AAC
ed the entirety of present-day Arkansas. (Parry, 57:27-40; Van Zandt, 23-26). Shortly after, in 1804, this territory was di- vided further into two parts: the Territory of Orleans and the District of Louisiana. Te latter of these contained present-day Arkansas and was temporarily under the administrative con- trol of the pre-existing Indiana Territory. Tis subordination was remedied in 1805 when the District of Louisiana became the Territory of Louisiana (interchangeably referred to as the Louisiana Territory).
Te first official use of the name “Arkansas” came in 1806, when a southern portion of land within the Louisiana Terri- tory was designated as the District of Arkansas. A year later, in 1806, the District of Arkansas (at times, also spelled “Arkan- saw”) was organized from the southern portion of the Louisi- ana Territory. In 1812, an act of Congress renamed the Loui- siana Territory as the Missouri Territory. A year later, Arkansas County was established by the territorial legislature as a county within the Missouri Territory. In 1815, Arkansas County was divided in order to form Lawrence County. In late 1818, acts were passed by the legislature of the
Missouri Territory to establish three new counties — Clark, Hempstead, and Pulaski, each of which was carved from land in Arkansas County. By 1819, citizens within the District of Arkansas had already been working for a few years to organize an independent territorial government. On March 2, 1819, this desire became reality as an act of the U.S. Congress of- ficially created the Arkansas Territory from land in the lower portion of the Missouri Territory. Tis new territory included all of present-day Arkansas and a portion of present-day Okla- homa. As one might surmise, this transformation gave rise to what many consider to be the first five counties of Arkansas: Arkansas, Lawrence, Clark, Hempstead, and Pulaski. With respect to the formation of counties, the laws of Ar-
kansas Territory were largely silent, except where the ascertain- ing of boundary lines was concerned. Indeed, these laws vested a certain degree of power in “the court of common pleas or the county court of any county now established or hereafter to be established” (i.e., a circuit court, if a county had not yet been established) where the boundary line[s] were not sufficiently ascertained. In such instances, a court order was required to ascertain these boundaries based upon standard land survey- ing practices. Aside from this provision, the plenary power to establish a county itself resided with the territorial legislature. Te next county to form in the newly established Arkansas
Territory was Miller County, organized by an act of the Ter- ritorial Legislature in April 1820 and named for James Miller, Arkansas Territory’s first governor. Miller County included most of present-day Miller County, as well as multiple coun- ties in present-day Texas and Oklahoma. Interestingly, Miller County was later abolished in 1838, primarily due to a dispute over its common border with the Republic of Texas, which had only recently seceded from the Republic of Mexico. Giv-
FEATURE
en that much of Miller County was effectively lost to Texas around this time, the county was subsequently dissolved, with the remaining territory being attached to Lafayette County. In 1845, Texas was annexed by the United States, which inher- ently settled the boundary between Texas and Arkansas. How- ever, it would be nearly 30 years before Miller County was re-established in 1874. Later, in May 1820, Phillips County was created out of
Arkansas County and named for Sylvannus Phillips, an early settler and member of the first territorial legislature. In Octo- ber of 1820, Crawford County was established out of Pulaski County and named for William H. Crawford, then secretary of the treasury, while Independence County was created by dividing Lawrence County along the watershed between the Black and White river valleys. In the 15 years leading up to Arkansas’ admittance to the
Union, another 26 counties were established by the legislature of Arkansas Territory, with one of these being permanently abolished shortly after its creation. Tis would bring the total number of counties in existence up to 35 at the beginning of 1836. Te following is a chronological overview of this estab- lishment process. • Chicot County, established Oct. 15, 1823, from Arkan- sas County and named for Point Chicot on the Missis- sippi River.
• Conway County, established Oct. 20, 1825, out of Pulaski County and named for Henry Wharton Conway, a territorial delegate to the U.S. House of Rep- resentatives
• Crittenden County, established Oct. 22, 1825, from Phillips County and named for Robert Crittenden, a governor of the former Arkansas Territory
•
Izard County, created Oct. 27, 1825, from Indepen- dence County. It was named for George Izard, a gover- nor of the former Arkansas Territory and general during the War of 1812.
• St. Francis County, established on Oct. 13, 1827, and formed from Phillips County. Named after the St. Fran- cis River, which is a tributary of the Mississippi River.
• Lovely County, established Oct. 13, 1827, and formed from the land gained from Lovely’s Purchase, which in- cluded a large part of the northwest corner of Arkansas Territory and extended west to the Indian Territory. It was abolished in 1828 after most of its land was ceded to Indian Territory as a result of treaties between the United States and the Cherokee Tribe. Te largest part of what remained of the county was included in the cre- ation of Washington County shortly thereafter.
•
Lafayette County, established Oct. 15, 1827, out of Hempstead County and named for Marquis de
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