("Bleeding Kansas") as both North and South sent settlers to the territory in an effort to achieve a majority. Separate legislatures were soon formed, and rival constitutions were submitted to Congress, itself the scene of several violent episodes arising from debates on the "Kansas Question." Kansas became a campaign issue in 1856, was an important topic in the LincolnDouglas debates, helped split the Democratic party, and was a key factor in the nomination and election of Abraham Lincoln in 1860-an event which caused six Southern States to secede from the Union. Eventually, on January 29, 1861, Kansas was admitted as a free State. Objections of a different kind were voiced against the admission of Idaho and Wyoming. Idaho was organized as a Territory in 1863, after a boom in population caused by the discovery of gold in 1860. Even so, the population was for years considered too small to warrant one Representative in the House of Representatives. Moreover, the Mormon minority was discriminated against by several acts in the territory, disfranchisement being only one of many. There were also various irregularities in the formation and in the work of the Idaho constitutional convention, and the charge had been made that the apportionment of the legislature was unfair. Eventually these disqualifications were removed and Idaho became a State on July 3, 1890. The Territory of Wyoming was created by Congress on July 25, 1868. One of the first acts of the territorial legislature was to provide for the political equality of women, a feature which caused some to object to statehood for Wyoming, but which was retained when the State was admitted into the Union. Statehood was delayed for years because of the smallness of the population and because there was, according to some, little evidence that the majority of the people of the Territory wanted statehood. In time, these objections were refused, and Wyoming became a State on July 10, 1890. Utah, which became a Territory in 1850, presents a somewhat unique case in the admission of States into the Union because of the presence of some rather unusual political and religious factors. Statehood was delayed for years, despite several attempts, because of intense political strife in the Territory, and because of the practice of polygamy by the Mormons. Polygamy, which became known as the "Mormon problem," was denounced by both the Republicans and the Democrats. Indeed, several Federal laws made polygamy punishable by a fine and imprisonment, and disfranchisement. In 1887, an even more severe law (Edmunds-Tucker Act) disincorporated the Mormon church, confiscated church property, abolished female suffrage, and required a test oath of citizens before they could vote, hold office, or serve as jurors. Between 1887 and 1890, the Mormons sought accommodation with the Federal Government. To that end, free public schools, emphasizing the separation of church and State, were established. Gentiles (non-Mormons) were admitted to chambers of commerce, the Mormon People's party was dissolved and its members instructed to participate in both Republican and Democratic parties, thus demonstrating that a genuine two-party system existed in Utah, and finally, in October 1890, polygamy was abandoned as a tenet of the Mormon church. These actions prompted President Benjamin Harrison in January 1893 to grant amnesty to polygamists, and Congress to return confiscated property to the Mormon church. Even more favorable was the response to legislation, introduced by the Utah delegate, John L. Rawlins, on September 6, 1893, to enable Utah to become a State. Congress permitted Utah to hold a constitutional convention and they were invited to apply for admission to the Union. In 1895, the constitution was ratified, and on January 4, 1896, President Grover Cleveland proclaimed Utah a State. At least one of the objections to the admission of Oklahoma, a Territory since 1890, centered on its esthetic geographical delineation. As the Report on the Omnibus Statehood Bill of the Senate Committee on Territories stated in 1902, "Its boundaries are unscientific, accidential, and grotesque. And above all, the committee are convinced that a majority of its people are opposed to statehood at present except by a union with its natural complement, the Indian Territory." In 1906, the Indians and whites formed a constitution for a State composed of Oklahoma and the Indian Territory, and on November 16, 1907, Oklahoma was admitted as a State. New Mexico was part of the territory acquired from Mexico under the terms of the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848. În 1850, even before the territory was officially organized, the people of the territory made application for statehood. A liberal constitution (slavery was prohibited) was drafted and "Senators" elected and sent to Washington. Congress had, however, in the meantime, passed the Compro 1 Omnibus Statehood Bill. Remarks in the Senate. Congressional Record, vol. 36, December 10, 1902: 193. mise of 1850, one part of which was the Organic Act for the Territory of New Mexico, and had appointed a Territorial governor. In succeeding years, New Mexico tried many times to be admitted as a State, but each effort was rejected. One notable struggle occurred in 1902-1903 during the debates on the Omnibus Statehood Bill (Oklahoma, Arizona, New Mexico). The opposition to the admission of New Mexico was led by Senator Albert Beveridge, chairman of the Senate Committee on Territories. During the long debate, Beveridge and several members of a subcommittee went to New Mexico to investigate local conditions. On their return, a report was released which stressed several points of opposition to statehood. New Mexico, according to the report, was not large enough, and its character was unAmerican. Moreover, the subcommittee reported a high illiteracy rate and extensive use of the Spanish language. The Senator concluded this report by stating: On the whole, the committee feel that in the course of time, when education. shall have accomplished its work; when the masses of the people or even a majority of them shall in the usages and employment of their daily life have become identical in language and customs with... the American people; when the immigration of English-speaking people who have been citizens of other States does its modifying work with the 'Mexican' element-when all these things have come to pass, the committee hopes and believes that this mass of people, unlike us in race, language, and social customs, will finally come to form a creditable portion of American citizenship.' Beveridge was not alone in his opposition to statehood for New Mexico. He was joined by, among others, Senator Henry Cabot Lodge, who proclaimed “I do not want the inhabitants of any State of the American Union known as Mexicans or New Mexicans." Lodge also complained that the citizens of New Mexico lacked "race energy. In 1904, Beveridge proposed that Arizona and New Mexico be admitted as one State because he felt that New Mexico alone was not workable since 'the great majority of its citizens 'are not of the blood... that is common to the rest of us.' "s In 1911, New Mexico submitted a new constitution which was debated by Congress from March to August, when it was finally approved. This new effort had the support of President William Howard Taft and lacked the opposition of Beveridge, who had lost a bid for reelection in 1910. On January 6, 1912, sixty-two years after its organic act, New Mexico became a State. Interestingly enough, Arizona's constitution was submitted at the same time, but was rejected by President Taft because it contained a recall provision for judges. Arizona deleted the recall clause and was admitted as a State on February 14, 1912. At the first State election after statehood, Arizona voted a recall amendment to its constitution. Alaska was purchased from Russia in 1867 and was granted Territorial government in 1912. The first bill for Alaskan statehood was introduced in 1916 by delegate James Wickersham, who was also the author of the organic act of 1912. Opposition to Alaskan statehood immediately, and for years afterwards, focused on several spects of its econ-Japanese), became the most decorated units Territory, for example, was claimed to be too small to support statehood. More interesting was the argument that Alaska was not contiguous to the United States, an argument that conveniently omitted the fact that neither was California in 1850, and that contiguity was never a requirement for statehood. More telling, perhaps, were arguments that Alaska possessed insufficiently developed resources and that statehood would increase the cost of government in Alaska. By 1946, many of these arguments seemed to lack validity. In that year, for example, President Harry S. Truman urged the admission of Alaska. At the same time the delegate from Alaska introduced a statehood bill. Hearings were held (the first on any Alaskan bill), and a subcommittee of the House Committee on Public Lands approved the legislation. In 1949, however, the measure was blocked, despite a special message from President Truman, by the House Rules Committee. Proponents of statehood did not remain idle, and in April 1956 a State constitution was approved by the Alaskans. In October 1956, two "Senators" and a "Representative" were elected, ready to assume office. In January 1958, President Dwight D. Eisenhower supported statehood. Legislation to that end was introduced and Congressional Record, vol. 36, December 10, 1902: 189. De la Cruz, Jesse. Rejection Because of Race: Albert J. Beveridge and Nuevo Mexico's Struggle for Statehood, 1902-1903, Aztlan, v. 7 Spring 1976, p. 84 concludes that "there is sufficient evidence to demonstrate that race discrimination was the key factor in Beveridge's determination to deny Nueyo Mexico's statehood application." Congressional Record, vol. 36, January 29, 1903: 1411. •Congressional Record, vol. 36, January 29, 1903: 1412. 'De la Cruz, Rejection Because of Race, p. 92–93. passed both Houses. In August, statehood was approved by an overwhelming majority of Alaskans. Finally, on January 3, 1959, Alaska became a State by presidential proclamation. Hawaii was annexed in 1898 and was made an incorporated Territory of the United States in 1900. As early as 1903, the Territorial legislature passed a resolution favoring statehood. In 1938, a congressional investigation reported that Hawaii fulfilled all the requirements necessary for statehood, and in 1940, a plebiscite in the islands showed the people supported statehood by a margin of two to one. It was not until 1946, however, that any legislative activity (although there had been numerous hearings and investigations) was taken by Congress. In that year, a subcommittee of the House Territories Committee urged consideration of Hawaiian statehood legislation. Statehood was not to be acquired easily, however, as numerous reasons were raised against the admission of Hawaii. There was, for example, the old argument of adding noncontiguous territory. The racial composition, mostly Japanese and Chinese, of the islands worried others. After Pearl Harbor, this argument was especially strong as the loyalty of the Japanese was suspect. Numerous rumors abounded, none of them ever substantiated, about the espionage activities of the Japanese in Hawaii. It was only after the war, during which the 442nd Regimental Combat Team and the 100th Infantry Battalion, composed of Nisei (American-born Japanese), becamt the most decorated units in the American Army, that this opposition was dispelled. More serious, perhaps, was the alleged rampant Communist influence in Hawaii, especially in the International Longshoremen's and Warehouse Union (ILWU). In any event, the House in 1947 passed statehood legislation for Hawaii, but the Senate killed the measure. As happened before in American history, statehood for Hawaii "had become a political football. Since Hawaii was predominantly Republican, the Democrats refused to vote for its admission unless Alaska, a Democratic stronghold, was granted statehood also." After Alaska became a State, Hawaii's prospects improved. On March 12, 1959, Congress passed the Hawaiian_statehood bill. President Eisenhower signed the measure on March 18, and on June 27, ninety-four percent of Hawaii's registered voters turned out an overwhelming approval of statehood. On August 21, 1959, Hawaii was admitted into the Union as a State. REPRESENTATION FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. President, our two distinguished colleagues, Senator KENNEDY, of Massachusetts, and Senator HOLLINGS, of South Carolina, have made a persuasive appeal for representation for the people of the District of Columbia. I am strongly committed to this goal. It is intolerable for American citizens to pay taxes and to offer their lives in defense of our country and then be denied a voice in the Congress of the United States. In my 1972 presidential campaign I publicly committed myself to support representation in the Congress for the District of Columbia. I repeat that pledge now. I submit for the RECORD the appeal by Senators KENNEDY and HOLLINGS, as reported in the Washington Post of this morning, May 19, 1978. The material follows: REPRESENTATION FOR THE DISTRICT Under the Constitution of the United States, there is an anachronism that defies justice and tramples one of the basic and most cherished rights of representative government: The citizens of the nation's capital are denied the right to be represented in Congress. The move to change that to enfranchise the city's 700,000 residents-has strong bipartisan support: Both the Democratic and Republican 1976 party platforms contained planks supporting voting representation in the Senate and House for citizens of the District. Testifying in 1970 before a Senate committee, Associate Attorney General William H. Rehnquist, now a Supreme Court justice, endorsed a constitutional amendment to achieve this goal. His words emphasized the longstanding injustice perpetrated on Washington residents: "The need for an amendment of that character at this late date in our history is too self-evident for further elaboration; continued • Thomas, Dana Lee. The Story of American Statehood. New York, Wilfred Funk, Inc. [1961] p. 257. denial of voting representation from the District of Columbia can no longer be justified." Opposition so far seems to spring from various senators' apprehensions concerning four "toos": They fear that District of Columbia senators would be too liberal, too urban, too black or too Democratic. In addition, many senators are reluctant to expand the membership of their "club" to more than 100. All these considerations should be secondary where citizens' rights are concerned and the residents of the capital are citizens. After all, in 1976 they paid $1.2 billion in federal taxes-more than was collected in 19 states. Individual tax payments surpassed the national average by $327, and were greater than average payments in 47 states. Moreover, of course, district citizens have fought and died in all the nation's wars. Thus, they have endured both taxation and conscription without representation. Members of Congress have proposed various alternatives to the two-senator, tworepresentative plan. These include granting statehood to the District, reassigning it to`Maryland (the Virginia portion of the District was given back to that state in 1846) or permitting District citizens to vote in Maryland elections. But the District has been separate from Maryland since 1800, and its people have developed their own community. They deserve representation in their own right, and not merely as an artificial adjunct to a state with which they have no common history. Moreover, the 23rd Amendment established a precedent for considering the District as a separate political entity. Nor is statehood a plausible answer. Ceding the seat of federal government to the plenary jurisdiction of a state would pose difficult constitutional as well as practical problems. Wherever we travel around the country, we find people surprised to learn that the residents of Washington cannot vote for members of Congress. This reaction of surprise, coupled with the swift approval that the 23rd Amendment received, makes us confident that their generous and decent impulses would inspire the American people to promptly ratify an amendment granting congressional representation to residents of the capital. We are already halfway there. Thanks to the extraordinary efforts of bipartisan supporters, the House of Representatives recently approved the long-sought amendment and sent it to the Senate. Many senators, both Democratic and Republican, have welcomed it, and we have urged our colleagues to act on it before Congress adjourns for the fall elections. H. J. Res. 554 Ninety-fifth Congress of the United States of America AT THE SECOND SESSION Begun and held at the City of Washington on Thursday, the nineteenth day of January, Joint Resolution Proposing an amendment to the Constitution to provide for representation of the District of Columbia in the Congress. Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled (two-thirds of each House concurring therein), That the following article is proposed as an amendment to the Constitution of the United States, which shall be valid to all intents and purposes as part of the Constitution when ratified by the legislatures of three-fourths of the several States within seven years from the date of its submission by the Congress: "ARTICLE "SECTION 1. For purposes of representation in the Congress, election of the President and Vice President, and article V of this Constitution, the District constituting the seat of government of the United States shall be treated as though it were a State. "SEC. 2. The exercise of the rights and powers conferred under this article shall be by the people of the District constituting the seat of government, and as shall be provided by the Congress. "SEC. 3. The twenty-third article of amendment to the Constitution of the United States is hereby repealed. "SEC. 4. This article shall be inoperative, unless it shall have been ratified as an amendment to the Constitution by the legislatures of three-fourths of the several States within seven years from the date of its submission.". THOMAS P. O'Neill, Jr., Speaker of the House of Representatives. QUENTIN BURDICK, Acting President of the Senate-pro Tempore. I certify that this Joint Resolution originated in the House of Representatives. EDMUND L. HENSHAW, JR., Clerk. BY W. RAYMOND COLLEY, Deputy Clerk. [Received by the Office of the Federal Register, National Archives and Records Service, General Services Administration, August 28, 1978] LEGISLATIVE HISTORY: HOUSE REPORT No. 95-886 (Comm. on the Judiciary). Mar. 1, 2, considered and passed House. Aug. 16, 17, 21, 22, considered and passed Senate. |