Colorado Territory
The Colorado Territory was a historic, organized territory of the United States that existed between 1861 and 1876. Its boundaries were identical to the current State of Colorado.
The territory was organized by Act of Congress on February 28, 1861, out of lands previously part of the Kansas, Nebraska, Utah, and New Mexico territories. Technically the territory was open to slavery under the Dred Scott of 1857, but the question was rendered moot by the impending American Civil War and the majority pro-Union sentiment in the territory.
The name "Colorado" had been previously suggested in 1850 by Senator Henry S. Foote as a name for a state to have been created out of present-day California south of 36° 30'.
The territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Colorado on August 1, 1876.
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