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Joseph Montoya

Joseph Montoya

Joseph Manuel Montoya (September 24, 1915–June 8, 1978) was an U.S. Senator from the State of New Mexico. Montoya was born in Peña Blanca, New Mexico. His parents, Thomas and Frances Montoya, were descendants of eighteenth-century Spanish immigrants to New Mexico. He received his early education in public schools in Sandoval County and graduated from Bernalillo High School in 1931. He continued his education at Regis College in Denver, Colorado. In 1934 he began law school at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. In 1936 at age twenty-two, while Montoya was still at Georgetown, he became the youngest representative in the history of the state to be elected to the New Mexico State House of Representatives. In 1938 Montoya graduated from law school and was reelected. The following year he was elected the Democratic majority floor leader. Montoya continued his political ascent with his election to the New Mexico State Senate in 1940, once again becoming the youngest member of that body ever elected. By the time he left the Senate in 1946, Montoya had been twice reelected to the State Senate and held the positions of majority whip and Chairman of the Judiciary Committee. From 1947 to 1957 he was elected Lieutenant Governor of New Mexico three times and also served two additional terms in the State Senate. In 1957 Montoya was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in a special election after the sudden death of the recently reelected New Mexican Congressman Antonio M. Fernández. In Congress Montoya gained a recognition as a political moderate, a dedicated Democrat, and a diligent legislator -- qualities that earned him the esteem of his fellow legislators and made him an effective congressman. In 1963 he became a member of the House Appropriations Committee. He was a strong advocate of education measures and soon authored the Vocational Education Act. In 1964 he sponsored the Wilderness Act, which protected wilderness areas. Montoya won the 1964 Senate election to complete the term of Dennis Chavez, who died in office, despite the fact the Governor of New Mexico, Edwin L. Mechem, had resigned the governorship in order fill the seat temporarily. Thus began an eleven year career in the Senate, where he served on the Appropriations Committee; the Public Works Committee; the Joint Committee on Atomic Energy; and most memorably, the Senate Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities, popularly known as the Senate Watergate Committee. Montoya's most important accomplishment was his work on the Senate Agriculture Committee, where he gained expertise concerning the inspection and regulation of the meat packing industry. This led to an interest in consumer safety and health. He authored numerous pieces of legislation aimed at eliminating unsanitary conditions in the meat packing industry, including the Wholesome Meat Act of 1967, the Wholesome Poultry Act of 1968 and the Clean Hot Dog Act of 1974. Montoya also worked on behalf of civil rights, education, health care, alien workers, and maintained a strong interest in the economic well-being of his constituents. In the health-care area he supported medicare, medicaid, and introduced a bill to provide bilingual training for those in the health care professions. Montoya also supported environmental protection, and programs to assist the elderly. His positions on the Joint Committee on Atomic Energy and the Senate Appropriations Committee allowed him to have a strong influence on maintenance of the federal installations in New Mexico. In 1976 Montoya was defeated by Harrison Schmitt by over 16 points, the defeat is mostly contributed to the fact that Schmitt was a former astronaut and was a charismatic orator, something Montoya was not. Montoya spent the next two years primarily helping Senator Pete Domenici to keep the federal installations in New Mexico open—something Domenici has been known for great accomplishment in ever since. Montoya died in Washington, D.C. at the age sixty-two. Montoya, Joseph Montoya, Joseph Montoya, Joseph Montoya, Joseph

September 24

September 24 is the 267th day of the year (268th in leap years). There are 98 days remaining.

Events


- 622 - Muhammad completes his hegira from Mecca to Medina.
- 1493 - Christopher Columbus departs on his second expedition to the New World.
- 1664 - The Netherlands surrenders New Amsterdam to England.
- 1789 - The United States Supreme Court and the position of Attorney General are established.
- 1789 - The United States Post Office Department is established.
- 1841 - The Sultan of Brunei cedes Sarawak to Britain.
- 1852 - The first airship is displayed.
- 1869 - "Black Friday": Gold prices plummet as Jay Gould and James Fisk plot to control the market.
- 1890 - The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints officially renounces polygamy.
- 1903 - Edmund Barton steps down as Prime Minister of Australia and is succeded by Alfred Deakin.
- 1940 - Baseball: Jimmie Foxx becomes the second member of the 500 home run club with a home run at Shibe Park in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
- 1948 - The Honda Motor Company is founded.
- 1957 - President Dwight D. Eisenhower sends United States National Guard troops to Little Rock, Arkansas, to enforce desegregation.
- 1961 - The old Deutsche Opernhaus in the Berlin neighborhood of Charlottenburg
- 2005 - returns to its newly rebuilt house as the Deutsche Oper Berlin.
- 1962 - United States court of appeals orders the University of Mississippi to admit James Meredith.
- 1973 - Guinea-Bissau declares its independence from Portugal.
- 1988 - 1988 Summer Olympics: Ben Johnson "defeated" Carl Lewis and Linford Christie in 100 metres sprinting in a record time of 9.79 seconds. (Johnson would later be disqualified in a high profile case of doping in sports.)
- 1991 - Nirvana releases Nevermind.
- 1991 - Red Hot Chili Peppers releases Blood Sugar Sex Magik.
- 1993 - Brøderbund releases the computer game Myst.
- 2005 - Hurricane Rita makes landfall in the United States, devastating Beaumont, Texas and Houston, Texas.
- 2005 - September 24, 2005 anti-war protest

Births


- 15 - Vitellius, Roman Emperor (d. 69)
- 1301 - Ralph Stafford, 1st Earl of Stafford, English soldier (d. 1372)
- 1501 - Gerolamo Cardano, Italian mathematician (d. 1576)
- 1534 - Guru Ram Das, fourth Sikh Guru (d. 1581)
- 1564 - William Adams, British navigator and samurai (d. 1620)
- 1583 - Albrecht von Wallenstein, Austrian general (d. 1634)
- 1625 - Johan de Witt, Dutch politician (d. 1672)
- 1705 - Leopold Josef Graf Daun, Austrian field marshal (d. 1766)
- 1717 - Horace Walpole, British novelist and politician (d. 1797)
- 1724 - Sir Arthur Guinness, Irish brewer (d. 1803)
- 1755 - John Marshall, Chief Justice of the United States (d. 1835)
- 1817 - Ramon de Campoamor y Campoosorio, Spanish poet and philosopher (d. 1901)
- 1857 - Richard Mansfield, German-born actor (d. 1907)
- 1871 - Lottie Dod, English athlete (d. 1960)
- 1878 - C. F. Ramuz, Swiss writer (d. 1947)
- 1884 - Hugo Schmeisser, German weapons designer (d. 1953)
- 1890 - A. P. Herbert, British humorist, barrister, novelist (d. 1971)
- 1894 - Tommy Armour, Anglo-American golfer (d. 1968)
- 1895 - André Frédéric Cournand, French born physician, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1988)
- 1896 - F. Scott Fitzgerald, American novelist (d. 1940)
- 1898 - Howard Walter Florey, Australian-born pharmacologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1968)
- 1899 - Sir William Dobell, Australian portrait artist (d. 1970)
- 1905 - Severo Ochoa, Spanish–born biochemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1993)
- 1911 - Konstantin Chernenko, Soviet premier (d. 1985)
- 1912 - Don Porter, American actor (d. 1997)
- 1918 - Audra Lindley, American actress (d. 1997)
- 1919 - Dayton Allen, American actor and comedian (d. 2004)
- 1921 - Jim McKay, American sports commentator
- 1923 - Louis Edmonds, American actor (d. 2001)
- 1924 - Theresa Merritt, American actress (d. 1998)
- 1925 - Autar Singh Paintal, Indian medical scientist (d. 2004)
- 1930 - John Young, American astronaut
- 1931 - Anthony Newley, British actor and singer (d. 1999)
- 1934 - Manfred Wörner, German politician and diplomat (d. 1994)
- 1936 - Jim Henson, American puppeteer (d. 1990)
- 1941 - Linda McCartney, American singer and activist (d. 1998)
- 1942 - Gerry Marsden, English singer (Gerry and the Pacemakers)
- 1945 - Lou Dobbs, American journalist
- 1946 - "Mean" Joe Greene, American football player
- 1946 - Lars Emil Johansen, Prime Minister of Greenland
- 1948 - Gordon Clapp, American actor
- 1948 - Phil Hartman, American actor (d. 1998)
- 1950 - Alan Colmes, American talk show host
- 1951 - Pedro Almodóvar, Spanish movie director
- 1954 - Patrick Kelly, American fashion designer (d. 1990)
- 1956 - Hubie Brooks, baseball player
- 1958 - Kevin Sorbo, American actor
- 1959 - Steve Whitmire, American voice actor
- 1962 - Nia Vardalos, Canadian actress, writer, and comedienne
- 1966 - Michael J. Varhola, American author, editor, publisher, and game designer.
- 1969 - Shawn "Clown" Crahan, American musician (Slipknot)
- 1969 - Donald DeGrate, Jr., American music producer
- 1976 - Stephanie McMahon-Levesque, American professional wrestler
- 1978 - Wietse van Alten, Dutch archer
- 1980 - John Arne Riise, Norwegian footballer
- 1982 - Morgan Hamm, American gymnast
- 1982 - Paul Hamm, American gymnast

Deaths


- 366 - Pope Liberius
- 768 - Pippin the Short, King of the Franks (b. 714)
- 1054 - Hermannus Contractus, scholar (b. 1013)
- 1143 - Agnes of Germany, daughter of Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 1072)
- 1143 - Pope Innocent II
- 1180 - Manuel I Comnenus, Byzantine Emperor
- 1213 - Gertrude of Meran, queen of Andrew II of Hungary (murdered) (b. 1185)
- 1275 - Humphrey de Bohun, 2nd Earl of Hereford, Constable of England (b. 1208)
- 1435 - Isabeau of Bavaria, queen of Charles VI of France
- 1494 - Poliziano, Italian humanist (b. 1454)
- 1541 - Paracelsus, Swiss alchemist (b. 1493)
- 1545 - Albert of Mainz, archbishop and elector of Mainz (b. 1490)
- 1605 - Manuel Mendes, Portuguese composer
- 1621 - Jan Karol Chodkiewicz, Polish military commander (b. 1560)
- 1646 - Duarte Lobo, Portuguese composer
- 1707 - Vicenzo da Filicaja, Italian poet (b. 1642)
- 1732 - Emperor Reigen of Japan (b. 1654)
- 1802 - Alexander Radishchev, Russian writer (b. 1749)
- 1834 - Pedro I of Brazil, Emperor of Brazil (b. 1798)
- 1904 - Niels Ryberg Finsen, Danish physician, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1860)
- 1930 - William A. MacCorkle, Governor of West Virginia (b. 1857)
- 1939 - Carl Laemmle, German film producer (b. 1867)
- 1975 - Earle Cabell, Texas politician (b. 1906)
- 1981 - Patsy Kelly, American actress (b. 1910)
- 1984 - Neil Hamilton, American actor (b. 1899)
- 1991 - Dr. Seuss, American children's writer (b. 1904)
- 2003 - Rosalie Allen, American singer and disc jockey (b. 1924)
- 2003 - Edward Said, Palestinian-born literary critic (b. 1935)
- 2004 - Françoise Sagan, French writer (b. 1935)
- 2005 - Tommy Bond, American actor (b. 1926)
- 1992 - Elad (Ladechka) Lener, someone
- R . I . P .
-

Holidays


- Late Roman Empire - start of the indiction year (at least since the time of Bede)
- In ancient Latvia, the third day of Mikeli, and the only day of the year during which men proposed to their prospective wives.
- R.C. Saints - conception of John the Baptist; Our Lady of Mercy Also see September 24 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
- Guinea-Bissau - Independence Day (declared, from Portugal, 1973)
- New Caledonia - Territorial Day
- South Africa - Heritage Day.
- Barcelona, Spain - La Mercè the festival for Barcelona's patron saint. A lot of art and musical activities: [http://www.bcn.es/merce/index_ingles.html Festival Website] (obsolete link)
- Trinidad and Tobago - Republic Day (1976) Ladechka didn die

External links


- [http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/september/24 BBC: On This Day]
- [http://www.historychannel.com/tdih/tdih.jsp?month=10272961&day=10272989&cat=10272946 The History Channel: This Day in History] ---- September 23 · September 25 · August 24 · October 24 · more historical anniversaries ko:9월 24일 ms:24 September ja:9月24日 simple:September 24 th:24 กันยายน

June 8

June 8 is the 159th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (160th in leap years), with 206 days remaining.

Events


- 68 - The Roman Senate accepts emperor Galba.
- 536 - St. Silverius becomes Pope (probable date).
- 793 - The first Viking raid on British soil at Lindisfarne where a set date for the raid is known
- 1405 - First execution in England of a Bishop (Richard Scrope, Archbishop of York) by a King (Henry IV)
- 1624 - An earthquake strikes Peru
- 1776 - American Revolutionary War: Battle of Trois-Rivières - American invaders are driven back at Trois-Rivières, Quebec.
- 1783 - The volcano Laki, in Iceland, begins an eight-month eruption which kills over 9,000 people and starts a seven-year famine.
- 1861 - American Civil War: Tennessee secedes from the Union.
- 1862 - American Civil War: Battle of Cross Keys - Confederate forces under General Stonewall Jackson save the Army of Northern Virginia from a Union assault on the James Peninsula led by General George McClellan.
- 1866 - The Canadian Parliament meets for the first time in Ottawa.
- 1887 - Herman Hollerith receives a patent for his punch card calculator.
- 1912 - Carl Laemmle incorporated Universal Pictures.
- 1941 - World War II: Allies invade Syria and Lebanon.
- 1948 - Milton Berle hosts the debut of Texaco Star Theater.
- 1949 - Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell is published.
- 1949 - Red Scare: Such celebrities as Helen Keller, Dorothy Parker, Danny Kaye, Fredric March, John Garfield, Paul Muni and Edward G. Robinson are named in an FBI report as Communist Party members.
- 1950 - Sir Thomas Blamey becomes the only Field Marshal in Australian history.
- 1953 - Flint-Worcester Tornadoes: A tornado hits the U.S. city of Flint, Michigan, and kills 115. This is the last tornado to claim more than 100 lives.
- 1953 - The United States Supreme Court rules that Washington, D.C. restaurants could not refuse to serve black patrons.
- 1959 - The USS Barbero and United States Postal Service attempt the delivery of mail via Missile Mail.
- 1966 - One of the XB-70 Valkyrie prototypes is destroyed in a mid-air collision with a F-104 Starfighter chase plane during a photo shoot. NASA pilot Joseph A. Walker and USAF test pilot Carl Cross were both killed.
- 1967 - Six-Day War: The USS Liberty incident occurs, killing 34 and wounding 171.
- 1968 - James Earl Ray is arrested for the murder of Doctor Martin Luther King Jr.
- 1968 - The body of assassinated U.S. Senator Robert F. Kennedy is laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery.
- 1969 - After the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) cancels the program, the last Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour airs.
- 1974 - An F4 tornado strikes the U.S. city of Emporia, Kansas, killing six.
- 1984 - Homosexuality is decriminalised in the state of New South Wales, Australia.
- 1986 - Former United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim is elected president of Austria.
- 1992 - The first World Ocean Day is celebrated, coinciding with the Earth Summit held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
- 1995 - Downed U.S. Air Force pilot Captain Scott O'Grady is rescued by U.S. Marines in Bosnia.
- 1996 - Panama becomes a member of the Berne Convention copyright treaty.
- 1998 - Charlton Heston assumes the presidency of the U.S. National Rifle Association.
- 1999 - War on Drugs: The government of Colombia announces it will include the estimated value of the country's illegal drug crops, exceeding half a billion US dollars, in its gross national product.
- 2001 - Popular editorial site suck.com, one of the first original content sites on the internet, publishes its final article, "Gone Fishin'."
- 2004 - Major Wikipedia database crash.
- 2004 - First Transit of Venus in this millennium.
- 2005 - First tropical system formed in the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season.

Births


- 1625 - Giovanni Domenico Cassini, Italian scientist (d. 1712)
- 1671 - Tomaso Albinoni, Italian composer (d. 1751)
- 1717 - John Collins, American politician (d. 1795)
- 1724 - John Smeaton, English civil engineer (d. 1794)
- 1743 - Alessandro Cagliostro, Italian adventurer (d. 1795)
- 1810 - Robert Schumann, German composer (d. 1856)
- 1847 - Ida McKinley, First Lady of the United States (d. 1907)
- 1867 - Frank Lloyd Wright, American architect (d. 1959)
- 1903 - Ralph Yarborough, U.S. Senator from Texas (d. 1996)
- 1903 - Marguerite Yourcenar, French author (d. 1987)
- 1910 - John W. Campbell Jr., writer, publisher, and editor (d. 1971)
- 1910 - Fernand Fonssagrives, French photographer (d. 2003)
- 1916 - Francis Crick, English microbiologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 2004)
- 1917 - Byron White, American athlete and Supreme Court Justice (d. 2002)
- 1918 - Robert Preston, American actor (d. 1987)
- 1921 - Alexis Smith, Canadian actress (d. 1993)
- 1921 - Suharto, President of Indonesia
- 1924 - Lyn Nofziger, American political operative
- 1925 - Barbara Bush, First Lady of the United States
- 1927 - LeRoy Neiman, American painter
- 1929 - Jerry Stiller, American comedian and actor
- 1930 - Robert Aumann, German-born mathematician, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Economics
- 1933 - Joan Rivers, American comedienne and author
- 1934 - Millicent Martin, English singer and actress
- 1936 - James Darren, American actor and singer
- 1936 - Kenneth G. Wilson, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1940 - Nancy Sinatra, American singer
- 1941 - Fuzzy Haskins, American musician (P Funk)
- 1942 - Doug Mountjoy, Welsh snooker player
- 1943 - Colin Baker, British actor
- 1944 - Boz Scaggs, American singer and songwriter
- 1947 - Eric F. Wieschaus, American biologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
- 1949 - Emanuel Ax, Polish-born pianist
- 1950 - Sonia Braga, Brazilian actress
- 1951 - Bonnie Tyler, Welsh singer and guitarist
- 1955 - Sir Tim Berners-Lee, English inventor of the World Wide Web
- 1955 - Griffin Dunne, American actor
- 1955 - Greg Ginn, American guitarist (Black Flag)
- 1957 - Scott Adams, American cartoonist
- 1958 - Keenen Ivory Wayans, American comedian, actor, and director
- 1960 - Mick Hucknall, English singer and songwriter (Simply Red)
- 1962 - Nick Rhodes, English musician (Duran Duran)
- 1966 - Julianna Margulies, American actress
- 1969 - Marcos Siega, American director
- 1970 - Kelli Williams, American actress
- 1971 - Troy Vincent, American football player
- 1972 - Lexa Doig, Canadian actress
- 1972 - Lindsay Davenport, American tennis player
- 1972 - Matthew Bellamy, British musician (Muse)
- 1972 - Nadia Petrova, Russian tennis player
- 1973 - Kim Clijsters, Belgian tennis player
- 1977 - Kanye West, American rapper
- 1978 - Maria Menounos, American actress and television host

Deaths


- 218 - Macrinus, Roman Emperor
- 632 - Muhammad, prophet of Islam
- 1042 - Harthacanute, King of Denmark and England (b. 1018)
- 1376 - Edward, the Black Prince, son of Edward III of England (b. 1330)
- 1383 - Thomas de Ros, 5th Baron de Ros, English Crusader (b. 1338)
- 1384 - Kanami, Japanese actor (b. 1333)
- 1476 - George Neville, English archbishop and statesman
- 1505 - Hongzhi, Emperor of China (b. 1470)
- 1611 - Jean Bertaut, French poet (b. 1552)
- 1612 - Hans Leo Hassler, German composer (b. 1562)
- 1621 - Anne de Xainctonge, French saint (b. 1567)
- 1628 - Rudolph Goclenius, German philosopher (b. 1547)
- 1714 - Sophia of Hanover, heir to the throne of Great Britain (b. 1630)
- 1716 - Johann Wilhelm, Elector Palatine (b. 1658)
- 1727 - August Hermann Francke, German protestant minister (b. 1663)
- 1768 - Johann Joachim Winckelmann, German classical scholar and archaeologist (b. 1717)
- 1771 - George Montague-Dunk, 2nd Earl of Halifax, English statesman (b. 1716)
- 1795 - King Louis XVII of France (b. 1785)
- 1809 - Thomas Paine, American revolutionary and writer (b. 1737)
- 1845 - Andrew Jackson, 7th President of the United States (b. 1767)
- 1857 - Douglas William Jerrold, British playwright and satirist (b. 1803)
- 1874 - Cochise, Apache leader
- 1876 - George Sand, French author (b. 1804)
- 1924 - Andrew Irvine, English mountain climber (climbing accident) (b. 1902)
- 1924 - George Leigh Mallory, English mountain climber (climbing accident) (b. 1886)
- 1929 - Bliss Carman, Canadian poet (b. 1861)
- 1965 - Edmondo Rossoni, Italian fascist (b. 1884)
- 1966 - Anton Melik, Slovenian geographer (b. 1890)
- 1969 - Robert Taylor, American actor (b. 1911)
- 1970 - Abraham Maslow, American psychologist (b. 1908)
- 1982 - Satchel Paige, baseball player (b. 1906)
- 1998 - Sani Abacha, President of Nigeria (b. 1904)
- 2000 - Jeff MacNelly, American political cartoonist (b. 1948)
- 2004 - Paula Danziger, American author (b. 1944)
- 2004 - Mack Jones, baseball player (b. 1938)

Holidays and observances


- Roman Empire - second day of the Vestalia in honor of Vesta

External links


- [http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/june/8 BBC: On This Day]
- [http://www.tnl.net/when/6/8 Today in History: June 8] ---- June 7 - June 9 - May 8 - July 8 – listing of all days ko:6월 8일 ms:8 Jun ja:6月8日 simple:June 8 th:8 มิถุนายน

United States Senator

] The United States Senate is one of the two chambers of the Congress of the United States, the other being the House of Representatives. In the Senate, each state is equally represented by two members, regardless of population; as a result, the total membership of the body is currently 100. Senators serve for six-year terms that are staggered so elections are held for approximately one-third of the seats (a "class") every second year. The Vice President of the United States is the presiding officer of the Senate but is not a senator and does not vote except to break ties. The Senate is regarded as a more deliberative body than the House of Representatives; the Senate is smaller and its members serve longer terms, allowing for a more collegial and less partisan atmosphere that is somewhat more insulated from public opinion than the House. The Senate has several exclusive powers enumerated in the Constitution not granted to the House; most significantly, the President cannot ratify treaties or make important appointments without the "Advice and Consent" of the Senate The Framers of the Constitution created a bicameral Congress out of a desire to have two houses to check each other. One house was intended to be a "people's house" that would be very sensitive to public opinion. The other house was intended to a more reserved, more deliberate forum of elite wisdom. The Constitution provides that the approval of both chambers is necessary for the passage of legislation. The exclusive powers enumerated to the Senate in the Constitution are regarded as more important than those exclusively enumerated to the House. As a result, the responsibilities of the Senate (the "upper house") are more extensive than those of the House of Representatives (the "lower house"). The Senate of the United States was named after the ancient Roman Senate. The chamber of the United States Senate is located in the north wing of the Capitol building, in Washington, D.C., the national capital. The House of Representatives convenes in the south wing of the same building.

History

Under the Articles of Confederation, Congress was a unicameral body in which each state was equally represented. The inefficacy of the federal government under the Articles led Congress to summon a Constitutional Convention in 1787; all states except Rhode Island agreed to send delegates. Many delegates called for a second Congressional chamber, modeled on the House of Lords (the aristocratic upper house of the British Parliament). For example, John Dickinson argued that the second chamber should "consist of the most distinguished characters, distinguished for their rank in life and their weight of property, and bearing as strong a likeness to the British House of Lords as possible." The structure of Congress was one of the most divisive issues facing the Convention. The Virginia Plan called for a bicameral Congress; the lower chamber would be elected directly by the people, and the upper chamber would be elected by the lower chamber. The Virginia Plan was primarily supported by the larger states, as it called for representation based on population in both Chambers. The smaller states, however, favored the New Jersey Plan, which called for a unicameral Congress with equal representation for the states. Eventually, a compromise, known as the Connecticut Compromise or the Great Compromise, was reached; one chamber of Congress (the House of Representatives) would provide proportional representation, whereas the other (the Senate) would provide equal representation. In order to further preserve the authority of the states, it was provided that state legislatures, rather than the people, would elect senators. The Constitution was ratified by the requisite number of states (nine out of the 13) in 1788, but its full implementation was set for March 4, 1789. However, the Senate could not begin work until a majority of the members assembled on April 6 of the same year. The Founding Fathers intended the Senate to be a more stable, deliberative body than the House of Representatives. James Madison described the Senate's purpose as "A necessary fence against...fickleness and passion". George Washington, in answer to a question by Thomas Jefferson, said "we pour legislation into the senatorial saucer to cool it (from The House of Representatives)". The early 19th century was marked by the service of distinguished orators and statesmen such as Daniel Webster, John C. Calhoun, Henry Clay, Stephen A. Douglas and Thomas Hart Benton. The era, however, was also marred by sectional clashes between the free North and the slaveholding South. For most of the first half of the 19th century, a balance between North and South existed in the Senate, as the numbers of free and slave states were equal. Southern senators could often block schemes passed by the House of Representatives, a body dominated by the populous North. Sectional conflict was most pronounced over the issue of slavery, and persisted until the Civil War (1861–1865). The war, which began soon after several southern states declared secession from the Union, culminated in the South's defeat and in the abolition of slavery. The ensuing years of Reconstruction witnessed large majorities for the Republican Party, which many Americans associated with the Union's victory in the Civil War. The efforts of "Radical Republicans" led to the impeachment of Democratic President Andrew Johnson in 1868 for political purposes; the trial ultimately ended in acquittal, with the Senate falling one vote short of the two-thirds majority requisite for conviction. Reconstruction ended in 1877, at approximately the same time as the Gilded Age began. This period was marked by sharp political divisions in the electorate; both the Democrats and the Republicans were in power in the Senate, but neither could obtain large majorities. At the same time the Senate descended into a period of irrelevance that stood in sharp contrast with the pre-Civil War era. Very few senators had long and distinguished careers, with most serving but for a single term. The corruption of state legislatures was also widespread; nine cases of bribery in Senate elections arose between 1866 and 1906. Many individuals, furthermore, perceived the Senate as a bastion of the rich and the elite. Several reformers of the Progressive Era pushed for the direct election of senators by the people, rather than state legislatures; they achieved their objective in 1913 with the ratification of the Seventeenth Amendment. The Amendment ultimately had the result of making senators more responsive to the concerns of voters. Some have argued that, as a result of this amendment, the states have no real representation in Congress, since senators are now directly elected by the people rather than by state legislatures. Others argue that a state is, by definition, one and the same as the citizens thereof, and that both directly elected and appointed senators ultimately represent the people. In the 1910s a Senate leadership structure developed, with Henry Cabot Lodge and John Worth Kern becoming the unofficial leaders of the Republican and Democratic parties, respectively. The Democrats appointed their first official leader, Oscar Underwood, in 1925; the Republicans followed with Charles Curtis in 1925. Initially, the powers of the leaders were very limited, and individual senators—especially the chairmen of important committees—still held more clout. The influence of the party leaders, however, would eventually grow, especially during the tenures of skilled leaders such as Lyndon B. Johnson.

Members and elections

Article One of the Constitution stipulates that each state may elect two senators. The Constitution further stipulates that no constitutional amendment may deprive a state of its equal suffrage in the Senate without the consent of the state concerned. The District of Columbia and territories are not entitled to any representation. As there are presently 50 states, the Senate comprises 100 members. The senator from each state with the longer tenure is known as the "senior senator," and his or her counterpart as the "junior senator"; this convention, however, does not have any special significance. Senators serve for terms of six years each; the terms are staggered so that approximately one-third of the Senate seats are up for election every two years. The staggering of the terms is arranged such that both seats from a given state are never contested in the same general election. Senate elections are held on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November, Election Day, and coincide with elections for the House of Representatives. Each senator is elected by his or her state as a whole. Generally, the Republican and Democratic parties choose their candidates in primary elections, which are typically held several months before the general elections. Ballot access rules for independent and third party candidates vary from state to state. For the general election, almost all states use the first-past-the-post system, under which the candidate with a plurality of votes (not necessarily an absolute majority) wins. The two exceptions are Louisiana and Washington, which use runoff voting. Once elected, a senator continues to serve until the expiry of his or her term, death, or resignation. Furthermore, the Constitution permits the Senate to expel any member with a two-thirds majority vote to do so. Fifteen members have been expelled in the history of the Senate; 14 of them were removed in 1861 and 1862 for supporting the Confederate secession, which led to the American Civil War. No senator has been expelled since; however, many have chosen to resign when faced with expulsion proceedings (most recently, Bob Packwood in 1995). The Senate has also passed several resolutions censuring members; censure requires only a simple majority and does not remove a senator from office. The Seventeenth Amendment provides that vacancies in the Senate, however they arise, may be filled by special elections. A special election for a Senate seat need not be held immediately after the vacancy arises; instead, it is typically conducted at the same time as the next biennial congressional election. If a special election for one seat happens to coincide with a general election for the state's other seat, then the two elections are not combined, but are instead contested separately. A senator elected in a special election serves until the original six-year term expires, and not for a full term of his or her own. Furthermore, the Seventeenth Amendment provides that any state legislature may empower the Governor to temporarily fill vacancies. The interim appointee remains in office until the special election can be held. All states, with the sole exception of Arizona, have passed laws authorizing the Governor to make temporary appointments. Senators are entitled to prefix "The Honorable" to their names. The annual salary of each senator, as of 2005, is $162,100; the President pro tempore and party leaders receive larger amounts. Analysis of financial disclosure forms by CNN in June 2003 revealed that at least 40 of the then senators were millionaires. In general, senators are regarded as more important political figures than members of the House of Representatives because there are fewer of them, and because they serve for longer terms, represent larger constituencies (except for House at-large districts, which comprise entire states), sit on more committees, and have more staffers. The prestige commonly associated with the Senate is reflected by the background of presidents and presidential candidates; far more sitting senators have been nominees for the presidency than sitting representatives.

Qualifications

Article I, Section 3 of the Constitution sets forth three qualifications for senators: each senator must be at least thirty years old, must have been a citizen of the United States for at least the past nine years, and must be (at the time of the election) an inhabitant of the state he or she represents. The age and citizenship qualifications for senators are more stringent than those for representatives. In Federalist No. 62, James Madison justified this arrangement by arguing that the "senatorial trust" called for a "greater extent of information and stability of character." Furthermore, under the Fourteenth Amendment, any federal or state officer who takes the requisite oath to support the Constitution, but later engages in rebellion or aids the enemies of the United States, is disqualified from becoming a senator. This provision, which came into force soon after the end of the Civil War, was intended to prevent those who sided with the Confederacy from serving. The Amendment, however, provides that a disqualified individual may still serve if two-thirds of both Houses of Congress vote to remove the disability. Under the Constitution, the Senate (not the courts) is empowered to judge if an individual is qualified to serve. During its early years, however, the Senate did not closely scrutinize the qualifications of members. As a result, three individuals that were Constitutionally disqualified due to age were admitted to the Senate: twenty-nine-year-old Henry Clay (1806), and twenty-eight-year-olds Armistead Mason (1816) and John Eaton (1818). Such an occurrence, however, has not been repeated since. In 1934, Rush Holt was elected to the Senate at the age of twenty-nine; he waited until he turned thirty to take the oath of office.

Officers

The party with a majority of seats is known as the majority party; if two or more parties in opposition are tied, the Vice President's affiliation determines which is the majority party. The next-largest party is known as the minority party. The President pro tempore, committee chairmen, and some other officials are generally from the majority party; they have counterparts (for instance, the "ranking members" of committees) in the minority party. The Constitution provides that the Vice President of the United States serves as the President of the Senate and holds a vote which can only be cast to break a tie. By convention, the Vice President presides over very few Senate debates, attending only on important ceremonial occasions (such as the swearing-in of new senators) or at times when his or her vote may be needed to break a tie. The Constitution also authorizes the Senate to elect a President pro tempore (Latin for "temporary president") to preside in the Vice President's absence; the most senior senator of the majority party is customarily chosen to serve in this position. The President pro tempore is currently Senator Ted Stevens (R) of Alaska. Like the Vice President, the President pro tempore does not normally preside over the Senate. Instead, he or she typically delegates the responsibility of presiding to junior senators of the majority party. Frequently, freshmen senators (newly elected members) are allowed to preside so that they may become accustomed to the rules and procedures of the body. The presiding officer sits in a chair in the front of the Senate chamber. The powers of the presiding officer are extremely limited; he or she primarily acts as the Senate's mouthpiece, performing duties such as announcing the results of votes. The Senate's presiding officer controls debates by calling on members to speak; the rules of the Senate, however, compel him or her to recognize the first senator who rises. The presiding officer may rule on any "point of order" (a senator's objection that a rule has been breached), but the decision is subject to appeal to the whole house. Thus, the powers of the presiding officer of the senate are far less extensive than those of the Speaker of the House. Each party elects a senator to serve as floor leader, a position which entails acting as the party's chief spokesperson. The Senate Majority Leader is, furthermore, responsible for controlling the agenda of the Senate; for example, he or she schedules debates and votes. Each party also elects a whip to assist the leader. A whip works to ensure that his or her party's senators vote as the party leadership desires. The Senate is also served by several officials who are not members. The Senate's chief administrative officer is the Secretary of the Senate, who maintains public records, disburses salaries, monitors the acquisition of stationery and supplies, and oversees clerks. The Secretary is aided in his or her work by the Assistant Secretary of the Senate. Another official is the Sergeant-at-Arms, who, as the Senate's chief law enforcement officer, maintains order and security on the Senate premises. The Capitol Police handles routine police work, with the Sergeant-at-Arms primarily responsible for general oversight. Other employees include the Chaplain and Pages.

Procedure

Pages]] Like the House of Representatives, the Senate meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C. At one end of the Chamber of the Senate is a dais from which the Presiding Officer (the Vice President or the President pro Tempore) presides. The lower tier of the dais is used by clerks and other officials. One hundred desks are arranged in the Chamber in a semicircular pattern; the desks are divided by a wide central aisle. By tradition, Democrats sit on the right of the center aisle, while Republicans sit on the left, as viewed from the presiding officer's chair. Each senator chooses a desk on the basis of seniority within his or her party; by custom, the leader of each party sits in the front row. Sittings are normally held on weekdays; meetings on Saturdays and Sundays are rare. Sittings of the Senate are generally open to the public and are broadcast live on television by C-SPAN 2. Senate procedure depends not only on the rules, but also on a variety of customs and traditions. In many cases, the Senate waives some of its stricter rules by unanimous consent. Unanimous consent agreements are typically negotiated beforehand by party leaders. Any senator may block such an agreement, but, in practice, objections are rare. The presiding officer enforces the rules of the Senate, and may warn members who deviate from them. The presiding officer often uses the gavel of the Senate to maintain order. The Constitution provides that a majority of the Senate constitutes a quorum to do business. Under the rules and customs of the Senate, a quorum is always assumed to be present unless a quorum call explicitly demonstrates otherwise. Any senator may request a quorum call by "suggesting the absence of a quorum"; a clerk then calls the roll of the Senate and notes which members are present. In practice, senators almost always request quorum calls not to establish the presence of a quorum, but to temporarily delay proceedings. Such a delay may serve one of many purposes; often, it allows Senate leaders to negotiate compromises off the floor. Once the need for a delay has ended, any senator may request unanimous consent to rescind the Quorum Call. During debates, senators may only speak if called upon by the presiding officer. The presiding officer is, however, required to recognize the first senator who rises to speak. Thus, the presiding officer has little control over the course of debate. Customarily, the Majority Leader and Minority Leader are accorded priority during debates, even if another senator rises first. All speeches must be addressed to the presiding officer, using the words "Mr. President" or "Madam President." Only the presiding officer may be directly addressed in speeches; other Members must be referred to in the third person. In most cases, senators do not refer to each other by name, but by state, using forms such as "the senior senator from Virginia" or "the junior senator from California." There are very few restrictions on the content of speeches; there is no requirement that speeches be germane to the matter before the Senate. The rules of the Senate provide that no senator may make more than two speeches on a motion or bill on the same legislative day. (A legislative day begins when the Senate convenes and ends with adjournment; hence, it does not necessarily coincide with the calendar day.) The length of these speeches is not limited by the rules; thus, in most cases, senators may speak for as long as they please. Often, the Senate adopts unanimous consent agreements imposing time limits. In other cases (for example, for the Budget process), limits are imposed by statute. In general, however, the right to unlimited debate is preserved. The filibuster is a tactic used to defeat bills and motions by prolonging debate indefinitely. A filibuster may entail long speeches, dilatory motions, and an extensive series of proposed amendments. The longest filibuster speech in the history of the Senate was delivered by Strom Thurmond, who spoke for over twenty-four hours in an unsuccessful attempt to block the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1957. The Senate may end a filibuster by invoking cloture. In most cases, cloture requires the support of three-fifths of the Senate; however, if the matter before the Senate involves changing the rules of the body, a two-thirds majority is required. Cloture is invoked very rarely, particularly because bipartisan support is usually necessary to obtain the required supermajority. If the Senate does invoke cloture, debate does not end immediately; instead, further debate is limited to thirty additional hours unless increased by another three-fifths vote. When debate concludes, the motion in question is put to a vote. In many cases, the Senate votes by voice vote; the presiding officer puts the question, and Members respond either "Aye" (in favor of the motion) or "No" (against the motion). The presiding officer then announces the result of the voice vote. Any senator, however, may challenge the presiding officer's assessment and request a recorded vote. The request may be granted only if it is seconded by one-fifth of the senators present. In practice, however, senators second requests for recorded votes as a matter of courtesy. When a recorded vote is held, the clerk calls the roll of the Senate in alphabetical order; each senator responds when his or her name is called. Senators who miss the roll call may still cast a vote as long as the recorded vote remains open. The vote is closed at the discretion of the presiding officer, but must remain open for a minimum of 15 minutes. If the vote is tied, the Vice President, if present, is entitled to a casting vote. If the Vice President is not present, however, the motion is resolved in the negative. On occasion, the Senate may go into what is called a secret, or closed session. During a closed session, the chamber doors are closed, and the galleries are completely cleared of anyone not sworn to secrecy, not instructed in the rules of the closed session, or not essential to the session. Closed sessions are quite rare, and usually held only under very certain circumstances where the senate is discussing sensitive subject-matter such as information critical to national security, private communications from the President, or even to discuss Senate deliberations during impeachment trials. Any Senator has the right to call a closed session as long as the motion is seconded. Budget bills are governed under a special rule process called "Reconciliation" that disallows filibusters. Reconciliation was devised in 1974 but came into use in the early 1980s.

Committees

Reconciliation The Senate uses committees (as well as their subcommittees) for a variety of purposes, including the review of bills and the oversight of the executive branch. The appointment of committee members is formally made by the whole Senate, but the choice of members is actually made by the political parties. Generally, each party honors the preferences of individual senators, giving priority on the basis of seniority. Each party is allocated seats on committees in proportion to its overall strength. Most committee work is performed by sixteen standing committees, each of which has jurisdiction over a specific field such as Finance or Foreign Relations. Each standing committee may consider, amend, and report bills that fall under its jurisdiction. Furthermore, each standing committee considers presidential nominations to offices related to its jurisdiction. (For instance, the Judiciary Committee considers nominees for judgeships, and the Foreign Relations Committee considers nominees for positions in the Department of State.) Committees have extensive powers with regard to bills and nominees; they may block nominees and impede bills from reaching the floor of the Senate. Finally, standing committees also oversee the departments and agencies of the executive branch. In discharging their duties, standing committees have the power to hold hearings and to subpoena witnesses and evidence. The Senate also has several committees that are not considered standing committees. Such bodies are generally known as select committees or special committees; examples include the Select Committee on Ethics and the Special Committee on Aging. Legislation is referred to some of these committees, though the bulk of legislative work is performed by the standing committees. Committees may be established on an ad hoc basis for specific purposes; for instance, the Senate Watergate Committee was a special committee created to investigate the Watergate scandal. Such temporary committees cease to exist after fulfilling their tasks. Finally, the Congress includes joint committees, which include members of both the Senate and the House of Representatives. Some joint committees oversee independent government bodies; for instance, the Joint Committee on the Library oversees the Library of Congress. Other joint committees serve to make advisory reports; for example, there exists a Joint Committee on Taxation. Bills and nominees are not referred to joint committees. Hence, the power of joint committees is considerably lower than those of standing committees. Each Senate committee and subcommittee is led by a chairman (always a member of the majority party). Formerly, committee chairmanship was determined purely by seniority; as a result, several elderly senators continued to serve as chairmen despite severe physical infirmity or even senility. Now, committee chairmen are in theory elected, but in practice, seniority is very rarely bypassed. The chairman's powers are extensive; he or she controls the committee's agenda, and may prevent the committee from approving a bill or presidential nomination. Modern committee chairmen are typically not forceful in exerting their influence, although there have been some exceptions. The second-highest member, the spokesperson on the committee for the minority party, is known in most cases as the Ranking Member. In the Select Committee on Intelligence and the Select Committee on Ethics, however, the senior minority member is known as the Vice Chairman.

Legislative functions

Most bills may be introduced in either House of Congress. However, the Constitution provides that "All bills for raising Revenue shall originate in the House of Representatives." As a result, the Senate does not have the power to initiate bills imposing taxes. Furthermore, the House of Representatives holds that the Senate does not have the power to originate appropriation bills, or bills authorizing the expenditure of federal funds. Historically, the Senate has disputed the interpretation advocated by the House. However, whenever the Senate originates an appropriations bill, the House simply refuses to consider it, thereby settling the dispute in practice. The constitutional provision barring the Senate from introducing revenue bills is based on the practice of the British Parliament, in which only the House of Commons may originate such measures. Although the Constitution gave the House the power to initiate revenue bills, in practice the Senate is equal to the House in the respects of taxation and spending. As Woodrow Wilson wrote: :[T]he Senate's right to amend [revenue bills] has been allowed the widest possible scope. The upper house may add to them what it pleases; may go altogether outside of their original provisions and tack to them entirely new features of legislation, altering not only the amounts but even the objects of expenditure, and making out of the materials sent them by the popular chamber measures of an almost totally new character. The approval of both the Senate and the House of Representatives is required for any bill, including a revenue bill, to become law. Both Houses must pass the exact same version of the bill; if there are differences, they may be resolved by a conference committee, which includes members of both bodies.

Checks and balances

The Constitution provides that the President can make certain appointments only with the "advice and consent" of the Senate. Officials whose appointments require the Senate's approval include members of the Cabinet, heads of federal executive agencies, ambassadors, Justices of the Supreme Court, and other federal judges. However, Congress may pass legislation to authorize the appointment of less important officials without the Senate's consent. Typically, a nominee is first subject to a hearing before a Senate committee. Committees may block nominees, but do so relatively infrequently. Thereafter, the nomination is considered by the full Senate. In a majority of the cases, nominees are confirmed; rejections of Cabinet nominees are especially rare (there have been only nine nominees rejected outright in the history of the United States). The powers of the Senate with respect to nominations are, however, subject to some constraints. For instance, the Constitution provides that the President may make an appointment during a congressional recess without the Senate's advice and consent. The recess appointment remains valid only temporarily; the office becomes vacant again at the end of the next congressional session. Nevertheless, Presidents have frequently used recess appointments to circumvent the possibility that the Senate may reject the nominee. Furthermore, as the Supreme Court held in Myers v. United States, although the Senate's advice and consent is required for the appointment of certain executive branch officials, it is not necessary for their removal. The Senate also has a role in the process of ratifying treaties. The Constitution provides that the President may only ratify a treaty if two-thirds of the senators vote to grant advice and consent. However, not all international agreements are considered treaties, and therefore do not require the Senate's approval. Congress has passed laws authorizing the President to conclude executive agreements without action by the Senate. Similarly, the President may make congressional-executive agreements with the approval of a simple majority in each House of Congress, rather than a two-thirds majority in the Senate. Neither executive agreements nor congressional-executive agreements are mentioned in the Constitution, leading some to suggest that they unconstitutionally circumvent the treaty-ratification process. However, the validity of such agreements has been upheld by the courts. congressional-executive agreement congressional-executive agreement The Constitution empowers the House of Representatives to impeach federal officials for "Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors" and empowers the Senate to try such impeachments. If the sitting President of the United States is being tried, the Chief Justice of the United States must preside over the trial. During any impeachment trial, senators are constitutionally required to sit on oath or affirmation. Conviction requires a two-thirds majority of the senators present. A convicted official is automatically removed from office; in addition, the Senate may stipulate that the defendant be banned from holding office in the future. No further punishment is permitted during the impeachment proceedings; however, the party may face criminal penalties in a normal court of law. In the history of the United States, the House of Representatives has impeached sixteen officials, of whom seven were convicted. (One resigned before the Senate could complete the trial.) Only two Presidents of the United States have ever been impeached: Andrew Johnson in 1868 and Bill Clinton in 1999. Both trials ended in acquittal; in Johnson's case, the Senate fell one vote short of the two-thirds majority required for conviction. Under the Twelfth Amendment, the Senate has the power to elect the Vice President if no vice presidential candidate receives a majority of votes in the electoral college. The Twelfth Amendment requires the Senate to choose from the two candidates with the highest numbers of electoral votes. Electoral college deadlocks are very rare; in the history of the United States, the Senate has only had to break a deadlock once, in 1837, when it elected Richard Mentor Johnson. The power to elect the President in the case of an electoral college deadlock belongs to the House of Representatives.

Current composition

For the 109th United States Congress, current as of January 4 2005:

See also


- Reconciliation
- Traditions of the United States Senate
- United States Constitution
- List of Current United States Senators

References


- Berman, Daniel M. In Congress Assembled: The Legislative Process in the National Government. London: The Macmillan Company, 1964.
- Byrd, Robert C. The Senate. (4 vols.) Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1988-1993.
- Congressional Quarterly's Guide to Congress, 5th ed. Washington, D.C.: Congressional Quarterly Press, 2000.
- Frumin, Alan S. [http://www.access.gpo.gov/congress/senate/riddick/ Riddick's Senate Procedure]. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1992.
- Story, Joseph. Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States. (2 vols). Boston: Brown & Little, 1891.
- Wilson, Woodrow. Congressional Government. New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1885.

External links


- [http://www.senate.gov The United States Senate Official Website.]
- [http://bioguide.congress.gov/biosearch/biosearch.asp Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1774 to Present.] United States Category:National upper houses ja:アメリカ合衆国上院 simple:United States Senate

New Mexico

New Mexico (Spanish: Nuevo México) is a southwestern state in the United States of America. Over its relatively long history it has also been occupied by Native American populations, part of the Spanish colony of New Spain, a province of Mexico, and a U.S. territory. New Mexico has the highest percentage of people of Hispanic ancestry of any state, some recent immigrants and others descendants of Spanish colonists. The state also has a large Native American population. As a result, the demographics and culture of the state are unique for their strong Spanish, Mexican, and American Indian cultural influences.

History

Native American Pueblos

Prehistoric Native Americans used the land and minerals of New Mexico to build an early Southwestern culture millennia ago. Prehistoric Native American ruins indicate a presence at modern Santa Fe. Caves in the Sandia Mountains near Albuquerque contain the remains of some of the earliest inhabitants of the New World. The Pueblo people built a flourishing sedentary culture in the 1200s, constructing small towns in the valley of the Rio Grande and pueblos nearby. The Spanish encountered Pueblo civilization in the 1500s. Word of the pueblos reached Cabeza de Vaca, a Spaniard who survived a shipwreck on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico while wandering across southern New Mexico with his companion Estabanico in 1528–1536. Fray Marcos de Niza enthusiastically identified the pueblos as the fabulously rich Seven Cities of Cibola, the fabled seven cities of gold. Dispatched from New Spain, conquistador Francisco Vásquez de Coronado led a full-scale expedition to find these cities in 1540–1542. Coronado camped near an excavated pueblo today preserved as Coronado State Monument in 1541. His maltreatment of the Pueblo people while exploring the upper Rio Grande valley led to hostility that impeded the Spanish conquest of New Mexico. The three largest pueblos of New Mexico are Zuni, Santo Domingo, and Laguna.

Spanish colonization

Juan de Oñate founded the San Juan colony on the Rio Grande in 1598, the first European settlement in the future state of New Mexico. Oñate pioneered El Camino Real, "The Royal Road" as a 700 mile (1100 km) lifeline from the rest of New Spain to his remote colony. Oñate was made the first governor of the new Province of New Mexico. The Native Americans at Acoma revolted against this Spanish encroachment but faced severe suppression. In 1609, Pedro de Peralta, a later governor of the Province of New Mexico, established the settlement of Santa Fe at the foot of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. As the seat of government of New Mexico since its founding, Santa Fe is the oldest capital city in the United States. Peralta built the Palace of Governors in 1610. Although the colony failed to prosper, some missions flourished. Spanish settlers arrived at the site of Albuquerque in the mid-1600s. Missionaries attempted to convert the natives to Christianity but had little success [http://www.accessgenealogy.com/native/tribes/pueblo/indianpueblohistory.htm]. The Apache revolted violently in 1676, and the Pueblo uprising of 1680 drove the Spanish to abandon northern New Mexico until the campaign of Diego de Vargas Zapata reestablished Spanish control and returned Spanish colonists in 1692. While developing Santa Fe as a trade center, the returning settlers founded the old town of Albuquerque in 1706, naming for the viceroy of New Spain, the Duke of Alburquerque. Prior to its founding Albuquerque consisted of several Haciendas and communities along the lower Rio Grande. They constructed the Church of San Felipe de Nerí (1706). The thorough development of ranching and some farming in the 1700s laid the foundations for the state's still-flourishing Hispanic culture.

Mexican province

Napoleon Bonaparte of France sold the vast Louisiana Purchase, which extended into the northeastern corner of New Mexico, to the United States in 1803. As a part of New Spain, the remainder of the province of New Mexico passed to independent Mexico following the 1810-1821 Mexican War of Independence. Small trapping parties from the United States had previously reached Santa Fe, but the Spanish rulers forbade them to trade. Trader William Becknell returned to the United States in November 1821 with news that independent Mexico welcomed trade through Santa Fe. Becknell left Independence, Missouri, for Santa Fe early in 1822 with the first party of traders. Wagon caravans thereafter made the 40- to 60-day annual trek along the 780 mile (1,260 km) Santa Fe Trail, usually leaving in early summer and returning after a 4 to 5 week stay in New Mexico. The Trail divided into Mountain and Cimarron Divisions southwest of Dodge City, Kansas. The rugged Mountain Division passed over Raton Pass and rejoined the more direct Cimarron Division near Fort Union, New Mexico. The dry southern Cimmaron route offered poor short grass and little wildlife. The Santa Fe National Historic Trail follows the route of the old trail, with many sites marked or restored. American frontiersman Kit (Christopher) Carson, apprenticed to a saddler in the Santa Fe Trail outfitting point of Old Franklin, ran away from his job in 1826. He joined a caravan for Santa Fe, and made Taos, his home and headquarters as he made a living as a teamster, cook, guide, and hunter for exploring parties until 1840. The breakaway Republic of Texas claimed the territory north and east of the Rio Grande when it seceded from Mexico in 1836. New Mexico authorities captured a group of Texans who embarked an expedition to assert their claim to the province in 1841.

American territory

1841 American General Stephen W. Kearny marched down the Santa Fe Trail and entered Santa Fe without opposition in 1846 during the Mexican-American War, and his forces occupied the city, making New Mexico, which included present-day Arizona, a captive United States territory. Kearny asserted that his occupation was only of the eastern part of New Mexico (Texas, annexed by the United States in 1845, claimed all land on its side of the Rio Grande). He also protected citizens under martial law by the Kearny Code, essentially Kearny's promise that religious and legal conditions would not be disrupted by the United States. Though the reality of occupation soon included western New Mexico, the Kearny Code became one of the bases of New Mexico's legal code during its territorial period, the longest in United States history. While Kearny's entrance into New Mexico was relatively peaceful, the region did not remain that way. General Kearny continued on to California according to U.S. wartime strategy, guided by Kit Carson, but leaving an occupying force behind. After Kearny's departure, a rebellion broke out in the town and pueblo of Taos, where Taos Indians killed Governor Charles Bent and all but two Americans in the town on January 19, 1847. Retaliating quickly, a U.S. detachment under Colonel Sterling Price marched on Taos, attacked the town, and concentrated cannon fire upon the church, the center of the insurgency, resulting in the deaths of 150 insurgents and the capture of some 400 more. Six leaders were arraigned and, on February 9, hanged for their role in the Taos Revolt. A series of skirmishes between mountain-based rebels and U.S. forces continued well into 1847, with casualties totaling more than 300 rebels and thirty "Anglos," as Americans were often called. Under the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo of 1848, Mexico ceded much of its northern holdings, today known as the American Southwest to the United States of America in exchange for an end to hostilities and $15 million, plus the assumption of slightly more than $3 million in outstanding Mexican debts. New Mexico, the name given to the territory between Texas and California, was to quickly become a state according to the treaty, but the U.S. Senate unilaterally amended that provision during ratification proceedings. The Senate also struck out Article X of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, which assured that land grants authorized by the Mexican government would be recognized and protected by the U.S. government. The decision to strike down Article X remains a controversial one, especially in some of the region's Hispanic communities, as it eventually led to millions of acres of land, timber, and water being removed from Mexican-issued land grants and placed in the public domain. Spanish-issued land grants, including those made to the Pueblos, have survived acquisition attempts. The Compromise of 1850 halted a bid for statehood under an antislavery constitution. Texas transferred eastern New Mexico to the federal government, settling a lengthy boundary dispute. Under the compromise, the American government established the New Mexico Territory on September 9, 1850. The territory, which included Arizona and parts of Colorado, officially established its capital at Santa Fe, New Mexico in 1851. The people of New Mexico would determine whether to permit slavery under a constitution at statehood, but the status of slavery during the territorial period provoked considerable debate. Some (including Stephen A. Douglas) maintained that the territory could not restrict slavery, as under the earlier Missouri Compromise, while others (including Abraham Lincoln) insisted that older Mexican legal traditions, which forbade slavery, took precedence. Regardless of its status, slavery never took a significant hold. Native American plundering led Kit Carson to abandon his intent to retire to a sheep ranch near Taos. Carson accepted an 1853 appointment as U.S. Indian agent with a headquarters at Taos, and fought the Indians with notable success. The United States acquired the southwestern bootheel of the state and much of southern Arizona in the Gadsden Purchase of 1853. With this purchase, the United States established its sovereignty over all of the present state of New Mexico. During the American Civil War, Confederate troops from Texas first occupied southern New Mexico. Union troops re-captured the territory in early 1862. Kit Carson helped to organize and command the 1st New Mexican Volunteers to engage in campaigns against the Apache, Navajo, and Comanche in New Mexico and Texas as well as participating in the Battle of Valverde against the confederates. The Arizona Territory split as a separate entity in 1863. Confederate troops withdrew after the Battle of Glorieta Pass where Union regulars, Colorado Volunteers (The Pikes Peakers), and New Mexican Volunteers