To these words, which look to the future, were added others which looked to the past, for the final act which divided church and state was yet to be fought out in Arizona, and the public-school system did not enter on the inheritance of the church in that Territory without a struggle.
Gov. Goodwin continued:
The only school which I have visited in the Territory, though doubtless there are others, is one at the old Mission Church of San Xavier. If any such institution be recognized by an endowment, I suggest that some aid be given to this school. A small donation at this time would materially assist an ancient and most laudable charity of the church to which a large proportion of our people belong, and would encourage it in preserving one of the most beautiful remnants of art on the continent.[1]
The first official action of the legislature of the Territory at this session was to authorize the governor to appoint a commissioner to prepare and report on a code of laws as a basis of Territorial government. The bill for this purpose was introduced, considered, and passed by both houses in a single day, and on the same day, October 1, 1864, was signed by Gov. Goodwin, who immediately appointed Hon. William F. Howell, then an associate justice of the supreme court of the Territory, to prepare and report the proposed code. Judge Howell had come into the Territory with the government and had found—
that the laws under which we were required to act were so ill-adapted to our condition that a complete organization of the Territorial government could not be had until a code of laws was substituted for those now in force.
He thereupon undertook in advance the preparation of such a code, and his completed work was presented for the consideration of the legislature on October 3. The proposed code, based on the codes of California and New York, was then considered and discussed by the legislature; it was finally adopted as a whole as proposed by Judge Howell, went into effect at once, and became the basis for the legislative work of Arizona.
As adopted by the legislature of 1864, chapter 23 of the Howell code treats “Of Education.” It was divided into four parts and provided for (1) a Territorial university; (2) a common-school system; (3) a Territorial library; and (4) an historical department.
The Howell code may be regarded as a sort of constitutional outline under and in accord with which future legislation was to be developed. It was not in itself a school code, but it outlined the direction such a code when enacted should take. It proposed, first of all, a higher institution “for the purpose of educating youth in the various branches of literature, science, and arts” to be known as
- ↑ Governor’s message, Sept. 30, 1864, in Jour. First Legislative Assembly, Arizona, pp. 39–40.
