User:MB/Federal ring

The Federal Ring, also known as the Tucson Ring, was a coalition of Arizona Territorial official and leading citizens that worked in a nonpartisan fashion to protect the lives and property of American settlers, establish law and order, and develop the territory's economic potential. To achieve their goals, the clique crossed traditional political divides of the day, with Republican governors appointing Southern Democrats and Hispanics to governmental positions. The "Federal Ring" dominated territorial politics between 1863 and 1877 and, while labeled a self-perpetuating oligarchy by critics, succeeded in providing a territorial government that was generally free of corruption and dishonesty.

Members included Pinckney R. Tully and Richard Cunningham McCormick