The next year, so full of great events, brought the desired relief. On the 26th of February, 1861, a bill passed Congress designating the boundaries of the new territory of Colorado, which embraced portions of Kansas, Nebraska, and Utah, and providing for its political organization and administration. The news of this important event was received with great demonstrations of joy.
AN ACT TO PROVIDE A TEMPORARY GOVERNMENT FOR THE TERRITORY OF COLORADO.
_Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled_, That all that part of the territory of the United States included within the following limits, viz: commencing on the thirty-seventh parallel of north latitude, where the twenty-fifth meridian of longitude west from Washington crosses the same; thence north on said meridian to the forty-first parallel of north latitude; thence along said parallel west to the thirty-second meridian of longitude west from Washington; thence south on said meridian to the northern line of New Mexico; thence along the thirty-seventh parallel of north latitude to the place of beginning; be and the same is hereby erected into a temporary government by the name of the Territory of Colorado: _Provided_, That nothing in this act contained shall be construed to impair the rights of person or property now pertaining to the Indians in said Territory, so long as such rights shall remain unextinguished by treaty between the United States and such Indians, or to include any territory which, by treaty with any Indian tribe, is not, without the consent of said tribe, to be included within the territorial limits or jurisdiction of any State or Territory; but all such territory shall be excepted out of the boundaries, and constitute no part of the territory of Colorado, until said tribe shall signify their assent to the President of the United States to be included within the said Territory, or to affect the authority of the government of the United States to make any regulations respecting such Indians, their lands, property, or other rights, by treaty, law, or otherwise, which it would have been competent for the government to make, if this act had never passed: _Provided further_, That nothing in this act contained shall be construed to inhibit the government of the United States from dividing said Territory into two or more territories, in such manner and at such times as Congress shall deem convenient and proper, or from attaching any portion thereof to any other Territory or State.