Dakota Territory
The Dakota Territory became an organized governmental unit on March 2, 1861. Upon creation, the Dakota Territory included present day North and South Dakota, and much of present-day Montana and Wyoming; by 1868, creation of the new territories of Montana and Wyoming reduced Dakota Territory to the present boundaries of North and South Dakotas. Increasing population caused the Dakota Territory to be divided in half, and a bill for statehood for North Dakota and South Dakota (as well as Montana and Washington) titled the Enabling Act of 1889 was passed on February 22, 1889.