Minnesota Territory

Created by Congress on March 3, 1849, from the Iowa and Wisconsin territories, the Minnesota Territory spanned all of modern Minnesota along with portions of North and South Dakota. It ceased to exist when Minnesota achieved statehood on May 11, 1858, and the western portions were eventually incorporated into the Dakota Territory. The capital was St. Paul.

"An Act to Establish the Territorial Government of Minnesota," 3 March 1849, Statutes at Large of the United States 9 (1862):403-9; "An Act for the Admission of the State of Minnesota into the Union," 11 May 1858, Statutes at Large of the United States 11 (1859):285; William Watts Folwell, A History of Minnesota (St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society, 1922), 1:244, 247-48.