9th Arizona Territorial Legislature
| Arizona Territorial Legislature | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Overview | |||||
| Legislative body | Arizona Territorial Legislature | ||||
| Jurisdiction | Arizona Territory, United States | ||||
| Council | |||||
| Members | 9 | ||||
| House of Representatives | |||||
| Members | 18 | ||||
The 9th Arizona Territorial Legislative Assembly was a session of the Arizona Territorial Legislature which convened on January 1, 1877, in Tucson, Arizona Territory.[1][2] It passed 79 statutes and adopted the Hoyt Code as the basis of the Territory's legal system.
Background
[edit]The Indian wars were winding down, with most of Arizona Territory's native population pacified. Following 1877 there would be periodic outbreaks of violence but no widespread conflict.[3] The reduction in violence was allowing the economy to boom. Prospectors had found and were developing a number of mineral deposits. Reduced Indian problems had allowed importation of sheep and cattle. Additionally, the Southern Pacific Railroad was being built across the territory.[3]
Governor Anson P.K. Safford's education initiatives were prospering. A May 1876 census showed at least 1,450 of the territory's 2,955 children were literate.[4] Territorial school districts were also preparing to issue bonds to replace makeshift classrooms with larger structures better able to handle the growing demand.[3]
The territorial legal code was in need of updating. To address this need, Territorial Secretary John Philo Hoyt had been commissioned to create a revised code based upon the "Howell Code" which was adopted by the 1st Arizona Territorial Legislature.[5]
Legislative session
[edit]The legislative session began on January 1, 1877.[6]
Governor's address
[edit]As with all his previous addresses, Governor Safford discussed the current situation involving the Indian Wars.[2] To this he added his concerns about outlaws. Declaring highwaymen "are a scourge to civilization, a disgrace to humanity, and should be swept from the face of the earth as remorselessly as the most ferocious wild beast", he recommended highway robbery be made a capital crime.[4] The governor was able to report that the Yuma Territorial Prison was partially open, holding eight prisoners with a capacity for thirty.[2]
Legislation
[edit]The ninth session of the Arizona Territorial Legislature was unusually productive, passing 79 new laws.[4] The revised legal code drafted by the Territorial Secretary, dubbed the "Hoyt Code", was adopted as the basis of the territory's legal system.[5]
Despite the previous session's permanently fixing the territorial capital in Tucson,[7] the first action taken by this session was to move the capital to Prescott.[4] Other organizational changes included adjusting the northern boundary of Maricopa County, moving the seat of Mohave County to Mineral Park, and incorporating the City of Tucson.[7] In a related activity, residents of Grant County, New Mexico Territory had voiced a desire to have their county annexed to the Arizona Territory.[4] The legislature responded by petitioning the U.S. Congress to make the requested transfer.[7]
To help deal with continuing lawlessness, the session authorized payment of a US$300 reward for the capture of two highwaymen who had robbed a stagecoach and its accompanying United States mail near Skull Valley on January 4, 1877.[4] They also authorized formation of another volunteer force to fight in the Apache Wars.[7]
Other actions included imposition of a US$50 fine on anyone who allowed their hogs to run wild within a town.[4] Maricopa County was given permission to issue US$15,000 in bonds for a series of four roads radiating from Phoenix: one to Globe City, one to Yuma via Agua Caliente, and two routes to Prescott via Black Canyon and Wickenburg.[4] Finally, the session granted divorces to ten couples.[4]
Members
[edit]| House of Representatives[8] | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Name | District | Name | District | |
| J. A. Parker | Maricopa | John H. Marion | Yavapai | |
| D. A Bennett | Pima | S. C. Miller | Yavapai | |
| James P. Bull | Mohave | Estevan Ochoa | Pima | |
| M. H. Calderwood (Speaker) | Maricopa | William Ohnesorgen | Pima | |
| John W. Dorrington | Yuma | Ed G. Peck | Yavapai | |
| C. B. Foster | Yavapai | Hugo Richards | Yavapai | |
| G. Hathaway | Yavapai | Mariano G. Sameniego | Pima | |
| William S. Head | Yavapai | George Scott | Pinal | |
| W. W. Hutchinson | Yavapai | George H. Stevens | Pima | |
| Council[8] | |
|---|---|
| Name | District |
| F. H. Goodwin | Pima |
| Fred G. Hughes | Pima |
| George D. Kendall | Yavapai |
| Andrew L Moeller | Yavapai |
| J. M. Renondo | Yuma |
| Levi Ruggles | Pinal |
| John A. Rush | Yavapai |
| Lewis A. Stevens | Yavapai |
| King Woolsey (President) | Maricopa |
References
[edit]- ^ McClintock 1916, p. 371.
- ^ a b c Goff 1978, p. 57.
- ^ a b c Wagoner 1970, p. 117.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Wagoner 1970, p. 113.
- ^ a b Wagoner 1970, p. 158.
- ^ "The Legislature". Arizona Weekly Miner. Prescott, Arizona Territory. January 5, 1877. p. 2.
- ^ a b c d McClintock 1916, p. 330.
- ^ a b Wagoner 1970, p. 513.
- Goff, John S. (1978). Arizona Territorial Officials Volume II: The Governors 1863–1912. Cave Creek, Arizona: Black Mountain Press. OCLC 5100411.
- McClintock, James H. (1916). Arizona, Prehistoric, Aboriginal, Pioneer, Modern Vol. II. Chicago: S. J. Clarke.
- Wagoner, Jay J. (1970). Arizona Territory 1863–1912: A Political history. Tucson: University of Arizona Press. ISBN 0816501769.
Further reading
[edit]- Arizona Territory (1877). Acts, Resolutions and Memorials Adopted by the Ninth Legislative Assembly of the Territory of Arizona. Tucson: Arizona Citizen. OCLC 368015050.
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