Arizona Statehood - Essay Example

Around the fourteenth century, tribes living in the Colorado plateau began building cities on the sides of cliffs to protect themselves, especially from the Dine, a nomadic tribe from the north (AZ Big Media, 2011). These tribes are today known as the Apaches and Navajo. The first non-native in Arizona was Estevanico; an African slave shipwrecked off the Florida coast in 1529 and reached Arizona eight years later. Marcos de Niza who was a Franciscan Friar planned to make an expedition north and asked for Cabeza de Vaca’s help. Wanting to return to Spain, de Vaca turned him down, and Marcos turned to Estevanico for help, letting him go ahead of him. Francisco Vasquez led an invading army of Spaniards, looking for the mythical gold cities, the following year (AZ Big Media, 2011). However, Coronado made it only as far as Kansas before turning back, his only major discovery being the Grand Canyon.

For the next 250 years, from 1540-1810, the Spaniards ruled Arizona, considering it a desert land that was worthless and left its natives alone (The Robinson Library, 2012). It was referred to as New Spain’s Pimeria Alta colony. However, silver and gold were soon discovered and they began expanding their influence by moving in that area. Arizona’s name comes from Spaniard-owned silver mines. Father Kino who was an Italian priest came along with the Spaniards and was the most famous European at this time. Father Kino was instrumental in bringing new farming methods and education. As a fierce opponent of slavery, he was hugely popular among the natives of Arizona (The Robinson Library, 2012). During his mission to bring the Southern Arizona tribes to Christianity, he established twenty-four towns and missions including Tucson. 

Mexico gained independence from Spain in 1810 and Arizona formed part of its territory. Some American mountain men did venture into Arizona, including Kit Carson who was the first American to travel the length of Arizona and back, but it was left alone for a while since its tribes were considered savages. America moved against Mexico in 1846 to seize land stretching from Texas down to the Pacific Ocean (e-RD, 2011). However, they had no way to get to California, which they had already established an interest in before the beginning of the war. On the other hand, the Mormons had been evicted from Illinois, and they wanted to establish a colony in Utah. Therefore, they struck a deal with the US government as suppliers of labor to build a road from New Mexico to San Diego. They managed this by using a longer route than was necessary, although this meant that they escaped the Apaches, who were known to be vicious and would have attacked them (e-RD, 2011).

After, winning the Mexican war, the question turned to the drawing of the Southern border. The Northern States, which were the most dominant, wanted the line as north as possible since New Mexico and Southern Arizona was slave-friendly territory as they lay south of the line at Mason-Dixon (Facts About..., 2012). The border was thus drawn along the Gila River. Ambassador James Gadsden then traveled to Mexico with the view of making a purchase for some of the Mexican territories. Mexico actually needed this money and offered the North of Mexico and Baja California. However, Congress authorized a bare minimum to regain the Mormon-built road as they were afraid of adding more territory that ran slavery. According to Mexican law, native tribes had their land claims recognized but Americans only considered title deeds as land claims. The Apache wars lasted from 1848 to 1886 with the surrender of Geronimo after which the south of New Mexico was enjoined with the American Confederate States (Facts About..., 2012).

Arizona has a unique political history. It was the first state to allow women voters, as well as the first, to allow judges to be recalled. It was also the first state to let public petitions override the legislature and constitution of the state. Its recent reforms have included state race funding and a commission of citizens to draw lines for legislative and congressional districts, as well as having four female governors already, which is unique for a state considered conservative (History, 2012). The unique nature of Arizona politics is traceable to 1885 during the time of the 13th Territorial Legislature. After troops to fight the Apaches were called up for the Civil War, Arizona required new channels of revenue to modernize the state. The legislature spent a lot of money to create a prison at Yuma, a training school for teachers at Tempe, a Phoenix asylum, and a college at Tucson. Bonds for trains, bridges, and roads augmented this. However, all but one of these legislative members were felled at the next election due to what was considered massive deficit spending, although their actions are largely responsible for present-day Arizona (History, 2012).

In the election year 1912, President Taft proposed making Arizona and New Mexico into fully-fledged states. New Mexico became the 47th state after Arizona’s constitution, and paperwork were initially rejected because of the provision to recall judges. After removing the above, the date of 12 February was set, but this coincided with President Lincoln’s birthday, so the state was ratified on the 14th (The Robinson Library, 2012). The first action that had been taken after Arizona was granted statehood was an amendment to the constitution to allow judges to be recalled. The invention of air conditioning was the last piece of the puzzle for Arizona as it drastically improved what was a scorching hot state and led to rapid growth. Phoenix tripled in size between 1950 and 1960 and is now America’s 5th largest city.