What is the history of Wyoming's statehood?

Answer 1

Expert answer by Penny Kaye

Residents of the Territory of Wyoming agreed in the late 1880's that Wyoming should become a state. Wyoming Territories' Delegate to Congress, Joseph M. Carey, in 1889, issued a proposal to the US Congress calling for a constitutional convention in Wyoming.

Even thought Congress never acted on that proposal, the territorial governor, Frances E. Warren, went ahead and set a date for the election of delegates to a constitutional convention in Cheyenne. Of the 55 elected members, 49 of them assembled in September, 1889, in Cheyenne to draft the Wyoming Constitution.

A special election was held on Nov. 5, 1889 and the Wyoming Constitution passed overwhelmingly by a vote of 6,272 in favor to 1,903 against.

On March 26, 1890, Territorial Delegate Joseph M. Carey introduced a bill calling for Statehood for Wyoming to the US Congress. The statehood bill finally passed the House of Representatives by a close vote of 139-127. Three months after House passage, the Wyoming Statehood bill passed the Senate. President Harrison signed the Statehood Bill on July 10, 1890, making Wyoming the 44th state admitted to the Union.