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51-756: The Territory of Mississippi was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that was created under an organic act passed by both upper and lower chambers (the Senate and House of Representatives ) of the Congress of the United States , meeting at the United States Capitol on Capitol Hill , in the federal national capital city of Washington, D.C. . It was approved and signed into law by second President John Adams 1735-1826, served 1797-1801), on April 7, 1798. The Territory

102-604: A major Indian war that involved a substantial build-up of American military force in the area – which probably prevented the British from occupying an undefended Gulf coast in 1814. More importantly, relations between Americans and the southern Indians changed drastically. The Creeks, who had been living peacefully and in close contact with the settlers of the Mississippi Territory, lost more than half their land, and within twenty years were forced to move west of

153-723: A 1936 government report of the Mississippi Planning Commission. West of Picayune, about 50 miles (80 km) above the mouth, the river forks. The East Pearl River empties into Lake Borgne , where the dredged Pearl River Channel meets the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway . The discharge flows eastward past Grand Island through St. Joe Pass and into the Mississippi Sound . The West Pearl River flows into The Rigolets , thence into Lake Borgne. Both discharges eventually reach

204-510: A claim over almost the entire area of the present states of Alabama and Mississippi (from 31° N to 35° N ), until it surrendered its claim in 1802 following the Yazoo land scandal . In 1804, Congress extended the boundaries of the Mississippi Territory to include all of the Georgia cession . Beginning about 1808 the legislature of the Mississippi Territory held its official meetings in one of

255-424: A man who had never practiced law and may have studied law only for a year (he left after an early disagreement with the governor, returning later for a brief spell), and Judge Bruin, a merchant of whom Sargent said he was "a worthy and sensible man [but] beyond doubt deficient". "Aside from his innocence of legal knowledge, [he] was so often drunk or absent or both" (and had to resign to avoid impeachment), according to

306-489: A more complete list of regions and subdivisions of the United States used in modern times, see List of regions of the United States . † - indicates failed legal entities Unlike the land to the east, most of the land west of the Mississippi River was under French or Spanish rule until the first years of the 19th century. The following are state cessions made during the building of the U.S. The following

357-599: A national rather than regional outlook, though he did not ignore his constituents. Claiborne expressed the philosophy of the Republican Party and helped that party defeat the Federalists. When a smallpox epidemic broke out in the Spring of 1802, Claiborne's actions resulted in the first recorded mass vaccination in the territory and saved Natchez from the disease. George Mathews , a former governor of Georgia,

408-638: A navigation channel from Bogalusa to the mouth of the West Pearl River. The project includes a canal with three locks . The Corps of Engineers placed the project in "caretaker" status in the 1970s because of a decline in commercial traffic. Maintenance dredging resumed in December 1988. In the 1950s, underwater concrete sills were constructed to help maintain water levels in the navigation channel. This has prevented Gulf sturgeon and other migratory species from accessing upstream areas. A rock ramp

459-532: A result of the attempted secession of the Confederacy during the American Civil War (1861–1865). Some were enclaves within enemy-held territories: These were regions disassociated from neighboring areas due to opposing views: Belts are loosely defined sub-regions found throughout the United States that are named for a perceived commonality among the included areas, which is often related to

510-530: A short section of the Tennessee River . Congress chose this boundary because if the straight line had been run all the way to the Tennessee border Mississippi would have jurisdiction over a small piece of hilly land cut off from the rest of the state by the wide Tennessee River. The attraction of vast amounts of high quality, inexpensive cotton land attracted hordes of settlers, mostly from Georgia and

561-687: A significant role in the definition of the Territory 's borders during its brief two years of existence, 1817-1819. The population greatly increased in the southeast United States with movement and immigration from the East Coast along the Atlantic Ocean as it grew in the early 1800s from settlement , and American westward and southwestward expansion from the original Thirteen States , with cotton being an important cash crop . The United States and Spain disputed these lands east of

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612-511: A time when the governor and three judges were supposed to write law to govern the new territory. In 1798, Sargent wrote to Timothy Pickering , Secretary of State, that this was his "great source of uneasiness"; he was anxiously awaiting the arrival of a new judge, William McGuire —but McGuire, who did not get to the territory in the fall of 1799, went back to his home in Virginia after only a couple of weeks. The two other judges were Judge Tilton,

663-443: Is a list of the 31 U.S. territories that have become states, in the order of the date organized . (All were considered incorporated .) The following are land grants, cessions, defined districts (official or otherwise) or named settlements made within an area that was already part of a U.S. state or territory that did not involve international treaties or Native American cessions or land purchases. These entities were sometimes

714-725: Is one of the few remaining southern rivers with natural water regimes, and is a potential model for restoring the Pearl River floodplain. At the Bogalusa, Louisiana gauge the river was recorded in 1983 and 1987 as delivering nearly 3.5 million metric tons and 2.5 million metric tons of sediment respectively. Hurricanes are a natural form of disturbance that shapes rivers and watersheds on the Gulf Coast, and has done so for thousands of years. As one recent example, Hurricane Katrina on August 29, 2005, caused further natural changes in

765-568: The Choctaw and Chickasaw , Claiborne was generally sympathetic and conciliatory toward the Indians. He worked long and patiently to iron out differences that arose, and to improve the material well-being of the Indians. He was also partly successful in promoting the establishment of law and order, as when his offering of a two thousand dollar reward helped destroy a gang of outlaws headed by Samuel Mason (1750–1803). His position on issues indicated

816-581: The Gulf of Mexico , with the northern border being the boundary of the state of Tennessee , taking in all of what is now Alabama and Mississippi . Federal statutes enacted on March 1 and 3, 1817, provided a plan for the division of the Mississippi Territory into the state of Mississippi in the west and the Alabama Territory in the east (with St. Stephens , on the Tombigbee River , as

867-526: The Mississippi River until Spain relinquished its claim with the Treaty of Madrid , initially signed in 1795 by the two countries' representatives. The Mississippi Territory was organized in 1798 from these lands, in an area extending from 31° N latitude to 32°28' North — or approximately the southern half of the present states of Alabama and Mississippi . The state of Georgia had maintained

918-797: The Seminole tribe. Organized incorporated territory of the United States The territory of the United States and its overseas possessions has evolved over time , from the colonial era to the present day. It includes formally organized territories, proposed and failed states, unrecognized breakaway states , international and interstate purchases, cessions , and land grants , and historical military departments and administrative districts. The last section lists informal regions from American vernacular geography known by popular nicknames and linked by geographical, cultural, or economic similarities, some of which are still in use today. For

969-547: The Carolinas, and from tobacco areas of Virginia and North Carolina at a time when growing tobacco barely made a profit. From 1798 through 1820, the population soared from less than 9,000 to more than 22,000. Migration came in two fairly distinct waves – a steady movement until the outbreak of the War of 1812, and a flood afterward from 1815 through 1819. The postwar flood was caused by various factors, including high prices for cotton,

1020-623: The Gulf of Mexico. The Pearl River serves as the 115-mile (185 km) boundary between Mississippi and Louisiana in its lower reach near the Gulf of Mexico . Pearl River provides the receiving waters for the Savanna Street Sewage Treatment Plant in Jackson, Mississippi . which lies about 180 miles (290 km) from the mouth of the river. The following towns (in order, north to south) developed on or near

1071-602: The Mississippi River. Brigadier General Ferdinand L. Claiborne , commander of the Mississippi militia , was not to blame for the massacre, but Major Daniel Beasley was guilty of gross negligence. At the Battle of Horseshoe Bend on March 27, 1814, American forces and Indian allies under General Andrew Jackson defeated the Red Sticks, killing most of the warriors and sending the rest fleeing to Florida, where they joined

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1122-494: The Mississippi Territory favored war with Britain in 1812 . By 1810, belief in the national policy of economic coercion was waning in what was then called the Southwest, while desire for unrestricted trade and a vindication of national honor was rising, intermingled with desire for Spanish Florida . However, problems of land claims, Indians, internal improvements , and statehood issues continued to excite more local interest than

1173-704: The Pearl River Basin. In 1880, Congress authorized a 5-foot (1.5 m) navigation channel on the West Pearl River from Jackson to the Rigolets. That project was discontinued in 1922. Beginning in 1910, a channel was dredged from the mouth of the East Pearl River into Lake Borgne, a project which is maintained on an irregular basis. In 1935, the West Pearl River Navigation Project was authorized. It provided for

1224-621: The Pearl River. Bottom sediments and marsh vegetation—including uprooted cypress and oak trees—blocked the mouth of the West Pearl and other parts of the channel. The Louisiana Department of Wildlife & Fisheries and other agencies removed 27,000 cubic meters (35,000 yd³) of debris. However, the accumulation of this woody debris is a natural part of floodplain ecosystems in general, and wetlands in particular, and provides vital habitat for species including fish and turtles. Hence, this use of state funds to remove debris

1275-621: The Pearl River: The lower river was navigable from Brashear's Stand on the Natchez Trace to the mouth. For the year 1827 the enrolled and licensed tonnage for Pearl River shipping was 750 tons. The customhouse at Pearl River which was ten miles inland at the small town of Pearlington, Mississippi was later changed, but in 1904 the district reported a total of 358 vessels and 19,869 tons. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has undertaken three significant navigation projects in

1326-594: The Tennessee River). Congress delineated the boundary between Mississippi and Alabama by dividing the territory into approximately equal-sized parts, similar in size to Georgia. The agriculturally productive lands were divided by a straight line running south from the northwest corner of Washington County (as it was defined at the time) to the Gulf of Mexico. The border north of this point was angled westward in order to keep Mississippi and Alabama roughly equal in size. At its northern end, this angled border follows

1377-524: The area. The following year, a Federal statute was secretly enacted authorizing the President to take full possession of this area with the use of military force ("and naval force") as deemed necessary. Accordingly, General James Wilkinson occupied this district with a military contingent; the Spanish colonial commandant offered no resistance. This annexation extended the Mississippi Territory south to

1428-471: The boundary was defined to follow the river until it turned northeast, and from that point to follow a straight line north to the 35th parallel (whose role in state borders dates back to the split of North and South Carolina in 1730). The line was not run straight north but rather angled to meet the northern border of the territory one-third of the way west, leaving the other two-thirds for two future states, Alabama and Mississippi (their angled boundary stopped at

1479-605: The coming of war. Most saw no conflict between war issues and local interests; in fact, some foresaw war as a way of resolving certain local problems. Following a successful attack on a white expedition at the Battle of Burnt Corn, the Red Sticks , a hostile faction of the Creeks , determined to attack and destroy Fort Mims in the eastern part Mississippi Territory (modern Alabama ). Poor scouting, an attack at noon when most of

1530-571: The credentials of the members of the first territorial court were questionable, the quality of judges in later courts steadily grew. While the Roman Catholic Church , planted during the French and Spanish colonial periods, was active along the coast, after 1799 more American Protestants entered the territory, bringing their religious varieties with them. Free thought, skepticism, deism , or indifference to religion were characteristic of

1581-417: The development of the judicial system in the Mississippi Territory. The citizenry considered the laws imposed by Winthrop Sargent , the territory's governor, as repressive and unconstitutional. 'Sargent's Code,' however unpopular, established the first court system for the territory and served as the precedent for later revisions. The area was in a dire need of competent judges at the end of the 18th century, at

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1632-463: The dominance of the developing cotton agriculture. President John Adams appointed Winthrop Sargent as the first governor of the Mississippi Territory, effective from May 1798 to May 1801. William C. C. Claiborne (1775–1817), a lawyer and former Democratic-Republican Congressman from Tennessee (1797–1801), was governor and superintendent of Indian affairs in the Mississippi Territory from 1801 through 1803. Although he favored acquiring some land from

1683-547: The elimination of Indian titles to much of the land, new and improved roads, and the acquisition of new direct outlets to the Gulf of Mexico. The first migrants were traders and trappers, then herdsmen, and finally planters. The uplands in the Southwest frontier developed a relatively democratic society. In the 1810 United States census , 11 counties in the Mississippi Territory (8 in Mississippi and 3 in Alabama ) reported

1734-551: The following population counts (after only 3 reported the following counts in the 1800 United States census ): After 1800, the development of a cotton economy in the South changed the economic relationship of native Indians with whites and slaves in Mississippi Territory. As Native Americans ceded their lands to whites, they became more isolated from whites and blacks. A great wave of public sales of former Indian land plus white migration (with slaves) into Mississippi Territory guaranteed

1785-526: The garrison was eating, seizure of the portholes by the Indians, and inability to close the main gates were all elements in the defeat on August 30, 1813. Of the 275 to 300 whites and multiracial people in Fort Mims at the time of the attack, between 20 and 40 escaped; therefore, about 235 to 260 whites and friendly Indians were killed in the battle. Creek losses were at least 100 killed. The massacre had significant short- and long-range effects. It triggered

1836-837: The houses owned by Charles DeFrance of the Natchez District. The DeFrance house, also known as Assembly Hall, was located in Washington, Mississippi , about 10 miles from the city of Natchez. In 1812, the United States annexed the Mobile District of West Florida , between the Perdido River and the Pearl River . The US declared that it had been included in the Louisiana Purchase (1803). But Spain disputed this and maintained its own claim over

1887-727: The north, and to the south with a narrow strip of land to the Mobile Bay and Gulf of Mexico coast and further to the southeast of the western panhandle of the Royal Spanish colony of Spanish Florida in the Florida peninsula (future Florida Territory after 1819, and later state of Florida by 1845). The Territory of Alabama was admitted to the Union as the State of Alabama on December 14, 1819. The Chattahoochee River played

1938-590: The only governmental authority in the listed areas, although they often co-existed with civil governments in scarcely populated states and territories. Civilian administered "military" tracts, districts, departments, etc., will be listed elsewhere. During the American Civil War, the Department of the Pacific had six subordinate military districts: The Department of California (1858–1861) comprised

1989-438: The region's economy or climate. Pearl River (Mississippi-Louisiana) The river watershed contains large areas of bottomland hardwood swamp and cypress swamp, providing habitat for many species of wildlife, including sturgeon and black bears. As recently as 2008, endangered ivory-billed woodpeckers were reportedly sighted here. The mouth of the river creates important marsh habitat along salinity gradients, which has been

2040-437: The reviewer of a 1954 study by William Baskerville Hamilton on Thomas Rodney , the federal judge who arrived in the territory in 1803 and helped organize it until his death in 1811. An 1802 judiciary act considerably simplified the court system. Several judicial reorganization acts followed in 1805, 1809, and 1814, though a modified form of Sargent's county court system and the considerable power held by judges continued. While

2091-666: The southern part of the Department of the Pacific: California, Nevada, and southern part of Oregon Territory; merged into the Department of the Pacific as the District of California. The Department of Oregon (1858–1861) comprised the northern part of the Department of the Pacific: Washington Territory and Oregon Territory. These "territories" had actual, functioning governments (recognized or not): These are functioning governments created as

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2142-489: The subject of many scientific studies. It is considered to be one of the most critical areas of natural habitat remaining in Louisiana. Mississippi's capital and largest city, Jackson , is located along the upper reaches of the river. Most of the towns along the river, starting with Philadelphia, Mississippi in the north, are within the boundaries of that state. The Yockanookany and Strong rivers are tributaries on

2193-668: The temporary seat of the Alabama territorial government). On December 10, 1817, the division was finalized when the western portion was admitted to the Union as Mississippi , the 20th state. The final boundary between Georgia and Mississippi Territory was defined to follow the Chattahoochee River north from the border with Spanish Florida. However, the Chattahoochee's upper course veers northeast, deep into Georgia. So

2244-610: The upper section of the river north of Jackson: the Lobutcha, Tuscolameta, and Pelahatchie creeks also feed in as tributaries in this region. In 1924 the Tuscolameta Creek received 24-mile channelization and Yockanookany River received a 36-mile canal, which was completed in 1928. Northeast of Jackson , the Ross Barnett Reservoir was formed by a 1962 dam. Average annual rainfall is about 52 inches in

2295-481: The upper third of the basin, and below Jackson the basin rainfall increases to 64 inches or more, contributing to the greater discharge of the Bogue Chitto as noted below. The Bogue Chitto River is a major tributary on the lower section. The Bogue Chitto's mean low-water discharge to the lower river is nearly six times that of the mean low-water discharge of the Pearl River at Jackson, Mississippi, according to

2346-411: The wealthy planters and land speculators, as newcomers were far more interested in seeking riches in this world than in the next. As the number of American migrants increased, Methodists, Baptists, and Presbyterians formed the three leading denominations in the territory. Protestant ministers won converts, often promoted education, and had some influence in improving the treatment of slaves. The people of

2397-481: Was appointed the governorship, though the appointment was revoked before he took office. The third governor was Robert Williams , serving from May 1805 to March 1809. David Holmes was the last governor of the Mississippi Territory, 1809–17. Holmes was generally successful in dealing with a variety of matters, including expansion, land policy, Indians, the War of 1812 , and the constitutional convention of 1817 (of which he

2448-473: Was designed in 2003 to help fish navigate over one of the sills, but was never constructed. Environmental groups propose further work to mitigate the effects of the navigation project. Building dams, canals, levees and water control structures is known to have highly negative effects on wetlands and the ecological services they provide. Increasingly, these artificial structures are being removed to allow natural river activities to resume. The Pascagoula River

2499-512: Was dissolved after 19 years on December 10, 1817, when the western half of the Territory was admitted to the Union as the new State of Mississippi . The eastern half was redesignated by the Congress and then 5th President James Monroe as the new Alabama Territory for the next two years, sandwiched between the new state of Mississippi in the west, Georgia to the east,, Tennessee on

2550-406: Was elected president). Often concerned with problems regarding West Florida , he had a major role in 1810 in negotiations which led to the peaceful occupation of part of that territory. McCain (1967) concludes that Holmes' success was not based on brilliance, but upon kindness, unselfishness, persuasiveness, courage, honesty, diplomacy, and intelligence. The eastern half of the Mississippi Territory

2601-509: Was labeled the Tombigbee District and later Washington County. Ignored by the territorial government, the inhabitants were beset by hostile neighbors, militant Indians, and the usual frontier problems of competing land claims and establishment of law. Solutions to these difficulties came slowly, and were not completely resolved when the territory gained statehood as the U.S. state of Alabama in 1819. English common law dominated

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