April Archives treasure #2: First territorial law
Since our state’s Legislature finally passed an operating budget and finished its special session earlier in the week, it’s fitting that the second Archives treasure for April is a legislative “first.” In fact, it’s the first page of the very first law passed by the Washington Territorial Assembly, in 1854! The legislation established election procedures, created precinct boundaries, and defined who could vote. At the time, the right to vote was limited to “white male inhabitants at least twenty-one years…