Louisiana Territory

The Louisiana Territory was an organized territory of the United States, which consisted of 4 July 1805 to 11 December 1812. It consisted of the part of the territory of the French colony, which the United States acquired from France in 1803 at the Louisiana Purchase, which was not assigned to the Orleans Territory ( which later became the state of Louisiana was ). The Louisiana Territory consisted of the area that was purchased north of 33 ° N latitude ( the southern boundary of the present state Arkansas) at Purchase. The seat of government was St. Louis.

In some respect, the Louisiana Territory is assigned to the French or Spanish colonial territories of Louisiana, see French colonization of the Americas, Spanish colonization of the Americas. This expression is often used informally synonymous with the entire area acquired in the Louisiana Purchase.

Meriwether Lewis (1807-1809) and William Clark (1813-1820) were both territorial governors of the Louisiana Territory.

The Louisiana Territory was divided into five parts: St. Louis District, St. Charles District, St. Genevieve District, Cape Girardeau and New Madrid District District. 1806 created the Territorial Parliament from the ceded territories of the Osage Nation the District of Arkansas. The remaining portion was known as the Upper Louisiana Territory.

On October 1, 1812 Governor Clark built the five administrative districts of the Upper Louisiana Territory, which later the first five U.S. counties of the Missouri Territory was. 1818 Franklin and Jefferson counties from the original St. Louis County were formed. The current St. Louis County includes all areas that are left over after this subdivision, including St. Louis.

The Louisiana Territory was renamed the Missouri Territory in 1812 to avoid confusion with the new state of Louisiana.