Territorial Legislature
Named in 12 stories. Back to all names
- Jul 15, 1859A Majority of 108 from Seventy VotersThe territorial election returns smelled of the ballot box: Whatcom County, with barely eighty voters, reported a majority of 108 for Stevens.Bellingham, WA
- Feb 2, 1861The Legislature Votes Itself a Territorial RifleIn a moment of classic political opportunism, the Council passes a measure granting every member a firearm at public expense.Olympia, WA
- Dec 20, 1862The Governor’s Vision for a Growing TerritoryGovernor William Pickering addresses the 1862 Legislature, detailing the critical needs of a frontier rapidly filling with settlers and miners.Olympia, WA
- Jun 1, 1876The Paradise of Thieves: Seattle’s 1876 Corruption CrisisWhen the Territorial Legislature legalized gambling to fund a mountain road, Seattle residents warned that the city was becoming a lawless playground for criminals.Seattle, WA
- Sep 1, 1876The Parade Ground Is Now a Ward: A Visitor Walks the Territory's AsylumWhere the 4th Infantry once drilled to fife and drum, a correspondent finds sagging fences, two overworked keepers to a men's ward, and a lone matron holding the women's department — all on an appropriation he calls 'a shame to our people.'Fort Steilacoom, Lakewood, WA
- Oct 20, 1877The Pioneer Struggle to Fund Washington's Common SchoolsAn 1877 legislative session in Olympia debates selling off University lands to fund the territory's school districts, highlighting the precarious nature of public education in the early days of the Washington Territory.Olympia, WA
- Dec 29, 1877The Territory's Legislative SnakeA scathing critique from 1877 exposes the 'headless and tailless' chaos of newly minted Washington tax laws, exposing a system designed to strip residents of their property through administrative incompetence.Olympia, WA
- Jan 19, 1878The Disgraceful Scrawl of Territorial LawA scathing editorial from the Weekly Dispatch reveals that the Territorial Legislature's laws were so poorly drafted, blotted, and grammatically mangled that the editor suggests burning them to avoid litigation.James Street, Seattle, WA
- Oct 27, 1883Spokane Falls Denounces the Legislator Who Would Keep the County WholeAt Cannon's Hall, citizens passed resolutions demanding that the Territorial Legislature ignore Jacob Stitzel and split Spokane County in two.Spokane, WA
- Nov 1, 1883A Territorial Governor’s Controversial AdviceGovernor William A. Newell's 1883 message to the Territorial Legislature advocates for the forced assimilation of Indigenous people and a rigid, unadorned approach to public institutions.Olympia, WA
- Dec 16, 1885The 1885 Fight to Protect the Workingman’s Tools and BeddingA proposed territorial law sought to expand property exemptions from debt, shielding everything from a mechanic's tools to a family's bedding from creditors.Olympia, WA
- Dec 11, 1887The Price of a Capitol SeatWhen the Territorial Legislature convened in Olympia, residents hiked rent to price gouge the lawmakers, sparking a legislative push to abandon the capital city.Olympia, WA