A Growing Territory

The federal government started paying more attention to Alaska in the early 1880s. In his first State of the Union address, President Chester Arthur said he regretted "that the people of Alaska have reason to complain that they are as yet unprovided with any form of government . . .".  As a Congressional committee reported, "the inhabitants have been absolutely without the pale of law, and without any protection of life or property."

The prospect of riches from gold discoveries added to a growing clamor to establish an Alaskan government. Prospectors had no legal way to stake and hold mining claims or get title to land. Residents of Juneau joined with people in other Southeast settlements to demand action by Congress for civilian government.  Historian Ted Hinckley described a convention in Juneau in August 1881 as "the first really consequential territorial political gathering."

The convention sponsored a write-in election the next month and elected a former Confederate officer, Mottrom Ball, as their unofficial Alaska delegate to the U.S. House of Representatives. "We hold it to be undeniable that such representation is one of the assured privileges of citizenship," the sponsors said. The U.S. House of Representatives did not accept the credentials of the Alaska delegate, but it did allocate money for his expenses, and he lobbied Congress to extend government to Alaska.