and twenty-two Know-iSrothings. As a proposition to organize new Terri-
tories inevitably would involve the "slavery question", the prospects for
favorable legislation upon the subject by that Congress appeared dismal.
The business of the first session was blocked for nearly two months by the
prolonged contest over the organization of the House, and which was not
ended until February 1st (1860), when William Pennington, of Jvew
Jersey, a Bepublican, was elected Speaker.

In the interval between the expiration of the Thirty-fifth Congress
and the first meeting of the Thirty-sixth, "the people at Pike's Peak",
disappointed by the failure of the former body to provide a Territorial
government for them, and moved to action by the lawless conditions under
which they were laying the foundations of a new Commonwealth, had taken
the matter into their own hands, organized the provisional "Territory of
Jefferson" (the history of which is the subject of my next chapter),
elected for it a Legislature and a full complement of executive officers,
and put its machinery into operation. For "Delegate in Congress", they
had chosen Beverly D. Williams, a leader among the pioneers of Denver,
wlio proceeded to Washington in due season. He represented his constit-
uents capably and loyally during the two sessions of the Thirty-sixth
Congress, but, as in the case of Mr. Graham, had no actual standing as a
Delegate, and served without compensation. Yet he was received with
consideration, admitted to the floor of the House, and was heard by the
Committee on Territories of each chamber.

Notwithstanding the dubious prospects for passing any measure for a
new Territory, some Territorial bills were brought into the Senate while
the House was in contention over the Speakership. In the latter part of
December, Senator Jefferson Davis, of Mississippi, introduced one to pro-
vide for organizing "Arizona Territory", and Senator Henry M. Bice, of
Minnesota, gave notice of his intention to submit a bill for "Dakotah Terri-
tory", but which did not appear. Early in January, Senator William M.
Gwin, of California, passed up a bill which proposed to form "Nevada
Territory" from the western part of Utah. This and Davis' bill were
referred to the Senate Committee on Territories, but neither of them ever
was reported back to the Senate.

The attitude of nearly every "southern" member of both houses of
that Congress, and also of some "northern" members, upon the slavery
question in its application to Territories, was concisely stated in the fol-
lowing resolutions submitted to the Senate on January 18th by Senator
Albert G. Brown, of Mississippi :

"Resolved, That the Territories are tlie conmion property of all the States; and
that it is the privilege of the citizens of all the States to go into the Territories with
every kind or description of property recognized by the constitution of the United
States, and held under the laws of any of the States [slaves were such "property"] ;
and that it is the constitutional duty of the law-making power, wherever lodged, or
by whomsoever exercised, whether by the Congress or the Territorial Legislature, to
enact such laws as may be found necessary for the adequate and sufficient protection
of such property.

"Resolved, That the [Senate] Committee on Territories \ye instructed to insert,
in any bill they may report for the organization of new Territories, a clause declaring



300 HISTORY OF COLORADO

it to be the duty of the Territorial Legislature to enact adequate and sufficient laws
for the protection of all kinds of property, as above described, within the limits of
the Territory; and that upon its failure or refusal to do so, it is the admitted duty
of Congress to interfere and pass such laws."

The propositions contained in these resolutions, while not new. were
debated long and earnestly by the Thirty-sixth Congress ; and although
Senator Brown's expression of them was not brought to a vote, persistent
efforts were made to inject their essence into every bill proposed in that
Congress to provide for organizing Territories.

Early in February (1860), Delegate Williams received from the
Governor of the home-made "Jefferson Territory" a memorial from its
"Legislature" with instructions to have the document presented to the two
houses of Congress, and, if possible, to obtain favorable action by them
upon the subject with which it dealt. The address had Ijeen authorized by
a joint resolution adopted by the Jefferson Legislature on the 1st of the
previous December, and which directed

"that a committee of three be appointed to draft a memorial to the President and
Congress of the United States, asking for the recognition as legal of the provisional
government of the Territory of Jefferson : for assistance from the United States in
defraying the expenses of the same ; for the erection of a Territorial government for
the Territory of Jefferson, or an enabling act to form a State government for the
same; for the extinguishment of the Indian title, and the survey of the lands of the
Territorj^; for the encouragement of railroads to the Territory; for the establish-
ment of an assay office in the Territory; for a geological survey; and for such other
acts as may be for the interest of the people of the Territory of Jefferson".

The memorial, which was addressed to "the honorable his Excellency,
the President and the Congress of the United States", was attested by
Robert W. Steele, "Governor of the Provisional Territory of Jefferson";
by Eli Carter, "President of the Pro\'isional Council of the Territory of
Jefferson"; and by James A. Grey, "Speaker of the House of Representa-
tives of the Provisional Territory of Jefferson". It went on at great
length to recount the circumstances of the migration to the Pike's Peak
country; to point out the effects of the lawless conditions under which
the pioneers had established settlements in it; and to give the outlines of
the history of the movement which had resulted in the organization of
"Jefferson Territory", the illegitimacy of which was admitted without
reserve. The document prayed for everji;hing that had been specified in the
joint resolution, but laid especial stress upon the urgent need for an
effective lawful government, for which two propositions were submitted,
the first being as follows:

"Whereas the provisional government of the Territory of Jefferson, now estab-
lished and in present successful operation, is the act of the people, and meets the
peculiar wants of said people in its various enactments, giving them legal remedy
in case of grievance, and protecting life and property, we, your memorialists, do
pray the Congress of the United States to recognize said provisional government and
its acts, so far as they do not conflict with the Constitution and laws of the United
States, as legal and binding and of full force and effect, until superseded by the
acts of the Territorial or St^te government, which shall supersede said provisional
government."

The second proposition, framed in anticipation of a refusal by Congress
thus to recognize the provisional government of "Jefferson Territory" and
to legalize its acts, was in the following form :



HISTORY OF COLORADO â– â– JOl

"Whereas the provisional govenimeiit of tlie Territory of Jefferson was formed
to meet exigencies of the present time, and only to endure until a regular Territorial
or State government is formed : and whereas the people of the Territory of JefTerson
do earnestly desire a legitimate and permanent form of government, your memori-
alists do pray the Congress of the United States to pass an organic act for the Terri-
tory of Jefferson, or an act enabling the people of the Territory of Jefferson to form
a State government, if the census to be taken in 18G0 shows a population within said
Territory of 95,000 persons."

Delegate Williams placed the memorial in the hands of Representative
Green Adams, of Kentucky, for presentation to the House, together with a
copy of the "Jefferson" Legislature's joint resolution, a copy of Governor
Steele's first message to his lawmakers, and the following letter :

"To the Senate and the House of Representatives of the United States:

"Washington City, D. C, February 9, 1860.

"The undersigned, a delegate elect from the proposed new Territory of Jefferson,
having just received from the governor of said Territory the enclosed petition from
the legislature of the provisional government, now in actual operation within the
bounds as laid down in said petition, also the message of the governor of said provi-
sional government, asking the establishment of a territorial organization for the
same, the establishment of post routes, &c., with instructions to me to have the same
laid before your honorable bodies, for such action as you may deem right and proper
in the premises, I take pleasure in presenting the same to you, and ask that it be
printed, togetlier with this communication, and referred to the Committee on Terri-
tories. Beverly D. Williams,

Delegate."

Mr. Adams submitted the documents to the House on February 15th,
when they were referred to the Committee on Territories and ordered to be
printed. But the record does not show that they were ever presented to
the Senate.

On February 20th, President Buchanan transmitted to Congress eight
memorials, which he had received from "our fellow-citizens 'residents for
the most part at and near the eastern slojie of the Rocky Mountains' ", and
of which he sent four to the Senate and four to the House. "In trans-
mitting these memorials to Congress", said he, in his special message upon
the subject, "I recommend that such provision may be made for the protec-
tion and prosperity of our fellow-citizens at and near the eastern slope of
the Rocky mountains, as their distance and the exigencies of their condi-
tion may require from their government." In these memorials, which -svere
alike as to their text, and which bore the signatures of several thousands of
men, the diflSculties and disadvantages by which the Pike's Peak settlements
were surrounded, and the reasons for their need of immediate relief at the
hands of Congress, were set forth in much the same manner and language
in which they had been stated in the petition from the "Jefferson" Legis-
lature. But the programme proposed by these memorialists for establishing
a lawful government in the new mining-region differed a little from that
of the Legislature, as indicated in the following extract from the Presi-
dent's special message:

"These memorialists invoke the interposition of Congress and the Executive for
'the early extinguislnnent of the Indian title, a consequent survey and sale of the
public lands, and the establishment of an assay office in the immediate and daily
reach of the citizens of that region'. They also urge 'the erection of a new Territory
from contiguous portions of New Mexico, Utah, Kansas, and Nebraska', with the
boundaries set forth in their memorial. They further state, if this request should not



302 HISTORY OF COLORADO

be granted: 'That (inasmuch as during this year a census is to be taken) an
enabling act be passed, with provisions, upon condition that if, on the 1st day of
July, 1860, thirty thousand resident inhabitants be found within the limits of the
mineral region, then a territorial government is constituted by executive proclama-
tion : or if, on the 1st day of September, 1860, one hundred and fifty thousand shall
be returned, then a State organization to occur'."

These memorials had been prepared and signed at the instance of
S. W. Beall, a Denver pioneer, who, on December 27, 1859, liad been em-
ployed b_v the Denver City Town Company to

"proceed to Washington City and represent the Special interests of Denver City in
the National Capital During the present Session of Congress and before the Heads of
Departments in the location of a post office also the Indian agency, Military posts
and an Es-say office and any other matters that he may be requested to attend by tlie
citizens of Denver."

In Beall's memorials, as well as in that of the "Jefferson" Legislature,
it was proposed and urged that the contemplated new political division
should embrace the country lying between the 37th and 43d parallels and
the 102d and 110th meridians — which were the bounds of "Jefferson Terri-
tory". This area extends two degrees farther north and one degree farther
west than that which finally became the Territory of Colorado and later
the present State.

In the course of their recitals and arguments the President's memorial-
ists said :

". . . That this region has not and cannot have peaceful political affinities
with these four Territories [Kansas, Nebraska, New Mexico, and Utah], is too
obvious to admit of reasoning. . . . The ftcts of the legislature of Kansas, intended
to establish jurisdiction [in the wild western end of that Territory], having no
validity, are disregarded as of no avail. Tlie hardy, industrious miner, in pursuit of
discovery, exists in hourly peril of his life; while the acts of the provisional govern-
ment, and the authority of vigilance committees, existing alone by public opinion,
arising from some extreme necessity of social disorder, are soon disregarded as
powerless and inefficient."

In liis message to Congress at the opening of that session. President
Buchanan had made no recommendation as to legislation for the organiza-
tion of new Territories. However, he made use of the occasion to say :

"I cordially congratulate you upon the final settlement by the Supreme Court
of the United States of the question of slavery in the Territories, which had presented
an aspect so truly formidable at the commencement of my administration. The
right has been established [by the court's decision in the Dred Scott case] of every
citizen to take his property of any kind, including slaves, into the common Terri-
tories belonging equally to all the States of the Confederacy, and to have it protected
there under the Federal Constitution. Neither Congress nor a Territorial legislature
nor any human power has any authority to annul or impair this vested right. The
supreme judicial tribunal of the country, which is a coordinate branch of the Govern-
ment, has sanctioned and affirmed these principles of constitutional law, so manifestly
just in themselves and so well calculated to promote peace and harmony among
the States."

Nevertheless, some of the anti-slavery members of Congress persisted
in their belief that there was human power with authority "to annul or
impair this vested right", and that the National Legislature possessed
enough of it to exclude slavery from Territories.

No Territorial measure was taken up for actual consideration in either
house of Congress until the ensuing spring was far advanced. As the time



HISTOKY OF COLORADO 303

of two month? had been consumed in the contest in the House over the
election of a Speaker and in completing the working organization of that
bodv, all business of the session was greatly in arrears. Moreover, much
political rancor had been engendered by the strife, and the vanquished
side was strongly disposed to prevent, if possible, all legislation that might
have a political bearing.

It was not until April 3d (1860) that another attempt to transact
Territorial business was made in the Senate. On that day, Senator James
S. Green, of Missouri, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Territories,
reported from that committee two bills: one for the organization of
"Arizona Territory", and the other (Senate bill Xo. 366) "to provide a
temporary government in tlie Territory of Colorado"' (in the Pike's Peak
country). Both contained a provision to the effect that when the pro-
posed Territories should be admitted into the Union they might "come
in with or without slavery". They were read and passed to a second read-
ing, but neither received any further attention, nor did the Senate act upon
any other proposition for a new Territory, during that session. However,
Senate bill No. 366 eventually became the basis of the organic act for
Colorado Territory.

The first Territorial mea.sure submitted to the House of the Thirty-
SLxth Congress was a bill to pronde for the organization of the "Terri-
tory of Arizona", introduced on February 16, 1860, by Delegate Miguel A.
Otero, of New Mexico, and which went to the Conmiittee on Territories, of
which Bepresentative Galusha A. Grow (of Pennsylvania) was Chairman.
But no further Territorial business was transacted by the House until May
1st, when Chairman Grow arose and said :

"I desire to ask the consent of the House to allow the Committee on Terri-
tories to report certain hills for the organization of Territorial governments for
TeiTitories. I desire to have the bills printed, and recommitted to the Committee on
Territories. What I want is, that the House will allow such bills as the committee
will ask the action of the House upon during the days set aside for the consideration
of Territorial business to be printed ; and, in order to enable the Clerk to keep his
numbers properly, they should be made as reports, ordered to he printed, and then
recommitted to the Committee."

This was agreed to, and May 7th and 8th were set aside for consider-
ation of the bills, which now stood as having been reported and recom-
mitted to the Committee on Territories. But when the time came the
business was postponed until the 10th and 11th. On the 10th, Chairman
Grow reported back "a bill to provide a temporary government for the
Territory of Idaho" (for the Pike's Peak people), and which was read
twice. Mr. Grow informed the House that "as all these bills for the
organization of Territories are alike, except as to the names, I propose to
take one of them as a test, and let whatever course the House shall take
in regard to it apply to all the others" — the others being for the proposed
Territories of "Arizona", "Nevada", "Dacota", "Chippeway". Mr. Grow
remarked that he believed the "Idalio" bill "to be the most meritorious of
the whole number".

Several amendments to the bill were offered immediately, and in some
of these the temporizing policy of that time with respect to slavery was
reflected sharply. Representative John B. Clark, of Missouri, one of the
minoritv memljers of the Committee on Territories and acting in behalf of



304 HISTORY OF COLORADO

the ininorit}', at once moved to strike from the bill the proviso, "That
whereas slavery has no legal existence in said Territory, nothing herein con-
tained shall be construed to authorize or permit its existence therein", and
to insert in its stead the following:

"Provided, That the Legish^ture of said Territory shall not, by any legislation
whatever, establish or prohibit slavery in said Territory, or annul or impair the
riglits of slave or other property therein, reeognized by the constitution of the
United States."

Representative Lucius J. Gartrell, of Greorgia, proposed for the com-
mittee's proviso a substitute that was a little stronger in tone than Clark's,
and which follows:

"Provided, That nothing herein contained shall be so construed as to authorize
the Legislature of said Territory to pass any law abolishing slavery in said Terri-
tory or to prohibit the introduction of slavery therein, or to exclude slaves there-
from, or to destroy or impair tlie right of property in slaves, by any legislation
whatever."

Representative Garnett B. Adrian, of New Jersey, passed up an
amendment which declared that it was

"the true intent and meaning of this act, not to legislate slavery into said Territory,
nor to exclude it therefrom, but to leave the people thereof perfectly free to form
and regulate their domestic institution of slavery in their own way, subject only to
the Constitution of the United States".

Representative David Clopton, of Alabama, moved to strike out the
committee's proviso and substitute the following:

"Provided, That no law shall be passed annulling or impairing the right of any
citizen of the United States to take into, use, or enjoy, in said Territory, any prop-
erty reeognized as such by any State of the Union, or by the Constitution of the
United States."

The Dred Scott decision already had (in 1857) practically confirmed
the "principles" of the proposed amendments.

After these had been submitted, Representative Eli Thayer, of Massa-
chusetts, who was opposed to the Territorial programme, presented an
amendment which virtually was a new bill. It struck out all after the
enacting clause, proposed to abolish the Territory of Utah, which had been
organized in 1850, and divide the country that is now the States of
Colorado, Utah, and Nevada into the ''Jefferson Land District'' and the

"Nevada Land District", each of which was to have a Surveyor-General
and a Register and Receiver. The land office for the Jefferson division was
to be at Denver City and that for the Nevada at Genoa. The amendment
also provided that

"the people of each of the land districts above described, whenever they shall have
formed a temporary government, shall be entitled to one Delegate in Congress, who
shall receive the same compensation, and enjoy the same privileges, as a delegate
from a. Territory ; and that so much of said Jefferson land district as is now within
the limits of the Territories of Kansas and Nebraska shall be, and is hereby, excluded
from the operation of the act organizing the Territories of Kansas and Nebraska,
except so much thereof as repeals the Missouri compromise".

As the Missouri Compromise had forever prohibited slavery in the
western territory lying north of latitude 36 degrees 30 minutes (the lati-
tude of the southern line of the State of Missouri), its repeal threw that



HISTOEY OF COLORADO 305

territory open to slavery, should the people thereof desire to establish the
'•peculiar institution" in such States as might be formed therein. There-
fore, this clause in Mr. Thayer's proposed amendment would have kept the
Jefferson District open to slavery, but by negation excluded such bondage
from the Nevada division.

After these proceedings^ further consideration of this ''Idaho" bill was
postponed until May 12th.

On May 11th, Chairman Grow reported from his committee five Terri-
torial bills, one of which was for our "Tdaho," the others being for
"Arizona", "Nevada", "Dakota", and "Chippewa". The "Idaho" bill of
the 10th contained a provision giving the Territorial Legislature the power
to pass bills over the Governor's veto, by a two-thirds vote, but in the
one now reported the Legislature might override a veto by a majority vote,
instead of two-thirds, a change that made it technically a different measure ;
and which also was a bit of sharp parliamentary-practice. So there were
now two Idaho bills before the House. Addressing the House, Mr. Grow
said:

"We propose to organize the northern portion of the Territory of Xebraska,
and â– what is now called Dakota, into a Territory with the name of Chippewa. We
propose to organize a Territory out of the other portion of Dakota and a portion
of Nebraska, by the name of Dakota. Tlie territory included in the Pike's peak
region we propose to call Idaho. Out of the western portion of Utah, we propose
to organize a Territory under the name of Nevada ; and another, from the western
portion of New Mexico, under the name of Arizona. ' ' ,

All of these bills carried the same anti-slavery proviso that was con-
tained in the postponed "Idaho" bill, of the 10th. The second bill for that
Territory was the first reported on May 11th, and having been read twice,
was taken up for discussion, after Mr. Grow formally had entered a
motion to recommit it to his committee. In answer to an inquiry, he
said:

"I am asked, what is the meaning of 'Idaho'? It is an Indian name signifying
'Gem of the Mountains'. I would have preferred the name "Tehosa', which means
'Mountain Peaks', so that we should have the dwellers on the mountain peaks from
this Territory."

Mr. Grow gave no hint as to the identity of the person who persuaded
him to give up "Tehosa" (said by others to signify "Dwellers on the Moun-
tain Peaks") and adopt "Idaho" in its stead. Continuing his remarks upon
the "Idaho" bill, which was his pet measure among the lot, he said :

"Idaho, an Indian name signifying 'Gem of the Mountains', is the name the
Committee propose for the Territory composed of part of what is now included in the
Territories of New Mexico, Utah, Nebraska, and that portion of the Territory of
Kansas not included within the limits of the proposed State of Kansas; bounded on