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The Dakota Experience Creating Communities: The Frontier (1860-1880)
arrow Territorial Politics
Vying for Capital In on the Ground Floor A Little Blood Playing the Game Tilting North Moved!
Playing the Game

William Jayne knew the patronage game. Physician and friend of President Abraham Lincoln, he was named the first territorial governor of Dakota for his loyalty. He may have wondered whether the job was reward or exile. Yankton had so few rooms he had to share a bed with the attorney general. He was governor for two years and a delegate to Washington for one. The infighting he helped create in Dakota lost him his office, and he returned to the East.


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Governor Jayne's address to the Territory of Dakota Council and House of Representatives, 1862.

Historical Photo
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