Organized incorporated territories of the United States

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Organized incorporated territories are those territories of the United States that are both incorporated (part of the United States proper) and organized (having an organized government authorized by an Organic Act passed by the U.S. Congress). Through most of U.S. history, regions that were admitted as U.S. states were, prior to admission, territories of this kind.

Currently the only incorporated territory of the U.S. is Palmyra Atoll, which also happens to be unorganized. The District of Columbia is functionally similar to an incorporated territory, being fully a part of the United States as a non-state, but is classified separately as it was established under the unique constitutional provision for a federal capital rather than through Congressional authority over federal territory generally. All other current U.S. territories are unincorporated (meaning that they are not fully part of the United States, with all aspects of the United States Constitution applying automatically), while other former incorporated territories are now states.

List of organized incorporated territories

The following territories within the United States were officially organized by Congress with an Organic Act on the first date listed. Each was admitted as a U.S. state (of the same name, except where noted) on the second date listed. Often, outlying portions of a territory were not included in the new state.

• Northwest Territory (1787–1803) became the State of Ohio
• Southwest Territory (1790–1796) became the State of Tennessee
• Mississippi Territory (1798–1817)
• Indiana Territory (1800–1816)
• Orleans Territory (1804–1812) became the State of Louisiana
• Michigan Territory (1805–1837)
• Louisiana Territory (1805–1812), renamed Missouri Territory (1812–1821)
• Illinois Territory (1809–1818)
• Alabama Territory (1817–1819)
• Arkansas Territory (1819–1836)
• Florida Territory (1822–1845)
• Wisconsin Territory (1836–1848)
• Iowa Territory (1838–1846)
• Oregon Territory (1848–1859)
• Minnesota Territory (1849–1858)
• New Mexico Territory (1850–1912)
• Utah Territory (1850–1896)
• Washington Territory (1853–1889)
• Kansas Territory (1854–1861)
• Nebraska Territory (1854–1867)
• Colorado Territory (1861–1876)
• Nevada Territory (1861–1864)
• Dakota Territory (1861–1889) became the States of North Dakota and South Dakota
• Arizona Territory (1863–1912)
• Idaho Territory (1863–1890)
• Montana Territory (1864–1889)
• Wyoming Territory (1868–1890)
• Oklahoma Territory (1889–1907)
• Hawaii Territory (1900–1959)
• Alaska Territory (1912–1959)

Other notes

• Note that common regional names such as Louisiana Purchase, Indian territory, and Oregon Country were never formally organized as territories.
• During the American Civil War, there was (at least nominally) a Confederate-established Arizona Territory (1861–1865), which split Arizona and New Mexico along an east-west line, rather than the Union-established north-south line that persists today. See article for map.
• Of the current 50 U.S. states, 31 were at one time or another part of a U.S. territory. The exceptions include: the original Thirteen Colonies; Kentucky and West Virginia (both split off from Virginia); Maine (split off from Massachusetts); California (created as a state out of the unorganized territory of the Mexican Cession); and Vermont and Texas (both previously self-declared republics).
• Since 1959, there have been no incorporated U.S. territories formally organized by an Organic Act.

See also

• Historic regions of the United States
• Insular areas of the United States
• Political divisions of the United States
• Territorial evolution of the United States
• Territories of the United States