Thehistory of Washington includes thousands of years ofNative American history before Europeans arrived and began to establish territorial claims. The region was part ofOregon Territory from 1848 to 1853, after which it was separated from Oregon and established asWashington Territory following the efforts at theMonticello Convention.[1] On November 11, 1889, Washington became the 42nd state of theUnited States.
Archaeological evidence shows that thePacific Northwest was one of the first populated areas in North America. Both animal and human bones dating back to 13,000 years old have been found across Washington and evidence ofhuman habitation in theOlympic Peninsula dates back to approximately 9,000 BCE, 3,000 to 5,000 years after massive flooding of theColumbia River which carved theColumbia Gorge.[2]
Anthropologists estimate there were 125 distinct Northwest tribes and 50 languages and dialects in existence before the arrival of Euro-Americans in this region. Throughout thePuget Sound region, coastal tribes made use of the region's abundant natural resources, subsisting primarily on salmon, halibut, shellfish, and whale.Cedar was an important building material and was used by tribes to build both longhouses and largecanoes. Clothing was also made from the bark of cedar trees. The Columbia River tribes became the richest of the Washington tribes through their control of Celilo Falls, historically the richest salmon fishing location in the Northwest. These falls on the Columbia River, east of present-dayThe Dalles, Oregon, were part of the path millions of salmon took to spawn. The presence of private wealth among the more aggressive coastal tribes encouraged gender divisions, as women took on prominent roles as traders and men participated in warring and captive-taking with other tribes. The eastern tribes, called the Plateau tribes, survived through seasonal hunting, fishing, and gathering. Tribal work among the Plateau Indians was also gender-divided, with both men and women responsible for equal parts of the food supply.[3]
The principal tribes of the coastal areas include theChinook,Lummi,Quinault,Makah,Quileute, andSnohomish. The Plateau tribes include theKlickitat,Cayuse,Nez Percé,Okanogan,Palouse,Spokane,Wenatchee, andYakama. Today, Washington contains more than 20 Indian reservations, the largest of which is for the Yakama.[4]
AtOzette, in the northwest corner of the state, an ancient village was covered by a mud slide, perhaps triggered by an earthquake about 500 years ago. More than 50,000 well-preserved artifacts have been found and cataloged, many of which are now on display at the Makah Cultural and Research Center inNeah Bay. Other sites have also revealed how long people have been there. Thumbnail-sized quartz knife blades found at the Hoko River site near Clallam Bay are believed to be 2,500 years old.
The firstEuropean record of a landing on the futureWashington state coast was in 1774 bySpaniard marinerJuan José Pérez Hernández (c.1725–1775), sailing for theKingdom of Spain /Spanish Empire. One year later, another Spanish-Basque CaptainDon Bruna de Heceta (1747–1807), on board theSantiago, part of a two-ship flotilla with the accompanyingSonora, landed near the mouth of theQuinault River and claimed the coastal lands forSpain as far north up to the already present colonists of theRussian Empire possessions, originally discovered / claimed by CaptainVitus Bering (1681–1741), a Russian (Danish-born) mariner sailing the coasts of the northern Pacific forRussia and its rapidly expandingRussian Empire across theBering Strait andBering Sea (named for him) coming from easternSiberia andAsia) further up the Pacific coast inRussian America since the1740s (modernAlaska, purchased by the United States in 1867).
In 1778, theBritishRoyal Navy explorer CaptainJames Cook (1728–1779), sightedCape Flattery, at the entrance of thePuget Sound at theStrait of Juan de Fuca. But the strait itself was not found until almost a decade later whenCharles William Barkley (c.1759–1832), captain of theImperial Eagle, sighted it in 1787. Captain Barkley named it for the earlierSpanish-Greek explorerJuan de Fuca (1536–1602). The Spanish-British treaties of theNootka Conventions of the1790s ended Spanish exclusivity and opened the Northwest North America Coast to explorers and traders from other nations, most important being the future British, Russians, and Americans of the United States. Further explorations of the straits were performed again by Spanish-Peruvian explorerManuel Quimper (1757–1844), in 1790 and a year later byFrancisco de Eliza (1759–1825), in 1791 and then the following year of 1792, came the arrival by BritishRoyal Navy CaptainGeorge Vancouver (1757–1798). Captain Vancouver claimed the sound and coast for Britain and named the waters originally to the far south of theTacoma Narrows as thePuget's Sound, in honor ofPeter Puget (1765–1822), (who was the youngRoyal Navy naval lieutenant accompanying him on theVancouver Expedition of 1791–1795, (later in his naval career he became arear admiral). The name later came to be used also for the waters north of the Tacoma Narrows as well.[5] Captain Vancouver and his expedition mapped the Pacific coast of westernNorth America in 1792 to 1794, including the then large tract of theOregon Country composed later of futureterritories / thenstates ofOregon andWashington /Idaho, plus to the north of theCanadian colonies ofBritish North America of theColony of Vancouver Island on off-shoreVancouver Island and the mainland'sColumbia District / then later renamed Department, on the continent. Then subsequently after several decades in 1858 / 1866 into theColony of British Columbia, eventually merging the island and mainland becoming by 1866, the modernBritish Columbia, later joining the 1867confederation formed further east of theDominion of Canada four years later in 1871 as the western-mostprovince) in thePacific Northwest region.[6]
CaptainRobert Gray (1755–1806) (for whomGrays Harbor County inWashington was named), a civiliansea captain of a merchantman cargo vessel, discovered the mouth of theColumbia River along theWest Coast of theNorth America continent in thePacific Northwest region in 1792, naming the river after his ship"Columbia" and later establishing a trade insea otter,seal andwalrus fur pelts in the surroundingPacific Northwest region. TheLewis and Clark Expedition (1804–1806), with their Corps of Discovery sent by the direction of thirdPresidentThomas Jefferson (1743–1826, served 1801–1809), entered the region from the east on October 10, 1805, having journeyed upstream on theMissouri River and through the passes in theRocky Mountains chain, then downstream through theSnake River andColumbia River valleys to the coast. Explorers and scientific observersMeriwether Lewis (1774–1809), andWilliam Clark (1770–1838), were surprised by the differences in the variousNative Americans / Indian tribes in thePacific Northwest from those they had encountered earlier in the expedition trip on theGreat Plains, noting, in particular, the increased status of women among both coastal and upper plateau / mountain tribes. Lewis hypothesized that the equality of women and the elderly with men, was linked to more evenly distributed economic roles.
British / Canadian explorer, surveyor / cartographer and fur traderDavid Thompson (1770–1857), extensively explored theColumbia River two years later, commencing in 1807. Four years later in 1811, he became the firstEuropean to navigate the entire length of the river westward downstream to its mouth on thePacific Ocean. Along the way he posted a notice where it joins theSnake River claiming the land forGreat Britain (United Kingdom /British Empire), and stating the intention of theirNorth West Company to build a fort and trading post there. Subsequently, theFort Nez Perces trading post, was established (near present-dayWalla Walla, Washington). Thompson's posted notice was later found by the party ofAstorians ofJohn Jacob Astor (1763–1848) looking to establish an inland fur trading post / station. It contributed to American mercantile fur trader leaderDavid Stuart (1765–1853)'s choice, on behalf of the competing Americans' and Astor's short-livedPacific Fur Company (1810–1813), of choosing a more northerly site for their operations which were then established atFort Okanogan (in modernOkanogan County, nearBrewster,Washington).
By the time American settlers started arriving from the east in the1830s, a population ofMétis (mixed race) people had grown from centuries of contact with early-European fur traders partnering withNative American women.[7] Before larger numbers of CaucasianEuropean American women began moving to the territory from the east and the United States in the1830s, traders and fur trade workers generally sought out Métis or Native American women for wives and companionship or for domestic chores. Early European-Indigenous mixed ancestry settlements resulted from these partnerships as an outgrowth of the fur trade then growing into the work of agriculture raising small crops of grain and vegetables harvested for food at:Cowlitz Prairie (Fort Vancouver) andFrenchtown, Washington(Fort Nez Percés).
American interests in the region grew as part of their concept ofmanifest destiny.Spain had ceded their rights north of the 42nd Parallel to the United States by the terms of the earlier 1819Adams-Onís Treaty, (but not possession, which was disallowed by the terms of the Nootka Conventions).
Britain had long-standing commercial interests through theHudson's Bay Company and a well-established network of fur trading stations and forts along theColumbia River in what it called theColumbia District. These were headquartered fromFort Vancouver in present-day Vancouver, Washington.
By theTreaty of 1818, following from theWar of 1812 (1812–1815), Great Britain and the United States established the49th parallel as the international border stretching west to theContinental Divide of theRocky Mountains; but agreed to temporary joint control and occupancy of theOregon Country /Columbia District for the next few years.
In 1824, theRussian Empire (Russia) signed an agreement with the U.S. acknowledging it had no claims south of the parallel line 54-40 of latitude north and Russia signed a similar treaty with Britain the following in 1825, thereby establishing the southern limits of its coastal possessions inRussian America (modernAlaska) in the northwestern corner of theNorth American continent until its sale to the U.S. 43 years later in 1867.
British-American joint occupancy was renewed, but on a year-to-year basis in 1827. Eventually, increased tension between U.S. settlers arriving by way of theOregon trail and already residentfur traders led to the intensifiedOregon boundary dispute, a major political issue in the American1844 presidential election. It resulting in the election victory of 11thPresidentJames K. Polk (1795–1849, served 1845–1849), ofTennessee with his expansionist foreign policies. Two years later, on June 15, 1846, Britain ceded its claims to the lands south of the49th parallel, and the U.S. ceded its claims to the north of the same line, resulting in the present-dayCanada–U.S. international border, resulting in the amicable splitting of the Oregon/Columbia territory along the 49th parallel line, extending it westward from theGreat Lakes through theRocky Mountains chain all the way to the west coast at thePacific Ocean (with the exception of the off-shoreVancouver Island, assigned to Britain) between the two nations, in the negotiatedOregon Treaty of 1846.
A quarter-century later in 1872, an additional arbitration process settled the minor boundary dispute from the so-calledPig War of 1859 and established the U.S.A.–Canada border line through the off-shoreSan Juan Islands andGulf Islands on the Pacific coast.
In 1848, theOregon Territory, composed of present-day Washington, Oregon, and Idaho as well as parts of Montana and Wyoming, was established. Settlements in the eastern part of the state were largely agricultural and focused around missionary establishments in theWalla Walla Valley. Missionaries attempted to 'civilize' the Indians, often in ways that disregarded or misunderstood native practices. When missionaries Dr.Marcus Whitman andNarcissa Whitman refused to leave their mission as racial tensions mounted in 1847, 13 American missionaries were killed byCayuse andUmatilla Indians. Explanations of the 1847Whitman massacre in Walla Walla include outbreaks of disease, resentment over harsh attempts at conversion of both religion and way of life, and contempt of the native Indians shown by the missionaries, particularly by Narcissa Whitman,[citation needed] the first white American woman in the Oregon Territory.
This event triggered theCayuse War against the Natives, wherein theProvisional Legislature of Oregon in 1847 immediately raised companies of volunteers to go to war, if necessary, against the Cayuse, and, to the discontent of some of the militia leaders, also sent a peace commission. TheUnited States Army later came to support the militia forces. These militia forces, eager for action, provoked both friendly and hostile Indians. In 1850, five Cayuse were convicted for murdering the Whitmans in 1847 and hanged. Sporadic bloodshed continued until 1855, when the Cayuse were decimated, defeated, bereft of their tribal lands, and placed on theUmatilla Indian Reservation in northeastern Oregon.
As American settlers moved west along the Oregon Trail, some traveled through the northern part of the Oregon Territory and settled in the Puget Sound area. The first European settlement in thePuget Sound area in the west of present-day Washington State came in 1833 at the BritishHudson's Bay Company'sFort Nisqually, a farm and fur-trading post later operated by thePuget's Sound Agricultural Company (incorporated in 1840), a subsidiary of the Hudson's Bay Company. Washington's pioneer founder,Michael Simmons, along with the black pioneerGeorge Washington Bush and his Caucasian wife, Isabella James Bush, fromMissouri andTennessee, respectively, led four white families into the territory and settled New Market, now known asTumwater, in 1846. They settled in Washington to avoid Oregon's racist settlement-laws.[8] After them, many more settlers, migrating overland along theOregon trail, wandered north to settle in thePuget Sound area.
Washington Territory, which included Washington and pieces of Idaho and Montana, was formed from Oregon Territory in 1853.Isaac Ingalls Stevens, aMexican-American War veteran, had heavily supported the candidacy of PresidentFranklin Pierce, a fellow veteran. In 1853 Stevens successfully applied to President Pierce for thegovernorship of the new Washington Territory, a post that also carried the title of Superintendent of Indian Affairs.[9]
Lumber industries drew settlers to the territory. Coastal cities, likeSeattle (founded in 1851 and originally called "Duwamps"), were established. Though wagon trains had previously carried entire families to the Oregon Territory, these early trading settlements were populated primarily with single young men. Liquor, gambling, and prostitution were ubiquitous, supported in Seattle by one of the city's founders,David Swinson "Doc" Maynard, who believed that well-run prostitution could be a functional part of the economy. TheFraser Gold Rush in what would, as a result, become theColony of British Columbia saw a flurry of settlement and merchant activity in northern Puget Sound which gave birth toPort Townsend (in 1851) andWhatcom (founded in 1858, later becomingBellingham) as commercial centres, at first attempting to rivalVictoria on Vancouver Island as a disembarkation point of the goldfields until the governor of theColony of Vancouver Island ordered that all traffic to the Fraser River go via Victoria. Despite the limitation on goldfield-related commerce, many men who left the "Fraser River Humbug" (as the rush was for a while misnamed) settled in Whatcom and Island counties. Some of these were settlers onSan Juan Island during thePig War of 1859.
Upon the admission of the State ofOregon to the union in 1859, the eastern portions of theOregon Territory, including southernIdaho, portions ofWyoming west of the continental divide (thenNebraska Territory), and a small portion of present-dayRavalli County, Montana were annexed to the Washington Territory. In 1863, the area of Washington Territory east of the Snake River and the117th meridian west was reorganized as part of the newly formedIdaho Territory, leaving that territory with only the lands within the current boundaries of the State of Washington.
The conflicts over the possession of land between the Indians and the American settlers led the Americans in 1855, by the treaties at theWalla Walla Council, to coerce not only the Cayuse, but also theWalla Walla and theUmatilla tribes, to theUmatilla Indian Reservation in northeastern Oregon; fourteen other tribal groups to theYakama Indian Reservation in southern Washington State; and theNez Perce to a reservation in the border region of Washington, Oregon and Idaho.
That same year, gold was discovered in the newly established Yakama reservation and white miners encroached upon these lands, with Washington Territory beginning to considerannexing them. WhileGovernor Stevens generally avoided some of the moregenocidal rhetoric that was popular among some settlers, historian David M. Buerge charges that Stevens' "timetable [was] reckless; [that] the whole enterprise was organized in profound ignorance of native society, culture, and history,” and that “[t]he twenty-thousand-odd aboriginal inhabitants who were assumed to be in rapid decline, were given a brutal choice: they would adapt to white society or they could disappear.”[10]
A treaty was presented toChief Leschi of theNisqually (along with other tribes), and while it provided concessions such as fishing rights, the main crux of the so-calledTreaty of Medicine Creek was that it required: "The said tribes and bands of Indians hereby cede, relinquish and convey to the United States, all their right, title, and interest in and to the lands and country occupied by them."
Leschi was outraged and pulled out of the negotiations, preferring war to the loss of his tribe's ancestral lands. While it is not clear who fired the first shots, this standoff quickly escalated into violence as Washington Territorial militias began to exchange fire with Nisqually soldiers. This conflict would come to be known as thePuget Sound War.
In 1856,Chief Leschi of the Nisqually was finally captured after one of the largest battles of the war. Stevens, who was seeking to punish Leschi for what he considered a troublesome revolt, had Leschi charged with the murder of a member of the Washingtonian militia. Leschi's argument in his defense was that he was not at the scene of the killing, but that even if he was the killing had been an act of war and was thus not murder. The initial trial ended in a hung jury after the judge told jurors that if they believed the killing of the militiaman was an act of war, they could not find Leschi guilty of murder. A second trial, without this note to the jury, ended in Leschi being convicted of murder and sentenced to execution. Interference by those who opposed the execution were able to stall it for months, but in the end they could not prevent it. Chief Leschi was formally exonerated of his crimes in 2014.[11]
Concurrent with the Nisqually negotiations, tensions with other local tribes also continued to escalate. In one instance a group of Washingtonians assaulted and murdered a Yakama mother, her daughter, and her newborn infant. The woman's husband Mosheel, the son of the Yakama tribe's chieftain, gathered up a posse, tracked down the miners and killed them. The Bureau of Indian Affairs sent out an agent named Andrew Bolon to investigate, but before reaching the crime scene the chief of the Yakama intercepted him and warned Bolon that Mosheel was too dangerous to be taken in. Taking heed of this warning, Bolon decided to return to the Bureau to report his findings. He joined a traveling group of Yakama on his return trip, and while they walked he told them why he was in the area, about the unexplained murder that had happened. Unbeknownst to Bolon, the rest of the trip would be taken up by argument between the natives in a language he did not understand, as the leader of the group, Mosheel, argued for the murder of Bolon. Before he was stabbed in the throat, Bolon reportedly yelled in Chinook dialect, "I did not come to fight you!"[12]
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Washington Territory immediately mobilized for war, and sent the Territorial Militia to put down what it saw as a rebellion. The tribes – first the Yakama, eventually joined by the Walla Walla and the Cayuse – united together to fight the Americans in what is called theYakima War. The U.S. Army sent troops and a number of raids and battles took place. In 1858, the Americans, at theBattle of Four Lakes, defeated the Natives decisively. In a newly imposed treaty, tribes were, again, confined to reservations.
ThePuget Sound War of 1855–1856, theYakima War of 1855–1858, and theSpokane War of 1858, all happened simultaneously and were generally referred to by the Washingtonian settlers as the "Indian Wars". Fighting raged in theCascade Mountains and spilled out into larger battles such as theBattle of Seattle, with both sides committing atrocities. Stevens led his soldiers on the frontlines, doing battle with the Natives in vicious encounters across the State. While eventually Federal GeneralJohn E Wool arrived and tried to take control of the US’ forces in order to centralize the chain of command, his reportedly elitist attitude and belief that the Washingtonian whites had caused the war meant he lost the loyalty of the volunteer driven militias who mostly stayed de facto under the command of Stevens. In addition, raids byHaida,Tlingit and other northern tribes from British andRussian territory terrorized Native Americans and settlers alike in Puget Sound in the 1850s (note the events associated withPort Gamble in 1856–1857). Miners bound for theFraser Canyon Gold Rush in British Columbia in 1858 using theOkanagan Trail traveled under arms, and many instances of violence occurred along the route.
Throughout the existence ofWashington Territory, GovernorIsaac Ingalls Stevens proved the defining character of the political landscape. Hishawkish andauthoritarian tendencies were often at odds with the desires of theterritorial andFederal governments. In addition, as both ananti-slavery andanti-federalist stronghold, Washington's position in the union was unclear as the nation approached its impendingcivil war.
Generally, citizens of Washington were highly anti-federalist, seeing the national government as greedykleptocrats interfering in Washingtonian business. Despite this, the Federally mandated Stevens was often more popular with the Washingtonian people than the actual local elected government (despite the controversy surrounding him). As the nation approached civil war, national politics were in the midst of a great transition. TheWhig party had recently collapsed and virtually disappeared from politics, and the newly formedRepublicans were not yet a factor. This combined with their anti-federalist tendencies led to a strongDemocratic Party majority in the territory (despite their lack of slavery andprogressiveness in certain areas), but party label seemed to count for very little. The real political division in the legislative assembly was whether you were pro-Stevens or anti-Stevens.[13]
The Indian Wars were controversial, as many who opposed Governor Stevens claimed they were unjust and that he had intentionally caused them, thereby costing many Washingtonians to lose their lives. This opposition would not grow any smaller whenStevens famously declared martial law:
Whereas in the prosecution of the Indian war circumstances have existed affording such grave cause of suspicion, such that certain evil disposed persons ofPierce county have given aid and comfort to the enemy. Therefore, as the war is now being actively prosecuted throughout nearly the whole of the said county, I, Isaac I. Stevens, Governor of the Territory of Washington, do hereby proclaimMartial Law over the said county of Pierce, and do by these presents suspend for the time being and till further notice, the functions of all civil officers in said county.
The decision was made unilaterally, without the support of the territorial or federal government. In Washington, many men from theHudson Bay Company had married Native women during the early years of the Territory (before it was considered safe enough for white women). Stevens and his administration suspected these men of having covertly aided the Natives, and so upon the declaration of Martial Law they were immediately arrested and shipped off toFort Steilacoom. In addition, Stevens was generally suspicious of many of the Whig supporters throughout the territory, and had them arrested or harassed.[13]
| Siege of the Pierce County Courthouse | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of theYakima War | ||||
| Date | May 24, 1856 | |||
| Location | ||||
| Caused by | Attempted arrest of Chief JusticeFrancis A. Chenoweth | |||
| Resulted in | Mutual withdrawal of federal, territorial, and county forces | |||
| Parties | ||||
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| Lead figures | ||||
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The territorial judiciary was outraged at this federal outsider overstepping his authority to trample on local rule of law, and JusticesFrancis Chenoweth and Edward Lander subsequently began a drawn out legal dispute with Stevens which threatened to spill the Territory into civil war. After Stevens ignored awrit of habeas corpus for the prisoners from Judge Lander, Lander responded by holding Stevens incontempt of court and sending out aposse ofmarshals to retrieve the Governor. These marshals were expelled, and in return Stevens had Judge Lander arrested by his militias. Stevens then established a military committee for the trials of those held under militia custody. At this point, Chief Territorial Justice Francis Chenoweth, who was in the midst of recovering from an illness, left his home inWhidbey Island and travelled by canoe to Pierce County. Upon arriving, Chenoweth again began the process of issuing a writ of habeas corpus.[13][14][15]
News of Chenoweth's actions got to Stevens and he deployed a detachment of soldiers to shut down the court and arrest Chenoweth. While these volunteers were on route, Chenoweth ordered theSheriff of Pierce County to summon the local posse under arms, and accordingly 50 men gathered to defend the court. Stevens’ territorial volunteers arrived at the courthouse demanding entrance to arrest Chenoweth, but the local militia held firm, and eventually soldiers from the local US Federal military base, led by Lt. Col. Silas Casey (who had previously written in sympathy of Chenoweth), arrived overlooking the town, with orders to intervene if shooting began. Fearing a shootout with both the Federal government and the territorial judiciary, Stevens’ men reluctantly pulled back after a drawn out negotiation between the three sides. Shortly afterwards, Judge Chenoweth ruled the declaration of Martial Law to be unconstitutional and said that the basis of insurrection justifying it had been greatly overblown by Stevens’ administration. The wrath of the Washington judiciary, legislature and public figures such asEzra Meeker eventually forced Stevens to rescind the Martial Law order. While some pushed for his removal, President Pierce refused to take action against him (though he denounced the declaration of martial law), and many white settlers in Washington thought that the Anti-Stevens agitators were too sympathetic to the Natives.[13][14][15][16]
People's Party (Washington) | |
|---|---|
| Founded | Approx. 1865 |
| Split from | MajorityDemocratic Party MinorityRepublican Party |
| Ideology | Prior to 1880s: Populism Bourbon Democrat Anti-corruption Half Breeds Classical liberalism Conservatism 1880s and after: Populism Laborism Anti-capitalism Women's suffrage Progressivism Nationalism Anti-Asian |
Because many Washingtonians did not feel they aligned with either theRepublicans orDemocrats, early on in the history of the territory a popular third party was founded, called the People's Party. The existence and prominence of this party is widely corroborated, with the official History of the Washington State Legislature claiming for example that former Republican GovernorDr. W.A. Newell ran as a People's Party candidate, and that in the 1887 Legislative council, 6 members were Republicans, 4 were Democrats, and 2 were from the People's Party. Most sources state that it was formed after a defection of Democrats and someanti-establishment Republicans from their parties.[13] Despite this, the party's actual members,ideology, goals, achievements, and even the date of its foundation is somewhat difficult to place due to conflicting primary sources and a lack of secondary analysis.
The official History of the Washington State Legislature states "As had been the case in 1882, in Thurston County, Democrats and anti-administration Republicans joined to form the People’s Party".[13] However a Washington local newspaper in 1865 listed the People's Party as one of the main competing parties in an election.[17] As far back as 1854, newspapers mentioned ending talk of a "people's party", though it is not clear whether they were referring to an actually established party or a concept.[18] It seems likely that the party had been established by at least 1874, as multiple primary sources attest to some kind of People's Party existing at the time.[19][20]
The beliefs and allegiances of this party are also somewhat unclear. The official history and certain newspapers from the 1870s labelled the People's Party as nothing but radicalBourbon Democrats, who were effectively members of the Democrats.[13][19] However other sources seemed to dispute this, with one newspaper claiming that the People's Party and the Republicans were working together against the Democrats.[17] These early sources tend to paint the People's Party as having been ideologicallyPopulistConservatives, opposing the corruption andpatronage that was common throughout the country at the time, the partisanship of the two political parties, and the culture of politicalbossism, preferring a more Washingtonian association free from strict partisan lines.
Despite many testimonies to the idea that the People's Party were simply a populist offshoot of the conservative Democrats, theSnohomish People's Party platform of 1886 paints a very different picture. In it the party is portrayed more as a populist quasi-socialistlaborite party, which believed that capitalists controlled the national Congress, and that a party for the Washingtonian working class was needed to fight for its interests. This version of the party advocatedbusting monopolies, increasingsafety regulations,equal pay for all regardless of race, sex, or creed,women's suffrage, theabolition of convict labor, theabolition of child labor, and the use of public land by settlers rather than corporations. Notably, this party platform also displayed intensenationalist,anti-foreigner, andanti-Asian sentiments, calling for the end of the importation of “hordes of heathen slaves” from the “Mongolian Empire” into America by business owners, the restriction of their right to own property, and the deportation of existing Chinese peoples.[21] This version of the party also fits into the noted debate during the late 1880s over whether the People's Party was officially affiliated with theKnights of Labor, with whom many members were shared.[22]
Another complicating factor is the founding of the broader nationalPeople's Party in 1892, seemingly unaffiliated with the early People's Party in Washington. The views of this party would align with the later 1880s descriptions of the party, making it possible either that the Washington People's Party described in the 1880s was a separate party than the earlier one, or that over time the party had shifted from a Conservative to a more Progressive position. This would be supported by the official History of the Washington State Legislature, as it noted that in 1893 the People's Party merged with the local progressiveFarmer's Alliance, whose national body had become the national People's Party a year prior.[13] The third governor of Washington state,John Rankin Rogers, was elected as a member of the People's Party in 1897.
While Washington territory was one of the least involved regions of theUnion during the US Civil War, it nonetheless had a major impact on the territory. Despite anti-federalist sympathies and Democratic party dominance, there was never a strong secessionist movement in Washington state. While many were sympathetic to the cause of theConfederacy, the lack of slavery in the territory combined with its weariness after the Indian Wars gave it no real incentive to join ranks with the Confederates.[23]
Because of Washington's distance and complicated relationship with the war in general, it never sent a division into battle during the Civil War. This does not mean it was totally uninvolved though. The Washington Territory Volunteer Militia was formed byJustus Steinberger, who was able to recruit roughly two divisions from Washington civilians. The Volunteer soldiers who served in Washington did not fight against theConfederacy, but instead garrisoned the few posts in Washington that were not abandoned at the beginning of the war. They also protected communications routes between the western and eastern United States in Oregon and Idaho from the Indians and against the threat of foreignintervention on the Pacific coast byBritain andFrance that never materialized.[24]
On December 28, 1861, during the ongoingTrent Affair,Governor of theColony of British ColumbiaJames Douglas wrote toSecretary of State for the ColoniesHenry Pelham-Clinton, 5th Duke of Newcastle, arguing that Britain should seize the Washington Territory while the US was preoccupied with the Civil War. He reasoned this was possible because there were little to no US troops stationed in the region since most other units stationed there were off to war in the East, the territory's population was scattered, and there were only a few U.S. naval ships in the area. He also said theRoyal Navy andMarines were powerful and could easily do the job, ending with a statement that "withPuget Sound, and the line of theColumbia River in our hands, we should hold the only navigable outlets of the country—command its trade, and soon compel it to submit to Her Majesty’s Rule." British officials instead chose to pass on his proposal so as not to risk war with the United States.[25]
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The muddled attitude of the Territory would be exemplified by attitudes of the former governors of the state. Former governorFayette McMullen would go on to join theConfederate Congress and help fight with his southern Democratic brethren.Richard Golson would resign from office, refusing to serve under a Republican president, and would return to his family plantation and help them relocate their slaves and assets toTennessee.Isaac Stevens on the other hand would (somewhat surprisingly) give up political office and head back east to join theUnion Army as a general. He was killed in action at theBattle of Chantilly on September 1, 1862, after picking up the fallen regimental colors of his old regiment, shouting "Highlanders, my Highlanders, follow your general!" Charging with his troops while carrying the banner ofSaint Andrew's Cross, Stevens was struck in the temple by a bullet and died instantly.[26]
During this period there was also a political shift, as the state began moving away from the Democrats and to the growingRepublican Party. This in part began after PresidentAbraham Lincoln appointedWilliam H. Wallace as the first Republican Governor of the territory. Shortly thereafter Colonel Wallace received the Republican nomination for Congress. After Stevens had left the territory, his Democratic successor,Selucius Garfielde was generally disliked and seem as an opportunist. This led to a split in the Democratic Party between Garfielde and his opponents, allowing Wallace and the Republican Party to win control of the Territory.[13]
Union supporters were upset that the legislature had not adopted a strong stand in support of the Union. Party lines continued to deteriorate as the main single issue now was the Civil War. Republicans referred to Democrats asCopperheads and the Republicans were in turn calledRadical Republicans or Black Republicans by the Democrats. While on paper, the Democrats maintained substantial majorities in the late ‘50s and early ‘60s, in reality, it was hard to tell where people stood and loyalties were continually shifting depending upon where one stood on the war,abolition of slavery, and on location of the capital. Minor outbreaks of violence were commonplace, with Republican and Democratic newspaper publishers being shot multiple times during this period.[13]
In 1864 the elections returned another victory for the Democrats, but they were deeply divided and engaged in many public quarrels, injuring their popularity. This combined with the end of the war and thedeath of Lincoln would all contribute to their fall in popularity. In the election of 1865 the Republicans won their first victory in the Legislature, finally ending the era of Democratic dominance. The new southern presidentAndrew Johnson (Lincoln's compromise vice president) tried to remove Republican governorWilliam Pickering for his criticisms of how the Johnson administration was handlingreconstruction, offering a Democrat namedGeorge Cole as his replacement. Initially Pickering tried to fight this decision but eventually conceded.[13]
At this time, Washington was still very politically split, with the growing conflict betweenConservative Republican and Radical Republican factions on Reconstruction causing them to narrowly lose their majority. The Democrats too remained split between the pro-Federalist Moderates and anti-Federalist Copperheads. In general though, the previously somewhat contentious stance of pro-Federalism had solidified and instead most controversy surrounded Reconstruction and President Johnson, which was much more split. While the extreme division led to an unproductive session of the Legislature, the one major achievement was the creation of a standardized education system. Early the next year when theNational Congress finally reconvened, the majority Moderate Republican US congress removed Governor George Cole, who had been chosen independently by their archnemesis Andrew Johnson.[13]
Due to increasing amounts of cheapChinese labor replacing white labor throughout Washington, many of the growingprogressive andpopulist movements were deeply intertwined with anti-Asian sentiment. Asian people were seen as universally backwards and inferior, slave-like creatures who were being flooded into the country by wealthy business owners to put real Americans out of their jobs, despite the fact that many had arrived in the region at the same time or earlier than many of the White settlers. During this period, roughly from the mid-1880s to the late 19th century, anti-Asian hate crimes would dramatically increase, ultimately leading to themass deportation of establishedAsian American communities.
In 1885 labor tensions led to a calculatedAnti-Chinese riot in Tacoma wherein vigilante groups hundreds strong forcefully broke into the homes of any Asians who had not fled the city and brutally assaulted them. By the end of the three days of terror, all 700 Chinese Americans in Tacoma had fled, as their homes and businesses were reduced to ashes.[27]
Inspired by the success of the Tacoma Riot, Anti-Chinese Committees were formed throughout the territory. These organizations were led by the newly founded Washington Territorial Anti-Chinese Congress, who jointly declared that by the end of 1885 all Chinamen were to have left the city or face consequences. As they gained immense popularity they began to pool funds and catalog the Chinese residents throughout Seattle.[28]
In 1886 rioters associated with theKnights of Labor and organized by the Anti-Chinese Congress began aviolent riot in Seattle. Going door to door the Committees broke into Chinese owned homes and businesses, kidnapping Chinese residents with the intent of forcing all of them out of Seattle by train or ferry. Meanwhile, more unorganized mobs of angry White citizens began to ransack Chinese areas of the city and accost any Asians they could find. The city broke down into anarchy and governorWatson C. Squire orderedmartial law.[29]
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A militia called the Seattle's Rifles was quickly formed to deal with the rioters and protect the Chinese citizens who had been abducted from their homes and dragged out into the streets. This militia was led by future state governor and at that time current Seattle SheriffJohn McGraw, who was sympathetic to the Knights of Labor but opposed the violent deportation of the Chinese, leading to his relatively centrist position on the affair. Coming into contact with a large mob holding 350 Chinese people in captivity, the Seattle Rifles attempted negotiation before forcefully barging through the crowd, taking the victims into custody, and arresting the leaders of the mob. Rioters tried to wrangle control of the rifles, leading to shots ringing out, whereafter two militia members and three rioters were seriously injured. The riot quickly spiraled into a gunfight.[29]
Amidst the fighting, the Seattle Rangers were mostly able to protect the Chinese citizens in their custody, but in the places they could not reach many Chinese people were successfully shipped out of the city. A few days later presidentGrover Cleveland ordered Governor Squire to lift Martial Law, as most of the riots had ended, though illegal efforts to deport the Chinese continued (with some success). In the aftermath of the riots, none of the perpetrators would be charged, and the money that the courts allotted for damages to the Chinese citizens were never received. Both the city mayor and McGraw would be unseated in the next elections, primarily for their actions in helping the Chinese. Due to the increased animosity and tension, most Asian citizens in Washington territory would in the following months either migrate to more friendly cities or return to China.[30]
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After the passage of theEnabling Act of 1889, Washington became the42nd state in the United States on November 11, 1889.[31] The proposed state constitution, passed by a four-to-one ratio, originally includedwomen's suffrage andprohibition, but both of these issues were defeated and removed from the accepted constitution. Women had previously been given the vote in 1883 by the Washington Territorial Legislature, but the right was rescinded in 1887 by the Washington Territorial Supreme Court as a response to female support of prohibition. Despite these initial defeats, women in the Pacific Northwest received the right to vote earlier than the rest of the country, with Washington passing a suffrage amendment in 1910.[32] Prohibition followed in 1916, two years before the rest of the nation.
Narrowly winning election,RepublicanElisha P Ferry, former Territorial Governor from almost a decade earlier andCivil War veteran took office as the firstgovernor of Washington State. In the debate over whether Washington's land should be privatized or made public, with Western citizens preferring the former and Eastern citizens preferring the latter, Ferry tried to take a neutral stance. However his commission failed to resolve the dispute in the allotted time allowing the land to fall into the hands of corporations, which led to allegations that he was in the pocket of corporations. The same inference was drawn when Ferry called on theNational Guard to put down a miners' strike. Following a costly fire, a local mining company had decided to cut expenses by replacing white mineworkers with black workers at lower wages. The longer the strike lasted, the more the employers saw the advantages of using black labor, and this became their standard policy. Proposals to regulate the railroads and an “Anti-Pinkerton” bill banning the employment of private union busters both were vetoed by temporary acting GovernorLaughton, leading to increased support for Populist ideas. Upon his return to the capital Governor Elisha P Ferry essentially ignored the entire issue, leaving Laughton to be the scapegoat.
In 1890, while nationally Democrats won in a landslide, in Washington their gains were only meager, and they remained the minority. During the 1880s Washington had become more and more prosperous, but the Eastern agricultural areas did not share in the prosperity of the cities. In part this was caused by the highly monopolized nature of the new railroads. In addition, rising economic issues led to a crash in 1893 which proved disastrous for the Washingtonian people. This caused a rise in Agrarian Populism throughout the state, and the populists within Washington, who had previously been only a tertiary factor in state/territorial politics began to grow into a defining element.[13]
Early prominent industries in the state included agriculture, lumber, and mining. In eastern Washington,Spokane was a major hub of mining activity and theYakima Valley was known for its apple orchards and wheat fields. The heavy rainfall to the west of theCascade Range produced dense forests and the ports along Puget Sound prospered from the manufacturing and shipping of lumber products, particularly the Douglas fir. In 1905, Washington State became the largest producer of lumber in the nation.[33]Seattle was the primary port for trade with Alaska and for a time possessed a large shipbuilding industry. Other industries that developed in Washington include fishing, salmon canning, and mining. For an extended period of time,Tacoma was known for its large smelters where gold, silver, copper and lead ores were treated. The region around eastern Puget Sound developed heavy industry during the period including World War I and World War II and theBoeing Company became an established icon in the area.
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By 1892, the Populists were beginning to push through the roadblocks placed in front of them by the ModerateRepublicans. The regulations vetoed by acting GovernorLaughton, despite the protests of major lobbyists from theNorthern Pacific Railroad, were almost unanimously overridden and signed into law by the new Republican GovernorJohn McGraw. The backlash to Laughton was so severe that thehouse passed a bill to abolish the position ofLieutenant Governor entirely, though it failed in thesenate. Despite these successes for the Populists, they remained a minority (if now a sizeable one) in the State Congress, and the Northern Pacific Railroad had managed to extract concessions from the Republicans, causing the failure of any bills directly trying to regulate the railroads. This would lead to a further rise in Populism, led by a youngPeople's Party member namedJohn Rogers. During the 1895 session, Rogers successfully passed the "Barefoot School-boy" act despite heavy resistance from urban liberals, and unsuccessfully opposed the creation of a state capitol as he believed it was a waste of money.[13]
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As the national conversation around the silver and gold standard heated up, the dominant Republican Party fractured, with part of it forming theSilver Republicans, which was a more populist alternative to the Republicans. While many of the former Democrats within the People's Party viewed the Silver Republican Party with suspicion, other more pragmatic members convinced them to cooperate. Recognizing their popularity and shared interest, as well as their lack of ability to beat the Republicans individually, the People's Party, Silver Republican Party, and Democratic Party formed a fusion ticket despite great internal conflict. The People's Party dominated the House, having four times more seats than the second largest party the Republicans.John Rogers was also elected as the third governor of Washington State, making him the first and only third-party candidate to win such a high office in the state.[13]
Despite this amazing victory, the fusion proved unstable, and in many cases they were just as slow to make decisions as the Republicans had been. A cornerstone of the Populist platform, the creation of a Railroad Commission, failed in the House by one vote. With their main focus obstructed, their coalition grew increasingly unstable. With internal struggle rumors of corruption began to fly, and the People's Party began to turn on itself and view figures like Rogers with suspicion. Despite these failures, under Rogers the economy saw a revival, which actually worked against him, further shifting political opinion back to moderatism. By 1899 the Populist movement had effectively disintegrated, and failed to pass other proposals such as aGeorgistland value tax andfemale suffrage.[13]
In a surprise for the Republicans, who were expecting and did receive a general sweep in the 1900 elections, Rogers who had formally switched parties and joined the Democrats, was re-elected as governor. This upset was not long to last though, as in 1901 Rogers unexpectedly died. The line of succession promoted the Lieutenant Governor, a Republican namedHenry McBride into the office, but rather than reverse Rogers' reforms, McBride actually furthered them. As aprogressive Republican, McBride also saw corporations and lobbyists as an impediment to the growth of the state, and strongly pushed forbusting monopolies.[34] Under McBride the Republican Party shifted into support of a Railroad Commission in order to separate the railroads from politics, and after the "hardest floor battle" in a decade, with his support the commission finally came into being.[35] With these victories McBride was generally very popular, but his own Republican Party which was heavily supported by, and as many claimed controlled by the railroad companies, began to conspire in order to prevent his re-election. To this effect after an extended political struggle, the Republican Party voted not to renominate McBride for the 1904 elections.[13] He would later be applauded by historians as one of the state's best governors.[36]
While in the short term, the Populist program was a failure and the fusion party quickly died, within twenty years almost all of their major points would become law. These points included thedirect election of Senators,initiative,referendum andrecall, a Railroad Commission, andmunicipal ownership of utilities.[13]
The progressive force of the early 20th century in Washington stemmed partially from the women's club movement which offered opportunities for leadership and political power to tens of thousands of women in the Pacific Northwest region.
Bertha Knight Landes was elected mayor of Seattle in 1926, the first woman mayor of a major city in the United States.[37]
In 1924, Seattle'sSand Point Airfield was the endpoint of thefirst aerial circumnavigation of the world.[38]
Vancouver became the endpoint for two ultra-long flights fromMoscow, USSR over the North Pole. The first of these flights were performed byValery Chkalov in 1937 on aTupolev ANT-25RD airplane. Chkalov was originally scheduled to land at an airstrip in nearbyPortland, Oregon but redirected at the last minute to Vancouver'sPearson Airfield.
During the depression era, a series ofhydroelectric dams were constructed along the Columbia River as part of a project to increase the production ofelectricity. This culminated in 1941 with the completion of theGrand Coulee Dam, the largest in the United States.
During World War II, the Puget Sound area became a focus for war industries with the Boeing Company producing many of the nation'sheavy bombers and ports inSeattle,Bremerton,Vancouver, andTacoma available for the manufacturing of ships for the war effort. As the demand for labor and the number of young men drafted for service increased simultaneously, women entered the workforce in large numbers, recruited by local media. One-fourth of the laborers in shipyards were women, resulting in the installation of one of the first government-funded child-care centers in the workplace.[39]
In eastern Washington, theHanford Worksnuclear power plant was opened in 1943 and played a major role in the construction of the nation'satomic bombs. One of the atomic bombs (nicknamed 'Fat Man' anddropped onNagasaki, Japan on August 9, 1945) was fueled by Hanford plutonium and was transported inBoeing B-29s, also designed in Washington State.
During the 1960s,Seattle became a center of the burgeoningCivil Rights movement. In 1962,Wing Luke was elected to theSeattle City Council, becoming the firstAsian American to hold office in thePacific Northwest. His open-housing ordinance faced serious resistance before ultimately prevailing, thereby preventing discrimination in the selling or renting of Seattle real estate.[40] After his untimely death, theWing Luke Museum would be opened in 1967 in his honor, displaying the culture, art, and history of Asian Americans.[41]
Meanwhile, tensions rose as white fishing companies continued to erodeNative Americanfishing rights that had been established in earlier treaties. This led to a period known as theFish Wars, wherein Native American activists fought for their rights to traditional fishing areas through "fish-ins" and otherprotests. Among these activists was theNisquallyenvironmental leaderBilly Frank Jr., who led a decade long campaign for treaty rights and cooperative management of natural resources. These collective efforts led to a major victory in the landmark 1974Boldt Decision by theUS Supreme Court, which reaffirmed the Native's right to fish in the areas designated by the treaties.[42] In 2015,President Barack Obama posthumously awarded Billy Frank Jr. with thePresidential Medal of Freedom,[43] and in 2021Governor Jay Inslee passed into law a bill replacing Washington'sstatue ofMarcus Whitman in theUS Capitol with a statue of Billy.[44]
Another prominent leader of the fish-in movement wasBernie Whitebear, a Native American activist who worked to revitalizeNative culture, better Native health, and who was closely associated with the Kinatechitapi (or "All Indian") political group's efforts to occupyFort Lawton (which was seen as having been built on rightful Native lands).[45][46] Bernie was a member of Seattle's so called "Gang of Four", a group of radicalminority rights activists composed of Whitebear, Asian American community leaderBob Santos,Latino teacher and activistRobert Maestas, and local politician andBlack Panther Party memberLarry Gosset.[47]
On May 18, 1980, following a period of heavy tremors and eruptions, the northeast face ofMount St. Helens exploded outward, destroying a large part of the top of the volcano. This eruption flattened the forests for many miles, killed 57 people, flooded the Columbia River and its tributaries with ash and mud and blanketed large parts of Washington in ash, making day look like night.
Washington is well known for several prominent companies, the most notable of which areMicrosoft,Amazon.com,Boeing,Nordstrom,The Bon Marché,Costco, andStarbucks. Monopolies have a long history in the state. Bill Boeing's namesake company grew from a small airplane company in 1916 to the national aircraft and airline conglomerate of Boeing and United Airlines, which was subsequently broken up by anti-trust regulators in 1934.
Politics in Washington have been generally Democratic since the 1950s and 60s and PresidentJohn F. Kennedy's election. The state's system ofblanket primaries, in which voters may vote for any candidate on the ballot and are not required to be affiliated with a particular political party, was ruled unconstitutional in 2003. The party-line primary system was instituted for the 2004 presidential and gubernatorial elections. In 2004, voters elected GovernorChristine Gregoire into office, making Washington the first state to have a female governor and two female senators,Patty Murray andMaria Cantwell.
Protests against theWorld Trade Organization (WTO) in Seattle, sometimes referred to as the"Battle of Seattle", took place in 1999 when the WTO convened to discuss trade negotiations. Massive protests of at least 40,000 people included organizations such as NGOs involved in environment issues, labor unions, student groups, religious groups, and anarchists.
On January 30, 2006, Governor Christine Gregoire signed into law legislation making Washington the 17th state in the nation to protect gay and lesbian people from discrimination in housing, lending, and employment, and the 7th state in the nation to offer these protections to transgender people. Initiative activistTim Eyman filed a referendum that same day, seeking to put the issue before the state's voters. In order to qualify for the November election, the measure required a minimum of 112,440 voter signatures by 5:00 p.m. June 6, 2006. Despite a push from conservative churches across the state to gather signatures on what were dubbed "Referendum Sundays," Eyman was only able to gather 105,103 signatures, more than 7,000 signatures short of the minimum. As a result, the law went into effect on June 7, 2006. The Washington legislature introduced more advanced converge of domestic partnerships in 2008.[48]
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