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...