In United States law, an organic act is an act of the United States Congress that establishes a territory of the United States and specifies how it is to be governed, or an

agency Agency may refer to: Organizations * Institution, governmental or others ** Advertising agency or marketing agency, a service business dedicated to creating, planning and handling advertising for its clients ** Employment agency, a business that ...

to manage certain federal lands. In the absence of an organic law a territory is classified as unorganized. The first such act was the

Northwest Ordinance The Northwest Ordinance (formally An Ordinance for the Government of the Territory of the United States, North-West of the River Ohio and also known as the Ordinance of 1787), enacted July 13, 1787, was an organic act of the Congress of the Co ...

, passed in 1787 by the U.S.

Congress of the Confederation The Congress of the Confederation, or the Confederation Congress, formally referred to as the United States in Congress Assembled, was the governing body of the United States of America during the Confederation period, March 1, 1781 – Mar ...

(under the

Articles of Confederation The Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union was an agreement among the 13 Colonies of the United States of America that served as its first frame of government. It was approved after much debate (between July 1776 and November 1777) by ...

, predecessor of the

United States Constitution The Constitution of the United States is the Supremacy Clause, supreme law of the United States, United States of America. It superseded the Articles of Confederation, the nation's first constitution, in 1789. Originally comprising seven ar ...

). The Northwest Ordinance created the

Northwest Territory The Northwest Territory, also known as the Old Northwest and formally known as the Territory Northwest of the River Ohio, was formed from unorganized western territory of the United States after the American Revolutionary War. Established in 1 ...

in the land west of Pennsylvania and northwest of the

Ohio River The Ohio River is a long river in the United States. It is located at the boundary of the Midwestern and Southern United States, flowing southwesterly from western Pennsylvania to its mouth on the Mississippi River at the southern tip of Illino ...

and set the pattern of development that was followed for all subsequent territories. The Northwest Territory covered more than 260,000 square miles and included all of the modern states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, and the northeastern part of Minnesota. The District of Columbia Organic Act of 1801 incorporated Washington, D.C. and placed it under the exclusive control of the United States Congress. The Organic Act for the Territory of New Mexico was part of the Compromise of 1850, passed September 9, 1850. Primarily concerned with slavery, the act organized New Mexico as a territory, with boundaries including the areas now embraced in New Mexico, Arizona, and southern Colorado.

List of organic acts

Territorial organic acts have included (in chronological order): * The

* The Indiana Territory Organic Act * The District of Columbia Organic Act of 1801 * The Organic Act of 1804, with respect to the Territory of Orleans * The

Michigan Territory The Territory of Michigan was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from June 30, 1805, until January 26, 1837, when the final extent of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Michigan. Detroit w ...

Organic Act (1805) * The

Illinois Territory The Territory of Illinois was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from March 1, 1809, until December 3, 1818, when the southern portion of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Illinois. Its ca ...

Organic Act (1809) * The

Oregon Bill of 1848 The Oregon Bill of 1848, officially titled when approved, "An Act to Establish the Territorial Government of Oregon," was an act of Congress to turn Oregon into an official U.S. Territory. The bill was passed on August 14, 1848. It was enacted by t ...

, created the

Territory of Oregon The Territory of Oregon was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from August 14, 1848, until February 14, 1859, when the southwestern portion of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Oregon. Ori ...

* The Utah Territory Organic Act * The

New Mexico Territory The Territory of New Mexico was an organized incorporated territory of the United States from September 9, 1850, until January 6, 1912. It was created from the U.S. provisional government of New Mexico, as a result of ''Santa Fe de Nuevo México ...

Organic Act * The Kansas–Nebraska Act created

Kansas Territory The Territory of Kansas was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from May 30, 1854, until January 29, 1861, when the eastern portion of the territory was admitted to the United States, Union as the Slave and ...

and Nebraska Territory * The

Colorado Organic Act The Colorado Organic Act was enacted in Colorado Territory in 1861. It passed by Congress and signed by President James Buchanan on February 28, 1861, and established four-year terms for Governor, Secretary and Legislative Assembly of the territor ...

, 1861, created the

Territory of Colorado 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 State of Colorado. The territory was organized in the w ...

out of eastern Utah Territory, western Kansas Territory, southwestern Nebraska Territory, and a small portion of northeastern New Mexico Territory * The Nevada Territory Organic Act, 1861 * The

Dakota Organic Act The Territory of Dakota was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from March 2, 1861, until November 2, 1889, when the final extent of the reduced territory was split and admitted to the Union as the states of No ...

of 1861 * The

Arizona Organic Act The Arizona Organic Act was an organic act passed in the United States federal law introduced as H.R. 357 in the second session of the 37th U.S. Congress on March 12, 1862, by Rep. James M. Ashley of Ohio. The Act provided for the creation of the ...

, created the Territory of Arizona in 1863 from western New Mexico Territory * The

Montana Organic Act The Territory of Montana was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from May 26, 1864, until November 8, 1889, when it was admitted as the 41st state in the Union as the state of Montana. Original boundaries T ...

, created the

Territory of Montana The Territory of Montana was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from May 26, 1864, until November 8, 1889, when it was admitted as the 41st state in the Union as the state of Montana. Original boundaries T ...

in 1864 * The District of Columbia Organic Act of 1871, amalgamated Anacostia, Georgetown and Tenley Town to the City of Washington; and consolidated the County of Washington, City of Washington and District of Columbia into one governmental unit * The

Act Establishing Yellowstone National Park (1872) Yellowstone National Park is an American national park located in the western United States, largely in the northwest corner of Wyoming and extending into Montana and Idaho. It was established by the 42nd United States Congress, 42nd U.S. C ...

* The First Organic Act for Alaska, 1884 * The

Oklahoma Organic Act An Organic Act is a generic name for a statute used by the United States Congress to describe a territory, in anticipation of being admitted to the Union as a state. Because of Oklahoma's unique history (much of the state was a place where aborig ...

of 1889, established the

Oklahoma Territory The Territory of Oklahoma was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from May 2, 1890, until November 16, 1907, when it was joined with the Indian Territory under a new constitution and admitted to the Union as th ...

* The Hawaiian Organic Act, enacted in 1900, established a government for the Territory of Hawaii * The Foraker Act or Organic Act of 1900, established civilian government in Puerto Rico. It was superseded in 1917 by the

Jones–Shafroth Act The Jones–Shafroth Act () —also known as the Jones Act of Puerto Rico, Jones Law of Puerto Rico, or as the Puerto Rican Federal Relations Act of 1917— was an Act of the United States Congress, signed by President Woodrow Wilson on March ...

. * The Second Organic Act for Alaska, 1912 * The Organic Act of the Virgin Islands of the United States of 1936 () established a government for the

U.S. Virgin Islands The United States Virgin Islands,. Also called the ''American Virgin Islands'' and the ''U.S. Virgin Islands''. officially the Virgin Islands of the United States, are a group of Caribbean islands and an unincorporated and organized territory ...

, replacing previous temporary provisions (). It was superseded by the

Revised Organic Act of the Virgin Islands The Revised Organic Act of the Virgin Islands is a United States federal law that repealed and replaced the previous Organic Act of the Virgin Islands. It was passed on July 22, 1954 by the U.S. Congress to act as the basis for law in the United ...

of 1954 (). * The

Guam Organic Act of 1950 The Guam Organic Act of 1950, ( ''et seq.'', ) is a United States federal law that redesignated the island of Guam as an unincorporated territory of the United States, established executive, legislative, and judicial branches, and transferred fe ...

, codified Guam as an unincorporated territory and established civilian government ending Guam's administration by the U.S. Navy. The Philippines: * The

Philippine Organic Act (1902) The Philippine Organic Act (c. 1369, ) was a basic law for the Insular Government that was enacted by the United States Congress on July 1, 1902. It is also known as the Philippine Bill of 1902 and the Cooper Act, after its author Henry A. Coope ...

, creation of an elected Philippine Assembly. * The Jones Law (Philippines), replaced the 1902 act in 1916 and created a fully elected Philippine Legislature. Others: * Organic Act of Feb, 10, 1807, founding the Survey of the Coasts ( National Ocean Service) *Organic Act of 1862, establishing the United States Department of Agriculture * The

National Park Service Organic Act The National Park Service Organic Act,An Act to establish a National Park Service, and for other purposes. . or simply "the Organic Act" within the National Park Service, conservationists, etc., is a United States federal law that established the ...

, establishing the National Park Service and the National Park System in 1916

References

{{Territories of the United States United States federal legislation United States federal territory and statehood legislation

List of organic acts

See also

References