WILLIAM M. STEWART - AUTOGRAPH 09/25/1897 - HFSID 87133

WILLIAM M. STEWART
Nevada's first U.S. Senator signs a 7½x5 sheet of paper with a newspaper article about him and a newspaper photograph of him affixed below.
Signature: "Wm M Stewart/Sept 25 1897 Nevada", 7½x5 sheet of paper. With a newspaper article about Stewart and a newspaper photograph of Stewart affixed below (3 surfaces). Born in New York, William M. Stewart (1827-1900), formerly Attorney General of California (1854), moved to Virginia City, Nevada in 1860 and was involved in development of the Comstock Lode. Upon the admission of Nevada as a state, he was elected as a Republican to the United States Senate (1864-1875, 1887-1905). Senator Stewart was a key player in the drafting of the 15th Amendment that gave Black males the right to vote. In 1866, he and his senatorial colleague, James W. Nye, framed and introduced the bill whereby Congress moved Nevada's boundaries eastward at Utah's expense and gave Nevada a section of the Arizona Territory, which provided the state an outlet to the Pacific Ocean via the Colorado River and the Gulf of California. Stewart declined President Grant's offer of a Supreme Court appointment. As an advocate of silver coinage, he split with the regular Republican Party in the 1890s. Irregular left edge from removal from bound book. Toned at edges. Bottom edge lightly frayed. Lightly creased. ¾-inch tear at top left and top center. Otherwise, fine condition.