous victory at Little Big Horn in 1876, American forces successfully overcame the native tribes by the end of the 19th century.
As the number of military posts grew and the native tribes were either subdued or pushed farther west, the flow of settlers into the Dakota region increased. The homestead laws passed by Congress beginning in 1862, which permitted settlers to claim up to 160 acres of free land, also encouraged settlement. Furthermore, the completion of the Northern Pacific Railway as far west as the North Dakota-Montana border in 1881 brought even more settlers. Among these early settlers was Theodore Roosevelt, who eventually purchased two ranches and lived in the region for several years.
The prelude to statehood began in 1868 when the Dakota Territory, which originally included Montana and Wyoming, was reduced in size to contain what is now North Dakota and South Dakota. Due to a conflict between the two regions over where the capital should be located, they were simply admitted as separate states, each with their own capital. The admission of North Dakota, with its capital at Bismarck, was proclaimed by President Benjamin Harrison on November 2, 1889.