An attempt to form a constitution in the state had failed the previous year but this time the people of Nevada voted overwhelmingly - by a vote 10,375 to 1,284 - to accept the newly drafted document. The entire constitution was telegraphed to Washington at a cost of $3,416.77, the longest and most expensive message to date. President Lincoln, accordingly, proclaimed Nevada a state on October 31, 1864. The new state's votes in Congress were a welcome boost to his November election chances and his legislative program. (By John Osborne)
Source Citation
Russell R. Elliott, History of Nevada (Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press, 1987), 84-88.
Record Data
Date Certainty
Exact
Type
Lawmaking/Litigating
