uld not close with victory for the Union, without the
proposal of certain changes in the Constitution, and to this end it
was desirable that the loyal States should as early and as nearly as
possible constitute three-fourths of the entire Union. With this
motive, he had towards the close of his first term, somewhat
prematurely it was believed by many, stimulated the desire of the
settlers of Nevada for a State government. He had faith not only in
the justice, but in the popularity, of this policy; for he took pains
to issue the proclamation declaring Nevada a State in the Union only
a week preceding the Presidential election of 1864, when the existence
of his administration was at stake, and when every public measure was
scanned with special scrutiny.

Nebraska had been organized as a Territory in the original Douglas bill
repealing the Missouri Compromise, in 1854; and Colorado was made a
Territory the week preceding Mr. Lincoln's first inauguration. After
Nevada, these Territories offered the earliest promise of becoming
States. They were both parts of the old Louisiana purchase from
France, and had in popular estimation and in the classification of the
earlier geographers been included within the borders of the Great
American Desert. But settlers has swarmed upon the plains of Nebraska,
and the waving fields of grain and the innumerable herds of cattle
browsing on her rich pasture-land soon dispelled that misconception,
and gave promise of the prosperous development which the State has
since attained. Earlier than the farmer or the grazier could reach its
soil, Colorado was settled by an intelligent mining population, whose
industry has extracted from her mountains more than two hundred
millions of the precious metals, contributed in the last quarter of a
century to the wealth of the world. Encouraged by the policy of the
Administration, and especially by the precedent of Nevada, both
Territories sought an enabling Act from Congress in the winter of
1862-63. Neither succeeded at the time; but in the next Congress a
bill "to enable the people of Colorado to form a constitution and State
government, and for the admission of said State into the Union on an
equal footing with the original States," passed both Houses, and was
approved by Mr. Lincoln of the 21st of March, 1864. A month later
(April 19, 1864) a similar bill for Nebraska was signed by the President.

It appeared that the citizens of each Territory