By Marjory J. Sente

Before the Spanish-American War and the Rough Riders, Prescott Mayor William “Buckey” O’Neill was advocating for home rule. In a letter written January 8, 1898, months before his demise on July 1 in Cuba, O’Neill asked George W. P. Hunt of Globe if he could influence the Gila County Commissioners to pass the resolutions for territorial home rule. In his letter, O’Neill noted that Yavapai, Coconino and Maricopa county commissioners had adopted resolutions for territorial home rule and enclosed newspaper copies of the resolutions.

According to the December 29, 1907 Arizona Weekly Journal-Miner, the Yavapai County Board of Supervisors—Thomas Roach, G.H. Schuerman and H. H. Carter—adopted two resolutions. Their reasons were: “Under the present system of government in Arizona, a system by which every territorial officer is appointed, the people have no voice in the selection of those administering the laws affecting territorial interests.” “The system is and has been productive of gross malfeasance in the office and extravagance in public affairs, injuriously affecting every county in the territory by a constantly increasing territorial indebtedness.” “A government administered only by appointed officers is purely one of personal favoritism and un-American in its character…”

The first resolution asked for the passage of the current bill in Congress for the election of territorial officials by popular vote. The second instructed the Commissioners’ clerk to send the resolution to the U.S. Congress, Senate, President and Secretary of the Interior. Although it was composed of one Republican and two Democrats, the Board passed the resolution unanimously.

O’Neill also indicated to Hunt, “Statehood seems to be an absolutely hopeless thing to hope for, and if we get home rule it will not only do much to advance the interests of the Territory but bring about the reform in public affairs never more badly needed than at present.” Hunt’s response to O’Neill’s letter is unknown.

Mark Smith, Arizona’s delegate to the U.S. Congress, introduced a bill in late 1897 calling for the citizens of the Arizona Territory to be allowed to elect their governor and other territorial officers who currently were appointed by the president. To support the bill, a Home Rule League was established in Prescott with J. F. Blandy named the permanent chairman. O’Neill was on the executive committee.      

Home rule as promoted by O’Neill was met with fierce opposition. In the January 8, 1908 Mohave County Miner, the Mohave County’s board of supervisors “concluded that a home rule bill has as much show of becoming law as Mark Hanna has of going to heaven, and that it would be a waste of time, ink and paper to petition congress to pass the bills now before the body.”

Hanna was a wealthy Republican businessman who worked to get William McKinley elected U.S. president in 1896 and 1900. McKinley’s appointment in 1897 of Hanna’s friend Myron McCord to be the Arizona Territorial governor was one reason for O’Neill’s call for home rule. McCord was governor for about a year before he resigned to serve in the Spanish-American War.

Others rejected the home rule proposal because they believed that Arizona was ready for statehood. If home rule was instituted, they believed that statehood for Arizona would be postponed indefinitely. William Hunt served on the home front during the War and was a key player in obtaining statehood for Arizona in 1912. He was elected Arizona’s first state governor.

“Days Past” is a collaborative project of the Sharlot Hall Museum and the Prescott Corral of Westerners International (www.prescottcorral.org). This and other Days Past articles are also available at www.archives.sharlothallmuseum.org/articles/days-past-articles/1 The public is encouraged to submit proposed articles and inquiries to dayspast@sharlothallmuseum.org Please contact SHM Research Center reference desk at 928-277-2003, or via email at archivesrequest@sharlothallmuseum.org for information or assistance with photo requests.