It took New Mexico more than 50 years to transform from a territory to a state. The first time New Mexicans attempted to gain statehood was in 1850. Reasons such as general ignorance about the territory and suspicions towards its people are what caused New Mexico so long to become a state. People also questioned if these recently conquered people would really be loyal to their new country. In 1876 during a congressional debate, Michigan Representative, Julius Caesar Burrows, spoke in favor of passing a bill to protect the rights of freed Negros. Stephen B. Elkins, New Mexico’s representative, was not there for most of the speech but did shake his colleges hand in congratulations.
This specific handshake in said to be blamed for costing New
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Mexico many southerners’ votes. New Mexico remained a territory for 36 more years after that. Despite all of the racial, political, economic, and religious problems which delayed every attempt at statehood, New Mexico never gave up and kept trying. On June 20, 1910, President William H. Taft signed an enabling act which allowed the territory to call a constructional convention to help prepare them to become a state. One hundred delegates from every county in the territory met in Santa Fe and drafted a constitution that votes approved on January 21, 1911. Congress approved of this on January 6, 1912, President William H. Taft made it official. He declared New Mexico the 47th state in the United States of America. New Mexico was the longest sustained admission fight in American history involving territories. Among the historical records of the U.S.
House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate at the Center for Legislative Archives are many documents that illustrate the important role Congress plays in the creation of states. For both New Mexico and Arizona, the road to statehood was protracted and contentious. However, after much effort, on January 6, 1912 New Mexico became the 47th state and on February 14, 1912 Arizona became the 48th state in the Union. Both states celebrate their 100th anniversaries in 2012. Here is a sample of the many congressional records that document New Mexico's and Arizona's long journeys to statehood. …show more content…
(2015) Hispanics and Indians made up most of New Mexico’s population prior to becoming a state. Also the religion was too Catholic for admission to the American Union. People also wanted to change the name of the territory to help it become a state. Even in the midst of civil strife and political storms, New Mexico was edging toward a social and cultural transformation. But the changes beginning to take place and the society that was emerging showed only marginal similarities with the development then going on in other areas of American’s West. New Mexico, despite immigration from the eastern United States, steady economic growth, and a gradual increase in educational institutions, all of which drew the territory closer to the mainstream of national life, still remained a land apart. Much of the reason resided in the continuing dominance of the Hispanic population. Throughout territorial days, and indeed until the 1940s, descendants of the colonial Spanish constituted a majority of New Mexico’s people. In the other borderland provinces acquired from Mexico in 1848, Texas, Arizona, and California, the original inhabitants, by contrast, had quickly been swamped by incoming Anglo-Americans and their Hispanic culture was either buried or relegated to small, isolated islands within the new English-speaking society. For a long time in the nineteenth century, New Mexicans were allowed to move along at an unhurried pace, and to follow their Old World customs without interference because other Americans were hardly aware of their existence. Gradually, of course, by a process of accretion, American ways made inroads. Yet the framework of Hispanic culture was kept intact and continued to serve as the principal point of reference by which the people viewed their past and measured the future. `One test still remained to confirm Americans in the belief that New Mexicans were loyal and worthy sons of the republic.
At the outbreak of the Spanish-American War in 1898, President William McKinley sent a telegram to Governor Miguel A. Otero, Jr., at Santa Fe, asking him to assist in recruiting stalwart young men who were good shots and good riders. Otero, the first Hispanic to serve as governor of the territory, knew he was on the spot. “Many newspapers in the East,” he later told an interviewer, “were dubious about our loyalty we having such a large Mexican population.” Hoping to lay suspicions to rest, Governor Otero issued a call to every town and ranch in the territory for volunteers and offered his own services, if needed. The response from both Hispanics and Anglos was so generous that afterward Theodore Roosevelt would claim that half the officers and men of his famous Rough Riders Regiment came from New
Mexico. In 1898 Congress passed the Fergusson Act providing for the foundation of a public school system in the territory. In 1910 Congress passed the Enabling Act, signed by President William Howard Taft. It provided for the calling of a constitutional convention in New Mexico. The conservative document that body drafted was ratified by voters early the following year, and on January 6, 1912, New Mexico became the forty-seventh state in the Union. (2015 Robert W. Larson) http://online.nmartmuseum.org/nmhistory/people-places-and-politics/statehood/history-statehood.html http://www.nmgs.org/artcuar7.htm
Starting with the first chapter, Deverell examines the racial and ethnic violence that took place in the wake of American defeat. In no more than thirty years or so, ethnic relations had appeased and the Mexican people were outnumbered quickly (as well as economically marginalized and politically disenfranchised), as the second chapter discloses. The author examines a variety of topics to further his case but the most compelling and captivating sections of the book come into the third, fourth and fifth chapters. The third chapter focuses its attention
The Rough Riders was tough and was he first volunteer Calvary. They were sent to fight in Cuba. Roosevelt was very bold and became an extremely popular figure. The Rough Riders charge up Kettle Hill made Theodore the biggest national hero in the Spanish-American War. Theodore’s strong mindset and actions influenced the people around him and helped them, The Rough Riders, win the Spanish-American
This book by Otis A. Singletary deals with different aspects of the Mexican war. It is a compelling description and concise history of the first successful offensive war in United States military history. The work examines two countries that were unprepared for war. The political intrigues and quarrels in appointing the military commanders, as well as the military operations of the war, are presented and analyzed in detail. The author also analyzes the role that the Mexican War played in bringing on the U.S. Civil War.
On June 23, 1845, the Republic of Texas was annexed to the U.S. as a slave state. Foley notes "the annexation of Texas as a slave state…became the great white hope of northern expansionists anxious to emancipate the nation from blacks, who, it was hoped, would find a home among the kindred population of 'colored races' in Mexico."(20) But rather than uniting as kindred races, discord between poor whites, African Americans and Mexicans resulted from competition for farmland as either tenant farmers or sharecroppers.
Robert E. Lee once said, “What a cruel thing war is... to fill our hearts with hatred instead of love for our neighbors.” The Mexican war is about to start and Robert E. Lee will play a big part in it. Before and during the Mexican war, Lee will serve under General Winfield Scott, and Scott will have great influence on him (History.com “American Civil”). America had an idea of “Manifest Destiny which was American who believed it was their destiny to spread their culture across the continent to the Pacific. During the Mexican War, Lee proved to be a combat leader, leading to his involvement in the Civil War for the Confederate States of America (Robert Rudolph).
In the afternoon of February 23, 1836, Santa Anna’s army arrived in San Antonio. The Texan defenders retreated to the well-fortified Alamo. Santa Anna had given the defenders time to escape if they wanted, but the Texans stayed, confident with their weaponry. With the few soldiers he had, Colonel Travis sent requests to Colonel James Fannin for reinforcements, but received none. Fannin thought that the 300 men he had wouldn’t make a difference and may not arrive in time. Of the 200 defenders, there were settlers who wanted independence as well as a dozen Tejanos who joined the movement. Although they believed in ind...
Arizona’s Constitution was written sometime in 1910; amended, ratified, and approved by Congress in 1911. Then Arizona became the 48th state and the last adjoining state to be welcomed in the Union; on February 14, 1912. Since then the citizens of Arizona has amended their Constitution many times. The Constitution consists of thirty articles. There were quite a lot of events that impacted the process of Arizona becoming its own state. The first section will examine the events that developed Arizona Constitution. The next section will summarize the powers and functions of Arizona's three branches of government. In the following section will discuss the procedures for amending this Constitution. Finally, a reflection on the amendment process for the Arizona Constitution will close this document.
This group of soldiers, led by Theodore Roosevelt, was one of the most memorable army units in United States history. Consisting of sheriffs, outlaws, students, and Native Americans this unit was definitely a miss-match of people, yet what they had accomplished brought them fame in America. Fighting in battles like that of Las Guasimas and San Juan Hill had been key points throughout the campaign in Cuba against Spain, and grew the notoriety of the Rough Riders. This reputation would eventually lead the Rough Riders into the history books and Theodore Roosevelt into the White House. The Rough Riders were formed in 1898 under Theodore Roosevelt’s command.
Rosales, F. Arturo. Lecture 2/14 Film The US-Mexican War Prelude. Weber, David J. - "The 'Path of the World'" Foreigners in Their Native Land: The Historical Roots of Mexican Americans.
From the very second the words of annexation of Texas hit the US borders anti-slavery activists were on the ball...
The seeds of secession had been sown early in American history; quite literally with the fundamental differences in agriculture and resultant adoption of slavery in the South. From early days, the thirteen states had grown up separately, and each had their own culture and beliefs, which were often incompatible with those held in other states. The geographical and cultural differences between north and south would manifest themselves at regular and alarming intervals throughout the hundred years following the drafting of the constitution. Tension reached a peak during the 1850s, over the right to hold slaves in new territories. The Wilmot Proviso of 1846, roused bitter hostilities, and vehement debate turned to physical violence during the period of 'Bleeding Kansas'. The election of Lincoln, who the South perceived to be an abolitionist, in 1860 was the final straw, and the secession of seven Southern states followed soon after.
The United States House and Senate, in turn, accepted the Texas state constitution in a Joint Resolution to admit Texas as a State which was signed by the president on December 29, 1845 . Although the formal transfer of government did not occur until February 19, 1846, Texas statehood dates from the 29th of December.
Since the Constitution was ratified in 1787, the states have wrestled with the balance of power between the federal government and the individual states. As early as 1798 and 1799, the Kentucky and Virginia legislatures passed resolutions to oppose the Alien and Sedition Acts passed by Congress. While the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions did not use the word “nullification,” the resolutions challenged the power of the federal government.
A Texan, William B. Travis and a small group of Texans attacked a squad of Mexican troops in Anahuac with the motive that “taxes should not thus be collected from them to support a standing army in their own country” (SOS 1) and soon drove them back. Travis retreated to San Felipe and were assisted to Bexar. Skirmishes and the threat of war with Mexico soon followed.
After winning the Mexican-American War in 1848, the United States gained the western territories, which included modern-day California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, as well as parts of Wyoming, Colorado, Kansas, and Oklahoma. However, controversial topics, that helped cause the Civil War, arouse with the addition of these new territories. Primarily, the people of the United States wanted to know whether the new territories would be admitted as free states or slave states. In order to avoid fighting between the slave states of the South and the free states of the North, Henry Clay (Whig) and Stephen Douglas (Democrat) drafted the Compromise of 1850. Although the compromise was created to stop conflict ...