Skip to main content
Arizona State Library Logo

Main menu

  • Home
  • About
    • Volunteering Opportunities
      • Volunteer at the Arizona Talking Book Library
    • Boards and Commissions
    • Contact Us
  • Branches
    • Archives & Records Management
      • Accessing Arizona Public Records
      • Conservation Disaster Recovery
      • Programs, Training, and Presentations
      • Records Center Services
        • Records Warehouse and Vault
      • Research at the Archives
        • Ancestry.com Arizona
        • Arizona State Agency Records and Publications
        • Genealogy Collection
          • Genealogy Information Portals
          • Ten Basic Steps to Researching Your Family Tree
        • Maps at the Arizona State Archives
        • Photograph Collections
          • Photograph Collection List
        • Arizona Women's Hall of Fame
      • Retention Schedules, Forms, Standards, Guidance and FAQs
        • Forms and Approvals
        • Guidance, Standards and Statutes
        • Retention Schedules
      • Contact
    • Arizona Talking Book Library
    • E-Rate
    • Library Development
      • Arizona Center for the Book
      • Arizona Reading Program
      • Contact Library Development
      • Continuing Education
        • Arizona State Library Leadership Institute
        • Arizona State Library Summer Institute
        • Get Involved Collaborative
        • Scholarships
        • Library Support Staff Certification
      • Library Directory
      • Grants
      • Library Services & Technology Act (LSTA) Funding
      • Programs, Services and Tools
      • State Grants-in-Aid (SGIA)
    • State of Arizona Research Library
      • Legislative Assistance and Resources
      • Patent and Trademark Resources
      • State Publications
      • State of Arizona Research Library Policies
      • Arizona Collection
      • Arizona Newspapers
      • Federal Agency Publications and Information
      • Legal Resources
      • Research Center
        • Voting Rights Timeline
      • Research for State Employees
  • Collections
    • Digital Arizona Library (DAZL)
      • Resources for Learners
        • Elementary Students
        • High School and Junior High
        • Research Topics
      • Arizona Almanac
      • Reading Arizona eBooks
      • Arizona Maps Online
      • Arizona Government
        • State Agency Histories
        • Historic Election Materials
        • Documents Leading to Statehood
        • Historic Arizona Legislatures
      • Arizona Historic Digital Newspapers
      • Arizona Memory Project
      • Arizona Research Topics
      • Online Reference Resources
    • Arizona State Knowledge (ASK)
    • Arizona Talking Book Library Online Catalog
    • Braille and Audio Reading Download
    • Research Library Catalog
  • Events
  • Services
    • Library Directory
    • Jobline
    • Newsletter
    • Retention Schedules
  • Home
  • Collections
  • Digital Arizona Library (DAZL)
  • Arizona Government
  • Documents Leading to Statehood
Please excuse our site and file changes as we transition to Secretary Fontes.

Documents Leading to Statehood

1787
Northwest Ordinance
Document Type: Ordinances

The Avalon Project at Yale Law School provides a transcription of the Northwest Ordinance. This created a legal structure within which the inhabitants of lands outside of the 13 original states could operate, outlined the steps to form territorial governments and the means by which new states could be admitted to the Union.

Read more about Northwest Ordinance
1846
Laws For the Government of New Mexico
Document Type: Ordinances

The Avalon Project at Yale Law School provides a transcription of the Laws for the Government of the Territory of New Mexico dated September 22, 1846 also known as the Kearny Code.  An explanation of the international law at the time relating to conquest of land through war and treaties that follows are in two U.S. Supreme Court cases:  Leitensdorfer v. Webb 61 U.S. 176 (1857) and  Fleming v. Page, 50 U.S. 603 (1850).

Read more about Laws For the Government of New Mexico
1846
Confidential Letter of the Secretary of War to General Kearny
Document Type: Acts

In December 1845, the U.S. Congress voted to annex the Texas Republic which Mexico considered to be its territory and, after border skirmishes, Congress declared war on Mexico on May 13, 1846. Brigadier General Stephen W. Kearny was sent with troops to secure New Mexico, Chihuahua, and California.

Read more about Confidential Letter of the Secretary of War to General Kearny
1846
Bill of Rights for the Territory of New Mexico
Document Type: Ordinances

The New Mexico Office of the State Historian provides this transcription of the Bill of Rights For the Territory of New Mexico as declared by Brigadier General Stephen W. Kearny, September 22, 1846.

Read more about Bill of Rights for the Territory of New Mexico
1848
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
Document Type:

This Library of Congress site has links to pages from the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, signed February 2, 1848 which brought an end to the war between the United States and Mexico. 525,000 square miles were ceded to the United States, including parts of present-day Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, and Utah.

Read more about Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
1848
Senate Executive Document No. 7
Document Type: Letters / Misc.

This Library of Congress site links to Notes of a Military Reconnoissance [sic], From Fort Leavenworth, In Missouri, To San Diego, In California, Including Part of the Arkansas, Del Norte, and Gila Rivers. By W.H. Emory, Brevet Major, Corps Topographical Engineers. Made in 1846-7, with the Advanced Guard of the "Army of the West." (Washington, DC: Wendell and van Benthuysen, Printers, 1848).

Read more about Senate Executive Document No. 7
1850
Senate Discussion of S. 307 August 6, 1850
Document Type: Bills

The Library of Congress provides access to the Journal of the Senate of the United States of America, vol. 41, pp. 524-529 where the background is provided for amending the bill. S.

Read more about Senate Discussion of S. 307 August 6, 1850
1850
9 Stat. 1005-1006
Document Type: Acts

The Library of Congress provides access to President Millard Fillmore's December 13, 1850 proclamation "Declaring Act of 1850, ch. 49, respecting the Boundaries of Texas, to be in force" which was published on pages 1005-1006 of the appendix to volume 9 of the Statutes at Large.

Read more about 9 Stat. 1005-1006
1850
9 Stat. 446
Document Type: Acts

The Library of Congress provides access to "An Act proposing to the State of Texas the Establishment of her Northern and Western Boundaries, the Relinquishment by the said State of all Territory claimed by her exterior to said Boundaries, and all her Claims upon the United States, and to establish a territorial Government for New Mexico" from the September 9, 1850 entry in the Statutes at Large.

Read more about 9 Stat. 446
1850
Compromise of 1850
Document Type: Ordinances

This document is from a series of Library of Congress guides to "Primary Documents in American History" and shows how the creation of the Territory of New Mexico (which included Arizona) was part of the Compromise of 1850 which was an attempt to maintain the balance between the free and slave states in the United States and avert a crisis between the North and South.

Read more about Compromise of 1850
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  • next ›
  • last »

Collections

  • Digital Arizona Library (DAZL)
    • Resources for Learners
      • Elementary Students
      • High School and Junior High
      • Research Topics
    • Arizona Almanac
    • Reading Arizona eBooks
    • Arizona Maps Online
    • Arizona Government
      • State Agency Histories
      • Historic Election Materials
      • Documents Leading to Statehood
      • Historic Arizona Legislatures
    • Arizona Historic Digital Newspapers
    • Arizona Memory Project
    • Arizona Research Topics
    • Online Reference Resources
  • Arizona State Knowledge (ASK)
  • Arizona Talking Book Library Online Catalog
  • Braille and Audio Reading Download
  • Research Library Catalog

Starl Logo

We're here to help

Polly Rosenbaum Archives and History Building
1901 W. Madison St
Phoenix, AZ 85009

General Information
Phone: 602-926-3870
Contact Us ask a question icon

Appointments are required, please use Contact Us to schedule.

Hours

Monday - Friday
8 am - 5 pm
Except state holidays

Follow the State Library

Twitter - Arizona Capitol Museum Facebook - State Library of Arizona WordPress - Virtual Reference Desk

Library Catalog Search



 

 

Arizona State Seal
Contact Us
Arizona State Library, Archives, and Public Records
Multiple Locations
See Contact Us Page
Map Image

Footer Nav

  • Statewide Policies
  • Site Map
  • Website Policies
  • Contact Us
  • Staff Login