1. The State of Nebraska

2. Early inhabitants of present-day Nebraska http://www. nebraskastudies
Stone Age (Paleo-Indian)
Tribes included:
Missouri
Omaha
Oto
Ponca
Pawnee
Pawnee - fought with other tribes, but friendly to white settlers
Agricultural - with occasional seasonal hunting
Western Nebraska tribes arrived later:
Arapaho
Cheyenne
Comanche
Brule Sioux
Oglala Sioux
Hunters
Nomadic - followed seasonal buffalo migration
Lived in tipis

3. Early Nebraska Indians

4. Europeans Arrive
Spanish - Coronado ( claimed the territory - no settlements)
French - de la Salle ( claimed all rivers draining to the Mississippi)
Called it Louisiana (Named after French King Louis XIV [14th]
French reached mouth of the Platte

5. European presence and settlement
French Villasur Massacre
Spanish soldiers came to remove the French
Pawnees attacked and killed most of the Spanish soldiers
French named it the Platte River
French gave up all claims west of the Mississippi River
Napoleon Bonaparte forced Spanish to giver Louisiana back to France

6. United States Acquisition of Louisiana Territory
Napoleon sold Louisiana to the USA for $15 million
Lewis and Clark expedition

7. Nebraska’s first European settlements
Fort Atkinson established (near modern day Fort Calhoun) - abandoned in 1827
First permanent white settlement - Bellevue in Peter Sarpy
Stephen Long expedition - labeled Nebraska a “Great Desert” - not fit for farming

8. Early Christian Missionaries in Nebraska
Rev. Moses and Eliza Merrill - Baptist missionaries to Indians around Bellevue (1833)
Rev. Samuel Allis and Rev. John Dunbar - Presbyterian missionaries to the Pawnee
Father DeSmet - Catholic Priest

9. Migration to and through Nebraska
Oregon Trail
Mormon Trail
Denver trail (steam wagon road)
Pony Express ( )
Fort Kearny
Steamboat trading along the Missouri River
Nebraska made an official US territory - open to settlement

10. Settlement of Nebraska: The Railroads
Railroad Acts - RRs sold land to settlers
Advertised and recruited in Europe
Union Pacific
Burlington & Missouri
Transcontinental RR through Nebraska

11. Treaties with Indian nations
Treaties limited the power and range of Native Americans.
Settlers hunger for land and US government law encouraged white settlement

12. Nebraska as a territory: 1854-1867
Kansas-Nebraska Act (1854) made Nebraska a formal territory
Territorial capital in Omaha
Legislature
Governor
Courts

13. The Kansas-Nebraska Act, 1854
Figure 58: The Kansas-Nebraska Act, 1854 ©Houghton Mifflin

14. Kansas and Nebraska, 1854

15. From Territory to State
Capital located in:
1. Omaha (territory)
2. Lincoln (state)
Fight between North of the Platte and South of the Platte River
“When Nebraska became a state, a bitter dispute arose over the location of the new capital. Would it remain north of the Platte River in Omaha? Or would it be moved south of the river to a new town? A majority of legislators finally decided that the capital would be moved to newly founded Lincoln. Very few people lived in the area, and many people complained about the new location. A capitol building needed to be build before the first regular session of the state legislature. If the fist state capital had not been completed by January 1, 1869, the plan to make Lincoln the new capital might have failed.”

16. The Sower

17. Lincoln in the 1870s

18. Nebraska Statehood Became a state on March 1, 1867 (37th state)
Capital in Lancaster (present day Lincoln)
David Butler first governor
University of Nebraska established in 1869
Arbor Day Started by J. Sterling Morton