Colorado Territory created by Congress out of Territories of Nebraska, Kansas, New Mexico and Utah, including the Continental Divide potential gold-bearing area, as South secedes from the Union.

(February 28, 1861, 12 Stat. 172).

Mining Act allows states and territories to create use rights in waters of the public domain and allows ditch and reservoir construction on land owned by the United States.

(July 26, 1866, 14 Stat. 253).

Territorial Suffrage Act by Congress eliminates race, color, or previous condition of servitude as disqualifying conditions for voting by men in Colorado and other western territories. Passed in large measure due to advocacy by African-Americans in Colorado, the law allowed black men to vote in the Territories three years before ratification of the Fifteenth Amendment.

(January 10, 1867, Stat. 381-82).

Cheyenne and Arapaho relocated by Treaty from eastern Colorado to Indian Territory in future Oklahoma.

(October 28, 1867, proclaimed by President Andrew Johnson, August 19, 1868, 15 Stat. 593).

State of Colorado admitted to Union by Congress on equal footing with all other states, with right to have its own Legislative, Executive and Judicial Branches of government.

(Enabling Act of Congress, March 3, 1875, 18 Stat. 474).

Colorado Court of Appeals established by Colorado Legislature.

(April 6, 1891, 1891 Colo. Sess. Laws p. 118, Senate Bill 98) (disestablished and re-established several times later).

Forest Reserve Act passed by Congress. Soon thereafter, President Benjamin Harrison creates 2-million acre White River Reserve, second in the nation and first in Colorado.

(26 Stat. 1103, approved March 3, 1891).

Women's right to vote established by Colorado voters.

(April 7, 1893 Submitted to Voters by General Assembly, 1893 Colo. Sess. Laws 256; Colo. Const., Art. VII).

First compact negotiated by seven Colorado River Basin States, subsequently approved by those State Legislatures and Congress under Compact Clause of U.S. Constitution, apportioning water among them. Eight more compacts Colorado signed followed: La Plata River Compact, South Platte River Compact, Rio Grande River Compact, Republican River Compact, Upper Colorado River Compact, Arkansas River Compact, Amended Costilla Creek Compact, Animas-La Plata Project Compact.

37-61-101 C.R.S. (November 24, 1922).

Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act adopted by the Colorado Legislature establishes the state's first fair employment law for public employees and creates an Anti-Discrimination Division within the Colorado Industrial Commission.

(Act of March 29, 1951, 1951 Colo. Sess. Laws, Ch. 157, 531-39).

Federal Land Policy and Management Act requires permits to use BLM Lands, triggering application of all federal environmental requirements.

(October 21, 1976, 90 Stat. 2743).

Ban on Legislation for Gay Rights Prohibited by Colorado and U.S. Supreme Court decisions.

Romer v. Evans, 882 P.2d 1335 (Colo. 1994), 517 U.S. 620 (1996).

Land Grant Rights Upheld by the Colorado Supreme Court for timber, firewood, and grazing use on Sangre de Cristo Land Grant by descendants of original settlers.

Lobato v. Taylor, 71 P.3d 938 (Colo. 2002).