The 11th Arizona Territorial Legislative Assembly was a session of the Arizona Territorial Legislature

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 legislature initially consisted of nine members in...

 which convened on January 3, 1881, in Prescott, Arizona Territory

Prescott, Arizona

Prescott is a city in Yavapai County, Arizona, USA. It was designated "Arizona's Christmas City" by Arizona Governor Rose Mofford in the late 1980s....

.

Background

Since assuming office, Governor John C. Frémont

John C. Frémont

John Charles Frémont , was an American military officer, explorer, and the first candidate of the anti-slavery Republican Party for the office of President of the United States. During the 1840s, that era's penny press accorded Frémont the sobriquet The Pathfinder...

 had been mostly absent from his duties. The governor had left for Washington D.C. on February 28, 1879 to lobby the territory's case in a dispute over the boundaries of the Gila River Indian Reservation

Gila River Indian Community

The Gila River Indian Community is an Indian reservation in the U.S. state of Arizona, lying adjacent to the south side of the city of Phoenix, within the Phoenix Metropolitan Area in Pinal and Maricopa Counties. It was established in 1859, and formally established by Congress in 1939...

. The trip was expected to take five or six weeks to complete. Frémont had not returned to the territory till August 1879. The governor had again left the territory on March 18, 1880. He did not return to Prescott till January 5, 1881. In response to these prolonged periods with no resident territorial governor, Territorial Delegate John G. Campbell

John G. Campbell

John Goulder Campbell was a delegate from Arizona Territory in the United States House of Representatives....

 said "So far we cannot tell what sort of Governor he will make as he has spent most of his time in the East."

While he was away, the non-partisan alliance that had controlled Arizona Territory during the McCormick

Richard Cunningham McCormick

Richard Cunningham McCormick, Jr. was an American politician, businessman, and journalist. He served as the second Governor of Arizona Territory, three time Delegate to the U.S. House of Representatives from Arizona Territory, and as a Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from New York...

 and Safford

Anson P.K. Safford

Anson Pacely Killen SaffordVarious sources give multiple variations for the spelling of Safford's two middle names. Among these are Peasley, Peacely, Keeler, and Killen. was the third Governor of Arizona Territory...

 administrations broke down. This allowed the territory's Democratic Party

Democratic Party (United States)

The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...

 to organize an effective opposition to the Republican

Republican Party (United States)

The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...

 governor. The other signification change was the size of the legislature, which had been expanded to twelve members in the upper house and twenty-four members in the lower house.

Governor's address

Governor Frémont's address to the session focused upon economic development. To this end he
called for Federal

Federal government of the United States

The federal government of the United States is the national government of the constitutional republic of fifty states that is the United States of America. The federal government comprises three distinct branches of government: a legislative, an executive and a judiciary. These branches and...

 aid in building water storage systems within the territory and increased trade with Mexico

Mexico

The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...

. To encourage additional capital investment in the territory's mines, the governor requested removal of all taxes levied on mining products. On other issues, Frémont recommended divorce

Divorce

Divorce is the final termination of a marital union, canceling the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage and dissolving the bonds of matrimony between the parties...

s be handled by the courts.

The regular address was followed on February 21, 1881, by a special message. In the message, Governor Frémont called for a 100 man force to be organized to fight banditry along and near the border with Mexico.

Legislation

The most important, and contentious action of the session was the creation of three new counties: Cochise

Cochise County, Arizona

-2010:Whereas according to the 2010 U.S. Census Bureau:*78.5% White*4.2% Black*1.2% Native American*1.9% Asian*0.3% Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander*4.0% Two or more races*9.6% Other races*32.4% Hispanic or Latino -2000:...

, Gila

Gila County, Arizona

-2010:Whereas according to the 2010 U.S. Census Bureau:*76.8% White*0.4% Black*14.8% Native American*0.5% Asian*0.1% Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander*2.0% Two or more races*5.4% Other races*17.9% Hispanic or Latino -2000:...

, Graham

Graham County, Arizona

-2010:Whereas according to the 2010 U.S. Census Bureau:*72.1% White*1.8% Black*14.4% Native American*0.5% Asian*0.1% Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander*2.8% Two or more races*8.3% Other races*30.4% Hispanic or Latino -2000:...

. Of these, Cochise County generated the most objections. Creation of the county was opposed by interests in Tucson

Tucson, Arizona

Tucson is a city in and the county seat of Pima County, Arizona, United States. The city is located 118 miles southeast of Phoenix and 60 miles north of the U.S.-Mexico border. The 2010 United States Census puts the city's population at 520,116 with a metropolitan area population at 1,020,200...

 due to the diversion of tax income from their city to the new county seat

County seat

A county seat is an administrative center, or seat of government, for a county or civil parish. The term is primarily used in the United States....

. Tombstone

Tombstone, Arizona

Tombstone is a city in Cochise County, Arizona, United States, founded in 1879 by Ed Schieffelin in what was then Pima County, Arizona Territory. It was one of the last wide-open frontier boomtowns in the American Old West. From about 1877 to 1890, the town's mines produced USD $40 to $85 million...

 had however managed to elect a disproportional level of representation to the session and was able to overcome the objections. The new county's name also generated opposition as Representative Sharp of Maricopa County

Maricopa County, Arizona

-2010:Whereas according to the 2010 U.S. Census Bureau:*73.0% White*5.0% Black*2.1% Native American*3.5% Asian*0.2% Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander*3.5% Two or more races*12.7% Other races*29.6% Hispanic or Latino -2000:...

 objected to the county being named for Cochise

Cochise

Cochise was a chief of the Chokonen band of the Chiricahua Apache and the leader of an uprising that began in 1861. Cochise County, Arizona is named after him.-Biography:...

 due to the "depredation and murderous attacks of that bloodthirsty savage."

The towns of Phoenix

Phoenix, Arizona

Phoenix is the capital, and largest city, of the U.S. state of Arizona, as well as the sixth most populated city in the United States. Phoenix is home to 1,445,632 people according to the official 2010 U.S. Census Bureau data...

, Prescott

Prescott, Arizona

Prescott is a city in Yavapai County, Arizona, USA. It was designated "Arizona's Christmas City" by Arizona Governor Rose Mofford in the late 1980s....

, and Tombstone were incorporated. A variety of bond

Bond (finance)

In finance, a bond is a debt security, in which the authorized issuer owes the holders a debt and, depending on the terms of the bond, is obliged to pay interest to use and/or to repay the principal at a later date, termed maturity...

 issues were additionally authorized to fund construction of courthouses, jails, and other government buildings throughout the territory.

Acting upon the governor's recommendation, the territorial bullion tax on mined products was repealed. Frémont's request for a special force to fight crime along border with Mexico was refused.
The previous session

10th Arizona Territorial Legislature

The 10th Arizona Territorial Legislative Assembly was a session of the Arizona Territorial Legislature which convened on January 6, 1879, in Prescott, Arizona Territory....

's creation of a territorial lottery was repealed, and gambling by minors prohibited.

Members

House of Representatives
Name	District		Name	District
J. Barton	Apache		Donald Robb	Pinal
Peter J. Bolan	Maricopa		J. K. Rodgers	Pima
George E. Brown	Yavapai		John Roman	Pima
A. J. Doran	Pinal		M. G. Samaniego	Pima
Thomas Dunbar	Pima		N. Sharp	Maricopa
E. B. Gifford	Pima		E. H. Smith	Pima
John Haynes	Pima		M. S. Snyder	Pima
J. F. Knapp (Speaker)	Yuma		David Southwick	Mohave
M. K. Lurty	Pima		R. B. Steadman	Yavapai
John McCafferty	Pima		H. M. Woods	Pima
John McCormack	Maricopa		L. Wollenberg	Yavapai
G. W. Norton	Yuma		G. R. York	Apache

Council
Name	District
J. W. Anderson	Pinal Pinal County, Arizona -2010:Whereas according to the 2010 U.S. Census Bureau:*72.4% White*4.6% Black*5.6% Native American*1.7% Asian*0.4% Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander*3.8% Two or more races*11.5% Other races*28.5% Hispanic or Latino -2000:...
A. C. Baker	Maricopa Maricopa County, Arizona -2010:Whereas according to the 2010 U.S. Census Bureau:*73.0% White*5.0% Black*2.1% Native American*3.5% Asian*0.2% Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander*3.5% Two or more races*12.7% Other races*29.6% Hispanic or Latino -2000:...
Solomon Barth	Apache Apache County, Arizona -2010:Whereas according to the 2010 U.S. Census Bureau:*23.3% White*0.2% Black*72.9% Native American*0.3% Asian*0.0% Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander*2.0% Two or more races*1.3% Other races*5.8% Hispanic or Latino -2000:...
A. Cornwall	Mohave Mohave County, Arizona Mohave County is located in the northwestern corner of the U.S. state of Arizona. As of the 2010 census, its population was 200,186, an increase of 45,154 people since the 2000 census count of 155,032. The county seat is Kingman...
J. W. Dorrington	Yuma Yuma County, Arizona -2010:Whereas according to the 2010 U.S. Census Bureau:*70.4% White*2.0% Black*1.6% Native American*1.2% Asian*0.2% Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander*3.8% Two or more races*20.8% Other races*59.7% Hispanic or Latino -2000:...
B. A. Fickas	Pima Pima County, Arizona -2010:Whereas according to the 2010 U.S. Census Bureau:*74.3% White*3.5% Black*3.3% Native American*2.6% Asian*0.2% Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander*3.7% Two or more races*12.4% Other races*34.6% Hispanic or Latino -2000:...
B. H. Hereford	Pima
Murat Masterson (President)	Yavapai Yavapai County, Arizona -2010:Whereas according to the 2010 U.S. Census Bureau:*89.3% White*0.6% Black*1.7% Native American*0.8% Asian*0.1% Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander*2.5% Two or more races*5.0% Other races*13.6% Hispanic or Latino -2000:...
W. K. Meade	Pima
H. G. Rollins	Pima
George H. Stevens	Pima
R. S. Thomas	Maricopa