When was wyoming made a state

Like many great events in American history, it would have never happened without a politician lying through his teeth. On March 26, , Wyoming's Territorial Delegate Joseph Carey introduced a bill in the House of Representatives to establish the territory as a state. The central issue was Wyoming's population which fell below the traditional standard for statehood of 60, citizens. Leading up the vote, Carey suggested that Wyoming actually had a population of nearly , Several members of Congress questioned his estimate, citing the considerably smaller number of residents who voted in recent state elections.

The crafty Territorial Representative dismissed the low voter turnout, claiming it was due to a lack of interest in politics. Click Here for the previous essay. Click Here to view the schedule of topics in our 90 Day Study on Congress. Your email address will not be published.

Guest Essayist: Daniel A. Becoming a State In , the Wyoming Territory organized after Congress passed an act creating the territory in July , with the territory seeking statehood from the beginning.

The Wyoming Constitution has other rights that are consistent with the United States Constitution Bill of Rights, and its right to bear arms provision makes it clear it is a right to defend oneself and the state, providing: Sec. Join the discussion! Post your comments below. Your feedback and insights are welcome. Feel free to contribute! Famous mountain men such as Kit Carson, Jim Bridger, Davey Jackson and Jedediah Smith were among the trappers, explorers and traders to first roam the Wyoming territory.

Gold in California and the lure of rich land in Oregon brought increasing numbers of pioneer wagon trains rolling over the Oregon Trails through Wyoming. Pony soldiers came to protect the wagon trains from hostile Indians, and the soldiers established forts along the trails.

The most important of the western military posts was Ft. Laramie in southeastern Wyoming. Laramie became a haven for gold seekers and weary emigrants. It was also an important station for the Pony Express and the Overland stagecoaches, and it served as a vital military post in the wars with the Plains Indians. Laramie witnessed the growth of the open range cattle industry, the coming of homesteaders and the building of towns which marked the final closing of the wild, western frontier in Wyoming was the scene of the end of the great Indian battles.

Phil Kearny in northern Wyoming had the bloodiest history of any fort in the West. Thousands of well organized Indians from the Cheyenne, Arapaho and Sioux tribes fought battle after battle with the U. A famous battle took place in when 81 soldiers set out from Ft. None of the "blue coats" survived. Great herds of buffalo once grazed on the rolling hills of Wyoming, giving rise to one of the state's best known citizens, William F. Today in the town he founded, Cody, near Yellowstone National Park, is an enormous museum dedicated to Buffalo Bill and the West he loved and helped settle.

Near the turn of the century, Buffalo Bill took his Wild West Show to Great Britain and the European continent to give audiences a brief glimpse of the cowboys, Indians and other characters who lived in America's west during Wyoming's early days. Wyoming is also known as the "Equality State" because of the rights women have traditionally enjoyed here. Wyoming women were the first in the nation to vote, serve on juries and hold public office. In , Wyoming's territorial legislature became the first government in the world to grant "female suffrage" by enacting a bill granting Wyoming women the right to vote.

The act was signed into law on December 10 of that year by Governor A. Less than three months after the signing of that act, on February 17, , the "Mother of Women Suffrage in Wyoming"-Ester Hobart Morris of South Pass City-became the first woman ever to be appointed a justice of the peace.

Laramie was also the site for the first equal suffrage vote cast in the nation by a woman-Mrs. Louisa Swain on September 6, In , Estelle Reel Mrs. Cort F. Meyer became one of the first women in the United States elected to a state office, that of Wyoming State Superintendent of Public Instruction.

In , Mrs. Nellie Tayloe Ross was the first elected woman governor to take office in the United States. She took office on January 5, , 20 days before "Ma" Ferguson of Texas elected on the same day took office. Ross went on to become the first woman to be appointed Director of the United States Mint-a position she held for 20 years, from to In , women held three of the state's five top elective positions and a total of 23 women hold seats in the Wyoming Legislature, three in the Senate and 20 in the House.

Talk of statehood for Wyoming began as early as after the organization of Wyoming Territory in that year. The road to statehood, however, did not begin until when the Territorial Assembly sent Congress a petition for admission into the Union. Bills were introduced in both houses of Congress, but did not pass. Though no legislation passed Congress enabling Wyoming to follow the steps that lead to statehood, Governor Francis E.

Warren and others decided to continue as if an "enabling act" had passed. Forty-nine men gathered in Cheyenne during September, , and wrote the constitution. The voters approved the document November 5, , by a vote of 6, to 1, Bills for Wyoming statehood were introduced in both the U. Senate and House in December,