OCR Text |
Show PAGE TWO THE UTE SENTINEL Midvale, Utah, Friday, July 5, 1935 cun!itltute tnree per·ioll. tuore ut a futurf:i' { ''You will, therefore, provide In ,..,_.,....,_, the tr aty for the ultlmate creation of nt least four states, and for their admission Into the Union, as soon as t he population of the respecttv~ territories shall be sufficient for that purpose-and in the meantlm . that territorial governments shal .., be established and malntalned as ' clrcummances and the wants of the people residing ln those limits respectively may render proper and necessary.'' President Tyler, In hls message of December, 1844, refers to this same matter. Urging the prompt and Immediate annexation of Texas, he says: "Future leglsla tures can best decide as to the number of states which should be formed out of the territory, when the time arrives for deciding that question." 1 The ''blll to provide for the annexation of Texas to the United' States, and to restore the ancient limits of the Republic,,. which was finally passed, says among other. things: "The said compact ot' cession and annexation, when made as. aforesaid, to provide further for the future formation In said territories of at least two states, and if more than two, then four stateg, and It more than four, then of slx states, 1 to be hereafter admitted lnto the! United States of America.'' J Henry Clay, then'llvlng In retirement but a candidate for the Presidency, wrote a letter, April 17, 1844, emphasizing the fact that Texas was ultimately to be composed of .,. five states, and declared that only · two of then.. wouJd be slave and · three of them free. r In that fact lies the fallacy of tbe lclea that Texas bas the right to dlvlde ltselt Into five 8tates. This Idea arose from a misinterpretation of tbe clause In the joint resolution of congress annexing Texas by which the 1\Ilssourl compromise line was carried to the west boundary ot Texas. At that time Texas claimed terri tory far north. and pr()6 vision was merely being made that states subsequently carved from Texas should be slave below the compromise Une and free above. Since the outcome of the War Between the States settled the q uestion of slavery. It also obviated the necessity for determining which ot the Hve new states were to be slave and which were to - be free soiL · I Even though none of these recent proposals for the creation of new commonwealths from those already existing has made much progress, they have added to the lllterature of ''states that might have been" and have revived the memory or other such proposals In the past. If ''Absaroka," "llllana," and "Tex-j lahoma, would look queer on a map of the United States today, how much queerer would It look lf 1t bad Pellsypla, Polypotamla, Metropotamla and Chersonesus on ft• Ye t there were such names on the map ot 150 years ago, and we might now bave states bearing those names If Thomas Je1Terson bad his way about 1t. Back in 1784 the new nation was considering the possiblllty of forming new states out ot the old Northwest Territory, won for the American tlag by George Rogers Clark during the Revolution. In the Ordinance of 1784, which was largely the work of Jetrerson, provision was made tor ten states, and Jefferson, who was one of the foremost classical scholars of his day, proposed these ~ames for them: Silvanla, Mlchlganla, Chersonesus, Arsenlstpl~ ~fetropotamla, Illlnola, Saratoga, Polypotamta, Pellsypta and Washington. A map published by Joh n Fitch (later famous for hls invention of a steamboat) tn Philadelpb1a ln 1785 shows the boundaries of t ese proposed states, although his s p ing of some of the names varies slightly from Jefferson's. T he new state of ..\Vashlngton" Incl uded a strip through the middle of Ohio from Lake Erie soutJ1 to the Ohlil river. Saratoga comprised th e Io•v-· / ' ®SAHTA,( \' Albuquerq-ue MEXICO~~~~~~~~~~~~! X A S MONT• s.o. ~---- AUSTIN~ 1' tfoustono eS.Jn Antoo•o wvo. I I .____ J__~ ~L ' I -~-- 0 ' or this? Will it be this? By ELMO SCOTT WATSON 8 THERE soon to be another • star in the American flag and, if so, what state will it represent? Will 1t be Hawaii? Reports ; Indicate that the people of that territory are about ready to knock at Uncle Sam's door for admission to his Union and they are so eager to be the forty-ninth state that, durIng the recent celebration of Flag day, they flew an American banner in whose field of blue they had sewed another star as indicative of their ambition. Will It be Alaska? The ..1935 pioneers" who went there recently may be the vanguard of a migration which will populate that territory so rapidly that 1t wlll also have statehood ambitions and the vast empire which was once known as .. Seward's Folly" may honor the man who bought It from Russia by joining the sisterhood of states under his name. Will It be Porto Hlco, which already has a pop. alation more · than three times that of Hawaii and Alaska combined? Or, Instead of promoting one of bts territories to the dignity of statehood, will Uncle Sam ''play realtor" and ..open up a new subdivision"? In that case, wlll the ne'v commonwealth be "llllana" composed of Cook eounty, Ill., and Lake county, Ind.? Or will lt be ''Absaroka,'' made by piecing together parts of southwestern Montana, north· eastE!rn \Vyomlng and southwestern South Dakota? Then again, It might be "Texlahoma," composed of the Texas Panhandle and western Oklahoma, including that strip of territory, 30 miles wide and 90 miles long, which was once known as No Man'il Land. Or it might be "Cimarron," another name which has been 'Proposed for a ••cattle state" <.:own In the Southwest. .As a matter of fact, several such Ideas for forming new states have been advanced during the past few months even though they have not fared very well thus far. The Indiana legislature promptly squelched the suggestion that Lake county secede from Hooslerdom and join with Cook county to form "Illinna•• with Chicago as Its capital. The lack of harmony between that city and downstate Illinois has more than once resulted In the suggestion that both would be better off If Chicago were a commonwealth by itself. No doubt, either Rapid City, the thriving llttle municipality wbicb put itself on the map In the days of President Calvin CooJidge, or historic old Deadwood would be glad to be the capital of "Absaroka;, tbe forty-ninth state which would bear the tribal name of the Crow Indians. But Sherlt.lan, Wyo., whlcb is In the land of the ''Sparrow Hawk People" (.Absarokas} might dispute the claims of the Black HJlls cities, even if Montana. Wyoming and South Dakota would agree to band over slices of their territory for a new state-which ts doubtful. 'l'he latest suggestion for the creation of a new state-that of "Texlaboma"-came about whtm an enterprising Oklahoma Citlan petitioned the state legislature for sucb action. glvlng as his reason the ·•rank discrl mlnatlon by parent states against the counties within the described territories by those In official authority.'' Com· menting on tbis proposal a Texas newspaper • dlSpP'"""' .. "' .. ..., ,.. I -.· ~ -·· '' ""'' TimPR t:~fllfl: or this? aoo o too tGCO Mt&.CS ·~·~·~·~·~--~·~,-·~·~--~·~--~·-·--~J ..In the past such proposals ba ve originated fugitively In Texas, which is so large and diversified that some sections occasionally feel dlserlmlnated against politically. \Vblle this pro. posal Is more clearly defined than lts predeces· sors, it Is extremely doubtful If Its fate wlll prove happier. \Vhat sentiment might have exl~ted years ago for the division of Texas has long since been dissipated, and with regard to the ·rank discrimination' against the Panhandle it ls only necessary to say that not only does Governor Allred come from one of the counties that would 'secede,' but the four high men in the race for governor of Texas last summer were all from the region covered by the proposed state. "Moreover, both economic and patriotic forces resist division today. .Modern means of rapid transportation and communication are reducing even this vast frontier to a neighborhood. The approach of the Texas centennial Is serving to crystalllze this unity, and lt ts significant that some of the most enthusiastic manifestations of pre-centennial patriotism are coming from the Panhandle, far removed from the shrines of Texas' historical period." One of the proposals to which he refers came about some five years ago when Vice President Garner, then a member of the bouse of representatives, made a speech In congress advocatIng the division of Texas into five states as a means of giving the Lone Star state the representation in congress, especially In the senate, which she feels she should have. As for the names of these five states. lt Is suggested tbat there should be but one Texas, and that the central portion of the state which ls now designated as Central Texas should bear it This state should not embrace San Antonio as well as Austin, and for that reason San Antonio would have to be thrown into South Texas, for whicll the name Alamo or Davy Crockett is suggested. Other iltate names suggested are Jefferson for West Texas, Sam Houston for East Texas, and Hogg for North Texas. Another suggestion ts that the state of West Texas be called Pan· handle. Texans who believe that they have the rtght to divide their state up Into five parts ba se that right upon the terms under which Texas was annexed to the United States in 1845. At that time Sam Houston was preshlent of the Republic of Texas, Anson Jones was secretary of state and Isaac Van Zandt was the Texan charge d'affaires at Washington. Houston told Jonea to write Van Zandt a letter of Instructions on how to negotiate the treaty of annexation with the United States, and sent J. Pinckney Henderson along to help Van Zandt handle the matter with the American secretary of tate. This letter, dated February 25, 1844, emphasized two potnts not embraced tn previous Instructions, the first of :v.•hlch was tbls: "The number of states Into which the Territory of Texas shall be subdivided. It ls presumable that in the settlements already made there Is a sufficient population to constitute one state, according to the r.:!qulrements of the Federal Constitution, and that the remaining territory of the republic Is sufficiently large to If You Have Jordan Valley News Phone I To Midvale 178 or Mail It To The Ute Sentinel, Midvale• ............................................................................................................................ |