No constitution no statehood, for New Mexico it was as simple as
that. The procedures and requirements for United States Territories
to gain admittance to the Union derive from the Northwest Ordinance
of 1787, which was an act of the Congress operating under the Articles
of Confederation of the United States that created a formally organized
territory out of an area northwest of the Ohio River. According
to the precedent established by the Enabling Act of 1802, Congress
had to pass such an act before admission of a territory to statehood.more...