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The Dakotas Joint Committee for the Division of Property 1889
The Dakotas Joint Committee for the Division of Property began on July 16, 1889 and dissolved on July 31, 1889. It allowed for delegates from both the North and South Conventions to meet in Bismarck and negotiate the splitting of the Territory of Dakota.
People: 16,
Procedures: 176,
Documents: 56,
Decisions: 218
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The so-called ‘Omnibus’ Enabling Act of 1889, which permitted the splitting up of the Territory of Dakota into two states, provided for the appointment of a joint commission, composed of delegates from both North and South Dakota, to negotiate an agreement upon the division of all property belonging to the Territory of Dakota, the disposition of public records, and the assumption of territorial debts and liabilities.
Following the passage of the Enabling Act, six delegates from each state, appointed by their respective conventions, met on July 16 1889, in Bismarck. The Commission was presided over by two alternating chairmen: Edgar Whittlesey Camp, from North Dakota, and A. G. Kellam, from South Dakota. Six standing committees were appointed: on records, the public library, miscellaneous property, militia, federal appropriations, and claims and accounts due the territory. Members submitted resolutions to the Commission, which were then referred to the standing committees. Unlike the South Dakota convention, the commission did not begin the process of negotiation with a pre-formed, coherent constitutional text. Nor did it follow the open proposition approach taken by North Dakota, in which standing committees drafted reports recommending the adoption, rejection, amendment or substitution of files submitted by delegates to the Convention. Instead, the approach of the Joint Commission depended heavily on the work of its standing committees. The concurred-in articles, though informed by resolutions submitted to the Convention by individual delegates, originated in the standing committees themselves.
After meeting for 15 days, the delegates submitted three documents to their respective conventions for approval: the articles of agreement, intended to cover those matters referred to the Commission by the Enabling Act, and two separate articles submitted for inclusion in both state constitutions: one regarding territorial debts, and one concerning the division of records, books and archives belonging to the Territory of Dakota.
Elizabeth Green
Documentary Editor
Quill Project
Pembroke College, Oxford.
July 2023.
Full Record
This page shows the complete source-material for this negotiation.
Users with the appropriate permission can use this screen to make changes to the convention records from here.
Guided Research Tools
This page gives access to the main visualizations used to explore the work of committees or individuals.
It is the best place to start if you have specific research questions to investigate.
Calendar View
This view shows a timeline of the events with an indication the
flow of documents between committees.
This will help make sense of the relationship between committees. The page also shows how busy committees were at different times.
Topic Overview
This view shows a summary of the topic keywords associated with events during this negotiation, and
allows users to find events associated with each keyword.
Activity Summary
This page offers a series of views for exploring the work of those involved in this process of negotiation, focusing on the hierarchical
relationship of proposals rather than on the sequence of events. Other tools presented here show the volume of work handled by each committee, or the number of events that each
individual played a leading roll in.
Current Document Library
A tool mostly useful for those using Quill to run meetings.
This page shows the documents currently agreed to or under consideration by various committees.
Cite as: Gwen Wilde, Kaylee Bishop, Liné Fourie, Nicholas Cole, Elizabeth Green, Lauren Davis, The Dakotas Joint Committee for the Division of Property 1889, Quill Project at Pembroke College (Oxford, 2020-2023).