Editing Arizona Territory (section)

==History==
{{Historical populations
|type= USA
|1870|9658
|1880|40440
|1890|88243
|1900|122931
|1910|204354
|footnote=Source: 1870–1910;<ref>{{cite report|editor-last=Forstall|editor-first=Richard L.|title=Population of the States and Counties of the United States: 1790–1990|page=3|publisher=[[United States Census Bureau]]|url=https://www.census.gov/population/www/censusdata/PopulationofStatesandCountiesoftheUnitedStates1790-1990.pdf|access-date=May 18, 2020}}</ref>
}}
[[File:Wpdms arizona territory 1860 idx.png|thumb]]
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, New Mexico|Santa Fe]] to effectively administer the newly acquired southern portions of the territory.<ref>[http://history.sandiego.edu/gen/st/~paulb/uscivilwar/   Paul Bisceglia, Arizona's Role in the Civil War, University of San Diego. History 173 – U.S. Civil War] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080719175126/http://history.sandiego.edu/gen/st/~paulb/uscivilwar/ |date=2008-07-19 }} from http://history.sandiego.edu {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190130132531/http://history.sandiego.edu/ |date=2019-01-30 }} accessed September 29, 2018.</ref>
[[File:Wpdms arizona new mexico territories 1863 idx.png|thumb]]

The first proposal dates from a conference held in [[Tucson, Arizona|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. Cook]] as the [[Non-voting members of the United States House of Representatives|territorial delegate to Congress]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=D. Morritt |first=Robert |title=The Lure of Olde Arizona |date=June 28, 2017 |publisher=[[Cambridge Scholars Publishing]] |isbn=978-1443880237 |pages=15}}</ref> In January 1857, the bill for the organization of the territory was introduced into the [[United States House of Representatives|House of Representatives]], but the proposal was defeated on the grounds that the population of the proposed territory was as yet too small.<ref name=":0" /> Later, a similar proposal was defeated in the [[United States Senate|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.<ref name=":0" />

In February 1858, the New Mexico territorial legislature adopted a resolution in favor of the creation of the Arizona territory, but with a north–south border along the [[109th meridian west|109th meridian]], with the additional stipulation that all the [[Native Americans in the United States|Indians]] of New Mexico would be removed to northern Arizona.

In April 1860, impatient for Congress to act, a convention of 31 delegates met in Tucson and adopted a constitution for a provisional territorial government of the area south of 34°N. The delegates elected Dr. [[Lewis S. Owings]] as provisional governor.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Storm Miller |first=Aragorn |date=April 8, 2014 |title=Owings, Lewis Solomon |url=https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/owings-lewis-solomon |access-date=2024-09-23 |website=Texas State Historical Association |language=en}}</ref>

===American Civil War===
{{Further|New Mexico Territory in the American Civil War|Confederate Arizona}}

At the outbreak of the Civil War, sentiment in the territory was in favor of the [[Confederate States of America|Confederacy]]. Territorial [[secession]] conventions called at [[Mesilla, New Mexico|Mesilla]] and Tucson in March 1861 adopted an ordinance of secession, established a provisional [[Confederate Arizona|Arizona Territory]] with Owings as its governor, and petitioned the Confederate Congress for admission.

The Confederacy regarded the territory as a valuable route for possible access to the [[Pacific Ocean]], with the specific intention of capturing [[California]]. In July 1861, a small Confederate force of Texans under the command of Lieutenant Colonel [[John R. Baylor]] assaulted [[Fort Fillmore]] at Mesilla in the eastern part of the territory. After the fort was abandoned by the [[Union (American Civil War)|Union]] garrison, Baylor's force cut off the fleeing Union troops and forced them to surrender. On August 1, 1861, Baylor issued a "Proclamation to the People of the Territory of Arizona", taking possession of the territory for the Confederacy, with Mesilla as the capital and himself as the governor, establishing [[Confederate Arizona]]. Baylor's subsequent dismantling of the existing Union forts in the territory left the white settlers at the mercy of the [[Apache]], who quickly gained control of the area and forced many of the white settlers to seek refuge in Tucson.<ref>Colton, Ray C.: ''The Civil War...'', pp. 15–19.</ref>

On August 28, a convention met again in Tucson and declared that the territory formed the previous year was part of the Confederacy. [[Granville H. Oury]] was elected as delegate to the Confederate Congress. Oury drafted legislation authorizing the organization of the Confederate Territory of Arizona. The legislation passed on January 13, 1862, and the territory was officially created by proclamation of [[Jefferson Davis|President Jefferson Davis]] on February 14.

The following month, in March 1862, the U.S. House of Representatives, now devoid of the southern delegates and controlled by Republicans, passed a bill to create the United States Arizona Territory using the north–south border of the 109th meridian. The use of a north–south border rather than an east–west one had the effect of denying a ''de facto'' ratification of the Confederate Arizona Territory. The house bill stipulated that Tucson was to be the capital. The final bill passed the Senate in February 1863 without the Tucson-as-capital stipulation, and was signed into law by [[Abraham Lincoln|President Abraham Lincoln]] on February 24, the date of the official organization of the U.S. Arizona Territory.