Worksheets and No Prep Teaching Resources
Worksheets and No Prep Teaching Resources

The Battle to Create a State: Arizona

The Battle to Create a State: Arizona
Reading Level
     edHelper's suggested reading level:   grades 4 to 6
     Flesch-Kincaid grade level:   11.66

Vocabulary
     challenging words:    currently, illustrious, infamous, infamy, miniscule, statehood, striking, towed, utmost, retreat, eventually, creation, proclamation, mere, confederate, endure
     content words:    New Mexico, Rocky Mountains, American Army, Native American, Fort Apache, Camp Beale Springs, Fort Bowie, Fort Buchanan, Fort Crittenden, Camp Date Creek

Print The Battle to Create a State: Arizona
edHelper.com subscriber options:
     Print The Battle to Create a State: Arizona  (font options, pick words for additional puzzles, and more)
     Quickly print reading comprehension
     Print a proofreading activity

Feedback on The Battle to Create a State: Arizona
     Leave your feedback on The Battle to Create a State: Arizona  (use this link if you found an error in the story)

The Battle to Create a State: Arizona   
1     Arizona's creation was rather rocky, eventually forming along the 109th degree longitude separating it from New Mexico. The developers of this great state had to fight man and nature in order to get Arizona on the map. The military battles took place in many areas of Arizona, and the political battles were fought in the country's capital of Washington, D.C.
 
2     Arizona's portion of the Rocky Mountains creates within the state an incredible retreat from the charbroiling heat of the desert portions of the state. These same mountains also provided the local population with hiding places from the American Army. The Native American tribes within the state of Arizona didn't submit to being relegated to the most remote portions of Arizona meekly. Army forts were constructed at various locations throughout the state; these forts included Fort Apache, Camp Beale Springs, Fort Bowie, Fort Buchanan, Fort Crittenden, Camp Date Creek, Fort Defiance, Fort Grant, Fort Huachuca, Fort Lowell, Fort McDowell, Fort Mohave, Fort Verde, Fort Whipple, and Fort Yuma. Kit Carson was one of the most famous people connected to the war against the Native Americans of Arizona. He was responsible for capturing more than 8,000 Navajos in 1864. Replacement soldiers were constantly required in order to bring about the eventual defeat of the local population. Right or wrong, once the great Apache leader Geronimo was finally subdued, the natives were no longer allowed the freedom to roam that they once enjoyed. They were now consigned to reservations where the "white man" could control them. Arizona is the home of twenty-one Indian tribes. Currently these tribes include more than 250,000 Native Americans.
 
3     On December 30, 1853, the Gadsden Purchase was signed giving the United States the land that would later become the state of Arizona. Pete Kitchen, former U.S. Calvary soldier, built the first ranch in what is now Arizona in 1853. Pete was the owner of the "perambulating pincushions." This was the name given to the pigs that he was raising after they were filled full of arrows by the sport-loving locals, these locals being the Native Americans of the area. This is just one example of what the early settlers of Arizona had to endure to survive.

Paragraphs 4 to 9:
For the complete story with questions: click here for printable
Copyright © 2007 edHelper