Colorado Territory
| Territory of Colorado | |||||||||||||||
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| Organized incorporated territory of the United States | |||||||||||||||
| 1861–1876 | |||||||||||||||
Flag
Coat of arms
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The Territory of Colorado as shown imposed on an 1860 map of the Nebraska, Kansas, New Mexico, and Utah Territories. | |||||||||||||||
| Capital | Denver City 1861–1862 Colorado City 1862 Golden City 1862–1867 Denver 1867–1876 | ||||||||||||||
| • Type | Organized incorporated territory | ||||||||||||||
| History | |||||||||||||||
| 28 February 1861 | |||||||||||||||
| 1 August 1876 | |||||||||||||||
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The Territory of Colorado was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from February 28, 1861, until August 1, 1876, when it was admitted to the Union as the 38th State of Colorado.
The territory was organized in the wake of the Pike's Peak Gold Rush, which brought the first large concentration of white settlement to the region and the Treaty of Fort Wise which formalized US relations with the Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes. The organic legislative act creating the free Territory of Colorado was passed by the United States Congress and signed by 15th President James Buchanan into law on February 28, 1861. This was during the onset of the American Civil War of April 1861 to June 1865. The boundaries of the newly designated Colorado Territory were very similar with those of the modern State of Colorado. The organization of the new territory helped solidify Union control over the mineral-rich area of the western Rocky Mountains. Newly sworn in President Andrew Johnson vetod statehood in 1865. Statehood was a recurring issue during the subsequent Grant administration.