The Avalon Project at Yale Law School provides a transcription of the Gadsden Purchase Treaty as amended by the Senate of the United States and signed by President Franklin Pierce on June 30, 1854. The version of the treaty which was signed in Mexico on December 30, 1853 specified that the United States would pay $15 million for 45,000 square miles of territory. However, when the U.S. Senate ratified the treaty on April 25, 1854, only $10 million was authorized for the purchase of 29,670 square miles of territory. The renegotiated treaty was signed by Antonio López de Santa Anna on June 8, 1854. See also: Gadsden Purchase, 1853-1854 (U.S. Department of State, Office of the Historian).
Documents Leading to Statehood
1856
Document Type: Bills
The Library of Congress provides access to S. 176 (34th Congress, 1st Session) "A Bill To establish a separate judicial district south of the Gila, and to create the office of surveyor general therein, to provide for the adjudication of certain land claims, to grant donations to actual settlers, to survey certain lands, and for other purposes" which was introduced March 18, 1856 by Sen. Rusk of Texas. January 28, 1857 (34th Congress, 3rd Session) the title of the bill was changed to read "A bill to establish a separate judicial district south of the Gila, and to create the office of surveyor general therein; to provide for the adjudication of certain land claims; to grant donations to actual settlers; to survey certain lands; to provide for the representation of the inhabitants of the ''Gadsden Purchase'' in the territorial legislature of New Mexico, and for other purposes."
1857
Document Type: Bills
The Library of Congress provides access to House of Representatives Bill 752 (34th Congress 3rd Session) "A Bill To establish a separate judicial district south of the Gila, and to create the office of surveyor general therein; to provide for the adjudication of certain land claims; to grant donations to actual settlers; to survey certain lands; to provide for the representation of the inhabitants of the 'Gadsden Purchase' in the Territorial legislature of New Mexico, and for other purposes" which Rep. Morrill of Vermont, from the Committee on Territories, brought to the House Committee of the Whole on January 20, 1857.
- On the first Monday in September, 1857, another election was held at Tucson. New petitions to Congress were prepared and Sylvester Mowry was chosen delegate to Congress. He was not admitted.
- September 1, 1858, at Mesilla, and July 3, 1859, Tucson, meetings were held at which Mowry was nominated for reelection. In September he was reelected.
1857
Document Type: Bills
The Library of Congress provides access to Senate Bill S. 8 (35th Congress 1st Session) "to organize the territory of Arizona, and to create the office of Surveyor General therein, to provide for the examination of private land claims, to grant donations to actual settlers, to survey the public and private lands, and for other purposes," introduced on leave in Senate by Hon. William M. Gwin [of California], and referred to Committee on Territories, Dec. 17, 1857. The proposed Territory included the Gadsden Purchase and Dona Anna [sic] county, New Mexico, thus extending from the Colorado river to the border of Texas. The committee was discharged from further consideration of the bill, Feb. 8, 1859. See: "Memoir of the Proposed Territory of Arizona by Sylvester Mowry, U. S. A., Delegate Elect" (Avalon Project at Yale Law School).
1859
Document Type: Bills
The Library of Congress provides access to Senate Bill 555 (35th Congress 2nd Session), a bill "to provide temporary governments for the Territories of Dacota [sic] and Arizona, and to create the office of surveyor general for the Territory of Arizona." February 4, 1859, a bill was introduced in the Senate (S-555), for the admission of Dakota, in which bill Arizona was included. Nothing came of it.
- April 2-5, 1860, a Constitutional Convention was held at Tucson. Thirty-one delegates were present. The Constitution ordained and established a provisional government to remain in force until Congress should organize a Territorial Government. This Territory included all of New Mexico south of latitude 33 degrees, 40 minutes, and was subdivided into four counties. James A. Lucas was president, G. H. Oury and T. M. Turner secretaries of the convention. Dr. L. S. Owings of Mesilla was elected Governor. In November Edward McGowan was elected delegate to Congress to succeed Mowry.
1860
Document Type: Bills
The Library of Congress provides access to Senate Bill 365 36th Congress 1st Session "A Bill To provide a temporary government for the Territory of Arizuma [sic] and to create the office of surveyor general therein." A Bill (S. 365) "to provide a temporary government for the Territory of Arizuma," was reported from Committee on Territories, Senate, by Hon. James S. Green, April 3, 1860; considered and amended Dec. 27 and further consideration thereof postponed December 31, 1860.
- In 1861, a convention was held in Tucson, which formally declared Arizona a part of the Confederacy, and in August G. H. Oury was elected delegate to the Confederate Congress. The Library of Congress provides access to Journal of the Congress of the Confederate States of America where the formation of the Territory of Arizona from the southern half of the Territory of New Mexico was proposed.
1862
Document Type: Bills
The Library of Congress provides access to House of Representatives Bill 357 (37th Congress 2nd Session) "a bill to provide a temporary government for the Territory of Arizona" which was to be formed from the western portion of the existing Territory of New Mexico. ...the Arizona Bill was again introduced, and this time the north and south boundary was fixed where it now is on the 109th meridian.... [The bill] was reported from Committee on Territories, House of Representatives, by Hon. James M. Ashley, March 13, 1862; passed that House May 8, 1862; passed the Senate Feb. 20, 1863; and became a law February 24, 1863, recognizing the Territory of Arizona.
1863
Document Type: Acts
The Library of Congress provides access to Statutes at Large 37th Congress 2nd Session which includes "An Act to provide a temporary Government for the Territory of Arizona, and for other Purposes" which became effective February 24, 1863. President Abraham Lincoln appointed Arizona's Territorial officials who took the oath of office at Navajo Springs, Arizona on December 29, 1863.
1865
Document Type: Acts
This 1865 map by William B. Hartley from the collections of the Library of Congress shows the original boundaries of the Territory of Arizona before the U.S. Congress transferred land from Mohave and Pah-Ute counties in the Territory of Arizona to the State of Nevada in 1866.
1866
Document Type: Acts
The Library of Congress provides access to Statutes at Large 39th Congress 1st Session page 43 "An Act concerning the Boundaries of the State of Nevada" which was approved May 5, 1866. This offered the State of Nevada land from the territories of Utah and Arizona that bordered Nevada on the east and south. James Warren Nye who served as Governor and then as U.S. Senator from the State of Nevada, served on the Committee on Territories which recommended passage of S. 155 (39th Congress, 1st Session) which took land from both Mohave and Pah-Ute counties in the Territory of Arizona. The triangular section of land bounded by 37 degrees north latitude and running to the California border now forms the southern tip of Nevada where Las Vegas is located.
- The subject of Statehood was first broached in 1877, when [Arizona Territorial] Governor A. P. K. Safford, in a measure to the Arizona Legislature, predicted that the Territory "will soon become a State."
