Colorado Admitted to the Union
On August 1, 1876, Colorado was officially admitted to the United States as the 38th state, following a complex history of exploration, settlement, and political development. Early inhabitants of the region included agricultural cliff dwellers, long before European explorers like Francisco Vásquez de Coronado entered in the 1540s in search of riches. The area attracted further interest with the discovery of gold in the late 1850s, particularly in the regions around Central City, leading to a population boom as prospectors flocked to the state. Political organization began with the establishment of the territory of Colorado in 1861, although initial attempts at statehood faced numerous challenges. An enabling act in 1875 finally set the stage for statehood, requiring the new constitution to include several unique provisions regarding land and taxation. The constitution was adopted in July 1876, paving the way for President Ulysses S. Grant to sign the admission proclamation that celebrated Colorado's entry into the Union, a moment commemorated annually as "Colorado Day."
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Colorado Admitted to the Union
Colorado Admitted to the Union
On August 1, 1876, President Ulysses S. Grant signed the proclamation admitting Colorado to the Union as the 38th state. Events celebrating “Colorado Day” are frequently held in Central City, a historic mining town that is considered by many to be the “birthplace” of Colorado. It was near there that John Gregory discovered the celebrated gold deposits on May 6, 1859, in the steep gulch that later bore his name. The area became known as “the richest square mile on earth” until the title was forfeited to another of the state's mining regions, Cripple Creek, 30 years later. The more than $75 million worth of minerals and metals from Central City was of vital importance in keeping the smaller plains settlements alive.
Four centuries before the discovery of America by Europeans, sedentary, agricultural cliff dwellers constructed their multistoried “apartment houses” in the canyons of the southernmost region of what is now Colorado. The first Europeans to enter the area were the Spanish, who traveled from Mexico to christianize the natives and seek riches. In the 1540s Francisco Vásquez de Coronado probably touched upon Colorado during his quest for the fabled Seven Cities of Cibola, where the streets were supposedly paved with gold. Throughout the 17th century, small Spanish expeditions continued to explore the area and as early as 1700 French explorers reached the Rocky Mountains. The profitable fur trade also enticed the first American, James Purcell, into the Colorado region in 1803.
The largely uncharted wilderness still remained practically virgin territory for Europeans when the United States gained the vast, vaguely defined region between the Mississippi River and the Rocky Mountains in the Louisiana Purchase of 1803. Several expeditionary parties, including Zebulon M. Pike's (1806), Stephen H. Long's (1820), and John C. Frémont's (1842-1843 and 1845), were commissioned by the federal government. Overland trails were mapped out and several private forts were constructed, but settlement did not really start in earnest until the United States acquired the rest of Colorado by cession from Mexico in 1848 following the Mexican War. Texas yielded some additional territory in 1850.
Settlers from Georgia and Kansas entered Colorado as gold seekers in 1858. Green Russell, a Georgia prospector, found gold in the Little Dry Creek near the south edge of Denver that very year. When the first great gold discoveries were made in the winter and spring of 1859 in Idaho Springs, near Central City, and in other places, prospectors flocked to Colorado. The free-for-all days of the mining camps had begun. Horace Greeley, the editor of the New York Tribune, was among the first easterners to arrive at the strike near Central City. He vividly described its 4,000 new residents who slept, cooked, and ate outdoors.
The political development during the next two decades was chaotic. In 1858 “Arapahoe county,” in which all of Colorado was included, was considered part of the Kansas Territory. A delegate was nevertheless dispatched to Washington, D.C., to secure the admission of an independent territory called Jefferson. After a movement for statehood was inaugurated, a constitution drawn up, submitted to the people and rejected, the illegal territory of Jefferson was formed. Its provisional legislature managed to operate until Congress passed the bill for territorial status on February 28, 1861. William Gilpin, the first governor, bestowed the name Colorado from the Spanish word for “red” or “colored.” By that time the population had risen to 20,798 males, 4,484 females, and 89 free blacks. In the 1860s other unsuccessful attempts were made to organize a state government. In 1867 President Andrew Johnson vetoed an enabling act prepared by the Republican Party.
Finally an enabling act of Congress, passed on March 3, 1875, provided for the admission of the territory as a state. It contained some unusual provisions. It directed as a condition of admission that the constitution should provide by ordinance, irrevocable without the consent of the United States and the people of the state, the following provisions: that perfect religious toleration should be secured; that the people should disclaim all right to the unappropriated public lands; that the lands should remain at the sole disposition of the United States; that the land in Colorado belonging to citizens of the United States living outside the state should not be taxed at a higher rate than the lands belonging to residents; and that no tax should be levied on lands or property of the United States.
The constitution was framed at a convention held at Denver from December 20, 1875 to March 14, 1876, and the people of the territory adopted it on July 1, 1876. The final admission proclamation of President Grant was dated August 1, 1876.