Nevada

THE FIRST EUROPEANS reached the area that became Nevada in the 17th century, when Father Kino led some expeditions through the region. It was claimed by the Spanish and was a part of the Viceroyalty of New Spain. When Mexico gained its independence, the region became a part of Mexico. The Mexican-American War from 1846 till 1848, was ended with the Guadalupe-Hidalgo Treaty whereby the region was ceded to the United States. The area had already been surveyed by John Fremont of the U.S. Army Topographical Corps, later the first Republican presidential candidate. The U.S. Congress formed the Utah territory on August 14, 1850, which included Nevada. The Nevada Territory was established on March 2, 1861. This occurred two years after the discovery of gold and silver at the Comstock Lode.

Nevada itself was granted statehood on October 31, 1864, eight days before the 1864 presidential election, which helped Abraham Lincoln get re-elected. By this time, there were substantial numbers of miners living in the state, and Henry G. Blasdel, a Republican from Indiana, was elected as the first governor. He was re-elected in 1866, serving until 1870. The second governor, Lewis R. Bradley, a Democrat from Virginia, was elected in 1870, and also served two terms, losing when he ran again in 1878.

With a healthy two-party system, the third governor, John Henry Kinkead, was a Republican from Pennsylvania (who went on to be the district governor of Alaska), the fourth governor, Jewett W Adams, was a Democrat from Vermont; and the fifth governor, Charles Clark Stevenson, was a Republican from New York. What followed was a period of Republican rule, with the election of Frank Bell in 1889. Bell, a Republican, born in Toronto, Canada, was Nevada's first foreign-born governor. He had been a telegraph operator and was the man who telegraphed the state constitution to Washington, D.C., in 1864.