The Road To Statehood

One of the first laws approved after ratification of the Constitution in 1789 established the procedure for adding new states to the United States of America. This law, known as the Northwest Ordinance, provided for a system of government for regions that were part of the United States but not under the control of any state. It provided for formation of areas that wanted to be states into territories with supervision by Congress. The Northwest Ordinance also provided a means of transition for territories to gain full membership into the union as states.

Citizens from an area like the western half of the New Mexico Territory, in the mid 1850's, would send a representative to Washington with petitions from citizens requesting the introduction of a bill to make the area defined as a new territory. In what eventually became Arizona, the first such effort came in 1856, just six years after the area was included in the New Mexico Territory.

If a request to create a new territory had support from influential people in Washington, a congressman or a senator would introduce legislation called an Organic Act to establish a new territory as outlined in the Northwest Ordinance. This law authorized the President to appoint a Territorial Governor, a Secretary for the Territory and three judges for the Territorial Court. When these officials arrived in the new territory, the Territorial Governor issued a proclamation calling for an election of a territorial assembly, a body similar to a legislature in the states, and a representative to serve as a non voting member of the House of Representatives in Congress.

After the first efforts to create an Arizona Territory from what was then the New Mexico Territory failed, the Civil War and concern for control of potential railroad routes to the riches of California brought approval for an Arizona Territory. Representative James H. Ashley of Ohio introduced the Arizona Organic Act in the House of Representatives in 1862. The act, approved in both houses of Congress, was signed by President Abraham Lincoln in 1863.

Territorial governments composed of officials appointed from Washington and representatives elected from the territory serving in the assembly created counties and authorized establishment of governments at that level. These were the pioneers that founded the system of government and the social institutions such as hospitals, schools and prisons that we have today.

The difference between government in the territories and in the states is that the territorial governors, secretaries and judges, that composed the court system and the Territorial Supreme Court, were appointed by the President, not elected by the citizens of the State. The Territorial Representative in Congress did not have a vote and all legislation passed by the Territorial Assembly had to be approved by Congress.

Usually very soon after a territory was formed, the Territorial Assembly would petition Congress for admission as a State. When their request was favorably received, legislation would be introduced to authorize the territory to draft a constitution. Such legislation included procedures for qualifying voters to elect delegates to a constitutional convention and submitting the finished document to the people for their approval. It also set time limits for the convention and provided funds for the entire process. Upon approval, the territory elected state officials and joined the other states as an equal member of the federal union.

After several attempts to have a statehood bill approved, over a thirty year period, the people of the Arizona Territory were authorized to draft a constitution in 1910. The voters of the Arizona Territory ratified the draft Arizona Constitution and sent back to Washington for approval by Congress and the President. This approval took the form of legislation to accept the territory as a state and required approval of both houses of Congress and the President.

President William Howard Taft initially refused to sign the bill that accepted the Arizona Constitution, until the citizens of the territory removed a clause permitting recall of judges, he did approve the Constitution and Arizona became the forty eighth state on February 14, 1912. Elections were held to elect officials for the new state at the same time that the constitution was changed to satisfy President Taft. When the announcement that President Taft had signed the Arizona Statehood Act was telegraphed to the people of Phoenix, the new Governor George W. P. Hunt was inaugurated and called the new legislature into its first session. One of the first acts of the 1st Arizona State Legislature, was to place a constitutional amendment before the voters to add the recall of judges to the state constitution, changing it back to its original form. Voters of the new State of Arizona approved the provision for recall of judges and another amendment that provided women the right to vote in local, state and national elections.

Selected Sources:

Farrand, Max. Legislation of Congress for the Government of the Organized Territories of the United States. Newark, New Jersey: n.p.,1896. States that the purpose of his book is to establish the direct connection between the Ordinance of 1787 and the territorial governments that were developed and to trace the changes in administration of the territories.
Lamar, Howard R. The Far Southwest 1846-1912 A Territorial History. New Haven: Yale University Press. 1966.
Pomeroy, Earl. The Territories and the United States, 1861-1890. Philadelphia: N.P., 1947.
Wagoner, Jay J. Arizona Territory 1863-1912: A Political History. Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1970.
Willoughby, William F. Territories and Dependencies of the United States, Their Government and Administration. New York: The Century Press Co., 1905. Excellent and insightful study of the administration of United States territories with particular attention paid to those territories outside the continental limits of the U.S. with information on the history and structure of territorial governments.