Lincoln
started out as the village of Lancaster, which was
founded in 1856, and became the county seat of the
newly-created
Lancaster County in 1859. The capital of Nebraska
Territory had been Omaha since the creation
of
the territory in 1854; however, most of the territory's
population lived south of the Platte River. After
much of
the
territory south of the Platte considered annexation
to Kansas, the legislature voted to move the capital
south
of
the river and as far west as possible. The
village of Lancaster was chosen, in part due to
the salt flats and marshes nearby.
However,
Omaha interests attempted to derail the move by
having Lancaster renamed after the recently-
assassinated
President Abraham Lincoln. At the time, many
of the people south of the river had been sympathetic
towards
the Confererate cause and it was assumed that the
legislature would not pass the measure if the future
capital
was named after Lincoln. The ploy did not work,
as Lancaster was renamed Lincoln and became the
state
capital
upon Nebraska's admission to the Union on March
1, 1867.
Lincoln
is the capital of Nebraska and is the county seat
of Lancaster County. It is the second largest
city in the
state
(after Omaha).