Just got this in for my collection, in what might be one of my earliest campaign pieces for South Dakota. Or as it was known then, Dakota Territory:
This is the election where we kicked those guys up North to the curb, as evidenced in this Republican Ticket. Literally, this is a very early slate card with the Republican Candidates showing people how to vote, and noting the “question of division of the Territory of Dakota, upon an east and west line upon the 7th Standard Parallel.” Or, what you know as the current border between North and South Dakota.
You can actually find a few references to this election on-line:
The Territorial Legislature of 1887 submitted the question of division to a popular vote at the general election of November 1887. When full returns of this election finally came in on January 10, 1888, Territorial Governor Louis K. Church announced the vote: 37,784 favored division and 32,913 were opposed.
(Via Wikipedia, which you can read here)
November 1887, finally counted in January 10 of 1888. Which tells you how long one one of the earliest hand counts took to finally figure out.
A great item chronicling South Dakota History! (I might have to have this one framed)
Very cool!!
Yes, I would frame it. How many of these ballots are “out there”? My guess is very, very few. Also on the ballot for a Justice of the Peace position is John L. Pennington. Pennington, who served as the fifth Territorial Governor from 1874 to 1878, was a rare Southern Unionist newspaper editor from North Carolina, who, with the rise of the Klan and the end of Reconstruction, needed to start over outside the South.He served admirably, widely traveled throughout the Territory, and was an enthusiastic Booster of all things Dakota. He stayed in Dakota after his term ended, served in several offices, and established a Republican Newspaper in Yankton. The book produced to celebrate the 100 year Anniversary of the Territory “Dakota Panorama,” says of him “…that Pennington arrived virtually unknown and unnoticed and departed years later in almost the same manner.”
Thanks Terry!