JOURNALS OF THE FIRST LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF THE TERRITORY OF ARIZONA. [with:] JOURNALS OF THE SECOND LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF THE TERRITORY OF ARIZONA.

[Arizona]

Verlag: Office of the Arizona Miner, Prescott, Az., 1866

Two volumes. 250,xviii; 258,[1]pp. Modern three-quarter calf and contemporary marbled boards, earlier gilt label. Boards rubbed. Light scattered foxing, faint tideline in upper blank margin of second volume. Very good. Two very early and significant Arizona imprints, being the first two legislative journals which document the creation of formal government in Arizona Territory, including considerable content on the rocky relationship with local Native American groups. The First Legislative Assembly ran for forty- three days in the fall of 1864. The men met in a newly built two-room log cabin and established the first laws of Arizona as well as its first four counties, and created a volunteer militia for protection from hostile Native Americans. The Second Legislative Assembly was held in December 1865, with major legislation including the establishment of Arizona as a community property state, as well as the passing of the Copper State's notorious miscegenation law (House Bill No. 17), which stood until it was struck down by an Arizona appellate court in 1959 and repealed by the legislature in 1960. The early legislation of the territory was unsurprisingly adamant about issues of slavery. The Organic Act that established the temporary government for the Territory, included at the beginning of the first JOURNALS, has only three sections: one which establishes the boundaries of the territory, one which establishes the three branches of government (to be appointed by Lincoln), and a third which states only that no slavery or other involuntary servitude shall be legal. The Assembly continued this work and very early on Governor McCormick recommended the immediate abrogation of peonage. The Governor also alludes to a form of unofficial slavery that existed for certain members of the Apache: "In the fierce conflicts for life waged by the people of this territory with the hostile Apaches, some young persons have been captured, and there being no provision made by government for their custody or support, have been placed in families as servants or laborers. These captives.in some instances have become partly civilized, and would not now voluntarily leave the persons with whom they are living. But though no wrong or oppression may have resulted from this relation between the parties, it is certainly liable to abuse, and if permitted to continue should be regulated by law." The 1865 JOURNALS contain the ownership inscription of James O. Robertson of Prescott, who served in the House of Representatives in the Second Legislative Assembly. Robertson was the recorder and a founder of the Woolsey Mining District in 1864. He was also a Pony Express rider, with a July 1864 issue of the ARIZONA MINER announcing that he would make twice-monthly trips from the Fort Whipple area to La Paz, "to connect with Mr. Grant's express from there to Los Angeles. By this accommodation our citizens may send letters and parcels to La Paz in five days, and to Los Angeles in ten days." Calling it "The Pioneer Express," the venture failed by the end of September due to an insufficiency of business and the danger of traveling the road without company. "The introduction, dated Prescott, 31 December 1864, tells of the appointment of the first officials of the Territory by President Lincoln in March, 1863, and of the journey to the Territory in the fall of 1863 with a brief account of events in 1864. The Journal includes the text of various messages including Governor Goodwin's message of September 1864. On p. 158-159 is a protest against the expulsion of Lt. Sylvester Mowry from the Territory by the Army as a Southern sympathizer" - Streeter. AII (ARIZONA) 11, 17. STREETER SALE 508 (first volume only). Bestandsnummer des Verkäufers WRCAM57442

Bibliografische Details

Titel: JOURNALS OF THE FIRST LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY ...
Verlag: Office of the Arizona Miner, Prescott, Az.
Erscheinungsdatum: 1866