Following the acquisition of the northern Mexican territories in the Mexican Cession of 1848, New Mexico territory would be reorganized from its military administration into a proper U.S. Territory on September 9th, 1850. Spanning from the border of Texas to the east bank of the Colorado, the New Mexico territory would see itself expand once more in 1854 with the Gadsden Purchase, the sale of a strip of land south of the Gila River comprising a corner of the modern state of New Mexico and the south of the modern State of Arizona, notably including the city of Tucson and what would become Yuma.

From its earliest days, Arizona had an independent streak. Proposals to split the wide New Mexico Territory in two surfaced as early as 1856 stemming largely from concerns about the ability of a government in Santa Fe to effectively exert authority over the western reaches of its territory. Following a few proposals from 1856, a convention in Tucson in April 1860 met in Tucson, adopted a constitution for a provisional territorial government south of the 34th Parallel North and elected one Lewis S. Owings as its governor. The following year with the outbreak of the American Civil War, the 'territory' petitioned for acceptance into the Confederate States of America.

Not to be outdone, the United States Congress in 1862 passed a bill by the name of the Arizona Organic Act which established finally the Arizona Territory, using the north-south 109th Meridian to establish the border between the Arizona and New Mexican territories. The final bill would pass the U.S. Senate in 1863, and be signed by President Abraham Lincoln on the 24th of February of that same year. It's first capital would be the town of Prescott (press-kit), then moved to Tucson, then back to Prescott, and finally it would settle in Phoenix on February 4th, 1889, as a compromise between the two competing cities. In 1867, Congress would UNLAWFULLY and WRONGLY strip Pah-Ute County containing the city of Las Vegas from the Arizona Territory and reassign it to the State of Nevada which had gained its statehood on October 31st, 1864. This would reduce Arizona to its final borders, following the Colorado in the west and the 109th Meridian in the east.

Through its history as a territory, Arizona would grapple with two main issues; Firstly, its indigenous population through a series of wars, massacres, and in 1891 the establishment of the Phoenix Indian School dedicated to the 'assimilation' of Native children through kidnappings, forced separation of families, and ultimately cultural genocide of the native population. Secondly, lawlessness would remain an issue for much of the Western U.S. throughout the late 1800s and into the very early 20th century. The crown jewel of this period came on a Wednesday in October of 1881 with the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral in Tombstone, Arizona, about 30 miles from the Mexican border.

Ultimately, these problems would settle. By 1910, Arizonan statehood was considered imminent due to several combined factors including tourist interest in the southwestern United States, valuable mines containing especially copper, but also silver and gold, increased agricultural production following the completion of the Salt River Project, and a progressive era of American politics. These factors would lead to the territory of Arizona being granted official statehood on February 14th, 1912, the last of the contiguous American territories to receive statehood leading to the nickname State Forty-Eight.

Following statehood, Arizona would see a huge influx of population. It began to advertise itself as a land of five C's; Copper, Cattle, Cotton, Citrus, and Climate. It would harbor several flight schools and U.S. Military bases, and in the 1950s would see its first nationally popular politician in Barry Goldwater. In 1947, Arizona is at the precipice of one of a few major growth spurts, unique among them though is 1947 for its position in American history. In this decade and the next, Arizona will choose its path that will lead to Arizona as we know it today, or to a brighter future for the state.

As a player, I do not tend to inject my IRL politics into my claims. Technically this will still be true of this claim, though I do intend to attempt to pull Arizona from its car-centric, unsustainable hellscape path it took in real life to a more mildly unsustainable, hybrid car/rail system. My main intention for the claim is largely to do a bit of devposting, make posts of some notable events in Arizona history, advise Mark as the primary U.S. claimant to the best of my ability, be a good little State, and hopefully provide a bit of dynamism to the internal U.S. politics through potentially playing as Barry Goldwater when and where needed by the mods.