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The Fiscal Politics of Statehood in New Mexico and Arizona
Stephanie D. Moussalli,
University of West Florida
ABSTRACT. Most state histories mention only in passing that territorial opposition to statehood is sometimes due to the fear that a state government will use its greater powers to increase the fiscal burden on the local population. This study of the statehood debates in the Territories of New Mexico and Arizona suggests that this was the dominant argument against statehood, while supporters assumed that the change would bring taxing and spending policies more acceptable to local citizens. The study also demonstrates the fiscal restraints Congress imposed on territories, and the local resentments thereby aroused. Accounting historians should more frequently contribute to political history on the assumption that it is often played out in the language of fiscal policy, a language seldom closely studied by other historians.
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