Admission of Washington State to the Union
The admission of Washington State to the Union marks a significant chapter in American history, reflecting the complexities of territorial governance and settlement in the Pacific Northwest. Following the Oregon Treaty of 1846, which resolved border disputes with Great Britain, the U.S. organized the Oregon Territory in 1848, encompassing present-day Washington, Oregon, and Idaho. Early American settlers, drawn by economic opportunities and the promise of land, faced challenges such as the harsh territorial governance from Oregon and threats of violence, which initially stunted growth in the area.
By the early 1850s, dissatisfaction with the Oregon government led residents of northern Washington to seek their own territorial status. This culminated in the establishment of Washington Territory in 1853, named in honor of George Washington. Despite continued efforts for statehood throughout the latter half of the century, Congress repeatedly rejected proposals due to concerns about population and infrastructure. However, by 1889, amidst shifting political dynamics, Washington was finally admitted as the 42nd state. This transition reflects broader themes of westward expansion, governance, and the evolving identity of the United States during that era.
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Admission of Washington State to the Union
Admission of Washington State to the Union
The Oregon Treaty, ratified by the United States Senate on June 15, 1846, amicably terminated a long dispute with Great Britain over the location of the Canadian-American border west of the Rocky Mountains. The Americans, who claimed Pacific territory as far north as 54 degrees 40 minutes north latitude, and the British, who wanted to restrict the expanding young United States to a much more southerly 42 degrees, compromised on a dividing line set at the 49th Parallel. On August 13, 1848, Congress organized the Oregon country below that line into a territory. A sizable region, the new Oregon Territory included what were to be the states of Idaho, Oregon, and Washington as well as parts of Montana and Wyoming.
In 1844 Michael T. Simmons and John R. Jackson led a group of settlers to Oregon that contained George W. Bush, who was of mixed-race decent. When the party discovered that an enactment of the Oregon Provisional Government banned persons of black ancestry from residence in the region, they crossed the Columbia River and in 1845 established the first American communities in the area of Washington. The land, although still part of the Oregon country, was beyond the effective control of the provisional government. Simmons settled at New Market or Tumwater (later Olympia, the state capital). Jackson established his home on the Cowlitz River, and Bush selected what became known as Bush's Prairie for himself.
Few immigrants ventured across the Columbia River in the first years of settlement. The ratification of the Oregon Treaty encouraged the pioneers, but the slaying of the Whitman missionary family by Cayuse warriors at Waillatpu in 1847 frightened away many would-be settlers. The discovery of gold in California diverted still more people from the Puget Sound region, and by 1849 a census by Governor Joseph Lane of the Oregon Territory located only 304 pioneers above the Columbia.
American troops established a fort at Steilacoom in 1849, and their presence ensured security for prospective settlers. Economic opportunity proved to be an even greater inducement to the pioneers, who found in growing California a market for the food, fish, and timber that were so plentiful north of the Columbia River. The region developed quickly in response to these stimuli, attaining a population of 1,049 by the 1850 census.
Settlers pushed north along Puget Sound in 1851 to what was later Alki Point, but found the location inadequate as a port. The following spring they established a town along the inside shoreline of Elliott Bay and named it in honor of Chief Sealth of the Duwamish tribe, though they corrupted his name in the process. Seattle, as they called it, enjoyed an excellent harbor that guaranteed its prosperity.
The residents north of the Columbia River soon became discontent under the jurisdiction of the Oregon government. In order to take care of legal and other matters, they had to travel across many arduous miles of the Pacific Northwest to the territorial capital located south of the river. Furthermore, the legislature neglected to build roads or perform other essential services in the Puget Sound area. Finally, the larger southern population found the attention-demanding northerners to be a nuisance. Both groups decided that the answer to the problem was a separate government for the upper region.
Northerners held a convention at Cowlitz Landing in August 1852 to petition Congress for territorial status. On November 25, 1852, a second convention met at Monticello and the 44-elected delegates repeated the call for the organization of a Territory of Columbia. In Congress Joseph Lane, the Oregon representative and former governor, also advanced the cause of northern independence.
On February 8, 1853, Congress began to discuss a bill to create the Territory of Columbia. Representative Richard Henry Stanton suggested that the area's name be changed to Washington to honor the nation's first president. The legislators passed the amended measure on February 10, and President James K. Polk signed it on March 2, 1853. The new Washington Territory included the land from the Pacific Ocean to the crest of the Rocky Mountains between the 49th and 46th parallels of north latitude, except where the Columbia River formed the southern boundary.
In 1863 Congress created the Territory of Idaho in response to appeals for their own government made by settlers living in Oregon and Washington east of the Cascade Mountains. Inspired by the Idahoans' success, the residents of the Walla Walla region, also east of the Cascades, agitated for separation from Washington and its distant capital at Olympia. In 1876 Congress rejected a bill to annex Walla Walla to Oregon. The discussions surrounding the proposal, however, prompted western Washingtonians (who were anxious to keep their boundaries intact) to work vigorously for statehood. In response to their efforts, the Washington territorial legislature called for the election of delegates to a constitutional convention to meet in Walla Walla.
The convention assembled at Walla Walla on June 11, 1878, and by July 27 it had drafted a constitution. After ratification Thomas Brents, the territorial representative, asked Congress to admit Washington to the Union with the Walla Walla document as the state's basic law. Congress rejected this appeal for two reasons: (1) there was no direct railroad connection with the territory, and (2) it was feared that the region's small population of 75,000 might prove unable to support its own government.
Along with several other territories, Washington frequently requested statehood during the 1880s. Congress, fearful that multiple admissions might upset the equilibrium established between the Democratic and Republican parties, turned aside all these motions. In 1889, however, a lame-duck Democratic Congress agreed to admit Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Washington to the Union.
The enabling act, appropriately enacted on George Washington's birthday (February 22, 1889), required the territory to call a constitutional convention. The voters ratified the frame of government devised by the gathering and submitted it to President Benjamin Harrison. He approved the document and on November 11, 1889, proclaimed Washington a member of the United States.