Harrison signs the proclamation, and Washington becomes the 42nd state

By the second week of November 1889, Washington Territory had done everything Congress asked of it: it had written a constitution and held a vote, and the paperwork had gone east. On November 11, President Benjamin Harrison signed a proclamation declaring the conditions of the Enabling Act satisfied, and Washington became the 42nd state. Secretary of State James G. Blaine then notified Miles C. Moore, the territory's last governor, that the signature had come at 5:27 p.m. Territorial status ended with it…