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Dakota Territory was the name of the northernmost part of the Louisiana Purchase of the United States.

Most of Dakota Territory was formerly part of Minnesota Territory. When Minnesota became a state in 1858, much of the leftover area fell unorganized. When the Yankton Treaty was signed later that year ceding much of what had been Lakota land to the U.S. Government, early settlers formed an unofficial provisional government and unsuccessfully lobbied for territory status. However, it wasn't until three years later when President Abraham Lincoln's brother-in-law, J.B.S. Todd, personally lobbied for territory status that Washington finally acknowledged Dakota Territory.

It became an historic, organized territory on March 2, 1861, and divided into the states of North Dakota and South Dakota on November 2, 1889. At times, the territory of Dakota Territory included parts of present-day Montana and Wyoming; the territory was reduced in 1863 to the present boundaries of the Dakotas.

The territorial capital was Yankton from 1861 until 1883, when it was moved to Bismarck. The admission of the two states, rather than simply one, was done for a number of reasons. The northern and southern portions of the territory had significant differences. On a national level, there was pressure from the Republican Party to admit the two states rather than one to add political power in the Senate.

See also

• Delegates to the United States House of Representatives from Dakota Territory
• Governors of Dakota Territory
• Historic regions of the United States