Fundamentals of Nevada History

The year was 1864 and it was the beginning of May when an election would take place in June that would decide the second constitutional convention.

This convention unlike the one in 1863; this one would establish the Nevada Enabling Act, but would have restrictions that the constitution written would have to follow under the following guidelines: (1) The new State Constitution must be republican in nature and not repugnant to the Federal Constitution or the Declaration of Independence; 2) there shall be no slavery or involuntary servitude other than for punishment of crimes, without the consent of the United States and the people of Nevada; (3) the Constitutional Convention must disclaim all rights to inappropriate lands in Nevada; (4) land owned by U.

S. Citizens outside Nevada must not be discriminated against in taxation; and (5) there must be no taxation of federal property in the state. (Michael W. Bowers 2005). This was a time that Nevada was not statehood and Lincoln needed more electoral votes for the passage of his Thirteenth Amendment which would abolish slavery. Another reason was so that Lincoln could use Novena’s vote to win the 1864 presidential election.

The final reason was the dividing of the electoral votes were to even; Lincoln felt if it came down to this it would be left in the House of Representatives hands and he may lose, but by making Nevada a statehood he would be able to win over Nevada giving him another statehood vote and more of a republican power in the House. Civil Rights in Nevada History Although in 1864 the Thirteenth Amendment was passed there was still racism, aggregation, and discrimination in Nevada which has been called later as the “Mississippi of the West”.

Although voting rights had been established; Nevada citizens that were white felt that they were an inferior race and that other races of color should not have the same privileges or their white Anglo-Saxon brothers and sisters. African Americans were not able to testify against any white individual in a court of law due to them being presumed “untrustworthy’. Another issue was that they were not able to work in the state of Nevada as whites had the privileges of doing so. During the building of the Hoover Dam blacks were not eligible for hire and were not able to gamble or stay at the Hotels on the strip if they worked there.

Entertainers like Leona Horns and Sammy Davis Jar. Could not stay there after they performed there, and they would have to go to the Million Rouge if they wanted that type of entertainment which was where blacks had to go in order to have the same type of entertainment. Once the Civil Rights Act was passed in 1964 all of this had to come to an end and Nevada was then forced to follow suit. Mining and Gamin History of Nevada In 1863 there were also arguments about the mining and gaming industry taxation against agriculture.

Cow herders and farmers felt that the taxation for the mining industry should be more seeing it was outside owners of these companies from San Francisco and other states that would come to Nevada and capitalize off of the land. They were being taxed the same but profit was much larger. Some would go on to even say that Nevada was the state that built San Francisco. The mining companies stands was that without their business all of the stores would be removed, farms old be dried up and streets would turn elsewhere.