Republic of Texas
The Republic of Texas was a sovereign state in North America that existed from March 2, 1836, to February 19, 1846. It was bordered by Mexico to the west and southwest, the Gulf of Mexico to the southeast, the two U. S. states of Louisiana and Arkansas to the east and northeast, United States territories encompassing parts of the current U. S. states of Oklahoma, Colorado and New Mexico to the north and west. The citizens of the republic were known as Texians; the region of the Mexican state of Coahuila y Tejas referred to as Mexican Texas declared its independence from Mexico during the Texas Revolution in 1836. The Texas war of independence ended on April 21, 1836, but Mexico refused to recognize the independence of the Republic of Texas, intermittent conflicts between the two states continued into the 1840s; the United States recognized the Republic of Texas in March 1837 but declined to annex the territory. The Republic-claimed borders were based upon the Treaties of Velasco between the newly created Texas Republic and Antonio López de Santa Anna of Mexico.
The eastern boundary had been defined by the Adams–Onís Treaty of 1819 between the United States and Spain, which recognised the Sabine River as the eastern boundary of Spanish Texas and western boundary of the Missouri Territory. Under the Adams–Onís Treaty of 1819 the United States had renounced its claim to Spanish land to the east of the Rocky Mountains and to the north of the Rio Grande, which it claimed to have acquired as part of the Louisiana Purchase of 1803; the republic's southern and western boundary with Mexico was disputed throughout the republic's existence. Texas claimed the Rio Grande as its southern boundary, while Mexico insisted that the Nueces River was the boundary. Texas was annexed by the United States on December 29, 1845 and was admitted to the Union as the 28th state on that day, with the transfer of power from the Republic to the new state of Texas formally taking place on February 19, 1846. However, the United States again inherited the southern and western border dispute with Mexico, which became a trigger for the Mexican–American War.
Texas had been one of the Provincias Internas of New Spain, a region known historiographically as Spanish Texas. Though claimed by Spain, it was not formally colonized by them until competing French interests at Fort St. Louis encouraged Spain to establish permanent settlements in the area. Sporadic missionary incursions occurred into the area during the period from the 1690s–1710s, before the establishment of San Antonio as a permanent civilian settlement. Owing to the area's high Native American populations and its remoteness from the population centers of New Spain, Texas remained unsettled by Europeans, although Spain maintained a small military presence to protect Christian missionaries working among Native American tribes, to act as a buffer against the French in Louisiana and British North America. In 1762, France ceded to Spain most of its claims to the interior of North America, including its claim to Texas, as well as the vast interior that became Spanish Louisiana. During the years 1799 to 1803, the height of the Napoleonic Empire, Spain returned Louisiana back to France, which promptly sold the territory to the United States.
The status of Texas during these transfers was unclear and was not resolved until 1819, when the Adams–Onís Treaty ceded Spanish Florida to the United States, established a clear boundary between Texas and Louisiana. Starting in 1810, the territories of New Spain north of the Isthmus of Panama sought independence in the Mexican War of Independence. Many Americans fought on the side of Mexico against Spain in filibustering expeditions. One of these, the Gutiérrez–Magee Expedition consisted of a group of about 130 Americans under the leadership of Bernardo Gutiérrez de Lara. Gutierrez de Lara initiated Mexico's secession from Spain with efforts contributed by Augustus Magee. Bolstered by new recruits, led by Samuel Kemper, the expedition gained a series of victories against soldiers led by the Spanish governor, Manuel María de Salcedo, their victory at the Battle of Rosillo Creek convinced Salcedo to surrender on April 1, 1813. On April 6, 1813, the victorious Republican Army of the North drafted a constitution and declared the independent Republic of Texas, with Gutiérrez as its president.
Soon disillusioned with the Mexican leadership, the Americans under Kemper returned to the United States. The ephemeral Republic of Texas came to an end following the August 18, 1813 Battle of Medina, where the Spanish Army crushed the Republican Army of the North; the harsh reprisals against the Texas rebels created a deep distrust of the Royal Spanish authorities, veterans of the Battle of Medina became leaders of the Texas Revolution and signatories of the Texas Declaration of Independence from Mexico 20 years later. Along with the rest of Mexico, Texas gained its independence from Spain in 1821 following the Treaty of Córdoba, the new Mexican state was organized under the Plan of Iguala, which created Mexico as a constitutional monarchy under its first Emperor Agustín de Iturbide. During the transition from a Spanish territory to part of the independent country of Mexico, Stephen F. Austin led a group of American settlers known as the Old Three Hundred, who negotiated the right to settle in Texas with the Spanish Royal governor of the territory.
Since Mexican independence had been ratified by Spain shortly thereafter, Austin traveled to Mexico City to secure the support of the new country for his right to settle. The establishment of Mexican Texas coincided with the Austin-led settleme
Utah
Utah is a state in the western United States. It became the 45th state admitted to the U. S. on January 4, 1896. Utah is the 13th-largest by area, 31st-most-populous, 10th-least-densely populated of the 50 United States. Utah has a population of more than 3 million according to the Census estimate for July 1, 2016. Urban development is concentrated in two areas: the Wasatch Front in the north-central part of the state, which contains 2.5 million people. Utah is bordered by Colorado to the east, Wyoming to the northeast, Idaho to the north, Arizona to the south, Nevada to the west, it touches a corner of New Mexico in the southeast. 62% of Utahns are reported to be members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, making Utah the only state with a majority population belonging to a single church. This influences Utahn culture and daily life; the LDS Church's world headquarters is located in Salt Lake City. The state is a center of transportation, information technology and research, government services, a major tourist destination for outdoor recreation.
In 2013, the U. S. Census Bureau estimated. St. George was the fastest-growing metropolitan area in the United States from 2000 to 2005. Utah has the 14th highest median average income and the least income inequality of any U. S. state. A 2012 Gallup national survey found Utah overall to be the "best state to live in" based on 13 forward-looking measurements including various economic and health-related outlook metrics. A common folk etymology is that the name "Utah" is derived from the name of the Ute tribe, purported to mean "people of the mountains" in the Ute language. However, the word for people in Ute is'núuchiu' while the word for mountain is'káav', offering no linguistic connection to the words'Ute' or'Utah'. According to other sources "Utah" is derived from the Apache name "yuttahih" which means "One, Higher up" or "Those that are higher up". In the Spanish language it was said as "Yuta", subsequently the English-speaking people adapted the word "Utah". Thousands of years before the arrival of European explorers, the Ancestral Puebloans and the Fremont people lived in what is now known as Utah, some of which spoke languages of the Uto-Aztecan group.
Ancestral Pueblo peoples built their homes through excavations in mountains, the Fremont people built houses of straw before disappearing from the region around the 15th century. Another group of Native Americans, the Navajo, settled in the region around the 18th century. In the mid-18th century, other Uto-Aztecan tribes, including the Goshute, the Paiute, the Shoshone, the Ute people settled in the region; these five groups were present. The southern Utah region was explored by the Spanish in 1540, led by Francisco Vásquez de Coronado, while looking for the legendary Cíbola. A group led by two Catholic priests—sometimes called the Dominguez-Escalante Expedition—left Santa Fe in 1776, hoping to find a route to the coast of California; the expedition encountered the native residents. The Spanish made further explorations in the region, but were not interested in colonizing the area because of its desert nature. In 1821, the year Mexico achieved its independence from Spain, the region became known as part of its territory of Alta California.
European trappers and fur traders explored some areas of Utah in the early 19th century from Canada and the United States. The city of Provo, Utah was named for one, Étienne Provost, who visited the area in 1825; the city of Ogden, Utah was named after Peter Skene Ogden, a Canadian explorer who traded furs in the Weber Valley. In late 1824, Jim Bridger became the first known English-speaking person to sight the Great Salt Lake. Due to the high salinity of its waters, He thought. After the discovery of the lake, hundreds of American and Canadian traders and trappers established trading posts in the region. In the 1830s, thousands of migrants traveling from the Eastern United States to the American West began to make stops in the region of the Great Salt Lake known as Lake Youta. Following the death of Joseph Smith in 1844, Brigham Young, as president of the Quorum of the Twelve, became the effective leader of the LDS Church in Nauvoo, Illinois. To address the growing conflicts between his people and their neighbors, Young agreed with Illinois Governor Thomas Ford in October 1845 that the Mormons would leave by the following year.
Young and the first band of Mormon pioneers reached the Salt Lake Valley on July 24, 1847. Over the next 22 years, more than 70,000 pioneers settled in Utah. For the first few years, Brigham Young and the thousands of early settlers of Salt Lake City struggled to survive; the arid desert land was deemed by the Mormons as desirable as a place where they could practice their religion without harassment. The Mormon settlements provided pioneers for other settlements in the West. Salt Lake City became the hub of a "far-flung commonwealth" of Mormon settlements. With new church converts coming from the East and around the world, Church leaders assigned groups of church members as missionaries to establish other settlements throughout the West, they developed irrigation to support large pioneer populations along Utah's Wasatch front. Throughout the remainder of the 19th century, Mormon pioneers established hundreds of other settlements in Utah, Id
Compromise of 1850
The Compromise of 1850 was a package of five separate bills passed by the United States Congress in September 1850, which defused a four-year political confrontation between slave and free states on the status of territories acquired during the Mexican–American War. The compromise, drafted by Whig Senator Henry Clay of Kentucky and brokered by Clay and Democratic Senator Stephen Douglas of Illinois, reduced sectional conflict, although controversy arose over the Fugitive Slave provision. Although the compromise was greeted with relief, each side disapproved of some of its specific provisions: Texas surrendered its claim to New Mexico as well as its claims north of 36°30', it retained the Texas Panhandle, the federal government took over the state's public debt. California was admitted with its current boundaries; the South prevented the adoption of the Wilmot Proviso, which would have outlawed slavery in the new territories. The new Utah Territory and New Mexico Territory were allowed, under popular sovereignty, to decide whether to allow slavery within their borders.
In practice, these lands were unsuited to plantation agriculture, their settlers were uninterested in slavery. The slave trade, but not the institution of slavery, was banned in the District of Columbia. A more stringent Fugitive Slave Law was enacted, requiring law enforcement in free states to support the capture and return of fugitive slaves, increasing penalties against people who tried to evade the law; the Compromise became possible after the sudden death of President Zachary Taylor. Although a slave owner, he had wanted to exclude slavery from the Southwest. Whig leader Henry Clay designed a compromise, which failed to pass in early 1850 because of opposition by both pro-slavery southern Democrats, led by John C. Calhoun, anti-slavery northern Whigs. Upon Clay's instruction, Stephen Douglas divided Clay's bill into several smaller pieces and narrowly won their passage, over the opposition of radicals on both sides. Soon after the start of the Mexican War, when the extent of the contested territories was still unclear, the question of whether to allow slavery in those territories polarized the Northern and the Southern United States in the most bitter sectional conflict until then.
A state the size of Texas attracted interest from both state residents and pro-slavery and anti-slavery camps on a national scale. Texas claimed land north of the 36°30' demarcation line for slavery, set by the 1820 Missouri Compromise; the Texas Annexation resolution had required that if any new states were formed out of Texas' lands, those north of the Missouri Compromise line would become free states. According to historian Mark Stegmaier, "The Fugitive Slave Act, the abolition of the slave trade in the District of Columbia, the admission of California as a free state, the application of the formula of popular sovereignty to the territories were all less important than the least remembered component of the Compromise of 1850—the statute by which Texas relinquished its claims to much of New Mexico in return for federal assumption of the debts."Stegmaier refers to "the principal Southern demand for a division of California at the line of 35° north latitude" and says that "Southern extremists made clear that a congressionally mandated division of California figured uppermost on their agenda."During the deadlock of four years, the Second Party System broke up, Mormon pioneers settled Utah, the California Gold Rush settled northern California, New Mexico under a federal military government turned back Texas's attempt to assert control over territory Texas claimed as far west as the Rio Grande.
The eventual compromise preserved the Union but only for another decade. Proposals in 1846 to 1850 on the division of the Southwest included the following: The Wilmot Proviso banning slavery in any new territory to be acquired from Mexico, not including Texas, annexed the previous year, it passed the House in February 1847 but not the Senate. An effort failed to attach the proviso to the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo; the Extension of the Missouri Compromise line was proposed by failed amendments to the Wilmot Proviso by William W. Wick and Stephen Douglas to extend the Missouri Compromise line west to the Pacific to allow the possibility of slavery in most of present-day New Mexico and Arizona, Southern California; that line was again proposed by the Nashville Convention of June 1850. Popular sovereignty, developed by Lewis Cass and Stephen Douglas as the position of the Democratic Party, was to let each territory decide for itself whether to allow slavery. William L. Yancey's "Alabama Platform", endorsed by the Alabama and the Georgia legislatures and by Democratic state conventions in Florida and Virginia, called for no restrictions on slavery in the territories by the federal government or territorial governments before statehood, opposition to any candidates supporting either the Wilmot Proviso or popular sovereignty, federal legislation to overrule Mexican anti-slavery laws.
Two free states were proposed by Zachary Taylor, who served as President from March 1849 to July 1850. As President, he proposed that the entire area become two free states, called California and New Mexico but much larger than the ones today. None of the area would be left as an unorganized or organized territory, which would avoid the question of slavery in the territories. Changing Texas's borders was proposed by Senator Thomas Hart Benton in December 1849 or January 1850. Texas's western and northern boundaries would be the 102nd meridian west and the 34th parallel north. Two southern states were proposed by Senator John Bell, with the assent of Texas, in February 1850. New Mexico
Santa Fe, New Mexico
Santa Fe is the capital of the U. S. state of New Mexico. It is the seat of Santa Fe County; this area was occupied for at least several thousand years by indigenous peoples who built villages several hundred years ago, on the current site of the city. It was known by the Tewa inhabitants as Ogha Po'oge; the city of Santa Fe, founded by Spanish colonists in 1610, is the oldest state capital in the United States. Santa Fe had a population of 69,204 in 2012, it is the principal city of a Metropolitan Statistical Area which encompasses all of Santa Fe County and is part of the larger Albuquerque–Santa Fe–Las Vegas combined statistical area. The city's full name as founded remains La Villa Real de la Santa Fe de San Francisco de Asís. Before European colonization of the Americas, the area Santa Fe occupied between 900 CE and the 1500s was known to the Tewa peoples as Oghá P'o'oge and by the Navajo people as Yootó. In 1610, Juan de Oñate established the area as Santa Fe de Nuevo México–a province of New Spain.
Formal Spanish settlements were developed leading the colonial governor Pedro de Peralta to rename the area La Villa Real de la Santa Fe de San Francisco de Asís. The phrase "Santa Fe" is translated as "Holy Faith" in Spanish. Although more known as Santa Fe, the city's full, legal name remains to this day as La Villa Real de la Santa Fe de San Francisco de Asís; the standard Spanish variety pronounces it SAHN-tah-FAY as contextualized within the city's full, Spaniard name La Villa Real de la Santa Fé de San Francisco de Aśis. However, due to the large amounts of tourism and immigration into Santa Fe, an English pronunciation of SAN-tuh-FAY is commonly used; the area of Santa Fe was occupied by indigenous Tanoan peoples, who lived in numerous Pueblo villages along the Rio Grande. One of the earliest known settlements in what today is downtown Santa Fe came sometime after 900 CE. A group of native Tewa built a cluster of homes that centered around the site of today's Plaza and spread for half a mile to the south and west.
The river had a year-round flow until the 1700s. By the 20th century the Santa Fe River was a seasonal waterway; as of 2007, the river was recognized as the most endangered river in the United States, according to the conservation group American Rivers. Don Juan de Oñate led the first European effort to colonize the region in 1598, establishing Santa Fe de Nuevo México as a province of New Spain. Under Juan de Oñate and his son, the capital of the province was the settlement of San Juan de los Caballeros north of Santa Fe near modern Ohkay Owingeh Pueblo. New Mexico's second Spanish governor, Don Pedro de Peralta, founded a new city at the foot of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains in 1607, which he called La Villa Real de la Santa Fe de San Francisco de Asís, the Royal Town of the Holy Faith of Saint Francis of Assisi. In 1610, he designated it as the capital of the province, which it has constantly remained, making it the oldest state capital in the United States. Discontent with the colonization practices led to the Pueblo Revolt, when groups of different Native Pueblo peoples were successful in driving the Spaniards out of the area now known as New Mexico, maintaining their independence from 1680 to 1692, when the territory was reconquered by Don Diego de Vargas.
Santa Fe was Spain's provincial seat at outbreak of the Mexican War of Independence in 1810. It was considered important to fur traders based in present-day Saint Missouri; when the area was still under Spanish rule, the Chouteau brothers of Saint Louis gained a monopoly on the fur trade, before the United States acquired Missouri under the Louisiana Purchase of 1803. The fur trade contributed to the wealth of St. Louis; the city's status as the capital of the Mexican territory of Santa Fe de Nuevo México was formalized in the 1824 Constitution after Mexico achieved independence from Spain. When the Republic of Texas seceded from Mexico in 1836, it attempted to claim Santa Fe and other parts of Nuevo México as part of the western portion of Texas along the Río Grande. In 1841, a small military and trading expedition set out from Austin, intending to take control of the Santa Fe Trail. Known as the Texan Santa Fe Expedition, the force was poorly prepared and was captured by the Mexican army. In 1846, the United States declared war on Mexico.
Brigadier General Stephen W. Kearny led the main body of his Army of the West of some 1,700 soldiers into Santa Fe to claim it and the whole New Mexico Territory for the United States. By 1848 the U. S. gained New Mexico through the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. Colonel Alexander William Doniphan, under the command of Kearny, recovered ammunition from Santa Fe labeled "Spain 1776" showing both the quality of communication and military support New Mexico received under Mexican rule; some American visitors at first saw little promise in the remote town. One traveller in 1849 wrote: I can hardly imagine how Santa Fe is supported; the country around it is barren. At the North stands a snow-capped mountain while the valley in which the town is situated is drab and sandy; the streets are narrow... A Mexican will walk about town all day to sell a bundle of grass worth about a dime, they are the poorest looking people I saw. They subsist principally on mutton and red pepper. In 1851, Jean Baptiste Lamy arrived, becoming bishop of New Mexico, Utah, C
New Mexico Legislature
The New Mexico Legislature is the legislative branch of the state government of New Mexico. It is a bicameral body made up of the New Mexico House of the New Mexico Senate; the New Mexico Legislature was established when New Mexico became a state and was admitted to the union in 1912. In 1922, Bertha M. Paxton became the first woman elected to the New Mexico Legislature, serving one term in the House of Representatives; the Legislature meets in regular session on the third Tuesday in January of each odd-numbered year. The New Mexico Constitution limits the regular session to 60 calendar days, every other year it is 30 days; the lieutenant governor presides over the Senate, while the Speaker of the House is elected from that body in a closed door majority member caucus. Both have wide latitude in choosing committee membership in their respective houses and have a large impact on lawmaking in the state. While only the Governor can call the Legislature into special sessions, the Legislature can call itself into an extraordinary session.
The Governor may call as many sessions as she wishes. The New Mexico Constitution does not limit the duration of each special session. Any bill passed by the Legislature and signed by the Governor takes effect 90 days after its passage unless two-thirds of each house votes to give the bill immediate effect, earlier effect, or effect; the legislature consists of 42 senators. Each member of the House represents 25,980 residents of New Mexico; each member of the Senate represents 43,300 residents. The Democratic Party holds a majority in both of the chambers of New Mexico Legislature, holds the Governor's office. A legislative committee is assigned by the governor to meet every 10 years based on the outcome of the US Census to redistrict the boundaries of districts for the state legislature, congressional districts. There are no term limits for legislators; the longest current member of the legislature has served since 1972. House members are elected every 2 years. New Mexico Legislature official website
William J. Mills
William Joseph Mills was an American jurist who served three terms as the Chief Justice of the New Mexico Territorial Supreme Court and as the nineteenth and final Governor of New Mexico Territory. Mills was born in Mississippi on January 11, 1849 to William and Harriet Mills, his father died when he was young and his mother relocated the family to Connecticut where she married William H. Law. Mills was educated at the Norwich Free Academy, he worked in New York City before enrolling at Yale University and graduating from the law school in 1877. Mills was admitted to the bar the same year he graduated and set up a private practice in New Haven, Connecticut. Soon after graduation, Mills identified with the Democratic Party, he was elected to the Connecticut House of Representatives in 1878 and Connecticut Senate in 1881 and 1882. Mills wed Alice Waddingham of West Haven, Connecticut on January 14, 1885; the marriage produced three children: Madeline. Mills moved to New Mexico Territory, where his father-in-law, Wilson Waddingham, owned significant tracts of land, established a legal practice in 1886.
From August 1888 till April 1890 he was partnered with Thomas B. Catron, an influential member of the territory's Republican Party. Mills returned to New Haven in 1894. President William McKinley nominated Mills to become chief justice of the New Mexico Territorial Supreme Court with the commissioning occurring on January 31, 1898. At the time of his nomination, Mills was a Gold Democrat but soon after switched his party affiliation and became a Republican. Upon completion of his first term, President Theodore Roosevelt twice reappointed the chief justice for additional terms. After Governor George Curry submitted his resignation, President William H. Taft nominated Mills to become Governor of New Mexico Territory. According to Curry, Taft found the chief justice's judicial background and conservative outlook attractive and viewed the nominee as a potential governor or U. S. senator. Mills accepted the offer on November 24, 1909; the new governor was sworn in on March 1910 as per the terms of his predecessor's resignation.
Upon taking office, Mills began lobbying efforts aimed at achieving statehood for New Mexico. With the signing of the enabling act on June 20, 1910 his activities switched to preparations for statehood. An election of representatives for a constitutional convention was called for September 6, with the convention to draw up a state constitution running from October 3 till November 21, 1910; the resulting document lacked many progressive reforms of the days, such as women's suffrage, Mills was left to defend the document until it was approved by President Taft in August 1911. Mills called for election of new state office holders in November 1911. New Mexico was admitted as a state on January 6, 1912 with Mills leaving office at noon on January 15, 1912 as William C. McDonald took the oath of office as the new state governor. After leaving office, Mills made an unsuccessful run for a U. S. Senate seat in 1912, he died in East Las Vegas, New Mexico on December 24, 1915
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