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Partly-printed DS as president, signed “Benj. Harrison,” one page, 8 x 10, November 8, 1889. President Harrison authorizes and directs the Secretary of State to cause the Seal of the United States to be affixed to “my Proclamation announcing the admission of the State of Montana into the Union pursuant to the provisions of the Act of Congress approved February 22, 1889.” Crisply signed at the conclusion in ink by Benjamin Harrison. In fine condition.
Most of present-day Montana came under American sovereignty with the Louisiana Purchase in 1803 and was soon explored by the Lewis and Clark Expedition. Fur trapping dominated the early economy until gold discoveries beginning in 1852 spurred rapid settlement, large-scale western expansion reinforced by the historic Homestead Acts of 1862. As Congress organized the region in the 1860s, the proposed name of Montana met some resistance. Introduced in 1863 and reused in 1864 by Representative James Ashley, the name drew criticism for its lack of meaning and for being a geographic misnomer, with alternative names like Jefferson or Shoshone suggested. Despite these objections, the House Committee on Territories ultimately retained Montana, and the name became permanent.
Montana’s growing population soon sought statehood. An unsuccessful constitutional convention was held in 1866, and a second, more successful one in Helena followed nearly two decades later in 1884. The constitution was ratified by voters but initially stalled in Congress, with political considerations delaying admission until 1889, when President Grover Cleveland signed an omnibus bill enabling Montana and several other territories to become states. After a third constitutional convention in July 1889 produced a federally approved constitution, President Benjamin Harrison proclaimed Montana the 41st state on November 8, 1889, with Joseph K. Toole as its first governor. Mining—especially around Butte and Helena—anchored the state’s economy into the mid-20th century, and by the 1880s, Helena famously boasted more millionaires per capita than any other U.S. city.
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