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For membership information, see: http://nebraskahistory.org/admin/members/index.htm Article Title: Nebraska History on Nebraska Territory: A Reader’s Guide Full Citation: James E Potter, “Nebraska History on Nebraska Territory: A Reader’s Guide,” Nebraska History 84 (2003): 162-175 URL of article: http://www.nebraskahistory.org/publish/publicat/history/full-text/NH2003NeTerritoryGuide.pdf Date: 9/07/2012 Article Summary: The author describes twenty-nine Nebraska History articles concerning the Nebraska Territory. Topics discussed include the Territorial System and the Kansas-Nebraska Act, Government and Politics, Economic and Social Development, Land Acquisition and Agriculture, Indians and Indian Affairs, Military Affairs, and Prelude to Statehood. Cataloging Information: Names: Stephen A Douglas, Joseph E Johnson, George L Miller, Robert W Furnas, William S Harney Nebraska Place Names: Omaha, Nebraska City, Brownville, Columbus, Florence, Elkhorn Valley (Cuming County) Keywords: Kansas-Nebraska Act, Popular Sovereignty, Kansas Constitutional Convention, Civil War, Bank of Florence, “wildcat” banks, Mormons, transcontinental railroad, The Omaha Arrow, The Huntsman’s Echo, Omaha Herald, Omaha Library Association, Homestead Act, Nemaha Half-Breed Preserve, Office of Indian Affairs, First Nebraska Volunteer Infantry, reconstruction, suffrage, Stephen A Douglas, Joseph E Johnson, George L Miller, Robert W Furnas, William S Harney Photographs / Images: the seal of Nebraska Territory with the motto “Popular Sovereignty”; Stephen A Douglas; Edward R Harden (2 views); second territorial capitol building in Omaha; overland freighting company’s 1858 advertisement for teamsters; black laborers in Brownville about 1864; Omaha in the mid-1860s; Bank of Florence; George L Miller; Omaha Daily Herald building in Omaha; Daniel Freeman; Pawnee earthlodges neat Genoa (William Henry Jackson photograph, 1871); Omaha agent Robert W Furnas with a group of Winnebago chiefs and interpreters; “The Surrender of Fort Donnelson” (Harper’s Weekly, March 1, 1862); Charles McDonald’s Cottonwood Springs Ranch, near Maxwell NEBRASKA HISTORY By James E. Potter Nebraska Territory he centennial of the passage on reminiscence or edited documents he believes the territorial system influ­ of the Kansas-Nebraska Act was and others taking a more analytical enced American democracy. He argues Tcelebrated in 1954 with a joint approach. They, too, include much of that our federal system has derived its meeting of the Nebraska and Kansas value and arguably, several could have strength from the constant process of State Historical Societies, where been included in this survey if space self-renewal made possible by the terri­ Professor Roy F. Nichols gave the key­ were no concern. A bibliography of torial experience. Despite ostensible note address. Although the creation of these articles and other suggested read­ control from Washington, territorial Nebraska and Kansas territories was ings follows this essay. Other writings government was essentially a grass-roots accompanied by political strife and relating to Nebraska Territory that ap­ operation by the people themselves. proved to be an important milestone peared in the Society's quarterly The concept of self-governing on the road to civil war, the territorial between 1918 and 1945 and in the communities sponsored by older ones system Congress established in 1787 Publications series, which began in originated at least as far back as 1584, to serve as a prelude to statehood was 1885, can be found by the dedicated when Sir Walter Raleigh was granted a described by Nichols as "one of the most charter to establish an English municipal inspired inventions of the American corporation in America. After the political genius." Territories were the American Revolution, Congress was "seedbeds of democracy" and Nichols faced with the question of how to reminded his audience that it was secure and develop new lands to the important to keep their story alive. Now, west, particularly those of the Northwest fifty years later, the sesquicentennial of Territory. In Nichols's view, the plan the Kansas-Nebraska Act has arrived, that Congress came up with ranks, in and with it an opportunity to review many ways, in importance with the what progress has been made in Constitution. responding to the professor's challenge. The Ordinances of 1785 and 1787 The record turns out to be quite provided the basic methodology for good. More than eighty articles explor­ creating new states in the federal union, ing aspects of Nebraska's territorial first by organizing them as territories. history between 1854 and 1867 have Nichols notes, however, that by 1854 a appeared in the Nebraska State Historical series of complex moral, economic, Society's quarterly since 1946, the year The seal of Nebraska Territory featured social, and political factors produced Dr. James C. Olson assumed the the motto, "Popular Sovereignty." The conflict over the organization of editorship. Their authors have included act organizing Nebraska and Kansas Nebraska and Kansas that made them academics, Society staff, graduate repealed a ban on slavery in new "the scene of the most spectacular act students, and lay persons. Two of the territories. Popular Sovereignty meant the in the drama of territorial history." people living there could decide whether articles received the Society's James L. to keep or abolish slavery when they These factors included slavery, the route Sellers Memorial Award for the best drafted a constitution and asked for of a pending transcontinental railroad, article in their respective volumes. The admission to statehood. MNH 7434-1 the fate of the American Indians, and 150th anniversary of Nebraska Territory's the fracturing of long-term political organization seems an appropriate time reader willing to seek them out. alignments. to revisit a selection from this scholar­ The articles summarized here have In conclusion, Nichols comments ship in hopes of attracting renewed been grouped under several headings: that the territorial process within the interest in this fascinating period. The Territorial System and the Kansas­ continental boundaries essentially This essay summarizes twenty-nine Nebraska Act; Government and Politics; ended with the admission of Arizona Nebraska History articles, chosen for the Economic and Social Development in 1912, and reflects upon the implica­ insight, analysis, or context they provide (which includes the largest number of tions this reality holds for American on several major themes in our territo­ articles); Land Acquisition and Agricul­ democracy in "an atomic age." It is rial history. The articles are cited in ture; Indians and Indian Affairs; Military essential, he believes, to keep the terri­ full at the end. Many other articles pub­ Affairs; and Prelude to Statehood. torial story alive through new research lished since 1946 relate, at least in part, and programming in order to remind us to our territorial past, some focusing The Territorial System and the of American democracy's power and Kansas-Nebraska Actl vitality. James E. Potter is senior research historian at Roy Nichols's article, "The Territories: James C. Malin's article, "The Ne­ the Nebraska State Historical Society. Seedbeds of Democracy," surveys how braska Question: A Ten-Year Record, 163 Nebraska History - Winter 2003 U.S. Senator Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois had long advocated organization of a Nebraska territory. As chairman of the Senate committee on the territories, Douglas shaped the bill that became the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854. RG3411 :1385 Because slavery was legal in the new Nebraska Territory, a few Southerners, both civil­ 1844-1854," reinterprets Senator Stephen ians and army officers, brought slaves to Nebraska as personal servants. In November A. Douglas's motives in seeking the 1860, two slaves, Hercules and Martha, were advertised for sale in Nebraska City to organization of a Nebraska territory. As satisfy a debt. Nebraska (City) News, November 24, 1860 chairman of the Senate committee on the territories, Douglas amended the bill territory. By 1844, and particularly after republic," not slavery or personal ambi­ that became the Kansas-Nebraska Act to the acquisitions resulting from the war tion, explains his role in the ten-year provide that the people in the territories with Mexico, Douglas realized the history of "the Nebraska Question." could decide whether to allow slavery United States needed to occupy ("Popular Sovereignty"). This amend­ and exploit the vast region west of the Government and Politics ment repealed the 1820 Missouri Mississippi River if it were to become, Dennis Thavenet's article, "The Territo­ Compromise, which had banned slavery in Malin's words, a"continental land­ rial Governorship: Nebraska Territory as in the lands of the Louisiana Purchase. mass" nation. Douglas believed the Example," reviews the qualifications, He also divided what was