Timeline
1833 Plans for Statehood and State House
While Arkansas struggled to enter the United States, South Carolina threatened to leave the Union if the President used military power to enforce the tariff. Congress reacted to the nullification crisis by giving Jackson the power to force South Carolina to obey the law and by passing a compromise tariff. The controversy ended with both sides claiming victory. However, the issue of states' rights versus national power was not resolved.
Governor Pope sold the 10 sections set aside for a government building for $31,722 and hired Kentucky architect Gideon Shryock to design the State House. George Weigart came to Arkansas to supervise construction and Chester Ashley became the business agent for the project. But, by ignoring Secretary Fulton in the handling of the "ten sections" bill, Pope began losing what support he had in the Territory.
The August election featured the only direct confrontation between the heads of the two political factions, Robert Crittenden and Ambrose Sevier. Sevier won reelection to Congress with a vote of 4,776 to 2,520. The Crittenden faction had begun their campaign against Sevier and his allies with an attempt to remove Judge Benjamin Johnson, Sevier's father-in-law, from office. Accusations of favoritism, irritability, incapacity and intemperance were countered by many letters of defense and Judge Johnson retained his seat in the Superior Court.
Late in the year Sevier officially pushed the Territory toward statehood by requesting the authorization of a constitutional convention. Although the Territory was not fully prepared for this step, Sevier argued that, to enter the Union as a slave state, Arkansas would have to be paired with a free one. Michigan Territory sought permission to hold a constitutional convention and Sevier wanted Arkansas and Michigan to be sister states. Although even his critics supported Savier's action, they claimed he only wanted to gain Arkansas's electoral votes for his wife's uncle, Richard M. Johnson, in the 1835 vice-presidential race.
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