U.S. Territories
Territories of the United States are a type of political division that is directly overseen by the United States federal government, in contrast to the states, which share sovereignty with the federal government. The territories were created to govern newly acquired land while the borders of the United States were still evolving; many of the boundaries of territories changed over time, when territories were subdivided or shifted, as when a portion of a territory was admitted as a state.
Under Article IV of the United States Constitution, territory is subject to and belongs to the United States (but not necessarily within the national boundaries or any individual state). This includes tracts of land or water not included within the limits of any State and not admitted as a State into the Union. The following territories within the United States were officially organized by Congress with an Organic Act on the first date listed. Each was admitted as a US state on the second date listed. Often, larger outlying portions of an organized territory were not included in the new state.
Click on any link below for info about that Territory.
(1787–1803)
Northwest Territory
(1790–1796)
Southwest Territory
(1798–1817)
Mississippi Territory
(1800–1816)
Indiana Territory
(1804–1812)
Territory of Orleans
(1805–1837)
Michigan Territory
(1805–1812)
Louisiana Territory
(1809–1818)
Illinois Territory
(1812–1821)
Missouri Territory
(1817–1819)
Alabama Territory
(1819–1836)
Arkansas Territory
(1822–1845)
Florida Territory
(1836–1848)
Wisconsin Territory
(1838–1846)
Iowa Territory
(1848–1859)
Oregon Territory
(1849–1858)
Minnesota Territory
(1850–1912)
New Mexico Territory
(1850–1896)
Utah Territory
(1853–1889)
Washington Territory
(1854–1861)
Kansas Territory
(1854–1867)
Nebraska Territory
(1861–1876)
Colorado Territory
(1861–1864)
Nevada Territory
(1861–1889)
Dakota Territory
(1863–1912)
Arizona Territory
(1863–1890)
Idaho Territory
(1864–1889)
Montana Territory
(1868–1890)
Wyoming Territory
(1889–1907)
Oklahoma Territory
(1900–1959)
Hawaii Territory
Territories can be classified by whether they are incorporated (part of the United States proper) and whether they have an organized government (through an Organic Act passed by the U.S. Congress).
Many organized incorporated territories of the United States existed from 1789 to 1959 (the first being the Northwest and the Southwest Territory, the last being the Alaska Territory and the Hawaii Territory), through which 31 territories applied for and achieved statehood. In the process of organizing and promoting territories to statehood, some areas of a territory demographically lacking sufficient development and population densities were temporarily orphaned from parts of a larger territory at the time a vote was taken petitioning Congress for statehood rights.
For example, when a portion of the Missouri Territory became the state of Missouri, the remaining portion of the territory, consisting of the present states of Iowa, Nebraska and the Dakotas, most of Kansas, Wyoming, and Montana, and parts of Colorado and Minnesota, effectively became an unorganized territory.
The Constitution of the United States, Article IV
“The Congress shall have Power to dispose of and make all needful Rules and Regulations respecting the Territory or other Property belonging to the United States; and nothing in this Constitution shall be so construed as to Prejudice any Claims of the United States, or of any particular State.”