This study guide is intended to provide a place to explore the multifaceted story of government in Montana's history.
Introduction
Territorial Government
The act of Congress of 1864 creating Montana, and known as the Organic Act, prescribed a somewhat standard organization for the territorial government of Montana. It established executive, judicial, and legislative branches of government, however, the federal government held a dominant role in administering the new territory. The President of the United States appointed the most powerful positions in the territory, including a Governor, Secretary of the Territory, and three members of the Supreme Court, while the citizens of the territory elected a legislative assembly, consisting of a Council and House of Representatives, and a lone delegate to Congress as strictly an advisor to the federal body. The territorial system was meant to provide a training ground for a future move to statehood, allowing time for an area's institutions to mature and populations to grow. Born of the rancorous Civil War-era and often neglected by distant and preoccupied federal custodians in Washington, D.C., the young territory required much political "training."
Montana's first decade as a territory showed just how immature were politics and government in the territory. Between 1864 and 1875 a combination of contentious party politics caused by the Civil War and serious limitations in the territorial system caused inefficient and nonresponsive government in Montana. The act of establishing reliable and productive government in Montana proceeded slowly. A high turn-over of executive officers, especially governors and secretaries of the territory, reflected the unsettled and transient nature of the frontier territory itself. Long delays in making presidential appointments caused political grid-lock and hindered executive action. Political clashes also dominated Montana's early territorial period. The majority of the citizens of Montana were members of the Democratic party, while Republicans dominated the presidency and national politics following the Civil War. Fierce divisions between Southern Democrats and so-called Radical Republicans made compromise nearly impossible. From the very beginning Montana government suffered from political instability, lack of effective leadership, and a related inability to bring about compromise.
In 1870, President U. S. Grant appointed Colonel Benjamin F. Potts, a moderate Republican from Ohio, to be Montana's territorial governor, a position he would hold for the next thirteen years. Governor Potts' primary strength was the ability to compromise with moderates from both parties. He forged an alliance with Montana businessmen and investors whose chief end was the economic prosperity of the territory. Potts most significant achievement in the long term was his effort to reform territorial finances and deliver the territory and its counties from oppressive debt. Other leaders such as Martin Maginnis, a Democrat who served as Montana's territorial delegate to Congress from 1873-1885, and a well-respected judiciary led by Hiram Knowles, Decius Wade, and Henry N. Blake exemplified a maturing government in Montana. Along with more stable and competent leadership, Montana also benefitted from sustained economic growth through the 1870s and into the early 1880s. The mining industry flourished, especially around Helena and Butte; the livestock industry expanded wildly into the open ranges of central and eastern Montana; and railroads entered the territory from the south, west, and east, promising access to large markets and prosperity for the whole territory. By the mid-1880s, the ultimate political goal of statehood for Montana was now within reach.
State Government
The people of Montana gained statehood on Nov. 8, 1889. It was the culmination of a 25-year dream for the citizens of the large territory. The first attempt at statehood in 1866 was ill-considered and doomed from the start; the new territory was not developed enough to warrant the ultimate reward of statehood. By 1883 things had changed. The Northern Pacific Railroad arrived and Montana's population and economy boomed throughout the 1880s, with mining and livestock industries going strong. The territorial legislature called a special election in Nov. 1883 for delegates to a constitutional convention. The 41 men elected delegates met on January 14, 1884 in Helena. They borrowed heavily from existing state constitutions to create a document which reflected the predominant influence of the mining and livestock industries. Montana voters overwhelmingly approved the proposed constitution in Nov. 1884. Now Montana's constitution need only be approved by the U. S. Congress and the President. However, Montana's bid for statehood stalled in Washington D. C., due to a politically divided U. S. Congress. Republicans in Congress, who controlled the Senate, wanted statehood for Republican strongholds Washington Territory and Dakota Territory. The latter they proposed to break into the two states of North and South Dakota garnering even more Republican senators. Democrats controlled the House of Representatives and the presidency and pushed for statehood for Democrat-dominated New Mexico and Montana. Similar to the pre-Civil War era, any new state threatened to shake-up the delicate political balance in Congress. For years compromise failed and the powerless northern tier territories, including Montana, waited for the political winds to change. Finally, in the national election of 1888 Republicans swept into power winning both houses of Congress and the presidency. With their backs against the wall, Democrats gave in and compromised by giving Republicans their three states (WA, ND, & SD), withdrawing New Mexico's statehood bid, and insisting only on statehood for Montana. President Grover Cleveland signed the Omnibus Bill allowing statehood for the northern tier territories on Feb. 22, 1889.
During the Spring and Summer of 1889 statehood was on the mind of every Montanan. A third constitutional convention convened on the 4th of July, 1889 in Helena once again. The delegates built on the foundation of the 1884 constitution to craft a very similar document, which again Montana voters overwhelmingly passed. Several key components of the constitution would reverberate throughout the decades to come. "Fearful of arbitrary government," Malone, Roeder, and Lang wrote, "they sharply limited the authority of the governor and the executive branch." Apportionment in the State Senate was the most debated issue in the convention. Representatives of less populated counties insisted that for them to have any say in state affairs each county must have only one senator. Delegates from more populous counties held to a strictly democratic representation based solely on population, but ultimately they gave in not wishing to impede statehood for any reason. Again Malone, Roeder, and Lang put it plainly, "Although such an arrangement was obviously anti-democratic ... the rural counties won over-representation in the Montana legislature." Also, and not surprisingly, mining interests won a very favorable tax arrangement, setting the stage for future battles over the fairness of the state's tax base. Ultimately, the delegates almost single-mindedly sought statehood, avoiding controversial issues like woman's suffrage in order to insure passage and acceptance of the constitution. On Nov. 8, 1889, the day President Benjamin Harrison signed the proclamation making Montana a state, Montana's roughly 140,000 residents could celebrate their achievement of statehood and look forward to a bright future for their new state.
Growth and Discord: The Formative Period, 1889-1918
Continued growth and political discord marked the first period of Montana's development as a state. Montana's population grew by over 100,000 during its first decade as a state, reaching 243,329 by 1900. Then the homestead boom began and Montana's population skyrocketed to an estimated 769,590 by 1918, more than doubling from 1910-1918. During these three decades of remarkable growth Montana's new state government struggled through episodes of severe political wrangling and unethical behavior. With the goal of establishing an efficient and effective government, politicians and government officials at the local and state levels had limited success in meeting the needs of their booming state.
Montana's first decade of state government, the 1890s, was a difficult one. The election of October 1, 1889 set the stage for conflict and political gridlock as the state of Montana began. It was a very closely contested election since Montana's voters were so evenly divided between the Democratic and Republican parties. The parties disputed election results for five seats for the state House of Representatives from Silver Bow County. Without resolution of the disputed results Montana's First Legislative Assembly was an utter failure in self-government. Each political party seated its own House of Representatives in separate locations in Helena. Members refused to work together or to compromise. Furthermore, an evenly divided state Senate (8 Democrats, 8 Republicans) equally failed to compromise and accomplished hardly anything productive. Most notably, the Senate couldn't agree on selections for the state's two seats in the U.S. Senate, causing the new state even further embarrassment. By the First Legislature's political ineptitude, an all-important precedent was set which haunted Montana government for years to come. An early observation of Montana's political leaders by Richard Lockey said it all: "We are convinced that our insane department is improperly managed, as seventy-five lunatics are abroad who labor under the hallucination that they were elected to the state legislature."
When the Second Legislative Assembly met in January 1891 much of the state's government still needed to be created and funded. After weeks of argument the members of the House finally compromised on the seating of the five disputed Silver Bow County representatives. The reality of the necessities of governing the state finally hit home and after more than a year of delay the Legislature was now ready to get down to business. It should be remembered that at the end of the nineteenth century local governments of cities and counties accomplished most services expected of government. The limited duties of state government, outside of the courts and the legislature, included mostly management of special state institutions such as a prison, universities, and a state insane asylum, as well as a supportive oversight role to some county duties like education. Also at this time state government sought more and more to find ways to encourage economic development and support and promote business in the young state. Though political wrangling hardly subsided, legislators in the early 1890s did make progress in the establishment of a state government for Montana. They successfully tackled the political nightmare of locating the state's institutions. By 1893 the Legislature made the following decisions: the state prison remained at Deer Lodge; elements of a state university system were distributed around the state to Missoula, Butte, Dillon, and Bozeman; a reform school was placed in Miles City, an orphans' home at Twin Bridges, and a deaf and blind school at Boulder.
Transition to Bureaucracy, 1918-1945
Coming Soon!
Adjustment to the Modern State, 1945-1972
Coming Soon!
Constitutional Revision and a New Montana Government, 1972-Present
Coming Soon!
Sources for Montana Government and Political History
Heathcote, Lesley M., "The Montana Arid Land Grant Commission, 1895-1903" Agricultural History 38 (April 1964): 108-117. [Available on-line]
Leahy, Ellen., "'Montana Fever': Smallpox and the Montana State Board of Health," Montana: The Magazine of Western History 53 (Summer 2003): 32-45. [Available on-line]
Lopach, James J., ed., We the People of Montana: The Workings of a Popular Government (Missoula: Mountain Press Publishing Co., 1983).
Malone, Michael P., Richard B. Roeder, and William L. Lang, Montana: A History of Two Centuries, Rev. Ed. (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1991), esp. chapters 5, 9, 11, 12, and 15.
Moon, Gareth C., A History of Montana State Forestry (Missoula, Mont.: Mountain Press Pub. Co., 1991).
Renne, Roland R., The Government and Administration of Montana (New York: Thomas Y. Crowell Company, 1958).
Sherow, James E., "'The Fellow Who Can Talk the Loudest and Has the Best Shotgun Gets the Water': Water Regulation and the Montana State Engineer's Office, 1889-1964," Montana: The Magazine of Western History 54 (Spring 2004): 26-43.
Shovers, Brian, "Diversions, Ditches, and District Courts: Montana's Struggle to Allocate Water," Montana: The Magazine of Western History 55 (Spring 2005): 2-15. [Available on-line]
Spence, Clark C., Territorial Politics and Government in Montana, 1864-89 (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1975).
Thane, James L., Jr., "An Active Acting-Governor: Thomas Francis Meagher's Administration in Montana Territory," Journal of the West 9 (October 1970): 537-551.
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