Minnesota Territorial Legislature

The Minnesota Territorial Legislature was a bicameral legislative body created by the United States Congress in 1849 as the legislative branch of the government of the Territory of Minnesota. The upper chamber, the Council, and the lower chamber, the House of Representatives, first convened on September 3, 1849.^[1] The two chambers served as the territory's legislative body until Minnesota was admitted as a state on May 11, 1858, when the Territorial Legislature was replaced by the Minnesota Legislature.

Eight annual sessions were held between 1849 and 1857, though no session was held in 1850. The 1st Territorial Legislature convened in September and adjourned in November; all other sessions of the body convened in January and adjourned in March.^[1] Throughout the era, St. Paul was consistently the territorial capital, wherein the Territorial Legislature held its sessions. The Organic Act which created the Territory of Minnesota established that the Territorial Council would have a minimum of nine members, while the House of Representatives would have a minimum of eighteen members; the act also permitted the Territorial Legislature to provide for the election of up to a maximum of fifteen councillors and thirty-nine representatives.^[2] The 1st-6th Territorial Legislatures consisted of the minimum number in both houses, while the 7th and 8th consisted of fifteen councillors and thirty-eight representatives.^[3]