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ARKANSAS

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Originally appearing in Volume V02, Page 556 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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ARKANSAS , one of the See also:

South Central states of the See also:United States of See also:America, situated between 89° 40' N. and 94° 42' W., bounded N. by See also:Missouri, E. by the See also:Mississippi See also:river, separating it from See also:Tennessee and Mississippi, and W. by See also:Texas and See also:Oklahoma. Its See also:area is 53,335 sq. m., of which 810 are See also:water See also:surface. Arkansas lies in the drainage See also:basin of the See also:lower Mississippi, and has a remarkable river See also:system. The Arkansas bisects the See also:state from W. to E.; along its valley See also:lie the See also:oldest and largest settlements of the state. Nine other considerable streams drain the state; of these, the Red, the Ouachita, the See also:White and the St See also:Francis are the most important. There are a number of swamps and bayous in the eastern See also:part. See also:Physical Features.—The surface of Arkansas is the most diversified of that of any state in the central Mississippi valley. It rises, sloping upward toward the N.W., from an See also:average See also:elevation of less than 300 ft. in the south-See also:east to heights of 2000 ft. and more in the See also:north-western See also:quarter. There are four physiographic regions: two of See also:highlands; one of river valley See also:plain separating the two highland areas; while the See also:fourth is a region of hills, lowlands and scanty See also:prairie. The last covers the E. See also:half of the state, and is part of the Gulf or coastal plain See also:province of the United States. If a See also:line be See also:drawn from the point where the Red river cuts the western boundary to where the See also:Black cuts the See also:northern, E: of it is the Gulf plain and W. of it are the highlands (over 500 ft.) and the See also:mineral regions of the state. They are divided by the valley of the Arkansas river into two regions, which are also structurally different.

South of the river are the Ouachita Mountains, and north of it are the See also:

Boston Mountains. The Ouachita Mountains are characterized by See also:close folding and faulting. Their See also:southern edge is covered with cretaceous deposits, and their eastern edge is covered as well with the See also:tertiary deposits of the Gulf plains. The Arkansas valley is marked by wide and open folding. The Boston Mountains are substantially a continuation of the Ozark See also:dome of Missouri. Their northern border is marked by an escarpment of 500 to 700 ft. in height. The trend is from E. to W. between551 Batesville and Wagoner, Oklahoma. In structure they are monoclinical, their rocks—sandstones and shales—being laid southward and blending on that See also:side with the Arkansas valley region. The entire region is very much dissected by streams, and the See also:topography is characteristically of a See also:terrace and escarpment type. In the highlands N. of the Arkansas the See also:country is very irregularly broken ; S. of the river the hills lie less capriciously in See also:short, high ranges, with See also:low, fertile valleys between them. The Ouachitas extend 200 in., from within Oklahoma (near Atoka) to central Arkansas, near Little' See also:kock. They are characterized by See also:long, low ridges bearing generally W.-E., with wide, See also:flat valleys.

Near the western boundary of the state they attain a maximum See also:

altitude of 2900 ft. above the See also:sea, and 2000 ft. above the valleys of the Arkansas and Red river; falling in elevation eastward (as westward) to 500-700 ft. at their eastern end: Five peaks rise above 2000 ft. See also:Magazine See also:Mountain, 2833 ft. above the sea-level and 2350 ft. above the surrounding country, is the highest point between the Alleghanies and the Rockies. Altitudes of 2250 ft. are attained in the Boston Mountains, which are the highest portion of the Ozark uplift, and the most picturesque. The streams are vigorous, and in their lower courses flow in deep-cut See also:gorges, 500 to loon ft. deep, almost deserving the name of canyons. The See also:main streams are tortuous, and their dendritic tributaries have cut the region into ridges. The mountains do not fill the N.W. quarter of the state, and are separated from a lower, greatly eroded highland region on their N. by a bold escarpment 500 to 1000 ft. in height. Along the upper course of the White river in the Bostons and in the country about Hot Springs in the Ouachitas is found the most beautiful scenery of the highlands; few regions are more beautiful. The valley region embraces the bottom-Iands along the Mississippi, and up the Arkansas as far as See also:Pine See also:Bluff, and the See also:cypress swamp country of the St Francis. See also:Climate.—The climate of the state is " southern," owing to the See also:influence of the Gulf of See also:Mexico. The mean temperatures for the different seasons are normally about 41.6°, 61.1°, 78.8° and 61.9° F. for See also:winter, See also:spring, summer and autumn respectively. The normal mean precipitations are about 11.7, 14.5, 10.5 and 10.2 in. for the same seasons. The extreme range of the monthly isotherms See also:crossing the state is from about 350 in winter to 81° F. in summer, and the range of See also:annual isotherms from about 540 to 6o° F.

That is, the variation of mean annual temperatures for different parts of the state is only 6° F. The variation of the mean annual temperature for the entire state is only 4° (from 59 to 63° F.). The variation of precipitation is as See also:

great as 30 in. (from 34 to 64 in.) according to locality. There is little See also:snow, no severe winter See also:cold, and no summer drought. Sheltered valleys in the interior produce spring crops three or four See also:weeks earlier than is usual in See also:Kansas. The climate is generally healthy. See also:Flora.—Arkansas lies in the humid, or Austroriparian, area of the Lower Austral See also:life-See also:zone, except the highlands of theMzark uplift and Ouachita Mountains, which belong to the humid, or Carolinian, area of the Upper Austral. The state possesses a See also:rich See also:fauna and flora. From an economic standpoint its forests deserve See also:special mention. The See also:forest lands of the state include four-fifths of its area, and three-fourths are actually covered by See also:standing See also:timber. Valuable trees are of great variety: See also:cotton-See also:wood, See also:poplar, See also:catalpa, red See also:cedar, sweet-See also:gum, See also:birch-See also:eye, sassafras, See also:persimmon; ash, See also:elm, sycamore, See also:maple, a variety of pines, pecan, See also:locust, See also:dogwood, See also:hickory, various oaks, See also:beech, See also:walnut and cypress are all abundant.

There are one See also:

hundred and twenty-nine native See also:species of trees. The yellow pine, the white See also:oak and the cypress are the most valuable growths. The northern See also:woods are mainly hard; the yellow pine is most characteristic of the heavy woods of the south central counties; and magnificent cypress abounds in the north-east. Hard woods grow even on the alluvial lands. " The hard-wood forests of the state are hardly surpassed in variety and richness, and contain inestimable bodies of the finest oak, walnut, hickory and ash timber " (U.S. See also:Census, 1870 and 1900). The growth on the alluvial bottoms and the lower uplands in the E. is extraordinarily vigorous. The leading species of the Appalachian woodland maintain their full vigour of growth nearer to the margin of forest growth in this part of the Mississippi valley than in any other part of the United States; and some species, such as the See also:holly, the osage See also:orange and the pecan, attain their fullest growth in Arkansas <Shaler). There are two Federal forest reserves (4968 sq. m.). See also:Soil.—The soils of Arkansas are of See also:peculiar variety. That of the highlands is mostly but a thin covering, and their larger portion is relatively poorly fitted for See also:agriculture. The uplands are generally fertile.

Their poor soils are distinctively sandy, those of the lowlands clayey; but these elements are usually found combined in rich loams characterized by the predominance of one or the other constituent. Finally the alluvial bottoms are of wonderful richness. Agriculture.—This variety of soils, a considerable range of moderate altitudes and favourable factors of See also:

heat and moisture promote a rich diversity in agriculture. Arkansas is predominantly an agricultural state. The See also:farm area of 186o was only 28.2 % of the whole area of the state, that of 1900 (16,636,719 acres) was 49 %; and while only a fifth .of this farm area was actually improved in 186o, two-fifths were improved in 'goo; thus, the part of the state's area actually cultivated approximately quadrupled in four decades. The value of products in 1900 ($79.6 millions) was 44 % of the See also:total farm values ($181.4 millions). The rise in average value of farm lands since 1870 has not been a fifth of the increase of the aggregate value of all farm See also:property. The See also:Civil See also:War wrought a havoc from which a full recovery was hardly reached before 189o. The economic See also:evolution of the state since Reconstruction has been in the main that See also:common to all the old slave states developing from the See also:plantation system of ante-bellum days, somewhat diversified and complicated by the special features of a See also:young and border community. The farms of Arkansas increased in number 357.8 %, in area 7.3.7 % and in total true (as distinguished from tax) valuation about 53'8 % between 186o and 190o; the See also:decade of most extraordinary growth being that of 1870-1880. Thus Arkansas has shared that fall in the average See also:size of farms common to all sections of the See also:Union (See also:save the north central) since 185o, but especially marked since the Civil War in the " Cotton States," owing to the sub-See also:division of large holdings with the introduction of - the See also:tenant system. The rapidity of the See also:movement has not been exceptional in Arkansas, but the size of its average farm, less in 185o than that of the other cotton states, was in 1900, 93.1 acres (108.8 for white farmers alone, 49.0 for blacks alone), which was even less than that of the North See also:Atlantic states (96.5 acres, the smallest sectional unit of the Union).

The percentage of farms worked by owners See also:

fell from 69.r % in 188o to 54.6 %o in 1900; the difference of the balances or 14'5 % indicates the increase of tenant holdings, two-thirds of these being for shares. It is interesting to compare in this See also:matter the whites and the negroes. In actual See also:numbers the white farmers heavily predominate, whether as owners, tenants for See also:cash or tenants on shares; but if we look at the numbers within each See also:race holding by these respective tenures (65•o, 8.7 and 26.3 % respectively for whites; 25'6, 33'7 and 40.7 % for negroes, in 1900), we see the lesser See also:independence of the See also:negro See also:farmer. The cotton counties, which are the counties of densest coloured habitancy, exemplify this fact with great clearness. The few negroes in the white counties of the uplands are much better off than those in the cotton low-lands; more than three times as large a-part of them owners; the poorer See also:element is segregated in the cotton region. In Arkansas, as elsewhere in the south, negro tenants, like white tenants, are more efficient than owners working their own lands. The black farmer is in bondage to cotton; for him still " Cotton is See also:King." He gives it four-fifths of his See also:land; while his white See also:rival allows it only a quarter of his, less by half than the area he gives to live-stock, dairying, See also:hay and grains. At Sunnyside, on the See also:west See also:bank of the Mississippi, negro tenant farmers have been practically forced out of business by Italians, who produced in 1899-1904 more than twice as much See also:lint cotton per working See also:hand, and 70 % more per See also:acre. The See also:general See also:place of the negro in agriculture is shown also by the fact that more than four-fifthsof the farm acreage and farm values of the state are in the hands of the whites. The white farmer gives an outlay in labour and fertilizers on his farm greater by 61.4% than the black, gathers a produce greater by 22.5%, and possesses a farm of a value 53.5% greater (Census, 1900). - Cotton is the leading product. It absorbs about a third of the area under crops, and its returns ($28,000,000 in 1899) are about a half of the value of all crops.

A part of the cotton lands of Arkansas are among the richest in the south. Other distinctively southern products (See also:

tobacco, &c.) are of no importance in Arkansas. Cereals are given more than twice as much acreage as cotton, but yield only a third as great aggregate returns, See also:Indian See also:corn being much the most remunerative; about three-fourths of the cereal acreage are given to its cultivation, and it ranks after cotton in value of See also:harvest). Forall the other See also:staple agricultural products of the central. states the showing of Arkansas is uniformly See also:good, but not noteworthy. - But its See also:rank as a See also:fruit-growing country is exceptional. Plums, prunes, peaches, See also:pears and grapes are cultivated very generally over the western half of the state (grapes in the east also), but with greatest success in the south-west; apples prosper best in the north-west. Small berries are a very important product. All fruits are of the finest quality. For apples the state makes probably a finer showing than that of any other state except See also:Oregon. About ninety varieties are habitually entered in See also:national competitions. The fruit See also:industry generally has See also:developed with extreme rapidity. Manufactures.—Although Arkansas is rich in minerals and in forests, in 1900 only 2 % of its See also:population were engaged in manufacturing.

But the development has been rapid; the value of products multiplied seven times, the See also:

wages paid nine, and the See also:capital invested twelve, in the years 1880-1900; and the increase in the same categories from 1900-1905 was 35, 42.8 and 82'4 % respectively .2 It must be noted as characteristic of the state that of the total manufactures in 1905, 8o•3 % were produced in rural districts (83.7 in two). About two-thirds of the increase between 1890 and 1900 was in the See also:lumber industry which was of slight importance before the former See also:year; it repre sented more than half the total value of the manufactures of the state in 1905 (output, 1905, $28,065,171 and of See also:mill products $3,786,772 additional); in the value of lumber and timber products the state ranked See also:sixth among the states of the United States in 1900, and seventh in 1905. After the lumber and timber industry ranked in 1905 the manufacture of cotton-See also:seed oil and cake ($4,939,919) and See also:flour and grist milling. Cotton ginning increased 739 % from 1890 to 1900 Minerals.—The progress of See also:coal-See also:mining has been a striking feature of the state's See also:economy since 1880. The See also:field extends from Oklahoma eastward' to central Arkansas, along both sides of the Arkansas river. A See also:production of 5000 tons (short) in 1882 became 542,000 tons in 1891 and 2,229,172 tons in 1903—a maximum for the state up to 1905; in 1907 the yield was 2,670,438 tons, valued at $4,473,693; the value of the product in-creased more than eight-See also:fold in 1886-19oo. The United States See also:Geological Survey estimates that three-fourths of the coal area (over 1700 sq. m.) can made commercially productive. Apart from coal the great and varied mineral See also:wealth of the state has been only slightly utilized. The great See also:zinc and See also:lead area along the northern border in the See also:plateau portion of the Ozark region has proved a disappointment in development; the See also:iron areas have hardly been touched, and the product of the exceptionally promising deposits of See also:manganese lost ground after 1890 before 1 For 1906 the Yearbook of the U. S. See also:Department of Agriculture reported the following See also:statistics for Arkansas:—Indian corn, 52,802,659 bu., valued at $24,817,207; oats 3,783,706 bu., valued at $1,589,157; See also:wheat, 1,915,250 bu., valued at $1.,436,438; See also:rice, 131,440 bu., valued at $111,724; See also:rye, 23,652 bu., valued at $19,631; potatoes, 1,666,960 bu.; valued at $x,116,863; hay, 113,491 tons, valued at $1,123,561. 2 The special census of. the manufacturing industry for 1905 was concerned only with the See also:establishment conducted under the so-called " factory system "; for purposes of comparison the figures for 1900 have been reduced to the same See also:standard, and this fact should be See also:borne in mind with regard to the percentages of increase given above.

the output of See also:

Virginia and See also:Georgia. Among the products of the rich See also:stone quarries of the state, only that of abrasive stones is important in the markets of the Union; the novaculites of Arkansas are among the finest whetstones in the See also:world. Deposits of true See also:chalk are utilized in the manufacture of See also:Portland See also:cement for See also:local markets. The chalk region lies in the S. E. part of the state, S. of the Ouachita Mountains. See also:Bauxite was discovered in the state in 1887, and the product increased from 5045 long tons in 1899 to 50,267 long tons in 1906, the production for the whole country in 1899 being 35,280 long tons and in 1906 75,332 long tons. The only other states in which bauxite was produced during the See also:period were See also:Alabama and Georgia, which in this respect have greatly declined in importance relatively to Arkansas. Extremely valuable and varied marls, kaolins and See also:clays, See also:fuller's See also:earth, asphaltum and mineral See also:waters show special promise in the state's industry. In 1906 diamonds were found in a See also:peridotite See also:dike in See also:Pike See also:county 22 m. S. E. of See also:Murfreesboro; this is the first place in North America where diamonds have been found in situ, and not in glacial See also:deposit or in river See also:gravel. Communications.—The See also:rivers afford for See also:light See also:craft (of not over 3 ft. draft) about 3000 M. of navigable waters, a river system unequalled in extent by that of any other state.

The labours of the United States See also:

government have much extended and very greatly improved this See also:navigation, materially lessening also the frequency and havoc of floods along the rich bottom-lands through which the rivers plough a tortuous way in the eastern and southern portions of the state. As a result of these improvements land and timber values have markedly risen, and great impetus has been given to See also:traffic on the rivers, which carry a large part of the cotton, lumber, coal, stone, hay and See also:miscellaneous freights of the state. The greatest of these See also:internal improvements is the St Francis See also:levee, from New See also:Madrid, Missouri, to the mouth of the St Francis, 212 M. along the Mississippi; an area of 3500 sq. in., of exceptional fertility, is here reclaimed at a cost of about $1500 per sq. m. (as compared with $ro,000 per sq. in. for the 2500 sq. m. reclaimed by the See also:Nile See also:works at See also:Assuan and See also:Assiut). Whether with regard to area or population, Arkansas is also relatively well supplied with See also:railways (4,472.8 M. at the end of 1907). A state railway See also:commission controls transportation rates, which are also somewhat checked by the competition of river freights. There is also a considerable passenger traffic on the Arkansas. Population.—The population in 1910 was 1,J74,449. The growth in 1880-1900 is shown by the following table: Census Total %White%Negro Average % Increase by decades. Year. Pop. Per sq. m.

Pop. Pop. Total. Whites. Negroes. 188o 802,525 73.7 26.3 15.1 65.6 63.3 72.4 1890 1,128,211 72.6 27.4 21.5 40.6 38.4 46.6 1900 1,311,564 72.0 28.0 25.0 16.3 15.4 18.7 In 190o the rank of the state in total population was twenty-fifth, and in negro population tenth. The proportion of the coloured element steadily See also:

rose from 1 r % in 182o to 28 % in 1900, at which See also:time there were more than a dozen counties along the border of the Mississippi and. lower Arkansas in which the negroes numbered 5o to 89 % of the total. They have never been a large element in the highland counties; it was these counties which were most strongly Unionist at the time of the Civil War, and which to-See also:day are the region of diversified industry. About a ninth of the state's population is gathered into towns of more than 2000 inhabitants. Fort See also:Smith (pop. 11,587 in 190o), Little See also:Rock, the state capital (38,307), and Pine Bluff (11,496) lie in the valley of the Arkansas. In 1900 a dozen other towns had a population exceeding 2500, the most important being Hot Springs (9973), See also:Helena (5550), See also:Texarkana (4914), Jonesboro (4508), See also:Fayetteville (4061), See also:Eureka Springs (3572), See also:Mena (3423) and Paragould (3324).

See also:

Foreign See also:blood has only very slightly permeated the state; negroes and -native whites of native parents make up more than 95 % of its population. See also:Immigration is almost entirely from other southern states. The strongest religious sects are the Methodists and See also:Baptists.553 Government.—The See also:present constitution of the state See also:dates from 1874 (with amendments). Few features See also:mark it off from the usual type of such documents. The See also:governor holds See also:office for two years; he has the pardoning and See also:veto See also:power, but his veto may be overridden by a See also:simple See also:majority in each See also:house of the whole number elected to that house (a See also:provision unusual among the state constitutions of the Union). There is no See also:lieutenant-governor. The legislature is bicameral, senators holding office for four years, representatives (about, thrice as numerous) for two. The length of the See also:regular biennial legislative sessions is limited to sixty days, but by a See also:vote of two-thirds of the members elected to each house the length of any session may be extended. Special sessions may be called by the governor. A majority of the members elected to each of the two houses suffices to propose a constitutional See also:amendment, which the See also:people may then accept by a See also:mere majority of all votes See also:cast at an See also:election for the legislature (an unusually democratic provision); no more than three amendments, however, can be proposed or submitted at the same time. The supreme See also:court has five members, elected by the people for eight years; they are re-eligible. The population of the state entitles it to seven representatives in the national House of Representatives, and to nine votes in the Electoral See also:College (census of 'goo).

Elections of members of the state legislature and of See also:

Congress are not held at the same time— a very unusual provision. Elections are by Australian See also:ballot; the constitution prescribes that no See also:law shall " be enacted whereby the right to vote at any election shall be made to depend upon any previous See also:registration of the elector's name " (extremely unusual). The qualifications for See also:suffrage include one year's, See also:residence in the state, six months in the county, and one See also:month in the voting See also:district, next before election; idiots, insane persons, convicts, See also:Indians not taxed, minors and See also:women are disqualified; aliens who have declared their intention to become citizens of the United States vote on the same terms as actual citizens. An amendment of 1893 requires the See also:exhibition of a See also:poll-tax See also:receipt by every voter (except those " who make satisfactory See also:proof that they have attained the See also:age of twenty-one years since the time of assessing taxes next preceding " the election). There is nothing in the constitution or See also:laws of Arkansas with any apparent tendency to disfranchise the negroes; there are statutory provisions (1866-1867) against intermarriage of the races and constitutional and statutory (1886-1887) provisions for See also:separate See also:schools, a " Jim See also:Crow " law (1891) requires railways to provide separate cars for negroes, and a law (1893) provides for separate railway waiting-rooms for negroes. Giving or accepting a See also:challenge to a See also:duel bars from office, but this survival of the ante-bellum social life is to-day only reminiscent. Declared atheists are similarly disqualified. There is no constitutional provision for a census. See also:Marriage is pronounced a civil See also:contract A law for compulsory See also:education was passed in 1909. See also:Finance.—The constitution makes 1 % on the assessed valuation of property a maximum limit of state See also:taxation for See also:ordinary expenses, but by an amendment of 1906 the legislature may See also:levy three See also:mills on the See also:dollar per annum for common schools; and may " authorize school districts to levy by a vote of the qualified See also:electors of such district a tax not to exceed seven mills on the dollar in any year for school purposes." The state See also:debt in 1874 was $12,108,247, of which about $9,370,000 was incurred after the Civil War for internal improvement schemes. This new debt was practically repudiated in 1875 by a decision of the supreme court, and completely set aside in 1884 by constitutional amendment. Until 'goo, when an See also:adjustment of the matter was reached, there was also another disputed debt to the national government, owing to the collapse in 1839 of a so-called Real See also:Estate Bank of Arkansas, in which the state had invested more than $5oo,000 paid to it by the United States in See also:exchange for Arkansas bonds to be held as an investment for the Smithsonian Institution, on which bonds the state defaulted after 1839.

If the unacknowledged debt be included (as it often is; and hence the See also:

necessity of reference to it), very few states—and those all western or southern—have a heavier See also:burden per capita. But the acknowledged debt was in 1907 only $1,250,500, and this is 554 not a true debt, being a permanent school fund that is not to be paid off; of this total in 3 % bonds, $1,134,500 is held by the common'schoois and $116,000 by the state university. In See also:net combined state and local debt, Arkansas ranks very low among the states of the Union. The hired labourer suffers from the " See also:truck " system, taking his pay in See also:board and living, in goods, in See also:trade on his employer's See also:credit at the See also:village See also:store; the See also:independent farmer suffers in his turn from unlimited credit at the same store, where he secures everything on the credit of his future crops; and if he is reduced to See also:borrow See also:money, he secures it by vesting the See also:title to his property temporarily in his creditor. His legal protections under such " title bonds are much slighter than under mortgages. Homesteads belonging to the See also:head of a See also:family and containing 8o to 16o acres (according to value) if in the country, or a See also:lot of a to cne acre (according to value), if in See also:town, village or See also:city, are exempt from liability for debts, excepting liens for See also:purchase money, improvements or taxes. A married See also:man may not sell or See also:mortgage a See also:homestead without his wife's consent. Education.—The legal beginnings of a public school system date from 1843; in 1867 the first tax was imposed for its support. Only white See also:children were regarded by the laws before Reconstruction days. There are now separate race schools, with terms of equal length, and offering like facilities; the number of white and coloured teachers employed is approximately in the same proportion to the number of attending children of the respective races; in negro districts two out of three school See also:directors are usually negroes. " The coloured race as a whole go to the schools as regularly and as numerously in proportion as do the whites " (Shinn). Of the current expenses of the common schools about three-fourths is borne by the localities; the state distributes its contribution annually among the counties.

There is also a permanent school fund derived wholly from land grants from the national government. The total See also:

expenditure for the schools is creditable to the state; but before 1909 hardly half the school population attended; and in general the rural conditions of the state, the shortness of the school terms and the dependence of the schools primarily upon local funds and local supervision, make the schools of inadequate and quite varying excellence. The average expenditure in 1906 for tuition per See also:child enrolled was $4.93, and the average length of the school See also:term was only eighty-one days. In See also:June 1906 there were 1102 school houses in the state valued at $See also:loo or less. In 1905–1906 the See also:Peabody Board gave $200o to aid rural schools, and in general it has done much for the improvement of country public schools throughout the state. In 1906 an amendment to the state constitution, greatly increasing the tax resources available for educational See also:work, was passed by a large popular vote. The University of Arkansas was opened at Fayetteville in 1872. The law and medical faculties are at Little Rock. A See also:branch normal school, established 1873–1875 at Pine Bluff, provides for coloured students, who enjoy the same opportunities for work, and are accorded the same degrees, as the students at Fayetteville; they are about a fourth as numerous. In 1905–1906 there were 497 students in the college of liberal arts, sciences and See also:engineering, 548 in the preparatory school and 26 in the conservatory of See also:music and arts, all in Fayetteville; 171 in the medical school and 46 in the law school in Little Rock; and 240 in the branch normal college at Pine Bluff. The university and the normal school are supported by the See also:Morrill Fund and by state appropriations. The state still suffered in roo6 from the lack of a separate and special training school for teachers; but in 1907 the legislature voted to establish a state normal school.

Of the Morrill Fund (see MORRILL, See also:

JUSTIN SM1T11), three-elevenths goes to the normal school. The agricultural experiment station of the university dates from 1887. The See also:financial support of the university has been light, about three-fifths coming from the United States government. Besides the university there are about a See also:score of denominational colleges or See also:academies, of which half-a-dozen are for coloured students. Among the large denominational colleges are Philander Smith College, Little Rock (Methodist Episcopal, 1877); Ouachita College, Arkadelphia (Baptist, 1886); Hendrix College, See also:Conway (Methodist Episcopal, South, 1884); and Arkansas College, Batesville (Presbyterian, 1872). There are few See also:libraries in Arkansas. In this matter her showing has long been among the very poorest in the Union relatively to her population. Daily papers are few in number. The state charitable institutions—insane See also:asylum, See also:deaf-See also:mute and See also:blind institutes—and the See also:penitentiary, are at Little Rock. Local government is of the ordinary southern county type, without noteworthy See also:variations. Municipal corporations See also:rest upon a general state law, not upon individual charters. The liquor question is See also:left by the state to county (i.e. including " local," or town) See also:option, and See also:prohibition is the most common county law, the alternative being high-See also:licence.

See also:

History.—The first See also:settlement by Europeans in Arkansas was made in 1686 by the See also:French at Arkansas See also:Post (later the residence of the French and See also:Spanish See also:governors, important as a trading post in the earlier days of the See also:American occupation, and the first territorial capital, 1819–1820). In 1720 a See also:grant on the Arkansas was made to See also:John Law. In 1762 the territory passed to See also:Spain, in r78o back to See also:France, and in 1803 to the United States as a part of the " See also:Louisiana Purchase." Save in the beginnings of western frontier trade, and in a great See also:mass of litigation left to the courts of later years by the curious and uncertain methods of land delimitation that prevailed among the French and Spanish colonists, the pre-American period of occupation has slight connexions with the later period, and scant See also:historical importance. From 1804 to 1812 what is now Arkansas was part of the district (and then the territory) of Louisiana, and from 1812 to 1819 of the territory of Missouri. Its earliest county organizations date from this time. It was erected successively into a territory of the first and second class by acts of Congress of the 2nd of See also:March 1819 and the 21st of See also:April 1820. By See also:act of the 15th of June 1836 it was admitted into the Union as a slave state. There is little of general See also:interest in the history of ante-bellum days. Economic life centred in the slave plantation, and there was remarkable development up to the Civil War. The decade 1819–1829 saw the first newspaper (1819), the beginning of See also:steam-boating on Arkansas rivers, and the first weekly See also:mail from the east. Trade was largely confined to the rivers and freighting for Saute Fe and See also:Salt See also:Lake before the war, but the first railway entered the state in 1853. Social life was sluggish in some ways and See also:wild in others.

An unhappy propensity to duelling, the origin in Arkansas of the See also:

bowie-See also:knife,--from an alleged use of which Arkansas received the See also:nickname, which it has always retained, of the "toothpick state,"—and other backwoods ,associations gave the state a reputation which to some extent has survived in spite of many years of sober history. The questions of the conduct of territorial affairs do not seem to have been contested systematically on national party lines until about 1825. The government of Arkansas before the Civil War was always in the hands of a few families closely intermarried. From the beginning the state has been unswervingly Democratic, save in the Reconstruction years, though often with heavy Whig or Republican minorities. In See also:February 1861 the people of Arkansas voted to hold a See also:convention to consider the state of public affairs. The convention assembled on the 4th of March. See also:Secession resolutions were defeated, and it was voted to submit to the people the question whether there should be " co-operation " through the See also:Lincoln government, or " secession." The See also:plan was endorsed of holding a convention of all the states to See also:settle the See also:slavery question, and delegates were chosen to the proposed Border State Convention that was to meet at See also:Frankfort, See also:Kentucky, on the 27th of May. Then came the fall of Fort See also:Sumter and the See also:proclamation of See also:President Lincoln calling for troops to put down See also:rebellion. The governor of Arkansas curtly refused its See also:quota. A See also:quick See also:surge of See also:ill-feeling, all the bitterer on See also:account of the divided sentiments of the people, chilled See also:loyalty to the Union. The convention re-assembled on See also:call of the governor, and on the 6th of May, with a single dissentient See also:voice, passel an See also:ordinance of secession. It then repealed its former vote submitting the question of secession to the people.

On the 16th of May Arkansas became one of the Confederate States of America. In the years of war that followed, a very large proportion of the able-bodied men of the state served in the armies of the Confederacy; several regiments, some of coloured troops, served the Union. Union sentiment was strongest in the north. In 1862-1863 various victories threw more than half the state, mainly the north and east, under the Federal arms. Accordingly, under a proclamation of the president, citizens within the conquered districts were authorized to renew See also:

allegiance to the Union, and a special election was ordered for March 1864, to reorganize the state government. But meanwhile, a convention of delegates chosen mainly at polls opened at the See also:army posts, assembled in See also:January 1864, abolished slavery, repudiated secession and the secession war debt, and revised in See also:minor details the constitution of 1836, restricting the suffrage to whites. This new fundamental law was promptly adopted by the people, i.e. by its See also:friends, who alone voted. But the representatives of Arkansas under this constitutionwere never admitted to Congress. • The Federal and Confederate forces controlled at this time different parts of the state; there was some ebb and flow of military See also:fortune in 1864, and for a short time two rival governments. Chaotic conditions followed the war. The fifteenth legislature (April 1864 to April 1865) ratified the Thirteenth Amendment, and passed laws against " See also:bush-whacking," a term used in the Civil War for guerilla warfare, especially as carried on by pretended neutrals. Local See also:militia, protecting none who refused to join in the common See also:defence, and all serving " not as soldiers but as farmers mutually pledged to protect each other from the depredations of outlaws who infest the state," strove to secure such public See also:order as was necessary to the gathering of crops, so as " to prevent the See also:starvation of the citizens " (governor's circular, 1865).

Struggling in these difficulties, the government of the state was upset by the first Reconstruction Act. The governor in these years (1865-1868) was a Republican, the caster of the single Union vote in the convention of 1861; but the sixteenth legislature (1866-1867) was largely Democratic. It undertook to determine the rights of persons of See also:

African descent, and regret-table conflicts followed. The first Reconstruction Act having declared that " no legal state government or adequate See also:protection for life or property " existed in the " See also:rebel states," Arkansas was included in one of the military districts established by Congress. A registration of voters, predominantly whites, was at once carried through, and delegates were chosen for another constitutional convention, which met at Little Rock in January 1868. The secessionist element was voluntarily or perforce excluded. This convention ratified the Fourteenth Amendment, and framed the third constitution of the state, which was adopted by a small majority at a popular election, marred by various irregularities, in March 1868. By its provisions negroes secured full See also:political rights, and all whites who had been excluded from registration for Lhe election of delegates to the convention were now practically ;tripped of political privileges. The organization of Arkansas being now acceptable to Congress, a See also:bill admitting it to the Union was passed over President See also:Johnson's veto, and on the 22nd of June 1868 the See also:admission was consummated. Arkansas now became for several years Republican, and suffered considerably from the See also:rule of the " See also:carpet-baggers." The debt of the state was increased about $9,375,000 from 1868 to 1874, largely for railroad and levee schemes; much of the money was misappropriated, and in a See also:case involving the See also:payment of railway aid bonds the See also:action of the legislature in pledging the credit of the state was held nugatory by the state supreme court in 187 5 on the ground that, contrary to the constitution, the See also:bond issue had never been referred to popular vote. An amendment to the constitution approved by a popular vote in 1884 provided that the General See also:Assembly should " have no power to levy any tax, or make any See also:appropriation, to pay " any of the bonds issued by legislative action in 1868, 1869 and 1871. The current expenses of the state in the years of Reconstruction were also enormously increased.

The See also:

climax of the Reconstruction period was the so-called See also:Baxter-See also:Brooks war. See also:Elisha Baxter (1827-1899) was the regular Republican See also:candidate for governor in 1872. He was opposed by a disaffected Republican See also:faction known as " brindletails," or, as they called themselves, "reformers," led by See also:Joseph Brooks (1821-1877), and supported by the Democrats. Baxter was irregularly elected. The election was contested, and his choice was confirmed by the legislature, the court of last resort in such cases. He soon showed a willingness to rule as a non-See also:partisan, and favoured the re-enfranchisement of white citizens. This would have put the Democrats again in power, and they rallied to Baxter, while the Brooks party now assumed the name of " regulars," and received the support of the " carpet-bag " and negro elements. After Baxter had been a year in office Brooks received a See also:judgment of See also:ouster against him from a state See also:circuit See also:judge, and got See also:possession of the public buildings (April 1874). The state flew to arms. The legislature called for Federal intervention (May 1874), and Federal troops maintained See also:neutrality while investigations were conducted by a See also:committee sent out by Congress. As a result, President Grant pronounced for Baxter, and the Brooks forces disbanded. The See also:chief result was another convention.

In 1873 the See also:

article of the constitution which had disfranchised the whites was repealed, and the Democrats thus regained power. By an overwhelming majority the people now voted for another convention, which (See also:July to See also:October 1874) framed the present constitution. It removed all disfranchisement, and embraced equitable See also:amnesty and exemption features. It also took away all patronage from the governor, reduced his term to two years, forbade him to proclaim See also:martial law or suspend the See also:writ of habeas corpus, and abolished all registration laws: all these provisions being reflections of Reconstruction struggles. The people ratified the new constitution on the 13th of October 1874. After Reconstruction the state again became Democratic, and the main interest of its history has been the progress of economic development. The following is a See also:list of the territorial and state governors of Arkansas: Territorial. See also:James See also:Miller' . 1819-1825 See also:George Izard 1825-1828 John Pope2 . 1829-1835 See also:William S. See also:Fulton . . 1835-1836 State.

1836-184o Democrat James S. Conway . . See also:

Archibald Yell3 . 1840-1844 See also:Thomas S. See also:Drew' . . 1844-1849 John S. Roane . 1849-1852 See also:Elias N. Conway . 1852-1860 „ See also:Henry M. Rectors . . 1860-1862 See also:Harris Flannigan' .

1862-1865 See also:

Isaac See also:Murphy . 1864-1868 Republican C. H. Smiths . . 1867-1868 „ See also:Powell See also:Clayton . 1868-1871 Ozra A. Hadley9 . . 1871-1873 „ Elisha Baxter . 1873-1874 ,, See also:August H. See also:Garland . 1874-1877 Democrat William R. Miller .

. 1877-1881 „ Thomas J. See also:

Churchill . 1881-1883 „ James H. See also:Berry . 1883-1885 See also:Simon P. See also:Hughes . . 1885-1889 James P. See also:Eagle . 1889-1893 „ ' During this period See also:Robert See also:Crittenden, the secretary of the territory, was frequently the acting governor. 2 Robert Crittenden was acting governor in 1828-1829. See also:Samuel See also:Adams was acting governor from the 29th of April to the 9th of See also:November 1844. R.

C. See also:

Byrd was acting governor from the 11th of January to the 19th of April 1849. Thomas See also:Fletcher was acting governor from the 4th to the 15th of November 1862. Confederate governor. Union governor. s United States military (sub) governor. Acting governor. State—continued. William M. Fishback 1893-1895 Democrat James P. See also:Clarke . 1895-1897 See also:Daniel W.

See also:

Jones 1897-1901 „ See also:Jefferson See also:Davis 1901-1907 John S. Little . 1907-1908 „ X. O. Pindall, Acting Gov. . 1908 „ George W. Donaghey 1909 „ The constitutional documents may best be consulted in the latest compiled Statutes of the state. See also J. H. Shinn, Education in Arkansas (U.S. See also:Bur. of Education, 1900); W. P.

See also:

Pope, See also:Early Days in Arkansas (Little Rock, 1895); and F. Hempstead, Pictorial History of Arkansas (St See also:Louis, 1890). Similar to the last in popular See also:character, vast in bulk and loose in method, are a See also:series. of See also:Biographical and Pictorial Histories, covering the different sections of the state (1 vol. by J. See also:Hallam, See also:Albany, 1887; four others compiled anonymously, See also:Chicago, 1889-1891). For the Reconstruction period see especially the See also:Poland See also:Report in House Rp. No. 2, 43 Cong. 2 Sess., vol. i. (1874), and John M. Harrell's The Brooks and Baxter War: A History of the Reconstruction Period. in Arkansas (St Louis, Missouri, 1893), which is frankly in favour of Baxter; also a See also:paper by B. S. Johnson in vol. ii.

(1908) of the Publications of the Arkansas Historical Association.

End of Article: ARKANSAS

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