Nebraska Territorial Legislature

Nebraska Territorial Legislature
Nebraska Territory
Type
Type	Bicameral
Houses	Lower: House of Representatives Upper: Council
History
Established	January 16, 1855
Disbanded	February 18, 1867
Succeeded by	Nebraska Legislature
Leadership
House	Speaker of the House of Representatives
Council	President of the Council
Seats	39 (13 Council; 26 House; 1854–1858) 52 (13 Council; 39 House; 1858–1867)
Meeting place
Omaha City

The Nebraska Territorial Legislature was held from January 16, 1855, until February 18, 1867, in Omaha City, Nebraska Territory.

Major issues

Slavery

Main article: History of slavery in Nebraska

In 1854 the Kansas–Nebraska Act created the Nebraska Territory, overturning the Missouri Compromise by allowing legislatures of the Nebraska and Kansas territories to determine whether to permit or abolish slavery. Slavery was a contentious issue for the territorial legislature between the creation of the Territory in 1854 and the outbreak of the American Civil War in 1861.

State capitol

Main article: Nebraska State Capitol

After serving as the territorial capital for ten years, Omaha City wanted to be the capital of the new state. In 1854 land speculators formed the Omaha Claim Club as part of a scheme to persuade territory legislators to keep the capital in Omaha. Their aggressive efforts to secure land to give away to legislators led to the platting of Scriptown. However, their bid failed, and in 1865 the state capitol moved to Lincoln.

Sessions

1855

Main article: First Nebraska Territorial Legislature

The new legislature immediately passed the Free Public School Act of 1855, which created free public schools for children across the territory. Positions for a territorial superintendent and county school superintendents to be elected by popular vote were also created. County superintendents were supposed to organize school districts and levy property taxes to support schools; however, not every locale levied the taxes or built schools.

The first incorporated city in Nebraska, Nebraska City, was granted its charter by a special act in 1855. In 1855, the Omaha Claim Club imposed their will on the territorial legislature, forcing the passage of a territorial law granting 320 acres (1.3 km²) per settler, they doubled the federally imposed limit of 160 acres (0.6 km²).

1856

In January 1856, the territorial legislature chartered the Bank of Florence, which failed three years later.

1857

On February 11 the territorial legislature gave permission to a group of citizens to found the University of Nebraska at Saratoga, Nebraska. However, when they did not complete the task of meeting in Saratoga and establishing a campus within one year they lost their permission to charter.

1858

In January, 1858 a group of representatives illegally moved the territorial legislature to Florence following a violent outburst at the capitol building. After repeatedly being dogged out of voting on the removal of the capital from Omaha, a skirmish pitted representatives from Nebraska City, Florence, and other communities to convene outside of Omaha. Despite having a majority of members present for the vote to remove the capital and all agreeing, the "Florence Legislature" did not succeed in swaying the Nebraska Territory governor. The capital remained at Omaha until 1867 when Nebraska gained statehood.

1860

In early 1860 the territorial legislature authorized a special election to consider forming a state constitution, which did not pass.

1864

The territorial legislature had a variety of powers, including granting every incorporated town or city its charter, which lasted through the 1864 session, when the first general incorporation act was passed and signed by the governor.

1866

Six years later, on January 9, 1866 the territorial Governor Alvin Saunders urged the Legislature to consider statehood.

Municipal incorporations

The territorial legislature had the sole power of incorporating every municipality throughout the territory until 1864. A number of incorporations existed only on paper and were never actually settled. In 1864, the first general incorporation act was passed by the legislature and signed by the governor which allowed county commissioners to incorporate towns.

Date of charter	Name	County	Notes
March 2, 1857	Nebraska City	Otoe
March 5, 1857	Bellevue	Sarpy	Then part of Douglas
March 7, 1857	De Soto	Washington
March 10, 1857	Florence	Douglas
March 14, 1857	Blackbird City	Burt
March 14, 1857	Brownville	Nemaha
March 14, 1857	Chester	Lancaster
March 14, 1857	Elizabeth	Dodge and Loup
March 14, 1857	Fontenelle	Washington
March 14, 1857	Plattsmouth	Cass
March 14, 1857	Tekemah	Burt
March 15, 1855	Carlisle	Greene	Greene County became Seward
March 15, 1855	Wyoming	Otoe
March 15, 1855	Lawrence	York
March 16, 1855	Jalape	Dodge
March 16, 1855	Kearney City	Otoe	Merged with Nebraska City
March 16, 1855	Margaritta sic	Lancaster
January 22, 1856	Elkhorn City	Douglas
January 22, 1856	Kenosha	Cass
January 22, 1856	Nemaha City	Nemaha
January 25, 1856	Archer	Richardson
January 25, 1856	Askatope	Otoe
January 25, 1856	La Platte, Nebraska	Sarpy	Then in Douglas County
January 25, 1856	Wyoming	Otoe
January 26, 1856	Decatur	Burt
January 26, 1856	Rock Bluffs	Cass
January 26, 1856	South Nebraska City	Otoe
February 2, 1857	Omaha City	Dodge
February 10, 1857	Cuming City	Washington
February 10, 1857	Salem	Richardson
February 10, 1857	Waterville	Cass
February 10, 1857	Woodsville City	Cass
February 11, 1857	Cassville	Dakota
February 11, 1857	Leman	Gage
February 13, 1857	Addison	Knox
February 13, 1857	Bleyburg	Dakota
February 13, 1857	Bradford	Cass
February 13, 1857	Bow City	Dixon
February 13, 1857	California City	Otoe
February 13, 1857	Dayton	Clay
February 13, 1857	Dewit sic	Cuming
February 13, 1857	Delaware City	Otoe
February 13, 1857	Iron Bluffs	Sarpy	Originally located in Douglas
February 13, 1857	Jacksonville	Pawnee
February 13, 1857	La Loup	Loup
February 13, 1857	Logan	Washington
February 13, 1857	Louisville	Cass
February 13, 1857	Marietta	Otoe
February 13, 1857	Papillion City, Nebraska	Sarpy	Originally in Douglas
February 13, 1857	St. John	Dakota
February 13, 1857	Spring Grove City	Otoe
December 31, 1857	Nebraska City	Otoe	Consolidated Nebraska City, South Nebraska City, and Kearney City
December 31, 1857	Omadi	Dakota
December 31, 1857	Greggsport	Otoe
January 5, 1858	North Rock Bluffs	Cass
January 6, 1858	Monroe	Monroe	Monroe County was merged with Platte County
October 2, 1858	Columbus	Platte
October 19, 1858	North Bend	Dixon
October 19, 1858	Wacapana	Cedar
October 20, 1858	St. Helena	Cedar
October 21, 1858	Dakota	Dakota
October 28, 1858	Beatrice	Gage
October 28, 1858	West Point	Cuming
November 1, 1858	Rulo	Richardson
November 2, 1858	Fremont
November 3, 1858	Rock Bluffs City	Cass
November 3, 1858	St. Stephen	Richardson
November 4, 1858	Bon Homme City	Knox
November 4, 1858	Fort Calhoun	Washington
November 4, 1858	Mahala City	Butler
November 4, 1858	Parkersburg	Monroe	Monroe was merged with Platte
November 4, 1858	Pawnee City	Pawnee
January 4, 1860	Kearney City	Kearney
January 4, 1860	Table Rock	Pawnee
January 10, 1860	Arago	Richardson
January 13, 1860	Dixon	Dixon
January 13, 1860	Falls City	Richardson
January 13, 1860	Peru	Nemaha

External links

• "Nebraska as a Territory," History of the State of Nebraska, Chicago: A. T. Andreas, 1882.
• "History of Nebraska"
• "History of Nebraska State Government Organization"

Bibliography

• Berens, C. (2005) One house: The Unicameral's progressive vision for Nebraska. University of Nebraska Press.