Arizona statehood Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Arizona statehood - Essay Example Wanting to return to Spain, de Vaca turned him down, and Marcos turned to Estevanico for help, letting him go ahead of him. Francisco Vasquez led an invading army of Spaniards, looking for the mythical gold cities, the following year (AZ Big Media, 2011). However, Coronado made it only as far as Kansas before turning back, his only major discovery being the Grand Canyon. For the next 250 years, from 1540-1810, the Spaniards ruled Arizona, considering it a desert land that was worthless and left its natives alone (The Robinson Library, 2012). It was referred to as New Spain’s Pimeria Alta colony. However, silver and gold were soon discovered and they began expanding their influence by moving in that area. Arizona’s name comes from Spaniard owned silver mines. Father Kino who was an Italian priest came along with the Spaniards and was the most famous European at this time. Father Kino was instrumental in bringing new farming methods and education. As a fierce opponent of slavery, he was hugely popular among the natives of Arizona (The Robinson Library, 2012). During his mission to bring the Southern Arizona tribes to Christianity, he established twenty-four towns and missions including Tucson. Mexico gained independence from Spain in 1810 and Arizona formed part of its territory. Some American mountain men did venture into Arizona, including Kit Carson who was the first American to travel the length of Arizona and back, but it was left alone for a while since its tribes were considered savages. America moved against Mexico in 1846 to seize land stretching from Texas down to the Pacific Ocean (e-RD, 2011). However, they had no way to get to California, which they had already established interest in before the beginning of the war. On the other hand, the Mormons had been evicted from Illinois, and they wanted to establish a colony in Utah. Therefore, they struck a deal with the US government as suppliers of labor to build a road from New Mexico to San Diego. They managed this but by using a longer route than was necessary, although this meant that they escaped the Apaches, who were known to be vicious and would have attacked them (e-RD, 2011). After, winning the Mexican war, the question turned to the drawing of the Southern border. The Northern States, which were the most dominant, wanted the line as north as possible since New Mexico and Southern Arizona was a slave friendly territory as it lay south of the line at Mason-Dixon (Facts About..., 2012). The border was thus drawn along the Gila River. Ambassador James Gadsden then travelled to Mexico with the view of making a purchase for some of Mexican territory. Mexico actually needed this money and offered the North of Mexico and Baja California. However, Congress authorized a bare minimum to regain the Mormon built road as they were afraid of adding more territory that ran slavery. According to Mexican law, native tribes had their land claims recognized but Americans only con sidered title deeds as land claims. The Apache wars lasted from 1848 to 1886 with the surrender of Geronimo after which the south of New Mexico was enjoined with the American Confederate States (Facts About..., 2012). Arizona has a unique political history. It was the first state to allow women voters, as well as the first to allow judges to be recalled. It was also the first state to let public petitions override the legislature and constitution of the state. Its recent reforms have included state

College Scholarship Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

College Scholarship - Essay Example For accommodation, each of us was assigned a room with a roommate when we were registering to join the program. In my case, my roommate was Asha, who came from a Muslim background. In my life, I had never ever interacted with Muslims since I had been raised in a staunch Christian home. I would hear of people saying that other religions had different ways of doing things, but I had no first-hand experience with then anyway. My experience with Asha was great though I came to learn and understand some beliefs that I can call ‘weird’ to me somehow. On the first day, since she was the only friend whom I had interacted with, I spent most of my evening with her. The first thing, which amazed me, was that she had to wash her feet before praying. Additionally, she had to recite a number of verses from the Quran (Henningfeld, 2010). With my curiosity, I asked her why she had to do, and she responded by telling me that their religion required them to do so. Further, she told me that they were supposed to pray at specific time where they had different prayer versions for different times of the day. This was totally opposite from what I practiced in Christianity. In my religion, one can pray at any time regardless of whether they are clean or dirty. My curiosity never ended there; Asha had a distinctive way of dressing. According to their religion, a woman is supposed to cover her hair all the time. Sometimes it could be extremely hot, and I would her why she could not remove some clothes. However, one thing, which I really liked with the Muslim community during the exchange program, is that they were very united in different activities. They dined together as they shared their daily experiences with other students from different states in the country. They also have a specific time of praying, unlike the Christian community which never united as some were protestants while others where Roman Catholics.