Proclamation 294—Admission of Washington Into the Union

Whereas the Congress of the United States did by an act approved on the 22d day of February, 1889, provide that the inhabitants of the Territory of Washington might upon the conditions prescribed in said act become the State of Washington; and

Whereas it was provided by said act that delegates elected as therein provided to a constitutional convention in the Territory of Washington should meet at the seat of government of said Territory, and that after they had met and organized they should declare on behalf of the people of Washington that they adopt the Constitution of the United States, whereupon the said convention should be authorized to form a State government for the proposed State of Washington; and

Whereas it was provided by said act that the constitution so adopted should be republican in form and make no distinction in civil or political rights on account of race or color, except as to Indians not taxed, and not be repugnant to the Constitution of the United States and the principles of the Declaration of Independence, and that the convention should, by an ordinance irrevocable without the consent of the United States and the people of said State, make certain provisions prescribed in said act; and

Whereas it was provided by said act that the constitution thus formed for the people of Washington should, by an ordinance of the convention forming the same, be submitted to the people of Washington at an election to be held therein on the first Tuesday in October, 1889, for ratification or rejection by the qualified voters of said proposed State, and that the returns of said election should be made to the secretary of said Territory, who, with the governor and chief justice thereof, or any two of them, should canvass the same, and if a majority of the legal votes cast should be for the constitution the governor should certify the result to the President of the United States, together with a statement of the votes cast thereon and upon separate articles or propositions, and a copy of said constitution, articles, propositions, and ordinances; and

Whereas it has been certified to me by the governor of said Territory that within the time prescribed by said act of Congress a constitution for the proposed State of Washington has been adopted, and that the same has been ratified by a majority of the qualified voters of said proposed State in accordance with the conditions prescribed in said act; and

Whereas it is also certified to me by the said governor that at the same time the body of said constitution was submitted to a vote of the people two separate articles, entitled "Woman suffrage" and "Prohibition," were likewise submitted, which said separate articles did not receive a majority of the votes cast thereon or upon the constitution, and were rejected; also that at the same election the question of the location of a permanent seat of government was so submitted, and that no place received a majority of all the votes cast upon said question; and

Whereas a duly authenticated copy of said constitution and articles, as required by said act, has been received by me:

Now, therefore, I, Benjamin Harrison, President of the United States of America, do, in accordance with the provisions of the act of Congress aforesaid, declare and proclaim the fact that the conditions imposed by Congress on the State of Washington to entitle that State to admission to the Union have been ratified and accepted and that the admission of the said State into the Union is now complete.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.

Done at the city of Washington, this 11th day of November, A. D. 1889, and of the Independence of the United States of America the one hundred and fourteenth.

BENJ. HARRISON

By the President:

JAMES G. BLAINE,

Secretary of State.