Arizona Territory
President Ulysses S. Grant nominated Hoyt to be Secretary of Arizona Territory on May 22, 1876. The new Secretary arrived in the territorial capital of Tucson on July 8, 1876, and was sworn in the same day. While in his new position he continued to practice law, being admitted to the Arizona bar on November 13, 1876, and admitted to practice law in the Territorial Supreme Court on January 3, 1877. His primary accomplishment as Secretary was compiling a new legal code for the 9th Arizona Territorial Legislature This legal code, the "Hoyt Code", expanded the earlier "Howell Code" while retaining the same structure of the earlier work.
Hoyt was commissioned to replace the retiring Anson P.K. Safford as Governor on April 5, 1877. Due to several lawsuits at the time naming Hoyt in his official capacity as Secretary, he asked to defer his assumption of the Governor's office until a replacement could take his former position and represent Arizona Territory. The incoming Secretary, John J. Gosper, arrived on May 30, 1877, and Hoyt was sworn in as Governor the same day. Hoyt suspended his practice of law due to a decision by Secretary of the Interior Carl Schurz that he should not practice while serving as Governor.
Upon his ascension to the governorship, Hoyt had two major rivalries to deal with. He was able to help heal a bitter relationship between the territory's civilian and military leadership which had developed under Governor Safford, with General Irvin McDowell commending Hoyt on his attitude. He had less success addressing the rivalry between the northern and southern portions of the territory, but was seen as a neutral party unaffiliated with either part of the territory. Hoyt's term saw the opening of the Bisbee and Tombstone mining districts, construction of a dependable civilian telegraph system, and the connection of Yuma to California by the eastward building Southern Pacific Railroad.
Despite the citizens of Arizona being generally happy with his performance as governor, Hoyt learned on June 12, 1878, that he had been replaced by John C. Frémont. The outgoing governor initially wished to leave the territory but was convinced to remain on the job until the arrival of his replacement.
Read more about this topic: John Philo Hoyt
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