The 4th Arizona Territorial Legislative Assembly was a session of the

Arizona Territorial Legislature The Arizona Territorial Legislature was the legislative body of Arizona Territory. It was a bicameral legislature consisting of a lower house, the House of Representatives, and an upper house, the Council. Created by the Arizona Organic Act, the le ...

which ran from September 4, 1867, till October 7, 1867, in

Prescott, Arizona Prescott ( ) is a city in Yavapai County, Arizona, United States. According to the 2020 Census, the city's population was 45,827. The city is the county seat of Yavapai County. In 1864, Prescott was designated as the capital of the Arizona T ...

. Among the sessions accomplishments were establishment of the territory's first "permanent" capital and creation of the territory's first school district.

Background

At the time of the session, Arizona Territory was still in the early stages of its development. Transportation was limited but showing signs of improvement. The prior year saw the incorporation of the

Atlantic and Pacific Railroad The Atlantic and Pacific Railroad was a U.S. railroad that owned or operated two disjointed segments, one connecting St. Louis, Missouri with Tulsa, Oklahoma, and the other connecting Albuquerque, New Mexico with Needles in Southern California ...

with plans to build tracks along a route near the

35th parallel north The 35th parallel north is a circle of latitude that is 35 degrees north of the Earth's equatorial plane. It crosses Africa, the Mediterranean Sea, Asia, the Pacific Ocean, North America and the Atlantic Ocean. In the United States, the parall ...

. The route would however not be completed across the territory until 1883. To house lawbreakers, a jail was in the process of construction in Yavapai county. The

Indian Wars The American Indian Wars, also known as the American Frontier Wars, and the Indian Wars, were fought by European governments and colonists in North America, and later by the United States and Canadian governments and American and Canadian settle ...

continued, with the

Hualapai The Hualapai (, , yuf-x-wal, Hwalbáy) is a federally recognized Native American tribe in Arizona with about 2300 enrolled members. Approximately 1353 enrolled members reside on the Hualapai Reservation, which spans over three counties in Nort ...

Paiute Paiute (; also Piute) refers to three non-contiguous groups of indigenous peoples of the Great Basin. Although their languages are related within the Numic group of Uto-Aztecan languages, these three groups do not form a single set. The term "Pai ...

, and a portion of the

Yavapai The Yavapai are a Native American tribe in Arizona. Historically, the Yavapai – literally “people of the sun” (from ''Enyaava'' “sun” + ''Paay'' “people”) – were divided into four geographical bands who identified as separate, i ...

nations being on the warpath. In an attempt to placate the hostile natives, the U.S. Congress had funded the purchase of agricultural equipment for Indians that agreed to live peacefully. Beyond this, concern over most of Pah-Ute County's land area having been transferred to

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. N ...

continued.

Legislative session

The thirty-four-day-long session of the Fourth Legislative Assembly convened in Prescott on September 4, 1867.

Governor's address

Governor Richard C. McCormick gave his address to the session on September 9, 1867. His highest concern at the time was the continuation of the Indian Wars, noting "The birds of the air are scarcely more erratic in their movements than the Indians of Arizona." To meet this threat he asked for additional troops, claiming the current level of less than one soldier per insufficient for the need. The governor also sought a reorganization of military forces in the territory from a large number of small, temporary forts to a smaller number of larger forts to free up more troops for deployment in the field. As for a long-term solution, McCormick favored the use of

Indian reservation An Indian reservation is an area of land held and governed by a federally recognized Native American tribal nation whose government is accountable to the United States Bureau of Indian Affairs and not to the state government in which it ...

over a policy of extermination. In other news, farming activities in the

Gila River The Gila River (; O'odham ima Keli Akimel or simply Akimel, Quechan: Haa Siʼil, Maricopa language: Xiil) is a tributary of the Colorado River flowing through New Mexico and Arizona in the United States. The river drains an arid watershed of n ...

valley had produced

cotton Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus ''Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure cellulose, and can contain minor perce ...

tobacco Tobacco is the common name of several plants in the genus '' Nicotiana'' of the family Solanaceae, and the general term for any product prepared from the cured leaves of these plants. More than 70 species of tobacco are known, but the ...

, fruits, nuts, and a variety of grains. Territorial debt had grown to US$28,375 with the bonds authorized by the

1st Arizona Territorial Legislature The 1st Arizona Territorial Legislative Assembly was a session of the Arizona Territorial Legislature which began on September 26, 1864, in Prescott, Arizona, and ran for forty-three days. The session was responsible for enacting Arizona's first ...

coming due within a year. In the area of law enforcement, the territory was unable to fill the offices of

U.S. Marshal The United States Marshals Service (USMS) is a federal law enforcement agency in the United States. The USMS is a bureau within the U.S. Department of Justice, operating under the direction of the Attorney General, but serves as the enforce ...

and

United States Attorney United States attorneys are officials of the U.S. Department of Justice who serve as the chief federal law enforcement officers in each of the 94 U.S. federal judicial districts. Each U.S. attorney serves as the United States' chief federal c ...

due to the positions' low compensation. Finally, McCormick asked for the United States to purchase additional land from Mexico in order to secure the sea ports at

Guaymas Guaymas () is a city in Guaymas Municipality, in the southwest part of the state of Sonora, in northwestern Mexico. The city is south of the state capital of Hermosillo, and from the U.S. border. The municipality is located on the Gulf of Califo ...

and

Puerto Libertad Puerto Libertad is a village and municipality in Misiones Province in north-eastern Argentina.Ministerio del Interior

for the territory.

Legislation

The session saw a new law prohibiting the indiscriminate discharge of a firearm on public roads. The act included provisions that also made it a crime to use a deadly weapon during a fight. Dealing with the organization of the territorial government, the territory's first school district was created within

Pima County Pima County ( ) is a county in the south central region of the U.S. state of Arizona. As of the 2020 census, the population was 1,043,433, making it Arizona's second-most populous county. The county seat is Tucson, where most of the population ...

. More controversial was the selection of

Tucson , "(at the) base of the black ill , nicknames = "The Old Pueblo", "Optics Valley", "America's biggest small town" , image_map = , mapsize = 260px , map_caption = Interactive map ...

as the territory's first "permanent" capital. Prescott residents were angered by the move and accused several members of the legislature of accepting bribes and Governor McCormick of selling his support for the bill in exchange for assistance in his election to become the

Territorial Delegate to Congress A territory is an area of land, sea, or space, particularly belonging or connected to a country, person, or animal. In international politics, a territory is usually either the total area from which a state may extract power resources or an ...

. No evidence of actual wrongdoing was ever produced and the capital was officially moved on November 1, 1867. A proposal to create

Maricopa County Maricopa County is in the south-central part of the U.S. state of Arizona. As of the 2020 census, the population was 4,420,568, making it the state's most populous county, and the fourth-most populous in the United States. It contains about 6 ...

was defeated in the House by an 8–6 vote. In other matters, the session memorialized the U.S. Congress asking for the US$3

per diem ''Per diem'' (Latin for "per day" or "for each day") or daily allowance is a specific amount of money that an organization gives an individual, typically an employee, per day to cover living expenses when travelling on the employer's business. A '' ...

each member of the legislature received be increase to US$6. They also requested the U.S. Army's

District of Arizona District of Arizona was a subordinate district of the Department of New Mexico territory created on August 30, 1862 and transferred to the Department of the Pacific in March 1865. District of Arizona (Dept. of New Mexico) commanders Headquarter ...

be removed from the

Department of the Pacific The Department of the Pacific or Pacific Department was a major command ( Department) of the United States Army from 1853 to 1858. It replaced the Pacific Division, and was itself replaced by the Department of California and the Department of O ...

and granted its own

department Department may refer to: * Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility Government and military *Department (administrative division), a geographical and administrative division within a country, ...

Members

References