On November 2, 1889, President Benjamin Harrison admitted North and South Dakota as states to the Union. Which state came first isn’t known, as the President wanted it to be a mystery. If legend holds true, not even the President knew which one he admitted first. But if the citizens of South Dakota had had their way, they would have been the only Dakota, and it would have been admitted a decade earlier.
Resentment
From early on, the northern and southern portions of Dakota territory were quite different. Even before statehood, the two Dakotas were already separated. The southern portion would quickly boom, growing from 10,000 in 1870 to around 98,000 in 1880, while the northern portion would only have about 37,000 people.
For the southern portion, once they hit the magical number of 60,000, they felt as if they had achieved what they needed to be admitted to the union as a state of their own; a state named Dakota. But they wouldn’t be given that chance, with Congress telling them that they could enter the union as a state right then, but only under a condition. They had to join as a state with their northern brethren, which was a deal breaker.
So, South Dakota had to wait to get the recognition they felt they deserved. They had to wait to become a state, all because the northern part of the territory was unable to attract the required population needed to be eligible as a state.
But why wouldn’t South Dakota simply agree to enter the union with the north? To put it simply, the south half didn’t really like the north half, so they chose to wait instead of being tainted in their eyes. Having to wait certainly wouldn’t make the south like the north any more, and eventually, it would end up making the tension worse.
Part of the issue is that north and south Dakota were foreign to each other. Settlement within both the northern and southern portions often followed the railroads. These new settlers would rely on those trade routes, and instead of connecting the north with the south, each portion of the territory was more connected east to west.
For North Dakota, the hub would be Minneapolis-St. Paul, as connected through Fargo and Bismarck. On the other hand, for South Dakota, they would be more connected to Omaha or even Chicago then to their northern brethren. These diverging trade networks, which also greatly effected their respective economies, would end up leaving the two portions of the territory much less connected.
Possibly at the heart of the matter though was just a fundamental difference in who settled in the two regions. In the southern portion, a large influx of Civil War veterans, and their families, would move into the area, undoubtedly in an effort to get away from the traumatic memories of the war.
For the northern section, a larger portion of Canadian and Scandinavian immigrants would settle. With the south also being settled much faster, by individuals who had lived in the United States for much longer, they tended to view the north, with their immigrant settlers, as much more disreputable. They were seen more as wild, and too often in conflict with the indigenous peoples. It was viewed as less civilized.
Politics
Politics would also play a part in North and South Dakota becoming two separate states. But it wasn’t really politics out of Washington that had an influence. It was local politics that made the major difference.
As a territory, the legislators who were sworn to represent the territory’s interest were often “carpetbaggers.” These were individuals with no connection to the area, and only remained in the region while they served their terms. They were individuals appointed by the federal government, and often weren’t seen as people who cared about the area.
This was fine for those in the north, who found it better as it was cheaper being a territory than a state, and the federal government would fund a wide arrange of state functions. That, and they enjoyed the benefits of some of the more corrupt politicians, such as Nehemiah Ordway, who helped move the capitol from Yankton in the south, to Bismarck in the north.
None of that sat right with the citizens of the south, who for good reason resented having the capitol stolen from them. But as the larger population center, they also had a lot of resentment for the carpetbaggers who didn’t have the best interest of the south in mind.
What much of it would come down to though was a small group of very influential men who were not happy with the status quo. They despised the outside influences, the rampant corruption, and the inequality that they felt. For them, statehood was the only option to be political equals, and to be in control of their future.
This movement, this quite revolution as some have put it, came out of the south, beginning in Yankton. Fewer than 200 men, who were largely middle-class businessmen and professionals, would lead the charge. These men had come to Dakota Territory from the states of the Old Northwest. They were of older American stock, and as their ancestors had before them, they fought for equal representation.
That push would finally succeed in 1889. There was no more delaying what had been seen as a sure thing for decades. That Dakota Territory would produce multiple states had always been a certainty. But getting to that point took work.
Statehood
North and South Dakota would enter the union as separate states largely because they didn’t like each other, and really, South Dakota straight up resented their northern brethren. Entering the union as one large state just wasn’t an option, so South Dakota had to wait it out.
But in that course, a variety of interesting things did occur, such as in 1885, when the southern counties decided they would just move forward with statehood on their own, and set up a squatter state government with Huron being the state capitol.
And those interesting stories will be the topic of upcoming articles, which will include how the opening of the Black Hills may have set off the fight for South Dakota to become its own state.