Arizona is the 48th State Admitted to the Union

Arizona became a U.S. state on February 14, 1912.

The major result being the end to the territorial colonization of Continental America. Arizona was the 48th state admitted into the U.S. and the last of the contiguous states to be admitted. The admission, originally scheduled to coincide with that of New Mexico, was delayed by Democrats in the territorial legislature to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Arizona becoming a Confederate territory in 1862.

New Mexico became a state on January 6, 1912, and Arizona became a state on February 14, 1912. Thus, two stars were added to our flag in 1912 on July 4th signifying that two new states were added to the 46-star flag then. That flag lasted exactly 47 years from July 4, 1912, through July 4, 1959.

George W. P. Hunt, Arizona businessman, territorial legislator, President of Arizona's Constitutional Convention of 1910 and the state's first governor, was born in Huntsville, Missouri, November 1, 1859. He arrived in Globe, Gila County, Arizona in 1881 where he eventually became President and part owner of the Old Dominion Commercial Company. On February 24, 1904 he married Helen Duett Ellison in Holbrook, Arizona. They had one daughter, Virginia. Hunt was elected to the Territorial House in 1893 and 1895 and to the Territorial Council in 1897, 1899, 1905, 1907 and 1909. He served as Council President during his 1905 and 1909 terms.

A major player in efforts to obtain statehood, Hunt presided over Arizona's 1910 Constitutional Convention. While President of the Convention, he supported the inclusion of the initiative. Elected governor in December 1911, he took his oath of office February 14, 1912-- the first day of statehood. Arizonans re-elected him six more times. He served from February 1912 to January 1917 when Thomas Edward Campbell defeated him in a bitterly contested election. In the summer of 1917, President Woodrow Wilson appointed Hunt as a federal labor conciliator during increasing labor unrest in the mining industry. Hunt's comments regarding the Bisbee Deportation were seen by many Arizonans as sympathetic to the International Workers of the World (I.W.W.) Hunt eventually ousted Campbell from office following a year-long battle in the courts to determine which of the two had actually won the governorship. Hunt then served from December 1917 to January 1919. President Wilson appointed him the Minister of Siam during the years 1920-1922. Upon his return, Hunt again served as governor from January 1923 to January 1929 and a final term from January 1931 to January 1933. Previous to his defeat in the 1932 primary, Hunt had won the Democratic nomination in every primary he had entered. He lost the Democratic primary again in 1934. He died in Phoenix on December 24, 1934.

During his long career, Hunt promoted many progressive agendas including the establishment of a merit system for state employees, prison and labor reform, woman's suffrage, the abolition of capital punishment, child labor laws, workers compensation and old age pensions, direct democracy by means of the initiative and referendum and citizen recall of judges. He fought hard for Arizona's portion of Colorado River water, refusing to sign the Colorado River Compact.

Arizona was admitted into the Union as a Sovereign State on February 14, 1912. In the laws which the first State Legislature of Arizona enacted, the affairs of State government are placed under direct control of the people, who can at any lime exercise the machinery of the Initiative, Referendum and the Recall. Among the amendments to the Constitution upon which the people voted in 1912 was one giving the State power to engage in industrial pursuits.