Today, the Minnesota State Quarter Coin tells the story of the Congressional approval 157 years ago for a new state to join the Union and being carved from a territory.
On the following day, the American and Commercial Daily Advertiser newspaper out of Baltimore, MD printed just a brief announcement:
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The House of Representatives yesterday passed, ayes 157, nays 38, the Senate bill for the admission of Minnesota into the Union.
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For 1858, the Statutes at Large list two separate and adjacent laws outlining the new state of Minnesota along with its boundaries.
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CHAP. XXXI-An Act for the Admission of the State of Minnesota into the Union.
Whereas an act of Congress was passed February twenty-six, eighteen hundred and fifty-seven, entitled “An act to authorize the people of the Territory of Minnesota to form a constitution and state government preparatory to their admission into the Union on an equal footing with the original States;” and whereas the people of said Territory did, on the twenty-ninth day of August, eighteen hundred and fifty-seven, by delegates elected for that purpose, form for themselves a constitution and state government, which is republican in form, and was ratified and adopted by the people, at an election held on the thirteenth day of October, eighteen hundred and fifty-seven, for that purpose: therefore
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the State of Minnesota shall be one, and is hereby declared to be one, of the United States of America, and admitted into the Union on an equal footing with the original States in all respects whatever.
Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, That said State shall be entitled to two representatives in Congress until the next apportionment of representatives amongst the several States.
Sec. 3 . And be it further enacted, That from and after the admission of the State of Minnesota, as hereinbefore provided, all the laws of the United States which are not locally inapplicable shall have the same force and effect within that State as in other States of the Union; and the said State is hereby constituted a judicial district of the United States, within which a district court, with the like powers and jurisdiction as the district court of the United States for the district of Iowa, shall be established; the judge, attorney, and marshal of the United States for the said district of Minnesota shall reside within the same, and shall be entitled to the same compensation as the judge, attorney, and marshal of the district of Iowa: and in all cases of appeal or writ of error heretofore prosecuted and now pending in the supreme court of the United States, upon any record from the supreme court of Minnesota Territory, the mandate of execution or order of further proceedings shall be directed by the supreme court of the United States to the district court of the United States for the district of Minnesota, or to the supreme court of the State of Minnesota, as the nature of such appeal or writ of error may require; and each of those courts shall be the successor of the supreme court of Minnesota Territory, as to all such cases, with full power to hear and determine the same, and to award mesne or final process therein .
APPROVED, May 11, 1858 .
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CHAP. XXXII. An Act amendatory of an Act entitled “An Act to establish two additional Land Districts in the Territory of Minnesota,” approved July eighth, eighteen hundred and fifty-six.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That so much of an act entitled ” An act to establish two additional land districts in the Territory of Minnesota” approved July eighth, anno Domini eighteen hundred and fifty-six, as defines the southern boundary of the northwestern land district, on the west side of the Mississippi River, be, and the same is hereby, repealed, and in lieu thereof the following boundaries are established, to wit: Commencing at the point on the eastern side of the Mississippi river where the present south line touches the river; thence down said River to the point opposite the intersection with the river of the eighth standard parallel; thence along said parallel to the point of intersection of guide meridian number four; thence along said guide meridian to the seventh standard parallel; thence west along said seventh parallel to the Sioux Wood river; thence north to the line heretofore established .
Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, That the line dividing ranges twenty-three and twenty-four be the boundary line between the northwestern and northeastern land districts in lieu of the range line between eighteen and nineteen, as heretofore established in the above-recited act.
APPROVED, May 11,1858
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The Minnesota State Quarter Coin shows against the first four dapper gentlemen that represented their new state in Congress, circa 1859.
