Kansas-Nebraska Act: Nebraska Geography (Section 1) Summary

Putting Nebraska On The Map…Literally

  • The US House and Senate hereby make it official that all of the land within the borders spelled out here, except territory exempted previously, will now be known as Territory Nebraska (or Territory of Nebraska, or Nebraska Territory).
  • Those borders extend from where the Missouri River meets the 40th parallel west to the Utah Territory border in the Rockies, then up to the 49th parallel, then east along said parallel to the Minnesota territorial border, then down to the Missouri River, then along the river to where we started.
  • Nebraska Territory is allowed to become a State or States with or without slavery.
  • Also, nothing in this Act prohibits the federal government from splitting Territory Nebraska into two or more territories, or from attaching all of it or pieces of it to other States or Territories.
  • Also, this Act is not meant to mess with the rights of Native Americans or supersede any treaties between various tribes and the government, and it also doesn't mean tribes are automatically part of Territory Nebraska… unless they want to be. Then they can be.