6th Arizona Territorial Legislature

The 6th Arizona Territorial Legislative Assembly was a session of the Arizona Territorial Legislature which met in Tucson beginning on January 11, 1871, and ran until February 14, 1871.

Arizona Territory's sixth legislative session was initially scheduled to occur in 1869. Governor Richard C. McCormick had departed to become Arizona's Territorial Delegate to Congress following the previous session however and his replacement had not arrived in time to issue a call for elections. In the intervening time, the U.S. Congress had passed legislation calling for the legislature to meet every two years instead of the previous annual meetings. During the mean time, Anson P.K. Safford had become Governor of Arizona Territory.

The Indian Wars continued throughout Arizona Territory. Due to limited political influence and lack of telegraph and railroad service within the territory, there was little understanding of the situation on the East Coast of the United States. Unsatisfied with the situation, the territorial government was exerting what influence they possessed to have General George Stoneman (a future Governor of California) replaced as commander of the District of Arizona. Compounding the Indian issue was the presence of Mexican outlaws raiding the territory.

A lingering issue was the status of Pah-Ute County. Created by the 1865 session of the legislature, most of its land had been transferred to Nevada by the U.S. Congress on May 5, 1866. As a result the county was only a fragment of its original size and its status remained uncertain.

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