§ 19. Creation of territorial government. That all that part of the territory of the United States included within the following limits, except such portions thereof as are hereinafter expressly exempted from the operations of this act, to wit, beginning at a point on the western boundary of the state of Missouri, where the thirty-seventh parallel of north latitude crosses the same; thence west on said parallel to the eastern boundary of New Mexico; thence north on said boundary to latitude thirty-eight; thence following said boundary westward to the east boundary of the territory of Utah, on the summit of the Rocky Mountains; thence northward on said summit to the fortieth parallel of latitude; thence east on said parallel to the western boundary of the state of Missouri; thence south with the western boundary of said state to the place of beginning, be, and the same is hereby, created into a temporary government by the name of the territory of Kansas; and when admitted as a state or states, the said territory, or any portion of the same shall be received into the union with or without slavery, as their constitution may prescribe at the time of their admission: Provided, That nothing in this act contained shall be construed to inhibit the government of the United States from dividing said territory into two or more territories, in such manner and at such times as congress shall deem convenient and proper, or from attaching any portion of said territory to any other state or territory of the United States: Provided further, That nothing in this act contained shall be construed to impair the rights of person or property now pertaining to the Indians in said territory, so long as such rights shall remain unextinguished by treaty between the United States and such Indians, or to include any territory which, by treaty with an Indian tribe, is not, without the consent of said tribe, to be included within the territorial limits or jurisdiction of any state or territory; but all such territory shall be excepted out of the boundaries, and constitute no part of the territory of Kansas, until said tribe shall signify their assent to the president of the United States to be included within the said territory of Kansas, or to affect the authority of the government of the United States to make any regulation respecting such Indians, their lands, property, or other rights, by treaty, law, or otherwise, which it would have been competent to the government to make if this act had never passed.

History: 10 Stat. 283; ch. 59, § 19; May 30, 1854.

CASE ANNOTATIONS

1. Legislative power vested in governor and legislative assembly. Elliott v. Lochnane and others, 1 Kan. 126, 136.

2. Object of act. State v. Stringfellow, 2 Kan. 263.

3. State accepted admission on condition that Native American rights remain unimpaired. Parker v. Winsor, 5 Kan. 362, 367; In re Nowgezhuck, 69 Kan. 410, 413, 76 P. 877.

4. Native American land excluded from boundaries of state not subject to taxation unless specifically included by treaty or act of Congress; state taxation of certain land may be proper. In re Tax Exemption Application of Kaul, 261 Kan. 755, 764, 933 P.2d 717 (1997).