"result, the law went into effect on June 7, 2006. The Washington legislature introduced more advanced converge of domestic partnerships in 2008. History of Washington (state) The history of Washington includes thousands of years of Native American history before Europeans and Americans arrived and began to establish territorial claims. The region was part of Oregon Territory from 1848 to 1853, after which it was separated from Oregon and established as Washington Territory. In 1889, Washington became the 42nd state of the United States. Archaeological evidence shows that the Pacific Northwest was one of the first populated areas in North America."
"Congress, the 1878 constitution is an important historical document which shows the political thinking of the time. It was used extensively during the drafting of Washington State's 1889 constitution, the one and only official Constitution of the State of Washington. Washington became the 42nd state in the United States on November 11, 1889. Early prominent industries in the state included agriculture and lumber. In eastern Washington, the Yakima River Valley became known for its apple orchards, while the growth of wheat using dry farming techniques became particularly productive. Heavy rainfall to the west of the Cascade Range produced dense forests,"
"of the American Civil War, modern-day Washington was part of the Washington Territory. On March 3, 1863, the Idaho Territory was formed from that territory, consisting of the entirety of modern-day Idaho, Montana, and all but southwest Wyoming leaving the modern-day Washington as Washington Territory. Washington Territory before the Civil War was the most remote place in the United States from the theater of conflict. Additionally Washington Territory only had peace with the local Indians for three years when the Civil War began and the few settlers there were just recovering from the fear and economic strain those wars had"
"Washington achieved statehood in 1889, Olympia continued as the state's capital city. Construction of the current Washington State Capitol began in 1912, with the prominent Legislative Building, one of the largest in the nation, completed in 1928. The building's dome is the fourth largest free-standing masonry dome in the world. Aside from its role as the seat of state government, Olympia was a fairly typical Pacific Northwest town. Early on, extraction industries such as logging and oystering were the basis of much of the economy. By the twentieth century, sawmilling, fruit canning, and other industrial concerns comprised its economic base."
"of Washington was sent by courier to President Harrison whose approval was necessary before Washington was proclaimed a state. Days went by with no word; finally on November 4, 1889 a message was received, stating that Governor Moore forgot to sign the Constitution and President Harrison could not approve it. Overnight a new copy was prepared, and it was sent to the President by courier the next day. On November 11, 1889 the President issued a proclamation declaring Washington's Constitution approved, and the state was admitted to the Union. ""Much of this article is adapted from material copied from the"
"portion of the territory became part of the Washington Territory. In 1863, Idaho Territory was created from the eastern section of the Washington Territory, with other former eastern portions of the Oregon Territory becoming parts of Montana Territory and Wyoming Territory. Washington became a state in 1889, followed by Idaho in 1890. Various Native American tribes inhabited the region at the beginning of the pioneer settlement period. Each tribe had their own forms of government, but no modern nation existed. The first formal government in the region came in the form of the Hudson's Bay Company, who were granted the"
"Treaty of Washington (1836) The Treaty of Washington is a treaty between the United States and representatives of the Ottawa and Chippewa nations of Native Americans. With this treaty, the tribes ceded an area of approximately 13,837,207 acres (55,997 km²) in the northwest portion of the Lower Peninsula of Michigan and the eastern portion of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. This area represents approximately 37% of the current land area of the state of Michigan. The treaty was concluded and signed on March 28, 1836 in Washington D.C. by Henry Schoolcraft, Indian Commissioner for the United States and several representatives"
"Washington's at-large congressional district At different times in its history, Washington elected one or more U.S. Representatives at-large statewide. From statehood in 1889 until 1909, Washington elected all of its U.S. representatives statewide. In 1909, Washington was divided into congressional districts for purposes of electing representatives. Following the 1950 Census, Washington was granted a seventh seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, but the state legislature was unable to agree on a plan to create a geographic district for the seat until 1957, so the seat was filled by a representative elected statewide. From statehood in 1889 to 1893, Washington"
"two failed voter referendums in 1889 and 1898, the now-Washington State Legislature approved full female voting rights in 1910. With more than two decades of pressure on federal authorities to authorize statehood, on February 22, 1889, the U.S. Congress passed the Enabling Act, signed into law by outgoing President Grover Cleveland, authorizing the territories of Washington, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Montana to form state governments. The Territorial Assembly set out to convene a constitutional convention to write a state constitution. Following its successful passage by the legislature, Washington voters approved the new document on October 1. On November 11,"
"the capital territory already included two large settlements at its creation: the port of Georgetown, Maryland and the town of Alexandria, Virginia. A new capital city named in honor of President George Washington was founded to the east of Georgetown in 1791. Shortly after establishing operations in the new capital, Congress passed the Organic Act of 1801, which organized the federal territory. The territory within the federal district east of the Potomac formed the new County of Washington, which was governed by a levy court consisting of seven to eleven Justices of the Peace appointed by the President, and was"
"belief resulted in the creation of a national capital, separate from any state, by the Constitution's District Clause. The ""District Clause"" in Article I, Section 8, Clause 17 of the U.S. Constitution states: In 1788, the land on which the District is formed was ceded by Maryland. In 1790, Congress passed the Residence Act placing the District on the Potomac River between the Anacostia and Connogochegue with the exact location chosen by President Washington. His selection was announced on January 24, 1791, and the Residence Act was amended to include land that Virginia had ceded in 1790. That land was"
"1853, Meeker heard that the lands north of the Columbia would become a separate territory (named Washington Territory), with its capital on Puget Sound, an inlet of the Pacific. He decided to travel north with his brother to scout for lands to claim around the waterway. There were as yet only about 500 European-descended inhabitants in the Puget Sound region, of which 100 were in the village of Olympia, which would become the territorial (and later state) capital. Despite there only being a few settlers, there was considerable activity in the area—the lumber of Puget Sound fueled San Francisco's building"
"territory (the portions in present-day southern Idaho and western Wyoming) was added to the Washington Territory. Oregon Territory The Territory of Oregon was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from August 14, 1848, until February 14, 1859, when the southwestern portion of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Oregon. Originally claimed by several countries (see Oregon Country), the region was divided between the UK and US in 1846. When established, the territory encompassed an area that included the current states of Oregon, Washington, and Idaho, as well as parts of Wyoming"
"Washington, DC). On March 2, 1861, Dakota Territory took all of the portions of Nebraska Territory north of 43° N (the present-day Nebraska–South Dakota border), along with the portion of present-day Nebraska between the 43rd parallel north and the Keya Paha and Niobrara rivers (this land would be returned to Nebraska in 1882). The act creating the Dakota Territory also included provisions granting Nebraska small portions of Utah Territory and Washington Territory—present-day southwestern Wyoming, bounded by the 41st parallel north, the 43rd parallel north, and the Continental Divide. On March 3, 1863, Idaho Territory took everything west of 104°03' W"
"which country should control this vast area, the Treaty of 1818 provided for joint control. By 1843, the Provisional Government of Oregon had been established, although at first there were questions as to its authority and extent. During its existence, that provisional government formed the area north of the Columbia River first into the Washington Territory, and then (December 19, 1845) into two vast counties: Clark and Lewis. The Washington Territory was formed as a separate governing entity in 1853. In 1854, that legislature carved several counties out of the two original large counties, including Skamania County. Later in 1854"
"the United States and Britain's North American possessions. However, due to some ambiguity in the treaty, future conflict did arise and ended with the bloodless Pig War over the San Juan Islands. The portion that became part of the United States in 1846 remained unorganized until Congress created the Oregon Territory in August 1848. In 1853, the northern boundary of the current state of Oregon was defined, with roughly half of the original Oregon Territory becoming the Washington Territory. The boundaries were finalized for Oregon upon entering the Union as the 33rd state on February 14, 1859. The remaining northeastern"
"was Monticello, near present-day Longview. In 1841 several families with the HBC directed Sinclair expedition from Red River Colony settled there. On November 25, 1852 at Monticello, settlers from the Cowlitz and Puget Sound regions drafted a petition (the Monticello Convention) to the federal government, calling for a separate territory north of the Columbia River to be carved out of the existing Oregon Territory. The petition was successful; three months later the United States Congress formed the Columbia Territory, although it was soon renamed Washington Territory. The newly-separated territory was governed by two existing counties. In August 1845, the Oregon"
"territory was to be named ""Columbia"", for the Columbia River and the Columbia District, but Kentucky representative Richard H. Stanton found the name too similar to the District of Columbia (the national capital, itself containing the city of Washington), and proposed naming the new territory after President Washington. Washington is the only U.S. state named after a president. Confusion over the state of Washington and the city of Washington, D. C., led to renaming proposals during the statehood process for Washington in 1889, including David Dudley Field II's suggestion to name the new state ""Tacoma"". These proposals failed to garner"
"Garfield had 37.6 percent, and Lander 19.4 percent. Garfielde next played a direct role in the organization of the Idaho Territory. The Washington Territory had originally been part of the vast Oregon Territory. But massive population growth north of the Columbia River led to a divergence of interests between the northern southern parts of the territory. In 1853, the Washington Territory was split from the Oregon Territory. In 1859, Oregon was admitted as a U.S. state. That portion of the Oregon Territory not admitted as a state became part of the Washington Territory. That same year, gold was discovered in"
"Oregon Territory's at-large congressional district Oregon Territory's At-large congressional district is an obsolete congressional district that encompassed the area of the Oregon Territory. In 1853, the northern half of the territory was reorganized into the Washington Territory. After Oregon's admission to the Union as the 33rd state by act of Congress on February 14, 1859, this district was dissolved and replaced by Oregon's At-large congressional district. At the same time, the eastern portion of the territory was annexed to the Washington Territory. When the Oregon Territory was formed on August 14, 1848, Congress gave it the authority to elect a"
"the cession during its first session on April 2, 1790, when it passed ""An Act to Accept a Cession of the Claims of the State of North Carolina to a Certain District of Western Territory"". On May 26, 1790, Congress passed an act organizing the new cession as the ""Territory of the United States South of the River Ohio,"" which consisted of modern Tennessee, with the exception of later minor boundary changes. However, most of the new territory was under Indian control, with territorial administration initially covering two unconnected areas— the Washington District in what is now northeast Tennessee, and"
"meridian west from Washington, transferring the land from Utah Territory. The Mexican state of Campeche was split from Yucatán. The Union created its own Arizona Territory, splitting it off from New Mexico Territory, making both territories correspond to their present-day states, except for Arizona Territory including the southern tip of present-day Nevada. Idaho Territory was created from portions of Washington, Dakota, and Nebraska Territories, consisting of present-day Idaho, Montana, and most of Wyoming. Nebraska and Washington Territories were left corresponding to their present-day counterparts. Several counties of northwestern Virginia who did not want to be part of the Confederacy split"
"United States government created the Oregon Territory, and in 1853 the northern and eastern sections of the territory became the Washington Territory. In 1854 and 1855 bills in the Territorial Legislature pressing for statehood for the territory were defeated. Finally on December 12, 1856, the legislature passed a bill authorizing a convention to establish a constitution. On June 1, 1857, the voters in the territory approved the resolution and elected delegates to a constitutional convention. The vote was 7,209 in favor of holding a convention to 1,616 against the proposal. On August 17, 1857, 60 delegates selected by the voters"
"the White House and United States Capitol were being rebuilt. The Thirteen Colonies declared their independence from Great Britain in July 1776, and achieved it with the Treaty of Paris in 1783 (which ended the American Revolutionary War). With ratification of the United States Constitution in 1788, a new national capital needed to be chosen. On July 9, 1790, Congress passed the Residence Act, which approved the creation of a national capital on the Potomac River. The exact location was to be selected by President George Washington, who chose a portion of the states of Maryland and Virginia on January"
"in the world, with more than 20 million annual tourists. The signing of the Residence Act on July 16, 1790 approved the creation of a capital district located along the Potomac River on the country's East Coast. The U.S. Constitution provided for a federal district under the exclusive jurisdiction of the U.S. Congress, and the District is therefore not a part of any state. The states of Maryland and Virginia each donated land to form the federal district, which included the pre-existing settlements of Georgetown and Alexandria. The City of Washington was founded in 1791 to serve as the new"
"Montana Territory The Territory of Montana was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from May 26, 1864, until November 8, 1889, when it was admitted as the 41st state in the Union as the State of Montana. The Montana Territory was organized out of the existing Idaho Territory by Act of Congress and signed into law by President Abraham Lincoln on May 26, 1864. The areas east of the Continental Divide had been previously part of the Nebraska Territory and Dakota Territory and had been acquired by the United States in the Louisiana Purchase. The territory"
"the organization of the region into a U.S. territory. On August 14, 1848, Congress passed the Act to Establish the Territorial Government of Oregon, which created what was officially the Territory of Oregon. The Territory of Oregon originally encompassed all of the present-day states of Idaho, Oregon and Washington, as well as those parts of present-day Montana and Wyoming west of the Continental Divide. Its southern border was the 42nd parallel north (the boundary of the Adams-Onis Treaty of 1819), and it extended north to the 49th parallel. Oregon City, Oregon, was designated as the first capital. The territorial government"
"Oregon Territory The Territory of Oregon was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from August 14, 1848, until February 14, 1859, when the southwestern portion of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Oregon. Originally claimed by several countries (see Oregon Country), the region was divided between the UK and US in 1846. When established, the territory encompassed an area that included the current states of Oregon, Washington, and Idaho, as well as parts of Wyoming and Montana. The capital of the territory was first Oregon City, then Salem, followed briefly by"
"May 26, 1864 and, with rapid population growth, as the 41st state on November 8, 1889. Montana territory was organized from the existing Idaho Territory by Act of Congress and signed into law by President Abraham Lincoln on May 28, 1864. The areas east of the continental divide had been previously part of the Nebraska and Dakota territories and had been acquired by the United States in the Louisiana Purchase. The territory also included land west of the continental divide, which had been acquired by the United States in the Oregon Treaty, and originally included in the Oregon Territory. (The"
"of the northern Great Plains, much of the upper Missouri River basin and the eastern portions of the northern Rocky Mountains. The Nebraska Territory gradually reduced in size as new territories were created in the 1860s. The Colorado Territory was formed February 28, 1861 from portions of the territory south of 41° N and west of 102°03′ W (25° W of Washington, D.C.) (an area that includes present-day Fort Collins, Greeley and the portions of Boulder north of Baseline Road, in addition to portions of Kansas Territory, New Mexico Territory, and Utah Territory). March 2, 1861, saw the creation of"
"Constitution of Washington The Constitution of the State of Washington is the document that describes the structure and function of the government of the U.S. State of Washington. The constitution was adopted as part of Washington Territory's path to statehood in 1889. An earlier constitution was drafted and ratified in 1878, but it was never officially adopted. In 1877 Orange Jacobs, Washington Territory's Delegate to U.S. Congress, requested an enabling act that would allow Washington to become a state as soon as a state constitution was drafted and ratified by the voters. At the same time, an act was passed"
"Wyoming Territory was created with the meridian as its eastern boundary. The Dakota Territory was divided into North and South Dakota on November 2, 1889, and Montana became a state just six days later. Wyoming became a state in 1890. 27th meridian west from Washington The 27th meridian west from Washington is an archaic meridian based on the Washington Meridian. The meridian is approximately 104 degrees west of the Prime Meridian. It is used as the boundary of five states. The usage of the meridian as a boundary began in 1863 when the Idaho Territory was created, with the 27th"
"Territory of Alaska The Territory of Alaska or Alaska Territory was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from August 24, 1912, until January 3, 1959, when it was admitted to the Union as the State of Alaska. The territory was created as the District of Alaska on May 17, 1884. The passing of the 1899 Criminal Code, which among other things included a tax on liquor, led to increased calls for Alaskan representation in Congress, and the debate finally ended on August 24, 1912, when the Alaska Territory became an organized, incorporated territory of the United"