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July 31, 2001 Tomorrow is the 125th anniversary of Colorado statehood. We bet you didn’t know, and that’s too bad. Colorado history is a subject taught to elementary school children and, because of its lack of immediate applicability, forgotten by most of them. The story isn’t all that dramatic, but it’s a good lesson in democracy. Colorado is an interior state, and so it didn’t need to be wrested from an adversarial foreign power. Settlement was gradual except for spikes like the gold rush of 1859. The Native American population was pushed back, sometimes with violence and sometimes with little resistance. Settlers moved in; some moved on west, and some went back home. Some stayed, and descendants of those pioneer families are proud of that heritage. But they acknowledge that the life of drudgery and deprivation that shaped the frontier does not lend itself to parades and fireworks. Before the creation of the state, the political boundaries were complicated. The northeastern portion, including what is now Denver, belonged to Kansas Territory; the area south of the Arkansas River belonged to New Mexico, and the West Slope was part of Utah Territory. Within those divisions were lands reserved for the tribes who’d been displaced by westward "progress." Eventually a set of regional interests began to emerge, and it became apparent that recognition from the federal government would be beneficial. When presented with the options of seeking statehood or territorial status, the voters — fewer than 4,000 of them — chose in 1859 to become Jefferson Territory. Political wranglings complicated by the Civil War delayed approval, and Jefferson evolved into Colorado. After Abraham Lincoln’s election to the presidency and the secession of the southern states, opposition to new free states and territories withered. Kansas achieved statehood, and less than a month later, the Territory of Colorado was officially created. By the mid-1870s, Congressional Republicans were looking westward for support, and Colorado Territory seemed a likely prospect for statehood. The constitution that was crafted in 1876, while amended many times since, is easily recognizable today. The members of the constitutional convention went home in March to convince their fellow Coloradoans to ratify the document. That was done on July 4, by a vote of 15,443 to 4,062, but the state of transportation and communications meant the outcome was not instantly apparent. By July 4 — the centennial of the nation — it was clear statehood had been approved, and celebratory fever overtook the Centennial State. Ulysses S. Grant’s presidential proclamation of statehood on Aug. 1, 1876, was largely ignored, and so even the official date of Colorado’s birth was not well celebrated. This anniversary probably will not be either. Colorado’s story, though, is an interesting one, and those who benefit from it should probably acquaint themselves with it. A good primer is "A Colorado History," the seventh edition, wonderfully crafted by Carl Ubbelohde, Maxine Benson and Durango’s own Duane Smith. It tells us where we’ve been and hints at where we’re going, and it would be a great book to read while reclining in the hammock on a hot summer day. Tip a glass of lemonade to the pioneers while you’re at it. |
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Copyright © 2001 the Cortez
Journal. All rights reserved. |
