This came across the Western list. Hope you don't mind my sending it to you
all.
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Historical Account "State Hood "
Submitted by: Christine Goff
COGenExchange -
http://www.genexchange.org/co/
The first bill for Colorado's statehood was introduced in Congress in 1864,
but it died when Colorado voters rejected the proposed state constitution.
Subsequent efforts at statehood were lost in the fight between President
Andrew Johnson and Republicans in the U.S. Congress over how the defeated
Southern states should be treated after the Civil War. Johnson vetoed
statehood, partly because the territory's population was too small. Congress
did approve a Colorado statehood bill on March 3, 1875. A state convention
at Denver adopted a proposed state constitution on March 14, 1876, and on
July 1 the voters approved it by a three-to-one margin. Colorado became the
38th state to join the Union on August 1, 1876, and John L. Routt, the last
territorial governor, was elected the first governor of the state of
Colorado
Source: The Birth of Colorado: A Civil War Perspective and Rocky Mountain
West: Colorado, Wyoming, and Montana, 1859-1915