History of Kentucky
Encyclopedia
The history of Kentucky
spans hundreds of years, and has been influenced by the state's diverse geography and central location.
name for the area south of the Ohio River
. There were many variations of the word during early pioneer times, including “Kaintuckee” and “Cantuckey.” The meaning of the Iroquois name is disputed by historians, but it is believed to mean “meadowland.”
The state’s official nickname is the “Bluegrass State,” which is derived from the famed species of grass grown in central Kentucky, Bluegrass, or Poa
. “The nickname also recognizes the role that the Bluegrass region
has played in Kentucky’s economy and history.”
s from the north and Cherokee
s from the south. The Iroquois
also hunted there until 1768. The exploration of the area that would become Kentucky was made in 1750 by a scouting party led by Dr. Thomas Walker
. The Iroquois claim to much of what is now Kentucky was purchased in the Treaty of Fort Stanwix
(1768); that of the Shawnee and Mingo at the Treaty of Camp Charlotte concluding Dunmore's War
(1774), and that of the Cherokee at the Treaty of Sycamore Shoals (1775). However, this last treaty (The "Transylvania Purchase") was not recognized by the renegade Cherokee Chief Dragging Canoe
. During the American Revolution, settlers soon began pouring into the region; Dragging Canoe responded by leading his faction into the Chickamauga Wars (1776-1794), at the height of the War for Independence
. The Shawnees north of the Ohio River, were also unhappy about the settlement of Kentucky, and allied themselves with the British.
After 1775, Kentucky grew rapidly as the first settlements west of the Appalachian Mountains
were founded, with settlers (primarily from Virginia, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania) entering the region via the Cumberland Gap
and the Ohio River
. The most famous of these early explorers and settlers was Daniel Boone
, one of the founders of the state. During this period, the settlers introduced agriculture to the area. Tobacco, corn, and hemp were the major crops of Kentucky, and the hunting stage of frontier life faded away.
Kentucky's second largest city, and former capital Lexington
, is named for Lexington, Massachusetts
, site of one of the first battles of the Revolution. A fort was built there during the last year of the war for defense against the British and their Native American allies. Kentucky was a battleground during the war; the Battle of Blue Licks
, one of the last major battles of the Revolution, was fought in Kentucky. Due to the ongoing violence, by 1776 there were fewer than 200 settlers in Kentucky.
The westernmost part of Kentucky, west of the Tennessee River, was recognized as hunting ground belonging to the Chickasaw
by the 1786 Treaty of Hopewell
, and remained so until they sold it to the U.S. in 1818.
In November, 1780, Virginia divided Kentucky County into three counties: Fayette
, Jefferson
, and Lincoln
. Militia officers of these counties included:
In January 1781, Governor Thomas Jefferson
appointed George Rogers Clark as brigadier general, a special position created for an expedition against Detroit that never materialized. As a general, Clark was the highest ranking militia officer in Kentucky and supervised the work of the three Kentucky county colonels.
to Kentucky's economy. Trade with the Spanish colony of New Orleans, which controlled the mouth of the Mississippi, was forbidden.
The magnitude of these problems increased with the population of Kentucky County, leading Colonel Benjamin Logan
to call a constitutional convention in Danville
in 1784. Over the next six years, nine more conventions were held. During one, General James Wilkinson
proposed secession
from both Virginia and the United States to become a ward of Spain, but the idea was defeated. Finally, on June 1, 1792 the United States Congress
accepted the Kentucky Constitution
and admitted it as the 15th state.
, based in part on the Kentucky frontier, saw a rapid growth in church members. Revivals and missionaries converted many previously unchurched folk, and drew them into the Baptist, Methodist, Christian and Presbyterian churches.
In August 1801 at the Cane Ridge
Meeting house in Bourbon County
. As part of what is now known as the "Western Revival", attracted thousands of religious seekers under the leadership of Presbyterian preacher Barton W. Stone
. The preaching, singing and converting went on for a week until both humans and horses ran out of food.
, who helped Capt. William Ellis guide the party. Held by Rev. Joseph Craig, Durrett was a Baptist preacher and part of Craig's congregation in 1784. About 1790 he founded the First African Baptist Church in Lexington, the oldest black Baptist congregation in Kentucky and the third oldest in the United States. He was so popular that his funeral was said to be second in size only to that of the statesman Henry Clay
.
Many anti-slavery Virginians moved to Kentucky as well, making the new state a battleground over slavery. Churches and friends divided over the issue of the immorality of slaveholding; in Kentucky the antislavery position was marginalized both politically and geographically. Emancipationist Baptists created their own churches in Kentucky around antislavery principles. While emancipationists viewed their cause as one with republican ideals of virtue
, the proslavery Baptists insisted there was a boundary between church and state; this allowed them to define slavery as a civil matter. The proslavery position, based on the importance of slave labor on many plantations, became the dominant Baptist belief in Kentucky. Emancipationist leadership declined through death and emigration, and Baptists in the Upper South healed rifts in their churches and associations.
(1772–1844) founded the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)
in the 1830s, when his followers joined with the followers of Alexander Campbell
. Stone broke with his Presbyterian background to form the new sect that rejected Calvinism
, required weekly communion and the baptism of adults, accepted the Bible as the source of truth, and sought to restore the values of primitive Christianity.
, the largest recorded earthquake in the contiguous United States. These earthquakes caused the Mississippi River to change course, thus creating the Kentucky Bend
. The "west" began at the Appalachians and young Lexington was the cultural center of the region. It claimed to be the "Athens of the West."
emerged as the largest city in the state, as the growth of commerce facilitated by steamboats and the construction of railroads made it the commercial center of the state. It attracted many Germans and Irish Catholic immigrants during their large mid-19th-century emigrations from Europe.
Lexington
was the center of the Bluegrass Region
, an agricultural area featuring production of tobacco and hemp
, as well as the breeding and training of high-quality livestock, including horses. It was the base for many prominent planters
, most notably Henry Clay
, who became a politician and statesman
. This central part of the state had the highest concentration of enslaved
African Americans, whose labor supported the plantation economy.
who followed Henry Clay
, opposed the war and refused to participate. The quest for honor was especially important, as a rising generation sought their self-identity and a link with heroic ancestors. The state easily met its quota of 2500 volunteer troops in 1846 and 1847. Although the war's popularity declined after a year or two, clear majorities supported it throughout, in part because residents believed victory would bring new lands for the expansion of slavery.
Kentuckian units won praise at the battles of Monterey and Buena Vista. Although many took sick, few died. Gaining honor and glory, as well as emotional maturity and a sense of the world at large, Kentucky units returned home in triumph. The war weakened the Whig party as the Democratic party rose to dominance during this period.
While remaining loyal to the Union, Kentucky was a border state
during the American Civil War
. The state was officially neutral until a new legislature took office on August 5, 1861 with strong Union sympathies. The majority of the Commonwealth's citizens also had strong Union sympathies. On September 4, 1861, Confederate
General Leonidas Polk
broke Kentucky's neutrality by invading Columbus, Kentucky
. As a result of the Confederate invasion, Union General Ulysses S. Grant
entered Paducah, Kentucky
. On September 7, 1861, the Kentucky State Legislature, angered by the Confederate invasion, ordered the Union flag to be raised over the state capitol in Frankfort
, declaring its allegiance with the Union. In November 1861, during the Russellville Convention, Southern sympathizers attempted to establish an alternative state government with the goal of secession but failed to displace the legitimate government in Frankfort. On August 13, 1862, Confederate General Edmund Kirby Smith
's Army of East Tennessee
invaded Kentucky and on August 28, 1862, Confederate General Braxton Bragg
's Army of Mississippi entered Kentucky beginning the Kentucky Campaign. Bragg's retreat following the Battle of Perryville
left the state under the control of the Union Army for the remainder of the war.
was quite active in Kentucky, as some people sought to re-establish white supremacy. Between 1867 and 1881, the Frankfort Weekly Commonwealth newspaper reported 115 incidents of shooting, lynching, and whipping of blacks.
movement. Laura Clay
, daughter of noted abolitionist Cassius Clay
, was the most prominent leader. At he same time a prohibition movement began, which was challenged by the distillers (based in the Bluegrass) and the saloonkeepers (based in the cities).
Kentucky's hemp industry declined as manila
became the world's primary source of rope fiber. This led to an increase in tobacco production, which was already the largest cash crop of Kentucky.
(1856–1900). From his base in Covington
, he became a state senator in 1887, fought the railroads, and took control of the state Democratic party in the mid 1890s. Goebel's 1895 election law took control of vote counting away from local officials and gave it to officials controlled by the Assembly, which the Democrats controlled. He used that power to be certified as governor in 1900. The apparent election
of William S. Taylor
as governor on the Republican ticket in 1899 was an unexpected turn of events.
The Kentucky Senate
formed a special Committee of Inquiry packed with Democratic members. As it became apparent to Taylor's supporters that the committee would decide in favor of Goebel, they raised an armed force. On January 19, 1900, more than 1,500 armed civilians took possession of the Capitol
. For more than two weeks, the United States watched as the Commonwealth of Kentucky slid towards civil war. The presiding governor declared martial law and activated the official Kentucky militia. On January 30, 1900, Goebel, accompanied by two bodyguards, was shot by a sniper as he approached the Capitol. Though mortally wounded, Goebel was sworn in as Governor of the Commonwealth of Kentucky the next day. Goebel died from his wounds on February 3, 1900.
For nearly four months after Governor Goebel's death, Kentucky had two officials functioning as the commonwealth's chief executive: Republican Taylor, who insisted he was the governor, and Democrat J. C. W. Beckham
, running mate of Governor Goebel, who was sworn in when the latter died. Beckham requested federal aid to determine Kentucky's chief executive. The U.S. Supreme Court finally reached a decision on May 26, 1900, upholding the Commission's ruling that Goebel was Kentucky's governor. Since his Lieutenant Governor (Beckham) had followed Kentucky's line of succession, Beckham was now governor.
Immediately following the court's decision, Taylor fled to Indiana. He was later indicted as one of the conspirators in the assassination. Attempts to extradite him failed, and Taylor remained in Indiana until he died. Realizing how close they came to civil war, Kentucky leaders calmed the voters and managed to finish the decade with less heat and little violence.
was created; the state built many roads to accommodate the increasing popularity of the automobile. The war also led to the clear cutting of thousands of acres of Kentucky timber.
The tobacco and whiskey industries had boom years during the teens, although Prohibition
seriously harmed the economy when the Eighteenth Amendment
took effect. Prohibition led to widespread bootlegging
, which continued into the middle of the century.
Congressman Alben W. Barkley
gained statewide stature by leading a crusade against the coal and gambling special interests during his 1923 campaign for Governor of Kentucky. Barkley narrowly lost the Democratic gubernatorial nomination. That sole electoral defeat helped propel him into the U.S. Senate in 1926. Barkley became US Senate leader for the Democrats in 1937 and vice president with Harry S. Truman
in 1948.
In the 1920s the progressives focused their attacks on gambling. The anti-gambling crusade sprang from the religious attack on machine politics led by Helm Bruce and the Louisville Churchmen's Federation. The reformers had their greatest support in rural Kentucky, with support from the Ku Klux Klan
and Fundamentalist Protestant clergymen. Barkley became the political spokesman of the anti-gambling group and nearly secured the Democratic gubernatorial nomination in 1923; four years later, former governor J. C. W. Beckham won the party's nomination as the anti-gambling candidate. Urban Democrats deserted Beckham, however, and Republican Flem Sampson was elected. Beckham's defeat marked the end of the Progressive movement in Kentucky.
in the late 1920s. There was widespread unemployment and little economic growth. On the other hand, New Deal
programs greatly improved the educational system in the state and led to the construction and improvement of a great deal of infrastructure. The creation of roads, construction of telephone lines, and rural electrification
were significant developments for the state. The creation of the Kentucky Dam
and its hydroelectric power plant greatly improved the lives of Western Kentuckians. Both the Cumberland River
and the Mississippi River
saw extensive improvements in navigability and flood control.
The 1938 Democratic Senate primary featured an intense showdown between Barkley, liberal spokesman for the New Deal
, and conservative governor Happy Chandler
. The governor was a gifted public speaker, combining voice control, emotionalism, and singing with an unusual ability to personalize his speeches. He could remember everyone's name, and in turn they became emotionally involved in his campaign speeches. Barkley's methodical campaigning was bolstered by President Franklin D. Roosevelt
's strong endorsement. Barkley handily defeated the Chandler, with 56% of the vote. Farmers, labor unions, and city machines gave Barkley his margin, a vote which reaffirmed the popularity of the New Deal in Kentucky. Only a few months later, Chandler was appointed to the state's other Senate seat upon the death of Senator Mills Logan. [
was in various flood stages for three months. The flood led to river fires when oil tanks in Cincinnati, Ohio were destroyed in the flood. In Kentucky, one-third of Kenton and Campbell counties were submerged, and 70% of the Louisville
was under water for over a week. Paducah, Owensboro, and other Purchase area cities were devastated. Damages from the flood (nationwide) totaled 20 million dollars without adjusting for inflation. It led to extensive flood prevention efforts in the Purchase area, including the distinctive flood wall at Paducah.
as well as the creation of an ordinance plant in Louisville. Louisville became the world's largest source of artificial rubber. Shipyards at Jeffersonville and elsewhere generated numerous skilled jobs. Louisville's Ford manufacturing center produced almost 100,000 Jeep
s during the war. The war also lead to a greater demand for higher education, as technical skills were more in demand both during the war and afterwards.
. Edgar Erskine Hume of Frankfort served as the military governor of Rome after its capture. Kentucky native Franklin Sousley
was depicted in the photograph showing the raising of the flag at Iwo Jima. As a prisoner of war, Harrodsburg resident John Sadler witnessed the atom
ic bombing of Nagasaki, Japan. Seven Kentuckians received the Medal of Honor
. 7,917 Kentuckians died during the war; 306,364 served.
Rose Will Monroe, one of the models for "Rosie the Riveter
," was a native of Pulaski County.
helped connect even the most remote areas of Kentucky to one another.
Progressive, solid, and unspectacular, Democrat Lawrence W. Wetherby served as governor during 1950–55. As lieutenant governor under Earle Clements, was out of the limelight. After Clements moved on to the US Senate, Wetherby took over and was elected to his own term in 1951, emphasizing the themes of roads, tourism, and economic development. One of the few Southern governors who worked to carry out desegregation after the Brown Decision in 1954, Wetherby's administration ran into a string of bad luck and its candidate for governor, Bert Combs, was defeated by Happy Chandler in 1955.
Agriculture, though still important, was supplanted in many areas by industry. By 1970, Kentucky had more urban residents than rural residents. Although decreasing in overall importance, tobacco production remains an important part of the state economy, bolstered by New Deal legacy that gives financial advantages to holders of tobacco allotments.
in Lexington
ended practices of segregation
as a result of successful local civil rights sit-in. This was part of an era of activist efforts to achieve integration. Due to demographic and economic changes, Woolworth went out of business in 1990 and the historic building was demolished in 2004.
Governor Edward Thompson "Ned" Breathitt, Jr., took pride in his civil rights leadership as governor 1963–67. Race was a major issue in his victories in the 1963 primary and general elections. At the urging of President Lyndon B. Johnson
, Breathitt led the National Governors Conference in supporting the Civil Rights Act of 1964
. Johnson later appointed Breathitt to the "To Secure These Rights" commission, charged with implementing the Act. Breathitt was unable to get a civil rights bill passed by the state general assembly in 1964, but did pass a bill in 1966. Breathitt said that civil rights legislation would have passed without him. He thought his opposition to strip mining had more to do with the demise of his political career.
served as Kentucky's first woman governor from 1983 to 1987 and cochaired the Democratic National Convention in 1984. Prior to that, Collins had been a schoolteacher and party worker for the state's Democrats at all levels and served as lieutenant governor from 1979 to 1983. In 1983, she defeated Jim Bunning
for the governorship. Throughout her public life she emphasized education and economic development; a feminist, she viewed all issues as "women's issues." She took special pride in having procured the Toyota plant for Georgetown. Nevertheless in 2000, the state ranked 49th in the percentage of females serving in state or national political offices. The traditional system has favored "old boys" thanks to political elites, incumbency, and long-entrenched political networks.
Paul E. Patton
, a Democrat, served as governor from 1995 to 2003. Winning a close race in 1995, he benefited from economic good times and succeeded with most of his initiatives and priorities. After winning reelection by a large margin in 1999, Patton suffered from the state's economic reversal and also from public exposure of an extramarital affair. Near the end of his second term, Patton was also accused of abusing his patronage powers and incurred further criticism when he pardoned four of his former supporters who had been convicted of violating the state's campaign finance laws.
Kentucky
The Commonwealth of Kentucky is a state located in the East Central United States of America. As classified by the United States Census Bureau, Kentucky is a Southern state, more specifically in the East South Central region. Kentucky is one of four U.S. states constituted as a commonwealth...
spans hundreds of years, and has been influenced by the state's diverse geography and central location.
Origin of the name
The name "Kentucky" derived from an IroquoisIroquois
The Iroquois , also known as the Haudenosaunee or the "People of the Longhouse", are an association of several tribes of indigenous people of North America...
name for the area south of the Ohio River
Ohio River
The Ohio River is the largest tributary, by volume, of the Mississippi River. At the confluence, the Ohio is even bigger than the Mississippi and, thus, is hydrologically the main stream of the whole river system, including the Allegheny River further upstream...
. There were many variations of the word during early pioneer times, including “Kaintuckee” and “Cantuckey.” The meaning of the Iroquois name is disputed by historians, but it is believed to mean “meadowland.”
The state’s official nickname is the “Bluegrass State,” which is derived from the famed species of grass grown in central Kentucky, Bluegrass, or Poa
Poa
Poa is a genus of about 500 species of grasses, native to the temperate regions of both hemispheres. Common names include meadow-grass , bluegrass , tussock , and speargrass. "Poa" is Greek for fodder...
. “The nickname also recognizes the role that the Bluegrass region
Bluegrass region
The Bluegrass Region is a geographic region in the state of Kentucky, United States. It occupies the northern part of the state and since European settlement has contained a majority of the state's population and its largest cities....
has played in Kentucky’s economy and history.”
Settlement
Although inhabited by Native Americans in prehistoric times, when explorers and settlers began entering Kentucky in the mid-18th century, there were no permanent Native American settlements in the region. Instead, the country was used as common hunting grounds by ShawneeShawnee
The Shawnee, Shaawanwaki, Shaawanooki and Shaawanowi lenaweeki, are an Algonquian-speaking people native to North America. Historically they inhabited the areas of Ohio, Virginia, West Virginia, Western Maryland, Kentucky, Indiana, and Pennsylvania...
s from the north and Cherokee
Cherokee
The Cherokee are a Native American people historically settled in the Southeastern United States . Linguistically, they are part of the Iroquoian language family...
s from the south. The Iroquois
Iroquois
The Iroquois , also known as the Haudenosaunee or the "People of the Longhouse", are an association of several tribes of indigenous people of North America...
also hunted there until 1768. The exploration of the area that would become Kentucky was made in 1750 by a scouting party led by Dr. Thomas Walker
Thomas Walker (explorer)
Dr. Thomas Walker was a physician and explorer from Virginia who led an expedition to what is now the region beyond the Allegheny Mountains area of British North America in the mid-18th century...
. The Iroquois claim to much of what is now Kentucky was purchased in the Treaty of Fort Stanwix
Treaty of Fort Stanwix
The Treaty of Fort Stanwix was an important treaty between North American Indians and the British Empire. It was signed in 1768 at Fort Stanwix, located in present-day Rome, New York...
(1768); that of the Shawnee and Mingo at the Treaty of Camp Charlotte concluding Dunmore's War
Dunmore's War
Dunmore's War was a war in 1774 between the Colony of Virginia and the Shawnee and Mingo American Indian nations....
(1774), and that of the Cherokee at the Treaty of Sycamore Shoals (1775). However, this last treaty (The "Transylvania Purchase") was not recognized by the renegade Cherokee Chief Dragging Canoe
Dragging Canoe
Tsiyu Gansini , "He is dragging his canoe", known to whites as Dragging Canoe, was a Cherokee war chief who led a band of Cherokee against colonists and United States settlers...
. During the American Revolution, settlers soon began pouring into the region; Dragging Canoe responded by leading his faction into the Chickamauga Wars (1776-1794), at the height of the War for Independence
American Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War , the American War of Independence, or simply the Revolutionary War, began as a war between the Kingdom of Great Britain and thirteen British colonies in North America, and ended in a global war between several European great powers.The war was the result of the...
. The Shawnees north of the Ohio River, were also unhappy about the settlement of Kentucky, and allied themselves with the British.
After 1775, Kentucky grew rapidly as the first settlements west of the Appalachian Mountains
Appalachian Mountains
The Appalachian Mountains #Whether the stressed vowel is or ,#Whether the "ch" is pronounced as a fricative or an affricate , and#Whether the final vowel is the monophthong or the diphthong .), often called the Appalachians, are a system of mountains in eastern North America. The Appalachians...
were founded, with settlers (primarily from Virginia, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania) entering the region via the Cumberland Gap
Cumberland Gap
Cumberland Gap is a pass through the Cumberland Mountains region of the Appalachian Mountains, also known as the Cumberland Water Gap, at the juncture of the U.S. states of Tennessee, Kentucky, and Virginia...
and the Ohio River
Ohio River
The Ohio River is the largest tributary, by volume, of the Mississippi River. At the confluence, the Ohio is even bigger than the Mississippi and, thus, is hydrologically the main stream of the whole river system, including the Allegheny River further upstream...
. The most famous of these early explorers and settlers was Daniel Boone
Daniel Boone
Daniel Boone was an American pioneer, explorer, and frontiersman whose frontier exploits mad']'e him one of the first folk heroes of the United States. Boone is most famous for his exploration and settlement of what is now the Commonwealth of Kentucky, which was then beyond the western borders of...
, one of the founders of the state. During this period, the settlers introduced agriculture to the area. Tobacco, corn, and hemp were the major crops of Kentucky, and the hunting stage of frontier life faded away.
Kentucky's second largest city, and former capital Lexington
Lexington, Kentucky
Lexington is the second-largest city in Kentucky and the 63rd largest in the US. Known as the "Thoroughbred City" and the "Horse Capital of the World", it is located in the heart of Kentucky's Bluegrass region...
, is named for Lexington, Massachusetts
Lexington, Massachusetts
Lexington is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 31,399 at the 2010 census. This town is famous for being the site of the first shot of the American Revolution, in the Battle of Lexington on April 19, 1775.- History :...
, site of one of the first battles of the Revolution. A fort was built there during the last year of the war for defense against the British and their Native American allies. Kentucky was a battleground during the war; the Battle of Blue Licks
Battle of Blue Licks
The Battle of Blue Licks, fought on August 19, 1782, was one of the last battles of the American Revolutionary War. The battle occurred ten months after Lord Cornwallis's famous surrender at Yorktown, which had effectively ended the war in the east...
, one of the last major battles of the Revolution, was fought in Kentucky. Due to the ongoing violence, by 1776 there were fewer than 200 settlers in Kentucky.
The westernmost part of Kentucky, west of the Tennessee River, was recognized as hunting ground belonging to the Chickasaw
Chickasaw
The Chickasaw are Native American people originally from the region that would become the Southeastern United States...
by the 1786 Treaty of Hopewell
Treaty of Hopewell
The Treaty of Hopewell is any of three different treaties signed at Hopewell Plantation. The plantation was owned by Andrew Pickens, and was located on the Seneca River in northwestern South Carolina. The treaties were signed between the Confederation Congress of the United States of America and...
, and remained so until they sold it to the U.S. in 1818.
Militia officers
After Kentucky County was legislatively created on December 6, 1776 (effective 1777), the county militia was organized as follows:- George Rogers ClarkGeorge Rogers ClarkGeorge Rogers Clark was a soldier from Virginia and the highest ranking American military officer on the northwestern frontier during the American Revolutionary War. He served as leader of the Kentucky militia throughout much of the war...
– Brig General Northwestern Frontier 01/1781 - John BowmanJohn BowmanJohn Bowman PhD is an Irish historian and a long-standing broadcaster and presenter of current affairs and political programmes with Raidió Teilifís Éireann . He chaired the audience-participation political programme Questions and Answers on RTÉ One for 21 years...
– Colonel – County Lieutenant of Kentucky County, Virginia 12/1776 & 11/1779 - Anthony Bledsoe – Lieutenant Colonel
- David RobinsonDavid Robinson-Sports personalities:*David Robinson , American player*David Robinson , cricketer*David Robinson , English professional player; striker from 1988 to 1998...
– appointed County Lieutenant but office was never filled. - John ToddJohn ToddJohn Todd may refer to:*John Todd , early Virginia official, Kentucky soldier, and great-uncle of Mary Todd Lincoln*John Blair Smith Todd , delegate to US Congress from Dakota Territory...
– Captain – Virginia - Benjamin LoganBenjamin LoganBenjamin Logan was an American pioneer, soldier, and politician from Shelby County, Kentucky. As colonel of the Kentucky County militia of Virginia during the American Revolutionary War, he was second-in-command of militia in Kentucky. Logan was a leader in Kentucky's efforts to become a state...
– Captain – Kentucky County, Virginia - Daniel BooneDaniel BooneDaniel Boone was an American pioneer, explorer, and frontiersman whose frontier exploits mad']'e him one of the first folk heroes of the United States. Boone is most famous for his exploration and settlement of what is now the Commonwealth of Kentucky, which was then beyond the western borders of...
– Captain – Boonesborough, Kentucky - James HarrodJames HarrodJames Harrod was a pioneer, soldier, and hunter who helped explore and settle the area west of the Allegheny Mountains. Little is known about Harrod's early life, including the exact date of his birth. He was possibly underage when he served in the French and Indian War, and later participated in...
– Captain – Harrodsburg, Kentucky
In November, 1780, Virginia divided Kentucky County into three counties: Fayette
Fayette County, Kentucky
Fayette County is a county located in the U.S. state of Kentucky. The population was 295,083 in the 2010 Census. Its territory, population and government are coextensive with the city of Lexington, which also serves as county seat....
, Jefferson
Jefferson County, Kentucky
As of the census of 2000, there were 693,604 people, 287,012 households, and 183,113 families residing in the county. The population density was . There were 305,835 housing units at an average density of...
, and Lincoln
Lincoln County, Kentucky
Lincoln County is a county located in the U.S. state of Kentucky. The population was 24,742 in the 2010 Cesus. Its county seat is Stanford. Lincoln is a prohibition or "dry county" and is part of the Danville Micropolitan Statistical Area.- History :...
. Militia officers of these counties included:
-
- Fayette County
- John Todd – county lieutenant and colonel (killed at Blue Licks in 1782)
- Daniel Boone – lieutenant colonel
- Jefferson County
- John Floyd – county lieutenant and colonel (killed 1783)
- Lincoln County
- Benjamin Logan – county lieutenant and colonel
- Stephen TriggStephen TriggStephen Trigg was an American pioneer and soldier from Virginia. He was killed ten months after the surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown in one of the last battles of the American Revolution while leading the Lincoln County, Virginia militia unit at the Battle of Blue Licks in present-day...
– lieutenant colonel (killed at Blue Licks in 1782)
In January 1781, Governor Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson was the principal author of the United States Declaration of Independence and the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom , the third President of the United States and founder of the University of Virginia...
appointed George Rogers Clark as brigadier general, a special position created for an expedition against Detroit that never materialized. As a general, Clark was the highest ranking militia officer in Kentucky and supervised the work of the three Kentucky county colonels.
Separation from Virginia
Several factors contributed to the desire of the residents of Kentucky County to separate from Virginia. First, traveling to the state capital was long and dangerous. Second, offensive use of local militia against Indian raids required authorization from the governor of Virginia. Last, Virginia refused to recognize the importance of trade along the Mississippi RiverMississippi River
The Mississippi River is the largest river system in North America. Flowing entirely in the United States, this river rises in western Minnesota and meanders slowly southwards for to the Mississippi River Delta at the Gulf of Mexico. With its many tributaries, the Mississippi's watershed drains...
to Kentucky's economy. Trade with the Spanish colony of New Orleans, which controlled the mouth of the Mississippi, was forbidden.
The magnitude of these problems increased with the population of Kentucky County, leading Colonel Benjamin Logan
Benjamin Logan
Benjamin Logan was an American pioneer, soldier, and politician from Shelby County, Kentucky. As colonel of the Kentucky County militia of Virginia during the American Revolutionary War, he was second-in-command of militia in Kentucky. Logan was a leader in Kentucky's efforts to become a state...
to call a constitutional convention in Danville
Danville, Kentucky
Danville is a city in and the county seat of Boyle County, Kentucky, United States. The population was 16,218 at the 2010 census.Danville is the principal city of the Danville Micropolitan Statistical Area, which includes all of Boyle and Lincoln counties....
in 1784. Over the next six years, nine more conventions were held. During one, General James Wilkinson
James Wilkinson
James Wilkinson was an American soldier and statesman, who was associated with several scandals and controversies. He served in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War, but was twice compelled to resign...
proposed secession
Secession
Secession is the act of withdrawing from an organization, union, or especially a political entity. Threats of secession also can be a strategy for achieving more limited goals.-Secession theory:...
from both Virginia and the United States to become a ward of Spain, but the idea was defeated. Finally, on June 1, 1792 the United States Congress
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....
accepted the Kentucky Constitution
Kentucky Constitution
The Constitution of the Commonwealth of Kentucky is the document that governs the Commonwealth of Kentucky. It was first adopted in 1792 and has since been rewritten three times and amended many more...
and admitted it as the 15th state.
Religious movements
The Second Great AwakeningSecond Great Awakening
The Second Great Awakening was a Christian revival movement during the early 19th century in the United States. The movement began around 1800, had begun to gain momentum by 1820, and was in decline by 1870. The Second Great Awakening expressed Arminian theology, by which every person could be...
, based in part on the Kentucky frontier, saw a rapid growth in church members. Revivals and missionaries converted many previously unchurched folk, and drew them into the Baptist, Methodist, Christian and Presbyterian churches.
In August 1801 at the Cane Ridge
Cane Ridge, Kentucky
Cane Ridge, Kentucky, USA was the site, in 1801, of a large camp meeting that drew thousands of people and had a lasting influence as one of the landmark events of the Second Great Awakening. Methodists, Baptists and Presbyterians all participated, and many of the "spiritual exercises", such as...
Meeting house in Bourbon County
Bourbon County, Kentucky
Bourbon County is a county located in the U.S. state of Kentucky. It is the remnant of what was previously a much larger Bourbon County, established as part of Virginia in 1785, and comprising what are now thirty-four modern Kentucky counties...
. As part of what is now known as the "Western Revival", attracted thousands of religious seekers under the leadership of Presbyterian preacher Barton W. Stone
Barton W. Stone
Barton Warren Stone was an important preacher during the Second Great Awakening of the early 19th century. He was first ordained a Presbyterian minister, then was expelled from the church after the Cane Ridge, Kentucky revival for his stated beliefs in faith as the sole prerequisite for salvation...
. The preaching, singing and converting went on for a week until both humans and horses ran out of food.
Baptists
The Baptists flourished in Kentucky. Many had immigrated as a body from Virginia. For examples, the Upper Spottsylvania Baptist congregation left Virginia and came to Kentucky in September 1781 as a group of 500 to 600 people. Some were slaveholders; among the slaves was Peter DurrettPeter Durrett
Peter Durrett was a Baptist preacher and slave, who with his wife founded the First African Baptist Church of Lexington, Kentucky by 1790. By his death, the congregation reached nearly 300 persons...
, who helped Capt. William Ellis guide the party. Held by Rev. Joseph Craig, Durrett was a Baptist preacher and part of Craig's congregation in 1784. About 1790 he founded the First African Baptist Church in Lexington, the oldest black Baptist congregation in Kentucky and the third oldest in the United States. He was so popular that his funeral was said to be second in size only to that of the statesman Henry Clay
Henry Clay
Henry Clay, Sr. , was a lawyer, politician and skilled orator who represented Kentucky separately in both the Senate and in the House of Representatives...
.
Many anti-slavery Virginians moved to Kentucky as well, making the new state a battleground over slavery. Churches and friends divided over the issue of the immorality of slaveholding; in Kentucky the antislavery position was marginalized both politically and geographically. Emancipationist Baptists created their own churches in Kentucky around antislavery principles. While emancipationists viewed their cause as one with republican ideals of virtue
Republicanism in the United States
Republicanism is the political value system that has been a major part of American civic thought since the American Revolution. It stresses liberty and inalienable rights as central values, makes the people as a whole sovereign, supports activist government to promote the common good, rejects...
, the proslavery Baptists insisted there was a boundary between church and state; this allowed them to define slavery as a civil matter. The proslavery position, based on the importance of slave labor on many plantations, became the dominant Baptist belief in Kentucky. Emancipationist leadership declined through death and emigration, and Baptists in the Upper South healed rifts in their churches and associations.
Disciples
Barton W. StoneBarton W. Stone
Barton Warren Stone was an important preacher during the Second Great Awakening of the early 19th century. He was first ordained a Presbyterian minister, then was expelled from the church after the Cane Ridge, Kentucky revival for his stated beliefs in faith as the sole prerequisite for salvation...
(1772–1844) founded the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)
Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)
The Christian Church is a Mainline Protestant denomination in North America. It is often referred to as The Christian Church, The Disciples of Christ, or more simply as The Disciples...
in the 1830s, when his followers joined with the followers of Alexander Campbell
Alexander Campbell
Alexander Campbell may refer to:Canadian politicians:* Alexander Campbell * Alexander Franklin Campbell , Canadian politician...
. Stone broke with his Presbyterian background to form the new sect that rejected Calvinism
Calvinism
Calvinism is a Protestant theological system and an approach to the Christian life...
, required weekly communion and the baptism of adults, accepted the Bible as the source of truth, and sought to restore the values of primitive Christianity.
Earthquake
In late 1811 and early 1812, Western Kentucky was heavily damaged by a series of earthquakes referred to as the New Madrid earthquakeNew Madrid earthquake
The 1811-1812 New Madrid earthquakes were an intense intraplate earthquake series beginning with an initial pair of very large earthquakes on December 16, 1811. These earthquakes remain the most powerful earthquakes ever to hit the eastern United States in recorded history...
, the largest recorded earthquake in the contiguous United States. These earthquakes caused the Mississippi River to change course, thus creating the Kentucky Bend
Kentucky Bend
The Kentucky Bend, variously called the New Madrid Bend, Madrid Bend, Bessie Bend, or Bubbleland, is an exclave of Fulton County, Kentucky, in the United States....
. The "west" began at the Appalachians and young Lexington was the cultural center of the region. It claimed to be the "Athens of the West."
Louisville and Lexington
Kentucky was heavily rural, but two important cities emerged. LouisvilleLouisville, Kentucky
Louisville is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kentucky, and the county seat of Jefferson County. Since 2003, the city's borders have been coterminous with those of the county because of a city-county merger. The city's population at the 2010 census was 741,096...
emerged as the largest city in the state, as the growth of commerce facilitated by steamboats and the construction of railroads made it the commercial center of the state. It attracted many Germans and Irish Catholic immigrants during their large mid-19th-century emigrations from Europe.
Lexington
Lexington, Kentucky
Lexington is the second-largest city in Kentucky and the 63rd largest in the US. Known as the "Thoroughbred City" and the "Horse Capital of the World", it is located in the heart of Kentucky's Bluegrass region...
was the center of the Bluegrass Region
Bluegrass region
The Bluegrass Region is a geographic region in the state of Kentucky, United States. It occupies the northern part of the state and since European settlement has contained a majority of the state's population and its largest cities....
, an agricultural area featuring production of tobacco and hemp
Hemp
Hemp is mostly used as a name for low tetrahydrocannabinol strains of the plant Cannabis sativa, of fiber and/or oilseed varieties. In modern times, hemp has been used for industrial purposes including paper, textiles, biodegradable plastics, construction, health food and fuel with modest...
, as well as the breeding and training of high-quality livestock, including horses. It was the base for many prominent planters
Plantations in the American South
Plantations were an important aspect of the history of the American South, particularly the antebellum .-Planter :The owner of a plantation was called a planter...
, most notably Henry Clay
Henry Clay
Henry Clay, Sr. , was a lawyer, politician and skilled orator who represented Kentucky separately in both the Senate and in the House of Representatives...
, who became a politician and statesman
Statesman
A statesman is usually a politician or other notable public figure who has had a long and respected career in politics or government at the national and international level. As a term of respect, it is usually left to supporters or commentators to use the term...
. This central part of the state had the highest concentration of enslaved
Slavery
Slavery is a system under which people are treated as property to be bought and sold, and are forced to work. Slaves can be held against their will from the time of their capture, purchase or birth, and deprived of the right to leave, to refuse to work, or to demand compensation...
African Americans, whose labor supported the plantation economy.
War with Mexico
In 1846 Kentucky paid close attention to the Mexican war. Some citizens enthusiastically supported the war, while others—especially WhigsWhig Party (United States)
The Whig Party was a political party of the United States during the era of Jacksonian democracy. Considered integral to the Second Party System and operating from the early 1830s to the mid-1850s, the party was formed in opposition to the policies of President Andrew Jackson and his Democratic...
who followed Henry Clay
Henry Clay
Henry Clay, Sr. , was a lawyer, politician and skilled orator who represented Kentucky separately in both the Senate and in the House of Representatives...
, opposed the war and refused to participate. The quest for honor was especially important, as a rising generation sought their self-identity and a link with heroic ancestors. The state easily met its quota of 2500 volunteer troops in 1846 and 1847. Although the war's popularity declined after a year or two, clear majorities supported it throughout, in part because residents believed victory would bring new lands for the expansion of slavery.
Kentuckian units won praise at the battles of Monterey and Buena Vista. Although many took sick, few died. Gaining honor and glory, as well as emotional maturity and a sense of the world at large, Kentucky units returned home in triumph. The war weakened the Whig party as the Democratic party rose to dominance during this period.
Civil War period
Border states (Civil War)
In the context of the American Civil War, the border states were slave states that did not declare their secession from the United States before April 1861...
during the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
. The state was officially neutral until a new legislature took office on August 5, 1861 with strong Union sympathies. The majority of the Commonwealth's citizens also had strong Union sympathies. On September 4, 1861, Confederate
Confederate States of America
The Confederate States of America was a government set up from 1861 to 1865 by 11 Southern slave states of the United States of America that had declared their secession from the U.S...
General Leonidas Polk
Leonidas Polk
Leonidas Polk was a Confederate general in the American Civil War who was once a planter in Maury County, Tennessee, and a second cousin of President James K. Polk...
broke Kentucky's neutrality by invading Columbus, Kentucky
Columbus, Kentucky
Columbus is a city in Hickman County, Kentucky, United States. The population was 229 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Columbus is located at .According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , all of it land....
. As a result of the Confederate invasion, Union General Ulysses S. Grant
Ulysses S. Grant
Ulysses S. Grant was the 18th President of the United States as well as military commander during the Civil War and post-war Reconstruction periods. Under Grant's command, the Union Army defeated the Confederate military and ended the Confederate States of America...
entered Paducah, Kentucky
Paducah, Kentucky
Paducah is the largest city in Kentucky's Jackson Purchase Region and the county seat of McCracken County, Kentucky, United States. It is located at the confluence of the Tennessee River and the Ohio River, halfway between the metropolitan areas of St. Louis, Missouri, to the west and Nashville,...
. On September 7, 1861, the Kentucky State Legislature, angered by the Confederate invasion, ordered the Union flag to be raised over the state capitol in Frankfort
Frankfort, Kentucky
Frankfort is a city in Kentucky that serves as the state capital and the county seat of Franklin County. The population was 27,741 at the 2000 census; by population it is the 5th smallest state capital in the United States...
, declaring its allegiance with the Union. In November 1861, during the Russellville Convention, Southern sympathizers attempted to establish an alternative state government with the goal of secession but failed to displace the legitimate government in Frankfort. On August 13, 1862, Confederate General Edmund Kirby Smith
Edmund Kirby Smith
Edmund Kirby Smith was a career United States Army officer and educator. He served as a general in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War, notable for his command of the Trans-Mississippi Department of the Confederacy after the fall of Vicksburg.After the conflict ended Smith...
's Army of East Tennessee
Tennessee
Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...
invaded Kentucky and on August 28, 1862, Confederate General Braxton Bragg
Braxton Bragg
Braxton Bragg was a career United States Army officer, and then a general in the Confederate States Army—a principal commander in the Western Theater of the American Civil War and later the military adviser to Confederate President Jefferson Davis.Bragg, a native of North Carolina, was...
's Army of Mississippi entered Kentucky beginning the Kentucky Campaign. Bragg's retreat following the Battle of Perryville
Battle of Perryville
The Battle of Perryville, also known as the Battle of Chaplin Hills, was fought on October 8, 1862, in the Chaplin Hills west of Perryville, Kentucky, as the culmination of the Confederate Heartland Offensive during the American Civil War. Confederate Gen. Braxton Bragg's Army of Mississippi won a...
left the state under the control of the Union Army for the remainder of the war.
Reconstruction
Although Kentucky was a slave state, it was not subject to military occupation during the Reconstruction Period. It was subject to the Freedmen's Bureau and a congressional investigation into the propriety of its elected officials. During the election of 1865, ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment was a major political issue. Kentucky eventually rejected the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments. Democrats prevailed in the election, and one of their first acts was to repeal the Expatriation Act of 1862, thus restoring the citizenship of Confederates.Postwar violence
After the war, the Ku Klux KlanKu Klux Klan
Ku Klux Klan, often abbreviated KKK and informally known as the Klan, is the name of three distinct past and present far-right organizations in the United States, which have advocated extremist reactionary currents such as white supremacy, white nationalism, and anti-immigration, historically...
was quite active in Kentucky, as some people sought to re-establish white supremacy. Between 1867 and 1881, the Frankfort Weekly Commonwealth newspaper reported 115 incidents of shooting, lynching, and whipping of blacks.
Feuds
Kentucky became internationally known for its violent feuds, especially in the mountains. They pitted the men in extended clans against each other for decades, often using assassination and arson as weapons, along with ambushes, gunfights, and pre-arranged shootouts. Some of the feuds were continuations of violent local Civil War episodes. Journalists often wrote about the violence, using stereotypes that city folks had developed about Appalachia; they interpreted the feuds as the inevitable product of profound ignorance, poverty, and isolation, and perhaps even interbreeding. In reality, the leading participants were typically well-to-do local elites with networks of clients who were fighting for local political power.Gilded Age
The Gilded Age saw the emergence of a women's suffrageWomen's suffrage
Women's suffrage or woman suffrage is the right of women to vote and to run for office. The expression is also used for the economic and political reform movement aimed at extending these rights to women and without any restrictions or qualifications such as property ownership, payment of tax, or...
movement. Laura Clay
Laura Clay
Laura Clay , co-founder and first president of the Kentucky Equal Rights Association, was a leader of the American women’s suffrage movement...
, daughter of noted abolitionist Cassius Clay
Cassius Marcellus Clay (abolitionist)
Cassius Marcellus Clay , nicknamed "The Lion of White Hall", was an emancipationist from Madison County, Kentucky, United States who served as the American minister to Russia...
, was the most prominent leader. At he same time a prohibition movement began, which was challenged by the distillers (based in the Bluegrass) and the saloonkeepers (based in the cities).
Kentucky's hemp industry declined as manila
Manila hemp
Manila hemp, also known as manilla, is a type of fiber obtained from the leaves of the abacá , a relative of the banana. It is mostly used for pulping for a range of uses, including speciality papers. It was once used mainly to make manila rope, but this is now of minor importance...
became the world's primary source of rope fiber. This led to an increase in tobacco production, which was already the largest cash crop of Kentucky.
Assassination of Governor Goebel
In 1860–1900 German immigrants settled in cities in northern Kentucky, especially Louisville. The most famous ethnic German leader in the late 19th century was William GoebelWilliam Goebel
William Justus Goebel was an American politician who served as the 34th Governor of Kentucky for a few days in 1900 after having been mortally wounded by an assassin the day before he was sworn in...
(1856–1900). From his base in Covington
Covington, Kentucky
-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 43,370 people, 18,257 households, and 10,132 families residing in the city. The population density was 3,301.3 people per square mile . There were 20,448 housing units at an average density of 1,556.5 per square mile...
, he became a state senator in 1887, fought the railroads, and took control of the state Democratic party in the mid 1890s. Goebel's 1895 election law took control of vote counting away from local officials and gave it to officials controlled by the Assembly, which the Democrats controlled. He used that power to be certified as governor in 1900. The apparent election
Kentucky gubernatorial election, 1899
The Kentucky gubernatorial election of 1899 was held on November 7, 1899, to choose the 33rd governor of Kentucky. The incumbent, Republican William O'Connell Bradley, was term-limited and unable to seek re-election....
of William S. Taylor
William S. Taylor
William Sylvester Taylor was the 33rd Governor of Kentucky. He was initially declared the winner of the disputed gubernatorial election of 1899, but the Kentucky General Assembly reversed the election results, giving the victory to his opponent, William Goebel...
as governor on the Republican ticket in 1899 was an unexpected turn of events.
The Kentucky Senate
Kentucky Senate
The Kentucky Senate is the upper house of the Kentucky General Assembly. The Kentucky Senate is composed of 38 members elected from single-member districts throughout the Commonwealth. There are no term limits for Kentucky Senators...
formed a special Committee of Inquiry packed with Democratic members. As it became apparent to Taylor's supporters that the committee would decide in favor of Goebel, they raised an armed force. On January 19, 1900, more than 1,500 armed civilians took possession of the Capitol
Kentucky State Capitol
The Kentucky State Capitol is located in Frankfort and is the house of the three branches of the state government of the Commonwealth of Kentucky...
. For more than two weeks, the United States watched as the Commonwealth of Kentucky slid towards civil war. The presiding governor declared martial law and activated the official Kentucky militia. On January 30, 1900, Goebel, accompanied by two bodyguards, was shot by a sniper as he approached the Capitol. Though mortally wounded, Goebel was sworn in as Governor of the Commonwealth of Kentucky the next day. Goebel died from his wounds on February 3, 1900.
For nearly four months after Governor Goebel's death, Kentucky had two officials functioning as the commonwealth's chief executive: Republican Taylor, who insisted he was the governor, and Democrat J. C. W. Beckham
J. C. W. Beckham
John Crepps Wickliffe Beckham was the 35th Governor of Kentucky and a United States Senator from Kentucky...
, running mate of Governor Goebel, who was sworn in when the latter died. Beckham requested federal aid to determine Kentucky's chief executive. The U.S. Supreme Court finally reached a decision on May 26, 1900, upholding the Commission's ruling that Goebel was Kentucky's governor. Since his Lieutenant Governor (Beckham) had followed Kentucky's line of succession, Beckham was now governor.
Immediately following the court's decision, Taylor fled to Indiana. He was later indicted as one of the conspirators in the assassination. Attempts to extradite him failed, and Taylor remained in Indiana until he died. Realizing how close they came to civil war, Kentucky leaders calmed the voters and managed to finish the decade with less heat and little violence.
The early twentieth century
The coal industry made dramatic progress between the turn of the century and World War I. Many Kentuckians made the change from subsistence farming to coal mining, particularly in the Appalachian region. Many others left the state for better-paying jobs in manufacturing and industrial cities in the Midwest.World War I and 1920s
Like the rest of the country, Kentucky experienced dramatic inflation during the war years. Much infrastructureInfrastructure
Infrastructure is basic physical and organizational structures needed for the operation of a society or enterprise, or the services and facilities necessary for an economy to function...
was created; the state built many roads to accommodate the increasing popularity of the automobile. The war also led to the clear cutting of thousands of acres of Kentucky timber.
The tobacco and whiskey industries had boom years during the teens, although Prohibition
Prohibition
Prohibition of alcohol, often referred to simply as prohibition, is the practice of prohibiting the manufacture, transportation, import, export, sale, and consumption of alcohol and alcoholic beverages. The term can also apply to the periods in the histories of the countries during which the...
seriously harmed the economy when the Eighteenth Amendment
Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution
The Eighteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution established Prohibition in the United States. The separate Volstead Act set down methods of enforcing the Eighteenth Amendment, and defined which "intoxicating liquors" were prohibited, and which were excluded from prohibition...
took effect. Prohibition led to widespread bootlegging
Rum-running
Rum-running, also known as bootlegging, is the illegal business of transporting alcoholic beverages where such transportation is forbidden by law...
, which continued into the middle of the century.
Congressman Alben W. Barkley
Alben W. Barkley
Alben William Barkley was an American politician in the Democratic Party who served as the 35th Vice President of the United States , under President Harry S. Truman....
gained statewide stature by leading a crusade against the coal and gambling special interests during his 1923 campaign for Governor of Kentucky. Barkley narrowly lost the Democratic gubernatorial nomination. That sole electoral defeat helped propel him into the U.S. Senate in 1926. Barkley became US Senate leader for the Democrats in 1937 and vice president with Harry S. Truman
Harry S. Truman
Harry S. Truman was the 33rd President of the United States . As President Franklin D. Roosevelt's third vice president and the 34th Vice President of the United States , he succeeded to the presidency on April 12, 1945, when President Roosevelt died less than three months after beginning his...
in 1948.
In the 1920s the progressives focused their attacks on gambling. The anti-gambling crusade sprang from the religious attack on machine politics led by Helm Bruce and the Louisville Churchmen's Federation. The reformers had their greatest support in rural Kentucky, with support from the Ku Klux Klan
Ku Klux Klan
Ku Klux Klan, often abbreviated KKK and informally known as the Klan, is the name of three distinct past and present far-right organizations in the United States, which have advocated extremist reactionary currents such as white supremacy, white nationalism, and anti-immigration, historically...
and Fundamentalist Protestant clergymen. Barkley became the political spokesman of the anti-gambling group and nearly secured the Democratic gubernatorial nomination in 1923; four years later, former governor J. C. W. Beckham won the party's nomination as the anti-gambling candidate. Urban Democrats deserted Beckham, however, and Republican Flem Sampson was elected. Beckham's defeat marked the end of the Progressive movement in Kentucky.
The Great Depression
Like the rest of the country and much of the world, Kentucky faced great difficulty with the arrival of the Great DepressionGreat Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
in the late 1920s. There was widespread unemployment and little economic growth. On the other hand, New Deal
New Deal
The New Deal was a series of economic programs implemented in the United States between 1933 and 1936. They were passed by the U.S. Congress during the first term of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The programs were Roosevelt's responses to the Great Depression, and focused on what historians call...
programs greatly improved the educational system in the state and led to the construction and improvement of a great deal of infrastructure. The creation of roads, construction of telephone lines, and rural electrification
Rural electrification
Rural electrification is the process of bringing electrical power to rural and remote areas. Electricity is used not only for lighting and household purposes, but it also allows for mechanization of many farming operations, such as threshing, milking, and hoisting grain for storage; in areas...
were significant developments for the state. The creation of the Kentucky Dam
Kentucky Dam
Kentucky Dam is a hydroelectric dam on the Tennessee River on the county line between Livingston County and Marshall County in the U.S. state of Kentucky...
and its hydroelectric power plant greatly improved the lives of Western Kentuckians. Both the Cumberland River
Cumberland River
The Cumberland River is a waterway in the Southern United States. It is long. It starts in Harlan County in far southeastern Kentucky between Pine and Cumberland mountains, flows through southern Kentucky, crosses into northern Tennessee, and then curves back up into western Kentucky before...
and the Mississippi River
Mississippi River
The Mississippi River is the largest river system in North America. Flowing entirely in the United States, this river rises in western Minnesota and meanders slowly southwards for to the Mississippi River Delta at the Gulf of Mexico. With its many tributaries, the Mississippi's watershed drains...
saw extensive improvements in navigability and flood control.
The 1938 Democratic Senate primary featured an intense showdown between Barkley, liberal spokesman for the New Deal
New Deal
The New Deal was a series of economic programs implemented in the United States between 1933 and 1936. They were passed by the U.S. Congress during the first term of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The programs were Roosevelt's responses to the Great Depression, and focused on what historians call...
, and conservative governor Happy Chandler
Happy Chandler
Albert Benjamin "Happy" Chandler, Sr. was a politician from the US state of Kentucky. He represented the state in the U.S. Senate and served as its 44th and 49th governor. Aside from his political positions, he also served as the second Commissioner of Major League Baseball from 1945 to 1951 and...
. The governor was a gifted public speaker, combining voice control, emotionalism, and singing with an unusual ability to personalize his speeches. He could remember everyone's name, and in turn they became emotionally involved in his campaign speeches. Barkley's methodical campaigning was bolstered by President Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt , also known by his initials, FDR, was the 32nd President of the United States and a central figure in world events during the mid-20th century, leading the United States during a time of worldwide economic crisis and world war...
's strong endorsement. Barkley handily defeated the Chandler, with 56% of the vote. Farmers, labor unions, and city machines gave Barkley his margin, a vote which reaffirmed the popularity of the New Deal in Kentucky. Only a few months later, Chandler was appointed to the state's other Senate seat upon the death of Senator Mills Logan. [
The 1937 flood
Beginning in January 1937, the Ohio RiverOhio River
The Ohio River is the largest tributary, by volume, of the Mississippi River. At the confluence, the Ohio is even bigger than the Mississippi and, thus, is hydrologically the main stream of the whole river system, including the Allegheny River further upstream...
was in various flood stages for three months. The flood led to river fires when oil tanks in Cincinnati, Ohio were destroyed in the flood. In Kentucky, one-third of Kenton and Campbell counties were submerged, and 70% of the Louisville
Louisville, Kentucky
Louisville is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kentucky, and the county seat of Jefferson County. Since 2003, the city's borders have been coterminous with those of the county because of a city-county merger. The city's population at the 2010 census was 741,096...
was under water for over a week. Paducah, Owensboro, and other Purchase area cities were devastated. Damages from the flood (nationwide) totaled 20 million dollars without adjusting for inflation. It led to extensive flood prevention efforts in the Purchase area, including the distinctive flood wall at Paducah.
World War II
For Kentucky, World War II signified the increased importance of industry and decreased importance of agriculture for the state's economy. The war led to expansion of Fort KnoxFort Knox
Fort Knox is a United States Army post in Kentucky south of Louisville and north of Elizabethtown. The base covers parts of Bullitt, Hardin, and Meade counties. It currently holds the Army Human Resources Center of Excellence to include the Army Human Resources Command, United States Army Cadet...
as well as the creation of an ordinance plant in Louisville. Louisville became the world's largest source of artificial rubber. Shipyards at Jeffersonville and elsewhere generated numerous skilled jobs. Louisville's Ford manufacturing center produced almost 100,000 Jeep
Jeep
Jeep is an automobile marque of Chrysler . The first Willys Jeeps were produced in 1941 with the first civilian models in 1945, making it the oldest off-road vehicle and sport utility vehicle brand. It inspired a number of other light utility vehicles, such as the Land Rover which is the second...
s during the war. The war also lead to a greater demand for higher education, as technical skills were more in demand both during the war and afterwards.
Kentuckians during the war
Husband Kimmel of Henderson County commanded the Pacific Fleet. Sixty-six men from Harrodsburg were on the Bataan Death MarchBataan Death March
The Bataan Death March was the forcible transfer, by the Imperial Japanese Army, of 75,000 American and Filipino prisoners of war after the three-month Battle of Bataan in the Philippines during World War II, which resulted in the deaths of thousands of prisoners.The march was characterized by...
. Edgar Erskine Hume of Frankfort served as the military governor of Rome after its capture. Kentucky native Franklin Sousley
Franklin Sousley
Franklin Runyon Sousley was one of the six men in the famous photograph of United States Marines raising the flag on Iwo Jima in World War II.-Childhood:...
was depicted in the photograph showing the raising of the flag at Iwo Jima. As a prisoner of war, Harrodsburg resident John Sadler witnessed the atom
Atom
The atom is a basic unit of matter that consists of a dense central nucleus surrounded by a cloud of negatively charged electrons. The atomic nucleus contains a mix of positively charged protons and electrically neutral neutrons...
ic bombing of Nagasaki, Japan. Seven Kentuckians received the Medal of Honor
Medal of Honor
The Medal of Honor is the highest military decoration awarded by the United States government. It is bestowed by the President, in the name of Congress, upon members of the United States Armed Forces who distinguish themselves through "conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his or her...
. 7,917 Kentuckians died during the war; 306,364 served.
Rose Will Monroe, one of the models for "Rosie the Riveter
Rosie the Riveter
Rosie the Riveter is a cultural icon of the United States, representing the American women who worked in factories during World War II, many of whom produced munitions and war supplies. These women sometimes took entirely new jobs replacing the male workers who were in the military...
," was a native of Pulaski County.
1945–1980
In the years afterward, the Interstate Highway SystemInterstate Highway System
The Dwight D. Eisenhower National System of Interstate and Defense Highways, , is a network of limited-access roads including freeways, highways, and expressways forming part of the National Highway System of the United States of America...
helped connect even the most remote areas of Kentucky to one another.
Progressive, solid, and unspectacular, Democrat Lawrence W. Wetherby served as governor during 1950–55. As lieutenant governor under Earle Clements, was out of the limelight. After Clements moved on to the US Senate, Wetherby took over and was elected to his own term in 1951, emphasizing the themes of roads, tourism, and economic development. One of the few Southern governors who worked to carry out desegregation after the Brown Decision in 1954, Wetherby's administration ran into a string of bad luck and its candidate for governor, Bert Combs, was defeated by Happy Chandler in 1955.
Agriculture, though still important, was supplanted in many areas by industry. By 1970, Kentucky had more urban residents than rural residents. Although decreasing in overall importance, tobacco production remains an important part of the state economy, bolstered by New Deal legacy that gives financial advantages to holders of tobacco allotments.
Civil rights
During the 1960s, the Woolworth's StoreF. W. Woolworth Building (Lexington, Kentucky)
The Woolworth, F.W., Building was a historic department store building located in Lexington, Kentucky, that served as a retail location for the F. W. Woolworth Company from 1946 to 1990. It was designed by Frederick W...
in Lexington
Lexington, Kentucky
Lexington is the second-largest city in Kentucky and the 63rd largest in the US. Known as the "Thoroughbred City" and the "Horse Capital of the World", it is located in the heart of Kentucky's Bluegrass region...
ended practices of segregation
Racial segregation
Racial segregation is the separation of humans into racial groups in daily life. It may apply to activities such as eating in a restaurant, drinking from a water fountain, using a public toilet, attending school, going to the movies, or in the rental or purchase of a home...
as a result of successful local civil rights sit-in. This was part of an era of activist efforts to achieve integration. Due to demographic and economic changes, Woolworth went out of business in 1990 and the historic building was demolished in 2004.
Governor Edward Thompson "Ned" Breathitt, Jr., took pride in his civil rights leadership as governor 1963–67. Race was a major issue in his victories in the 1963 primary and general elections. At the urging of President Lyndon B. Johnson
Lyndon B. Johnson
Lyndon Baines Johnson , often referred to as LBJ, was the 36th President of the United States after his service as the 37th Vice President of the United States...
, Breathitt led the National Governors Conference in supporting the Civil Rights Act of 1964
Civil Rights Act of 1964
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was a landmark piece of legislation in the United States that outlawed major forms of discrimination against African Americans and women, including racial segregation...
. Johnson later appointed Breathitt to the "To Secure These Rights" commission, charged with implementing the Act. Breathitt was unable to get a civil rights bill passed by the state general assembly in 1964, but did pass a bill in 1966. Breathitt said that civil rights legislation would have passed without him. He thought his opposition to strip mining had more to do with the demise of his political career.
Since 1980
Martha Layne CollinsMartha Layne Collins
Martha Layne Collins is a politician from the US state of Kentucky. From 1983 to 1987 she was the 56th Governor of Kentucky, having served the previous four years as lieutenant governor. She was Kentucky's first and only female governor to date...
served as Kentucky's first woman governor from 1983 to 1987 and cochaired the Democratic National Convention in 1984. Prior to that, Collins had been a schoolteacher and party worker for the state's Democrats at all levels and served as lieutenant governor from 1979 to 1983. In 1983, she defeated Jim Bunning
Jim Bunning
James Paul David "Jim" Bunning is an American former Major League Baseball pitcher and politician.During a 17-year baseball career, he pitched from 1955 to 1971, most notably with the Detroit Tigers and the Philadelphia Phillies. When he retired, he had the second-highest total of career...
for the governorship. Throughout her public life she emphasized education and economic development; a feminist, she viewed all issues as "women's issues." She took special pride in having procured the Toyota plant for Georgetown. Nevertheless in 2000, the state ranked 49th in the percentage of females serving in state or national political offices. The traditional system has favored "old boys" thanks to political elites, incumbency, and long-entrenched political networks.
Paul E. Patton
Paul E. Patton
Paul Edward Patton was the 59th governor of Kentucky, serving from 1995 to 2003. Because of a 1992 amendment to the Kentucky Constitution, he was the first governor eligible to succeed himself in office since James Garrard in 1800...
, a Democrat, served as governor from 1995 to 2003. Winning a close race in 1995, he benefited from economic good times and succeeded with most of his initiatives and priorities. After winning reelection by a large margin in 1999, Patton suffered from the state's economic reversal and also from public exposure of an extramarital affair. Near the end of his second term, Patton was also accused of abusing his patronage powers and incurred further criticism when he pardoned four of his former supporters who had been convicted of violating the state's campaign finance laws.
Surveys and reference
- Abramson, Rudy and Haskell, Jean, editors (2006). Encyclopedia of AppalachiaEncyclopedia of AppalachiaThe Encyclopedia of Appalachia is the first encyclopedia dedicated to the region, people, culture, history, and geography of Appalachia. Appalachia is a region of the United States named for the significant mountain system which stretches through fourteen states: Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky,...
, University of Tennessee Press. ISBN 1-57233-456-8 - Bodley, Temple and Samuel M. Wilson. History of Kentucky 4 vols. (1928)
- Channing, Steven. Kentucky: A Bicentennial History (1977); popular overview
- Clark, Thomas Dionysius. A History of Kentucky (many editions, 1937–1992); long the standard textbook
- Collins, Lewis. History of Kentucky (1880); old but highly detailed online edition
- Harrison, Lowell H. and James C. Klotter. A New History of Kentucky (1997), the standard history by leading scholars
- Ford, Thomas R. ed. The Southern Appalachian Region: A Survey. (1967); includes highly detailed statistics
- Kleber, John E. et al. The Kentucky Encyclopedia (1992); standard reference history
- Klotter, James C. Our Kentucky: A Study of the Bluegrass State (2000); high school text
- Klotter, James C. Kentucky: Portrait in Paradox, 1900–1950 (2006)
- Klotter, James C. and Freda C. Klotter. A Concise History of Kentucky (2008)
- Lucas, Marion Brunson and Wright, George C. A History of Blacks in Kentucky 2 vols. (1992)
- Share, Allen J. Cities in the Commonwealth: Two Centuries of Urban Life in Kentucky (1982)
- Tapp, Hambleton, and James C. Klotter. Kentucky: Decades of Discord, 1865–1900 (2008)
- Wallis, Frederick A. and Hambleton Tapp. A Sesqui-Centennial History of Kentucky 4 vols. (1945)
- Ward, William S., A Literary History of Kentucky (1988) (ISBN 0-87049-578-X)
- WPA, Kentucky: A Guide to the Bluegrass State (1939); classic guide
Specialized scholarly studies
- Bakeless, John. Daniel Boone, Master of the Wilderness (1989)
- Blakey, George T. Hard Times and New Deal in Kentucky, 1929–1939 (1986)
- Coulter, E. Merton. The Civil War and Readjustment in Kentucky (1926)
- Davis, Alice. "Heroes: Kentucky's Artists from Statehood to the New Millennium" (2004)
- Eller, Ronald D. Miners, Millhands, and Mountaineers: Industrialization of the Appalachian South, 1880–1930 1982
- Ellis, William E. The Kentucky River (2000)
- Eslinger, Ellen. "Farming on the Kentucky Frontier," Register of the Kentucky Historical Society, 107 (Winter 2009), 3–32.
- Faragher, John Mack. Daniel Boone (1993)
- Fenton, John H. Politics in the Border States: A Study of the Patterns of Political Organization, and Political Change, Common to the Border States: Maryland, West Virginia, Kentucky, and Missouri (1957)
- Heidler, David S., and Jeanne T. Heidler. Henry Clay: The Essential American (2010); scholarly biography
- Ireland, Robert M. The County in Kentucky History (1976) full text online
- Klotter, James C. Kentucky: Portrait in Paradox, 1900–1950 (1992)
- Marshall, Anne E. Creating a Confederate Kentucky: The Lost Cause and Civil War Memory in a Border State (University of North Carolina Press; 2010) 272 pages
- Pearce, John Ed. Divide and Dissent: Kentucky Politics, 1930–1963 (1987)
- Pudup, Mary Beth, Dwight B. Billings, and Altina L. Waller, eds. Appalachia in the Making: The Mountain South in the Nineteenth Century. (1995)
- Reid, Darren R. (ed.) Daniel Boone and Others on the Kentucky Frontier: Autobiographies and Narratives, 1769–1795 (2009) ISBN 978-0-7864-4377-2
- Remini, Robert V. Henry Clay: Statesman for the Union (1991); scholarly biography
- Sonne, Niels Henry. Liberal Kentucky, 1780–1828 (1939) online edition
- Tapp, Hambleton and James C Klotter. Kentucky Decades of Discord, 1865–1900 (1977)
- Townsend, William H. Lincoln and the Bluegrass: Slavery and Civil War in Kentucky (1955); online edition
- Waldrep, Christopher Night Riders: Defending Community in the Black Patch, 1890–1915 (1993); tobacco wars online edition
Primary sources
- Cantrell, Doug, et al. eds. Kentucky Through The Centuries: A Collection Of Documents And Essays (2009), 474pp
- Chandler, Albert B. Heroes, Plain Folks, and Skunks: The Life and Times of Happy Chandler (1989)
See also
- Thomas D. ClarkThomas D. ClarkThomas Dionysius Clark was perhaps Kentucky's most notable historian. Clark saved from destruction a large portion of Kentucky's printed history, which later become a core body of documents in the Kentucky Department for Libraries and Archives...
(1903–2005) – Historian LaureateLaureateIn English, the word laureate has come to signify eminence or association with literary or military glory. It is also used for winners of the Nobel Prize.-History:...
of the Commonwealth of Kentucky - The Filson Historical SocietyThe Filson Historical SocietyThe Filson Historical Society is a historical society located in the Old Louisville neighborhood of Louisville, Kentucky. The organization was founded in 1884 and named after early Kentucky explorer John Filson, who wrote The Discovery, Settlement, and Present State of Kentucke, which included one...
- History of Louisville, KentuckyHistory of Louisville, KentuckyThe history of Louisville, Kentucky spans hundreds of years, with thousands of years of human habitation. The area's geography and location on the Ohio River attracted people from the earliest times. The city is located at the Falls of the Ohio River...
- History of the Southern United StatesHistory of the Southern United StatesThe history of the Southern United States reaches back hundreds of years and includes the Mississippian people, well known for their mound building. European history in the region began in the very earliest days of the exploration and colonization of North America...
- Kentucky Historical SocietyKentucky Historical SocietyThe Kentucky Historical Society , established in 1836, is committed to helping people understand, cherish and share Kentucky's history. The KHS history campus, located in historic downtown Frankfort, Kentucky, includes the Thomas D. Clark Center for Kentucky History, the Old State Capitol and the...
- Timeline of Kentucky historyTimeline of Kentucky history- Early history :*Before 1750, Kentucky was populated nearly exclusively by Cherokee, Chickasaw, Shawnee and several other tribes of Native Americans See also Pre-Columbian...