Territory of New Mexico | |||||||||||||||||
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Organized incorporated territory of the United States | |||||||||||||||||
1850–1912 | |||||||||||||||||
Map of the later Arizona and New Mexico Territories, split from the original New Mexico Territory of 1851, showing existing counties | |||||||||||||||||
Capital | Santa Fe | ||||||||||||||||
Government | |||||||||||||||||
• Type | Organized incorporated territory | ||||||||||||||||
Governor | |||||||||||||||||
• 1851–1852 | James S. Calhoun | ||||||||||||||||
• 1910–1912 | William J. Mills | ||||||||||||||||
Legislature | New Mexico Territorial Legislature | ||||||||||||||||
History | |||||||||||||||||
May 30, 1848 | |||||||||||||||||
• Organic Act (part of Compromise of 1850) | 9 September 1850 | ||||||||||||||||
June 24, 1853 | |||||||||||||||||
• Colorado Territory established | February 28, 1861 | ||||||||||||||||
• Arizona Territory established | February 24, 1863 | ||||||||||||||||
6 January 1912 | |||||||||||||||||
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The Territory of New Mexico was an organized incorporated territory of the United States from September 9, 1850,[1] until January 6, 1912.[2] It was created from the U.S. provisional government of New Mexico, as a result of Nuevo México becoming part of the American frontier after the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. It existed with varying boundaries until the territory was admitted to the Union as the U.S. state of New Mexico in 1912. This jurisdiction was an organized, incorporated territory of the US for nearly 62 years, the longest period of any territory in the contiguous United States.