Territory of Arizona

Organized incorporated territory of the United States

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1863–1912

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A map of the Arizona and New Mexico territories, showing existing counties.

Capital

Fort Whipple (1863–64)
Prescott (1864–67)
Tucson (1867–77)
Prescott (1877–89)
Phoenix (1889– )

Government

Organized incorporated territory

Governor

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1863–1866

John Noble Goodwin

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1909–1912

Richard Elihu Sloan

Legislature

Arizona Territorial Legislature

History

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Arizona Organic Act

February 24, 1863

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Statehood of Arizona

February 14, 1912

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The Arizona Territory was a territory of the United States that existed from February 24, 1863 until February 14, 1912, when the remaining extent of the territory was admitted to the Union as the state of Arizona. It was created from the western half of the New Mexico Territory during the American Civil War.

Following the expansion of the New Mexico Territory in 1853, as a result of the Gadsden Purchase, several proposals for a division of the territory and the organization of a separate Territory of Arizona in the southern half of the territory were advanced as early as 1856. These proposals arose from concerns about the ability of the territorial government in Santa Fe to effectively administer the newly acquired southern portions of the territory.

The first proposal dates from a conference held in Tucson that convened on August 29, 1856. The conference issued a petition to the U.S. Congress, signed by 256 people, requesting organization of the territory and elected Nathan P. Cooke as the territorial delegate to Congress. In January 1857, the bill for the organization of the territory was introduced into the House of Representatives, but the proposal was defeated on the grounds that the population of the proposed territory was yet too small. Later a similar proposal was defeated in the Senate. The proposal for creation of the territory was controversial in part because of the perception that the New Mexico Territory was under the influence of southern sympathizers who were highly desirous of expanding slavery into the southwest.

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Wikipedia