[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 43 (Friday, March 14, 2014)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E391]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         RECOGNIZING NEVADA 150

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                          HON. JOSEPH J. HECK

                               of nevada

                    in the house of representatives

                         Friday, March 14, 2014

  Mr. HECK of Nevada. Mr. Speaker, I come to the floor today to mark 
the beginning of Nevada's journey to becoming the 36th State admitted 
to the Union.
  Many know the story of the Nevada constitution being sent to 
Washington via the newly-invented telegraph machine to expedite our 
admission to the Union in late October of 1864. But a lesser known--
though not less important--event in our state's history will celebrate 
its 150th anniversary next week.
  On March 21, 2014--next Friday--it will have been one hundred and 
fifty years since this body voted to allow the People of the Territory 
of Nevada to form a Constitution and State Government for the purpose 
of admission into the Union.
  Nevada's constitutional convention began on the fourth of July, 1864.
  Among the first words of our constitution were the absolute 
prohibition of slavery, freedom of religious worship, and one issue 
very near to the work of Nevada's current Congressional delegation, the 
ownership status of the land.
  The convention adjourned July 28 having laid the foundation for 
Nevada's admission to the Union and our future governance.
  Voters of the territory approved the Constitution the first week of 
September, paving the way for Abraham Lincoln to admit Nevada as the 
36th State on October 31, 1864.
  But all of these events were set in motion by a bill approved in this 
very Chamber, Mr. Speaker. Without this critical first step, the 
journey to statehood would not have been possible.
  I'm proud to call the Battle Born State home and join with Nevadans 
from Elko to Laughlin in celebrating the sesquicentennial of March 21, 
1864.

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