History of Arkansas

Important dates in Arkansas's history Flag of Arkansas

1541 Hernando de Soto explores Arkansas 1686 Henri de Tonti establishes Arkansas Post April 30, 1803 Louisiana Purchase Treaty signed December 16, 1811 New Madrid earthquake July 4, 1819 Arkansas Territory organized June 15, 1836 Arkansas becomes 25th state May 6, 1861 Arkansas secedes from United States of America June 22, 1868 Arkansas is readmitted to United States of America Spring 1874 Brooks–Baxter War January 10, 1921 Oil discovered around Smackover March 4, 1921 Hot Springs National Park established Spring 1927 The Mississippi floods and ravages the Delta September 4, 1957 Arkansas National Guard deployed to protect Little Rock Nine January 20, 1993 Bill Clinton inaugurated as President of the United States 2002 Walmart identified as world's largest corporation More...

Arkansas was the 25th state admitted to the United States.

Early French explorers of the territory gave it its name, a corruption of Akansea, which is a phonetic spelling of the Illinois word for the People of the South Wind, now called the Quapaw, who were descendents of the Illinois people who had migrated down the Mississippi River.

Early Arkansas

Archaic and Paleo periods

Woolly Mammoths were the primary source of food for early inhabitants of Arkansas.

Main articles: Archaic period in the Americas and Paleo-Indians

Beginning around 11700 B.C.E., the first indigenous peoples inhabited the area now known as Arkansas after crossing today's Bering Strait, formerly Beringia. The first people in modern-day Arkansas likely hunted woolly mammoths by running them off cliffs or using clovis points, and began to fish as major rivers began to thaw towards the end of the last great ice age. Forests also began to grow around 9500 BCE, allowing for more gathering by native peoples. Crude containers became a necessity for storing gathered items. Since mammoths had became extinct, hunting bison and deer became more common. These early peoples of Arkansas likely lived in base camps and departed on hunting trips for months at a time.

Woodland and Mississippi periods

Burial mounds, such as this one at Toltec Mounds Archeological State Park in northeast Arkansas, became more common during the Woodland Period.

Main articles: Woodland period and Mississippian culture

Further warming led to the beginnings of agriculture in Arkansas around 650 BCE. Fields consisted of clearings, and Native Americans would begin to form villages around the plot of trees they had cleared. Shelters became more permanent and pottery became more complex. Burial mounds, surviving today in places such as Parkin Archeological State Park and Toltec Mounds Archeological State Park, became common in northeast Arkansas. This reliance on agriculture marks an entrance into Mississippian culture around 950 CE. Wars began occurring between chieftains over land disputes. Platform mounds gain popularity in some cultures.

The Native American nations that lived in Arkansas prior to the westward movement of peoples from the East were the Quapaw, Caddo, and Osage Nations. While moving westward, the Five Civilized Tribes inhabited Arkansas during its territorial period.

Colonial Arkansas

The expeditions of Hernando de Soto, Marquette and Joliet

Artist depiction of the burial of de Soto, 1876

See also: List of sites and peoples visited by the Hernando de Soto Expedition

The first European to reach Arkansas was the Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto in 1541. de Soto wandered among settlements, inquiring about gold and other valuable natural resources. He encountered the Casqui in northeast Arkansas, who sent him north around Devil's Elbow to the Pacaha, the enemy of the Casqui. Upon arrival in the Pacaha village, the Casqui who had followed behind de Soto attacked and raided the village. De Soto ultimately engaged the two tribe's chiefs in a peace treaty before continuing on to travel much of Arkansas. The explorer died in May 1542 and was thrown into the Mississippi River near McArthur, Arkansas to prevent local tribes from knowing he was mortal. In 1673, French explorers Jacques Marquette and Louis Jolliet reached the Arkansas River as part of an expedition to find the mouth of the Mississippi River. After a calumet with friendly Quapaw, the group suspected the Spanish to be nearby and returned north.

Robert La Salle and Henri De Tonti

Map of Arkansas that includes de Soto route, 1795

Robert La Salle entered Arkansas in 1681 as part of his quest to find the mouth of the Mississippi River, and thus claim the entire river for New France. La Salle and his partner, Henri de Tonti, succeeded in this venture, claiming the river in April 1682. La Salle would return to France while dispatching de Tonti to wait for him and hold Fort St. Louis. On the king's orders, La Salle returned to colonize the Gulf of Mexico for the French, but ran aground in Matagorda Bay. La Salle led three expeditions on foot searching for the Mississippi River, but his third party mutinied near Navasota, Texas in 1687. de Tonti learned of La Salle's Texas expeditions and traveled south in an effort to locate him along the Mississippi River. Along this journey south, de Tonti founded Arkansas Post as a waypoint for his searches. La Salle's party, now led by his brother, stumbled upon the Post and were greeted kindly by Quapaw with fond memories of La Salle. The troupe thought it best to lie and say La Salle remained at his new coastal colony.

The French colonization of the Mississippi Valley would end with the later destruction of Fort St. Louis without de Tonti establishing the small trading stop, Arkansas Post. The party originally lead by La Salle would depart the Post and continue north to Montreal, where interest was spurred in explorers who had the knowledge that the French had a holding in the region.

Arkansas Post

Main article: Arkansas Post

The first settlement in Arkansas was Arkansas Post, established in 1686 by Henri de Tonti. The post disbanded for unknown reasons in 1699 but was reestablished in 1721 in the same location. Located slightly upriver from the confluence of the Arkansas River and Mississippi River, the remote post was a center of trade and home base for fur trappers in the region to trade their wares. The French settlers mingled and in some cases even intermarried with Quapaw natives, sharing a dislike of English and Chickasaw who were allies at the time. A moratorium on furs imposed by Canada severely affected the post's economy, and many settlers began to move out of the Mississippi River Valley. Scottish banker John Law saw the struggling post and attempted to entice settlers to emigrate from Germany to start an agriculture settlement at Arkansas Post, but his efforts failed when Law-created Mississippi Bubble burst in 1720. The French maintained the post throughout this time mostly due to its strategic significance along the Mississippi River. The post was moved back further from the Mississippi River in 1749 after the English with their Chickasaw allies attacked, it was moved downriver in 1756 to be closer to a Quapaw defensive line that had been established and to serve as an entrepôt during the Seven Years' War and prevent attacks from the Spanish along the Mississippi. After the war ended, the post was again moved upriver out of the floodplain in 1779.

The secret Treaty of Fontainebleau gave Spain the Louisiana Territory in exchange for Florida (although credit is often given to the public Treaty of Paris), including present-day Arkansas. The Spanish show little interest in Arkansas Post except for the land grants meant to inspire settlement around the post which would later cause problems with land titles given by the American government. The post's position 4 miles (6.4 km) up the Arkansas River made it a hub for trappers to start their journeys, although it also served as a diplomatic center for relations between the Spanish and Quapaw. Many who stopped at Arkansas Post were simply passing through on their way up or down river and needed supplies or rest. Inhabitants of the post included approximately 10 elite merchants, some domestic slaves, and the wives and children of trappers who were out in the wilderness. Only the elites actually lived inside the defensive walls of the post, with the remaining people surrounding the fortification. In April 1783, Arkansas saw it's only battle of the American Revolutionary War, a brief siege of the post by British Captain James Colbert, with the assistance of Choctaw and Chicksaw Indians.

Louisiana Purchase and territorial status

The modern United States, with Louisiana Purchase overlay (in green).

Although the United States of America had gained separation from the British as a result of the Revolutionary War, Arkansas remained in Spanish hands after the conflict. Americans began moving west to Kentucky and Tennessee, and the United States wanted to guarantee these people that the Spanish possession of the Mississippi River would not disrupt commerce. Napoleon Bonaparte's conquest of Spain shortly after the American Revolution forced the Spanish to cede Louisiana, including Arkansas, to the French via the Third Treaty of San Ildefonso in 1800. England declared war on France in 1803, and Napoleon sold his land in the new world to the United States, today known as the Louisiana Purchase. The size of the country doubled with the purchase, and an influx of new White settlers led to a changed dynamic between Native Americans and Arkansans. Prior to the Louisiana Purchase, the relationship between the two groups was a "middle ground" of give and take. These relationships would deteriorate all across the frontier, including in Arkansas.

Thomas Jefferson initiated the Lewis and Clark Expedition to find the nation's new northern boundary, and the Dunbar Hunter Expedition, led by William Dunbar, was sent to establish the new southern boundary. The group was intended to explore the Red River, but due to Spanish hostility settled on a tour up the Ouachita River to explore the hot springs in central Arkansas. Leaving in October 1804 and parting company at Fort Miro on January 16, 1805, their reports included detailed accounts of give and take between Native Americans and trappers, detailed flora and fauna descriptions, and a chemical analysis of the "healing waters" of the hot springs. Also included was useful information for settlers to navigate the area and descriptions of the people inhabiting south Arkansas. The settler-Native American relationship deteriorated further following the 1812 New Madrid earthquake, viewed by some as punishment for accepting and assimilating into White culture. Many Cherokee left their farms and moved shortly after a speech admonishing the tribe for departing from tradition following a speech in June 1812 by a tribal chief.

Map of Arkansas Post, 1863

The region is organized as the Territory of Arkansas on July 4, 1819, but the territory was admitted to the Union as the state of Arkansas on June 15, 1836, as the 25th state and the 13th slave state.

Arkansas chartered two banks during its first legislative session, a State Bank and a Real Estate Bank. Both would fail within a decade and the bonds they had issued became entangled in legally questionable deals. They would come to be known as the "Holford Bonds" because they eventually fell into the hands of a London Banker named James Holford. The issue of whether or not the bonds were a legitimate state debt and whether or not they would be repaid would be a political issue in the state throughout the 1800s.

Arkansas played a key role in aiding Texas in its war for independence with Mexico, sending troops and materials to Texas to help fight the war. The proximity of the city of Washington to the Texas border involved the town in the Texas Revolution of 1835-36. Some evidence suggests Sam Houston and his compatriots planned the revolt in a tavern at Washington in 1834. When the fighting began a stream of volunteers from Arkansas and the eastern states flowed through the town toward the Texas battle fields.

Lakeport Plantation south of Lake Village is the only remaining antebellum plantation house in Arkansas. Built in 1850, the cotton industry in southern Arkansas allowed many planters to rise to prominence.

When the Mexican-American War began in 1846, Washington became a rendezvous for volunteer troops. Governor Thomas S. Drew issued a proclamation calling on the state to furnish one regiment of cavalry and one battalion of infantry to join the United States Army. Ten companies of men assembled here where they were formed into the first Regiment of Arkansas Cavalry.

Civil War

Main articles: Arkansas in the American Civil War and Arkansas Militia in the Civil War

Arkansas refused to join the Confederate States of America until after United States President Abraham Lincoln called for troops to respond to the Confederate attack on Fort Sumter, South Carolina. The state was unwilling to fight against its neighbors and seceded from the Union on May 6, 1861. While the state was not a chief battleground, it was the site of numerous small-scale battles during the American Civil War. When Union forces captured Little Rock in 1863, the Confederate government relocated the state capital to the town of Washington in the southwest part of the state.

Natives of during the Civil War included Confederate Major General Patrick Cleburne. Considered by many to be one of the most brilliant Confederate division commanders of the war, Cleburne was often referred to as "The Stonewall of the West." Also of note was Major General Thomas C. Hindman. A former United States Representative, Hindman commanded Confederate forces at the battles of Cane Hill and Prairie Grove.

Late 19th century and disfranchisement

Arkansas in 1895 (Rand McNally)

Under the Military Reconstruction Act, Congress readmitted Arkansas in June 1868. With the right to suffrage, freedmen began to participate vigorously in the political life of the state. From 1869 to 1893, more than 45 African American men were elected to seats in the state legislature. As in other states, they were already leaders in their communities: often ministers or teachers, or literate men who had returned from the North. Some had both white and African-American ancestors.

In 1874, the Brooks-Baxter War shook Little Rock. The dispute about the legal governor of the state was settled when President Ulysses S. Grant ordered that Joseph Brooks to disperse his militant supporters.

In 1881, the Arkansas state legislature enacted a bill that adopted an official pronunciation for the state, to combat a controversy then raging.

During the late 1880s and 1890s, the Democrats worked to consolidate their power and prevent alliances among African Americans and poor whites in the years of agricultural depression. They were facing competition from the Populist and other third parties. In 1891, state legislators passed a statute requiring a literacy test for voter registration, when more than 25% of the population could not read or write. In 1892 the state passed a constitutional amendment that imposed a poll tax and associated residency requirements for voting, which combined barriers sharply reduced the numbers of blacks and poor whites on the voter rolls, and voter participation dropped sharply.

Having consolidated power among its supporters, by 1900 the state Democratic Party began relying on all-white primaries at the county and state level. This was one more door closed against blacks, as the primaries had become the only competitive political contests; the Democratic Party primary winner was always elected. In 1900 African Americans numbered 366,984 in the state and made up 28% of the population - together with poor whites, more than one-third of the citizens were disfranchised. Since they could not vote, they could not serve on juries, which were limited to voters. They were shut out of the political process.

20th century

Great Migration

The growth in industrial jobs in the North and Midwest attracted many blacks from the South in the first half of the 20th century. Their migration out of the South was a reach toward a better quality of life where they could vote and live more fully as citizens. Agricultural changes also meant that farm workers were not needed in as great number. Thousands left Arkansas. During the years of World War II, blacks also migrated to California, where good jobs were expanding in defense industries

Civil rights movement

In one of the first major cases of the African-American civil rights era, the Supreme Court ruled in Brown v. Topeka Board of Education (1954) that segregated schools were unconstitutional. Both of Arkansas' U.S. Senators (J. William Fulbright and John L. McClellan) and all six of its U.S. Representatives were among those who signed the Southern Manifesto in response.

The Little Rock Nine incident of 1957 centered around Little Rock Central High School brought Arkansas to national attention. After the Little Rock School Board had voted to begin carrying out desegregation in compliance with the law, segregationist protesters physically blocked nine black students recruited by the NAACP from entering the school. Governor Orval Faubus deployed the Arkansas National Guard to support the segregationists, and only backed down after Judge Ronald Davies of U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas granted an injunction from the U.S. Department of Justice compelling him to withdraw the Guard.

White mobs began to riot when the nine black students began attending school. President Dwight D. Eisenhower, on the request of Little Rock Mayor, deployed the 101st Airborne Division to Little Rock and federalized the Arkansas National Guard to protect the students and ensure their safe passed to school. Little Rock's four public high schools were closed in September 1958, only reopening a year later. Integration across all grades was finally achieved in fall 1972.

Bill Clinton

Bill Clinton, born in Hope, Arkansas, served nearly twelve years as the 40th and 42nd Arkansas governor before being elected 42nd president in the 1992 election.

Changing racial attitudes and growth in jobs have created a New Great Migration of African Americans back to metropolitan areas in the developing South, especially to such states as Georgia, North Carolina and Texas. These have developed many knowledge industry jobs.

See also

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• History of the Southern United States

References

• Arnold, Morris S.; DeBlack, Thomas A.; Sabo III, George; Whayne, Jeannie M. (2002). Arkansas: A narrative history (1st ed.). Fayetteville, Arkansas: The University of Arkansas Press. ISBN 1-55728-724-4. OCLC 49029558.

Further reading

• Christ, Mark K. Civil War Arkansas, 1863: The Battle for a State (University of Oklahoma Press, 2010) 321 pp. isbn 978-0-8061-4087-2

External links

• Arkansas History Commission and State Archives
• Arkansas history and heritage
• Arkansas Heritage