Солтүстік-Батыс АҚШ Штатының Құрылу Ұсыныстары

Proposed U. S. northwestern state
proposed northwestern state

Lincoln is the name for several proposals to create a new state in the Northwest United States. The proposed State has been defined in multiple ways, but can generally be said to be coterminous with the region known as the Inland Northwest. The proposed state was named in honor of Abraham Lincoln, who was president during the American Civil War. His name had also been proposed for the states that were eventually named North Dakota and Wyoming.

The State of Lincoln has been proposed to consist of the Panhandle of Idaho and Eastern Washington (that is, east of the Cascade Mountains). Other than Lincoln, the names "Columbia" and "Eastern (or East) Washington" were proposed to be used for the state. In 1901 another proposal was made, this time to combine the Idaho Panhandle with Eastern Washington to create the state of Lincoln. A third proposal was popularized in the late 1920s to consist of eastern Washington, northern Idaho and western Montana to the Continental Divide. From the Washington end, proposals have been made as recently as 1996, 1999 and 2005. Idaho saw a corresponding campaign for North Idaho, financed by the sale of T shirts reading "North Idaho – A State of Mind".

While the disconnection between Western Washington and Eastern Washington is well known and documented, North Idaho has a similar dynamic in which its residents often feel disconnected from the state's political center in Boise. The Idaho Panhandle is most often considered to be the ten northernmost counties in the state—Boundary, Bonner, Benewah, Clearwater, Idaho, Kootenai, Latah, Lewis, Nez Perce, and Shoshone. These counties are separated from Southern Idaho by the Salmon River and observe Pacific Time, unlike the rest of the state, which uses Mountain Time. Parallel suggestions of a "State of Kootenai" have been made, referring to a proposed union of the six northernmost counties of Idaho, and the six westernmost counties of Montana, creating a geographically, politically, and ecologically connected state of 524,888 residents, putting it ahead of other states such as Wyoming.

It was proposed to split Dakota Territory into northern and southern halves while being considered for statehood in the 1880s. Republicans in the Senate suggested the name "Lincoln" for the northern half, despite objections from residents from the territory, which drew strong objection from the Democrats. Ultimately the territory was admitted in 1889 as two states, North Dakota and South Dakota.

When the 1868 bill to form Wyoming Territory was first discussed in the U. S. Senate, an amendment was proposed that would have changed its name to Lincoln Territory after the assassinated U. S. president Abraham Lincoln. The new name was supported by the Senate Committee on Territories, however it started a debate that scrutinized both "Lincoln" and "Wyoming", with several members preferring local and Indian names. Multiple senators objected to naming a territory after a single man, acknowledging Washington Territory (named in 1853 for George Washington) as the sole exception. which was considered descriptive of the land but undesirable due to its distant origin in Pennsylvania. The bill eventually passed both houses of Congress with the name "Wyoming Territory", and the Wyoming name was retained when statehood was achieved in 1890.