Why Arizona Was The Last American Territory To Become A State
Arizona was the last territory on the continent to become a U.S. state. It didn't become a state until 1912. For 49 years, longer than any other territory, Arizona sat in a political limbo, shaped by Civil War loyalties, frontier violence, and a reputation that was a bit too wild for Washington, D.C.
Civil War
Arizona was considered to be a part of New Mexico for quite a while. It was its own county, with Tucson serving as the seat. During the Civil War, Confederate troops from Texas claimed Arizona as Confederate territory. The Union army fought back, eventually gaining control of Tucson.
In 1863, the Union needed a countermeasure, and Lincoln signed the Organic Act, officially separating Arizona from the New Mexico Territory and outlawing slavery in the area. Arizona now was its own territory, but its journey to statehood was far from over.
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Difficult Conditions
Arizona had a lot of fighting to do to become its own state, especially with all the fighting happening on its streets. The Apache Wars were coming to an end, but there was violence around every corner, with raids and ambushes from natives and bandits alike.
The violence got to a point that Wells Fargo armed their stagecoaches, and army patrols were necessary just to keep travel routes open. To lawmakers back east, a territory where stagecoaches needed shotguns, lawmen were getting into gunfights, and criminals were being hanged from telephone poles by citizens, didn't seem ready for statehood.
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Independence!
Locals pushed back against the government's unwillingness to let them join, pointing out that they brought in a lot of money through honey production and copper mining. In 1906 congress finally seemed willing to act, but President Theodore Roosevelt's catch was that Arizona was going to be a part of New Mexico once again.
That didn't go over well, and local papers were screaming, “We want statehood, not matrimony!” Arizona voted against it, and Congress slammed the door in their faces once again.
Political Disagreements
Congress finally passed an act allowing Arizona to delegate and propose its statehood. In 1910, delegates gathered in Phoenix to write a state constitution. The document produced was considered the most radical in the entire nation at the time.
- Senators will be directly elected
- State Officers can be recalled, and Judges can be recalled
- Womens Sufferage (debated well, defeated narrowly)
- Strict Corporate Regulations
- 8-hour work days, especially for miners
- No blacklisting union members
President Taft said no, vetoing the document in August of 1911. His biggest concern was the recall of judges; he was worried that populists would get together and remove judges ruling against labor.
Arizonians were enraged, and by December of that year, they were holding another convention. They removed judicial recall with a lot of resentment (they added it back as soon as they became a state), and Taft signed the proclamation, making Arizona an official state on February 14th, 1912.
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Arizona's introduction to the union wasn't as glamorous as that of other states. It went through decades of fighting, delegating, and political disagreements. Once Arizona proved it was more than a battleground, it slowly transformed into the state we know and love today.
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Gallery Credit: Val Davidson/TSM
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