Why were north and south Dakota created
Executive summary
North and South Dakota were created when the long-standing Dakota Territory was split and admitted as two separate states on November 2, 1889; the decision followed decades of population growth, railroad-driven settlement, and local political disputes about the territorial capital and regional control [1] [2]. Congress authorized division with the Enabling Act (February 1889) and President Benjamin Harrison signed the proclamations admitting both states the same day, while contemporaneous rivalry led Harrison to obscure which proclamation was signed first [3] [1].
1. A territory becomes two states after rapid settlement and "the Dakota Boom"
By the 1870s–80s the Dakota region experienced a population explosion — called the Dakota Boom — driven by the Homestead Act and railroad expansion; farms, towns and voters multiplied, creating the demographic preconditions for statehood and making separate governments politically feasible [2] [4].
2. Political fault lines: north vs. south, capital fights, and local votes
Tensions grew within the Dakota Territory over where power should sit: moving the territorial capital from Yankton (south) to Bismarck (north) in 1883 intensified southern demands to split the territory, and a territorial vote in 1887 approved division by a margin recorded in the returns [2] [1].
3. National politics and the Enabling Act of 1889
Congress passed an omnibus act in February 1889 — often called the Enabling Act — that divided Dakota Territory and provided for conventions to draft constitutions; that same legislative package also covered Montana, Washington and what would become the two Dakotas, clearing the path for admission later that year [3] [5].
4. Why two states instead of one: practical, political, and partisan reasons
Contemporaneous explanations combine practical and partisan causes: the southern and northern regions already had differing populations, economic centers, and political leadership after settlement and railroad competition, and national lawmakers saw advantage in admitting two states (which affected balance in the Senate); sources note both regional population thresholds and congressional dynamics as decisive [1] [3].
5. The admission day drama — who was 39th and who was 40th?
On November 2, 1889 President Benjamin Harrison signed proclamations admitting both states; accounts say he shuffled the papers to obscure which state was admitted first, leaving the formal order unrecorded — hence both states claim simultaneous statehood even though North Dakota is often listed as the 39th state and South Dakota as the 40th in various records [1] [6].
6. Deeper context: railroads, agriculture, and the Sioux peoples
Settlement that produced statehood was driven by railroads and agriculture (wheat centers, competition among rail companies) but also produced violent dispossession and conflict with Native peoples, including the Sioux — a history emphasized in regional histories and reflected in treaty disputes and later tragedies such as Wounded Knee [7] [8].
7. Competing narratives in the sources
Contemporary popular pieces emphasize the ceremonial facts — November 2, 1889 and Harrison’s proclamations — while deeper histories highlight structural causes (railroads, Homestead Act, territorial capital movement) and the territorial referendum in 1887; encyclopedias and state historical societies underline both the procedural (Enabling Act) and local (capital relocation, voter sentiment) drivers [3] [2] [9].
8. What the sources do not settle or do not mention
Available sources in this set do not provide a single definitive motive list ranked by importance (e.g., which factor — railroads, capital move, or party politics — was the decisive cause), nor do they offer the private political bargaining or detailed congressional floor debate transcripts that might clarify partisan calculations beyond the high-level accounts (not found in current reporting).
9. Bottom line for readers
North and South Dakota were created by the formal division and admission of the Dakota Territory into two states on November 2, 1889 after years of population growth, railroad-driven settlement, local political conflict over the capital, and congressional action via the 1889 enabling legislation; the simultaneous admissions and Harrison’s paper shuffle became part of the states’ origin story [2] [3] [1].
Sources cited above: Encyclopedic and historical accounts including Britannica, History.com, state historical society pages, and contemporary summaries of the 1889 admissions [7] [4] [9] [2] [3] [1].