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{{For|a topical guide to this subject|Outline of Arkansas}}
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{{History of Arkansas}}
{{sidebar
| title = Important dates in the History of Arkansas
| image = [[File:Flag of Arkansas.svg|110px|center|Flag of Arkansas]] 
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;1541: [[Hernando de Soto]] explores Arkansas
;1686: [[Henri de Tonti]] founds the [[Arkansas Post National Memorial|Arkansas Post]]
;April 30, 1803: [[Louisiana Purchase]] Treaty signed
;December 16, 1811: [[1812 New Madrid earthquake|New Madrid earthquake]]
;July 4, 1819: [[Arkansas Territory]] organized
;June 15, 1836: [[Arkansas]] becomes 25th U.S. state
;May 6, 1861: [[Arkansas secession]] from the [[Union (American Civil War)|Union]]
;May 18, 1861: Arkansas  becomes 9th [[Confederate States of America|Confederate]] state
;June 22, 1868: Arkansas is restored to the Union
;Spring 1874: [[Brooks–Baxter War]]
;January 10, 1921: [[Petroleum industry|Oil]] discovered around [[Smackover, Arkansas|Smackover]]
;March 4, 1921: [[Hot Springs National Park]] established
;Spring 1927: The [[Great Mississippi Flood of 1927|Mississippi floods]] and ravages [[Arkansas Delta|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
''[[Outline of Arkansas#History|More...]]''
}}

The '''history of Arkansas''' began millennia ago when humans first crossed into North America. Many tribes used Arkansas as their hunting lands but the main tribe was the [[Quapaw people|Quapaw]], who settled in the [[Arkansas River]] delta upon moving south from [[Illinois]]. Early French explorers gave the territory its name, a corruption of Akansea, which is a phonetic spelling from the [[Illinois language]] word for the Quapaw.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |last=Key |first= Joseph |title= Quapaw |url= http://www.encyclopediaofarkansas.net/encyclopedia/entry-detail.aspx?search=1&entryID=550 |publisher= [[Butler Center for Arkansas Studies]] at the [[Central Arkansas Library System]] |encyclopedia= [[Encyclopedia of Arkansas History and Culture]] |date= December 16, 2011 |access-date= April 5, 2012}}</ref> This phonetic heritage explains why "Arkansas" is pronounced so differently than the U.S. state of "[[Kansas]]" even though they share the same spelling.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Okrent|first1=Arika|title=Why Isn't "Arkansas" Pronounced Like "Kansas"?|url=http://www.slate.com/blogs/lexicon_valley/2014/08/27/why_the_state_names_of_arkansas_and_kansas_are_pronounced_differently.html|journal=[[Slate (magazine)|Slate]]|date=27 August 2014 |publisher=[[The Slate Group]]|access-date=27 August 2014}}</ref>

What began as a rough wilderness inhabited by trappers and hunters became incorporated into the United States as part of the [[Louisiana Purchase]] in 1803 and later became the [[Arkansas Territory]] from 1819 to 1836. Upon gaining statehood on June 15, 1836, [[Arkansas]] had begun to prosper under a [[plantation economy]] that was heavily reliant on [[Slavery|slave labor]]. After the [[American Civil War]] (1861–1865), Arkansas was a poor rural state, whose main economic base revolved around agriculture based chiefly on [[Cotton production in the United States|cotton production]]. In the late 19th century, the state instituted various [[Jim Crow laws]] to disenfranchise and segregate the African American population. This would last until federal legislation was passed in the 1960s. During the [[civil rights movement]] of the 1950s and 1960s, Arkansas and particularly [[Little Rock, Arkansas|Little Rock]], were major battlegrounds for efforts to integrate schools.

The state started to see some economic prosperity during and after [[World War II]] in the 1940s. Arkansas became the base for [[Retail|retail corporation]] [[Walmart]] during the 1960s, which is headquartered in [[Bentonville, Arkansas|Bentonville]]. Walmart would later become the [[List of largest companies by revenue|world's largest company by revenue]]. During the 20th century, different Arkansas political leaders would become nationally prominent, including the 42nd U.S. President [[Bill Clinton]], who was Governor of Arkansas, 1979–1981 and 1983–1992.

==Early Arkansas==
===Prehistory===
{{main|Paleontology in Arkansas}}

===Paleo and Archaic periods===
{{Main|Archaic period in the Americas|Paleo-Indians}}
Beginning around 11,700 [[Common era|B.C.E.]], the first indigenous people inhabited the area now known as Arkansas after crossing today's [[Bering Strait]], formerly [[Beringia]].<ref>{{cite web |title= Origins: Ice Age Migrations 28,000 – 11,500 B.C. |url= https://archeology.uark.edu/indiansofarkansas/index.html?pageName=Ice%20Age%20Migrations |last= Sabo III |first= George |date= December 18, 2008 |work= Indians of Arkansas |access-date= December 28, 2022 }}</ref> The first people in modern-day Arkansas likely hunted [[woolly mammoth]]s by running them off cliffs or using [[Clovis point]]s, and began to fish as major rivers began to thaw towards the end of [[Late Glacial Maximum|the last great ice age]].<ref>Arnold 2002, p. 5.</ref> Around 9500 BCE, forests also started to expand, enabling local peoples to engage in greater gathering. Crude containers became a necessity for storing gathered items. Since mammoths had become 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.<ref>Arnold 2002, p. 7.</ref>

===Woodland and Mississippi periods===
{{Main|Woodland period|Mississippian culture}}
[[File:Chromesun toltec mounds photo01.jpg|thumb|left|200px|[[Toltec Mounds Archeological State Park|Toltec Mounds Site]] near [[Scott, Arkansas|Scott]]]]
Further warming led to the beginnings of agriculture in Arkansas around 650 BCE. Fields consisted of clearings, and [[Indigenous peoples of the Americas|Native Americans]] would begin to form villages around the plot of trees they had cleared. Shelters became more permanent and [[Ceramics of indigenous peoples of the Americas|pottery became more complex]].<ref>Arnold, et al 2002, p. 9.</ref> [[Tumulus|Burial mounds]], surviving today in places such as [[Parkin Archeological State Park]] and [[Toltec Mounds Archaeological State Park]], became common in northeast Arkansas.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |last= Early |first= Ann M. |title= Indian Mounds |url= http://www.encyclopediaofarkansas.net/encyclopedia/entry-detail.aspx?entryID=573 |date= November 5, 2011 |publisher= Butler Center for Arkansas Studies at the Central Arkansas Library System |encyclopedia= Encyclopedia of Arkansas History and Culture |access-date= April 5, 2012}}</ref> This reliance on agriculture marks an entrance into [[Mississippian culture]] around 950 CE. Wars began occurring between [[Tribal chief|chieftains]] over land disputes. [[Platform mound]]s gain popularity in some cultures.<ref>{{cite web |title= Toltec Mounds State Park |url= http://www.arkansasstateparks.com/images/pdfs/TOLTEC-06.pdf |year= 2006 |publisher= [[Arkansas Department of Parks and Tourism]] |access-date= April 5, 2012 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20120903213624/http://www.arkansasstateparks.com/images/pdfs/TOLTEC-06.pdf |archive-date= September 3, 2012 |url-status= dead }}</ref>

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

==European colonization==

===The expeditions of De Soto, Marquette and Joliet===
[[File:Burial of de Soto - engraving.jpg|right|thumb|A drawing of the burial of De Soto]]
{{See also|History of the Tunica people}}
The first European contact with Arkansas was the Spanish expedition led by [[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 [[Reverie, Tennessee|Devil's Elbow]] to the [[Pacaha]], the traditional enemies of the Casqui. Upon arrival in the Pacaha village, the Casqui who had followed behind de Soto attacked and raided the village.<ref name="hds">{{cite web |last= Sabo III |first= George |title= First Encounters, Hernando de Soto in the Mississippi Valley, 1541–42 |url= http://arkarcheology.uark.edu/indiansofarkansas/index.html?pageName=First%20Encounters |date= December 12, 2008 |access-date= May 3, 2012 |archive-date= March 18, 2012 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20120318164409/http://arkarcheology.uark.edu/indiansofarkansas/index.html?pageName=First%20Encounters |url-status= dead }}</ref> De Soto ultimately engaged the two tribes' chiefs in a peace treaty before continuing on across central Arkansas and into the Ozark Mountains in his search for riches. After finding nothing he considered of value and encountering native resistance the entire way; he and his soldiers returned to the [[Mississippi River]] where de Soto fell ill. He died the following day in what is believed to be the vicinity of modern-day [[McArthur, Arkansas|McArthur]] in May 1542. Soto's body was weighted down with sand and he was consigned to a watery grave in the Mississippi River under cover of darkness.

De Soto had attempted to deceive the native population into thinking he was an immortal deity, sun of the sun, to forestall attack by outraged Native Americans on his by then weakened and bedraggled army. To keep the ruse up, his men informed the locals that de Soto had ascended into the sky. His will at the time of his death listed: "four Indian slaves, three horses and 700 hogs" which were auctioned off to his men. His starving men, who had been living off maize stolen from Native Americans and who had not been allowed to eat the enormous herd of hogs but had had to care for them, immediately started to butcher them. Later on his remaining men, now commanded by his aide de camp Moscoso, attempted an overland return to Mexico. They made it as far as Texas before running into territory too dry for maize farming and too thinly populated to sustain themselves by stealing food from the locals. The expedition promptly backtracked to Arkansas. After building a small fleet of boats they then headed down the Mississippi River and eventually on to Mexico by water.<ref name=HUDSONKNIGHTS>{{cite book| author-link =Charles M. Hudson (author) |last= Hudson| first=Charles M.|title= Knights of Spain, Warriors of the Sun| url =https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780820318882 | url-access =registration | year=1997|publisher= [[University of Georgia Press]] |pages = [https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780820318882/page/341 341–351] |isbn= 9780820318882}}</ref>

In 1673, French explorers [[Jacques Marquette]] and [[Louis Jolliet]] reached the [[Arkansas River]] on an expedition to map the Mississippi River. After a [[Calumet (pipe)|calumet]] with friendly Quapaw, the group suspected the Spanish to be nearby and returned north.<ref name="hds" />

===French Louisiana===
[[File:Arkansas1759.png|thumb|250px|A map of the region in [[Louisiana (New France)|Louisiana]], 1687]]
[[René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle|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]].<ref>Fletcher 1989, p. 26.</ref> 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 [[Starved Rock State Park|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]].<ref>Mattison 1957, pp. 118–119.</ref> 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 with this journey south, de Tonti founded [[Arkansas Post]] as a waypoint for his searches in 1686.<ref>Mattison 1957, p. 119.</ref> 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.<ref>Arnold et al 2002, p. 31.</ref>

The French colonization of the Mississippi Valley would end with the later destruction of [[Fort Saint Louis (Texas)|Fort St. Louis]] were it not for de Tonti establishing the small trading stop, Arkansas Post.<ref>Mattison 1957, p. 120.</ref> The party originally led 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.<ref>Arnold et al 2002, p. 32</ref>

===The first settlement: Arkansas Post===
{{Main|Arkansas Post}}
[[File:ArkansasPost1689.jpg|thumb|left|250px|Annie Hatley, ''Depiction of Arkansas Post in 1689'', Arkansas State Archives, 1904]]
The first successful European settlement, "[[Arkansas Post|Poste de Arkansea]]", was established by [[Henri de Tonti]] in 1686 on the [[Arkansas River]].<ref name="ahq1">Arnold 1992, p. 75.</ref> The [[Trading post|post]] disbanded for unknown reasons in 1699 but was reestablished in 1721 in the same location. Sited slightly upriver from the confluence of the [[Arkansas River]] and Mississippi River, the remote post was a center of trade and home base for [[Animal trapping|fur trappers]] in the region to trade their wares.<ref name="ahq1" /> 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 (law)|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 (economist)|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 Company#Mississippi Bubble|Mississippi Bubble]] burst in 1720.<ref name="ahq1" />

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 Qua-paw defensive line that had been established, and to serve, as an [[repent]], or trading post, during the [[Seven Years' War]] and prevent attacks from the Spanish along the Mississippi.<ref>Arnold 1992, p. 79.</ref>

[[File:Sidney E. King - Counterattack! (cropped).jpg|thumb|250px|[[Colbert raid|Colbert's raid]] on [[Arkansas Post]] in 1783]]
In 1762, the secret [[Treaty of Fontainebleau (1762)|treaty of Fontainebleau]] transferred control of [[Louisiana (New France)|colonial Louisiana]] (including present-day Arkansas), to Spain in exchange for [[Spanish Florida|Florida]]. The Spanish showed little interest in Arkansas except for the land grants meant to inspire settlement around the post.<ref>Arnold ET AL 2002, p. 82.</ref> Afterward, the post was again moved upriver out of the floodplain in 1779.<ref>Arnold 1983, p. 324.</ref> Its position {{convert|4|mi|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.<ref>Arnold 1983, pp. 319–320.</ref> Many that stopped at Arkansas Post were simply passing through on their way up or down river and needed supplies or rest.<ref>Arnold 1983, p. 320</ref> ''Habitants'' included approximately ten merchants, some domestic slaves, and the wives and children of ''[[voyageurs]]''.<ref>Arnold 1992, p. 77.</ref> A small detachment of the [[Louisiana Fixed Infantry Regiment]] lived inside the fort, tasked with protecting the village of Arkansas Post nearby. On April 17, 1783, present-day Arkansas experienced its only [[Colbert raid|battle]] of the [[American Revolutionary War]] when Captain [[James Colbert (trader)|James Colbert]] of the [[Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Regiment|16th Regiment of Foot]] led a force of [[Kingdom of Great Britain|British]] [[Partisan (military)|partisan]]s and [[Chickasaw]]s against the Spanish village and [[Fort Carlos III|fort]].<ref>{{ cite journal |last= Din |first= Gilbert C. |title= Arkansas Post in the American Revolution |journal= The Arkansas Historical Quarterly |publisher= Arkansas Historical Association |date= Spring 1981 |volume= 40 |issue= 1 |pages= 17–28|doi= 10.2307/40023280 |jstor= 40023280 }}</ref>

==Road to statehood==
[[File:Louisiana Purchase.jpg|thumb|350px|left|The United States, with the [[Louisiana Purchase]] overlaid]]
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 (New France)|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 a stream of new White settlers led to a changed dynamic between Native Americans and Arkansans.<ref>Arnold et al 2002, p. 78.</ref> 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.<ref>Arnold et al 2002, p. 79.</ref>

[[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 (explorer)|William Dunbar]], was sent to establish the new southern boundary. The group was intended to explore the [[Red River of the South|Red River]], but due to Spanish hostility settled on a tour up the [[Ouachita River]] to explore the [[Hot Springs National Park|hot springs]] in central Arkansas.<ref>{{ cite journal |last= Allen |first= Milford F. |title= Thomas Jefferson and the Louisiana-Arkansas Frontier |publisher= Arkansas Historical Association |journal= Arkansas Historical Quarterly |volume= 20 |date= Spring 1962 |page= 42}}</ref> Leaving in October 1804 and parting company at [[Monroe, Louisiana|Fort Miro]] on January 16, 1805,<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |last= Berry |first= Terry |title= Hunter-Dunbar Expedition |publisher= The Butler Center |encyclopedia= Encyclopedia of Arkansas |url= http://www.encyclopediaofarkansas.net/encyclopedia/entry-detail.aspx?search=1&entryID=2205 |date= May 2, 2011 |access-date= April 5, 2012}}</ref> 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.<ref>Arnold et al 2002, p. 85.</ref> Useful information for settlers to navigate the area and descriptions of the people inhabiting south Arkansas was also included.<ref>{{ cite journal |last= Berry |first= Trey |title= The Expedition of William Dunbar and George Hunter along the Ouachita River, 1804–1805 |publisher= Arkansas Historical Association |journal= Arkansas Historical Quarterly |volume= 62 |date= Winter 2003 |issue= 4 |page= 387|doi= 10.2307/40023081 |jstor= 40023081 }}</ref>

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 in June 1812 by a tribal chief admonishing the tribe for departing from tradition.<ref>Arnold et al 2002, p. 89.</ref>

===Political integration and autonomy===
{{See also|Missouri Compromise}}
[[File:Territory of Missouri, 1 January 1819.jpg|thumb|260px|Map of [[Missouri Territory|Missouri]] before statehood, 1819]]
A small segment of the [[Missouri Territory|Territory of Missouri]] applied for statehood on March 2, 1819. The application included a provision that would bring Missouri into the [[United States|Union]] as a [[Slavery|slave]] state, which would upset the delicate balance of [[slave and free states]]. This application also defined all land in the Missouri Territory south of the [[parallel 36°30' north]], except the [[Missouri Bootheel]] between the Mississippi River and the [[Saint Francis River]] north of the [[36th parallel north]], as the new [[Arkansas Territory|Territory of Arkansaw]].<ref name="moco">{{ cite journal |title= Missouri Compromise| journal= William and Mary Quarterly |volume= 10 | issue= 1 | pages= 5–24 |date= July 1901 |publisher= Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture |doi=10.2307/1919798| jstor= 1919798 }}</ref> When the Missouri Enabling Act was taken up in the [[United States House of Representatives]], [[James Tallmadge]] denounced slavery and succeeded in passing the [[Tallmadge Amendment]] in the House, an act that would have extinguished slavery in Missouri in a generation. The act was the first attempt to curb the rapid expansion of slavery along the country's expanding western frontier and caught many southern Democrats by surprise.<ref>Johnson 1965, p. 48</ref> The following day, [[John W. Taylor (politician)|John Taylor]] proposed identical restrictions on slavery before authorizing the Arkansaw Enabling Act.<ref>Johnson 1965, pp. 49–52.</ref> The banning of new slaves amendment was soundly defeated, but the gradual emancipation measure was tied until [[Speaker of the United States House of Representatives|Speaker of the House]] [[Henry Clay]] cast the deciding no vote killing the Amendment and allowing Arkansas to organize as a slave territory.<ref>Johnson 1965, p. 58.</ref> The [[Missouri Compromise]] was later struck allowing [[Maine]] to enter as a free state, thus allowing Missouri to enter as a slave state to keeping the balance of free/slave states at 12 each.<ref name="moco" />

The uncertainty surrounding Missouri's status as a slave state caused a rapid out-migration of slaveholders into Arkansas. Slavery also became a divisive issue within Arkansas. The wealthy planters of southeast Arkansas strongly supported slavery since manual labor was the only method of harvesting cotton at the time.<ref>Bolton 1999, p. 9.</ref> The northwest parts of the state did not have cotton plantations, and as little as 2% of the black population in [[northwest Arkansas]] was enslaved during the territorial era. However, northwest Arkansas backed slavery in support of the southeastern Arkansas planters.<ref>Scroggs 1961, pp. 231–232.</ref>

Different aspects of frontier life are preserved today in three state parks. [[Historic Washington State Park]] in southwest Arkansas is a restored town that was formerly a bustling stop on the [[Southwest Trail]]. [[Davidsonville Historic State Park]] preserves one of early Arkansas's most important communities, including Arkansas's first post office and courthouse. [[Powhatan Historic State Park]] on the [[Black River (Arkansas)|Black River]] allows visitors to relive a former riverport town during its heyday.

===U.S. territory===
{{Main|Arkansas Territory}}
{{multiple image
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The new Arkansas Territory held its territorial government at the territorial capital, [[Arkansas Post]], and included all of present-day Arkansas and [[Oklahoma]] except the [[Oklahoma panhandle]].<ref name="arkp">{{ cite journal |title= Inequality on the Southern Frontier: Arkansas County in the Arkansas Territory |first= S. Charles |last= Bolton |journal= Arkansas Historical Quarterly |volume= 41 |date= Spring 1982 |issue= 1 |page= 53 |publisher= Arkansas Historical Association|doi= 10.2307/40023373 |jstor= 40023373 }}</ref><ref>Ledbetter 1988, p. 103.</ref> These lands became [[Indian Territory]] by 1828, leaving the modern day outline of Arkansas. Upon creation of the territory, President [[James Monroe]] appointed [[James Miller (general)|James Miller]] of [[New Hampshire]], the hero of [[Battle of Lundy's Lane|Lundy's Lane]], as territorial governor, and young [[Robert Crittenden]] as secretary of the territory.<ref>Ledbetter 1988, p. 102.</ref> Miller had little interest in governing the territory, and spent most of his time outside its boundaries.<ref>Ledbetter 1988, p. 105.</ref><ref>Ledbetter 1988, p. 107.</ref> This left an opportunist Crittenden in charge of Arkansas, and he quickly assembled three judges together to form Arkansas's first legislature. Crittenden also held an election that selected [[James Woodson Bates]] as Arkansas's territorial delegate to Congress in addition to forming and filling the two branches of the [[General Assembly of Arkansas Territory]]. This election became contested when Miller returned and decided Arkansas would follow an 1812 law that all territorial legislative positions were to be filled by appointment, nullifying Crittenden's election. Congress later affirmed the election, but the situation formed a divide between Miller's followers and the Crittenden faction.<ref>Ledbetter 1988, p. 104.</ref>

[[File:USA Territorial Growth 1820 alt.jpg|thumb|350px|left|Map of the United States showing [[Arkansas Territory|Arkansaw Territory]], 1820]]
Miller and Crittenden were again divided over the relocation of the territorial capitol from the unsuitable backwater at Arkansas Post. The legislature discussed the issue of relocating the capitol in 1820, but could not decide between [[Little Rock, Arkansas|Little Rock]] and [[Cadron Settlement Park|Cadron]] before the session ended. After the session ended, William Russell, owner of hundreds of lots around Little Rock, began selling them to legislators and influential men like Crittenden, Robert Oden, [[William A. Trimble]], and [[Andrew Scott (judge)|Andrew Scott]].<ref>Arnold et al 2002, p. 96.</ref> Upon returning, the legislature passed a bill to move the capitol to Little Rock by three votes, increasing the value of many legislators' Little Rock lots significantly.<ref name="arkp" /> In protest, Miller moved to a new house at [[Crystal Hill, Arkansas|Crystal Hill]] near Cadron before being reassigned to [[Salem, Massachusetts]]. During the move to Little Rock, Crittenden formed the [[Rose Law Firm]] with [[Chester Ashley]], forming a powerful political alliance between [[The Family (Arkansas politics)|The Family]] and Crittenden's supporters.<ref>Arnold et al 2002, p. 97.</ref> Arkansas's second territorial governor was [[George Izard]], a wealthy planter who moved to the territory from [[South Carolina]].<ref>Eno 1945, p. 278.</ref> Izard succeeded in changing divorce law and briefly stopping the Quapaw removal in Arkansas. He also organized a militia and managed to quiet Crittenden, who remained as secretary of the territory.<ref>Eno 1945, p. 280.</ref> Izard died in 1828 and was replaced by [[John Pope (Kentucky)|John Pope]], who was appointed by [[Andrew Jackson]].<ref>Eno 1945, p. 281.</ref>

===Indian removal===
[[File:Trails of Tears en.png|thumb|350px|The [[Indian Removal Act]] resulted in the transplantation of several [[Native Americans in the United States|Native American tribes]] and the [[Trail of Tears]].]]
In an effort to prevent white settlers taking over their territory, the Quapaw signed an 1818 treaty relinquishing all their hunting lands in exchange for keeping {{convert|32000000|acre|ha}} of land along the Arkansas River in south Arkansas in their possession.<ref>{{cite journal |journal= Indian Affairs: Laws and Treaties |last= Kappler |first= Charles J. |volume= 2 |year= 1904 |title= Treaty with the Quapaw, 1818 |url= http://digital.library.okstate.edu/kappler/vol2/treaties/qua0160.htm |publisher= Government Printing Office |access-date= June 19, 2015 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20150707003145/http://digital.library.okstate.edu/kappler/Vol2/treaties/qua0160.htm |archive-date= July 7, 2015 |url-status= dead }}</ref> This treaty was later reneged upon the following year, with whites taking all but {{convert|1000000|acre|ha}} back for settlement. At this time, Cherokee from [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]], [[South Carolina]], and [[North Carolina]] were being forced into Arkansas onto Caddo hunting lands west of Little Rock.<ref>Fletcher 1989, p. 43.</ref> The Caddo did not welcome the invasion of the Cherokee, who had thought they were moving to uninhabited land. The Caddo viewed the Cherokee as "domesticated" by the white man for signing treaties with the United States government and the tribes went to war. [[Cephas Washburn]] established [[Dwight Presbyterian Mission|Dwight Mission]] near [[Russellville, Arkansas|Russellville]] as a school for Cherokee youth at the tribe's request in 1822.<ref>{{cite journal |journal= Chronicles of Oklahoma |volume= 12 |edition= 1 |date= March 1934 |title= Dwight Mission |url= http://digital.library.okstate.edu/Chronicles/v012/v012p042.html |page= 42 |publisher= Oklahoma Historical Society |access-date= April 29, 2012 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20120911214726/http://digital.library.okstate.edu/Chronicles/v012/v012p042.html |archive-date= September 11, 2012 |url-status= dead }}</ref> This school was later moved to [[Sallisaw, Oklahoma]]. The Osage signed a treaty to leave Arkansas in 1825 and moved to [[Kansas]] briefly before buying their own reservation in [[Osage County, Oklahoma]]. The United States established [[Fort Smith, Arkansas|Fort Smith]] and [[Fort Gibson, Oklahoma]], to keep the peace and trade with the Native Americans.<ref>{{ cite journal |title= Captain John Rogers: Founder of Fort Smith |first= Elsa |last= Vaught |journal= Arkansas Historical Quarterly |volume= 17 |date= Autumn 1958 |issue= 3 |pages= 247|doi= 10.2307/40018910 |jstor= 40018910 }}</ref>

During the [[Industrial Revolution]], cotton prices boomed and white settlers clamored for the fertile lands around the Arkansas River inhabited by the Quapaw. Eventually the government forced the Quapaw to a reservation in [[Louisiana]] with the Caddo.<ref name="l208" >Lyon 1950, p. 208.</ref> ''Antoine Barraqué'' led the Quapaw south in the winter of 1825–26.<ref>{{Cite journal |last= Ashcraft |first= Ginger L. |title= Antoine Barraque and His Involvement in Indian Affairs of Southeast Arkansas, 1816–1832  |journal= Arkansas Historical Quarterly |volume= 32 |date= Autumn 1973 |issue= 3 |pages= 227–228 |publisher= Arkansas Historical Association|doi= 10.2307/40038112 |jstor= 40038112 }}</ref> They found the Caddo inhospitable because the Quapaw were viewed as invaders and when the Quapaw's crop washed away twice due to flooding of the Red River, conditions got even worse.<ref name="l208" /><ref>White 1962, p. 199.</ref> Combined with the overcrowding and lack of annuities promised to both tribes, the Quapaw were unhappy and followed chief Saracen back to their homeland along the Arkansas River.<ref>Lyon 1950, pp. 208–209.</ref> By 1830, the entire tribe had returned to Arkansas, and despite Governor Pope and Indian agent Richard Hannon, the Quapaw were removed to a separate reservation in northeast Oklahoma in 1833.<ref>White 1962, p. 197.</ref> Secretary Robert Crittenden was instrumental in acquiring the final removal.<ref name="l208" /><ref>White 1962, p. 194.</ref>

===Increasing demand for slave labor===
[[File:Lakeport Plantation, Lake Village, Chicot County, Arkansas.jpg|right|thumb|[[Lakeport Plantation]], built {{circa|1859}}]] 
Many slaves were brought to Arkansas by planters looking to cash in on the Arkansas delta's fertile lands. The most capable male slaves were often separated from their families and relocated to the swamps of southeast Arkansas. These swamplands were poorly drained, and many planters required their slaves to work long hours clearing trees from the swamps by hand. Slaves were forced to live in cramped slave quarters in the densely forested swamps, surrounded by disease-carrying mosquitoes. Conditions were brutal; slaves often received only one pair of clothes per year, given on Christmas by the planter family. Diets consisted of only [[fatback]] and [[cornmeal]], usually lacking in vegetables and other necessities to stave off deficiencies.<ref>Bolton 1999, p. 10.</ref>

Life as a slave was unbearable.<ref>Gatewood and Whayne 1993, p. 15.</ref> Though quite dangerous, some slaves would leave their plantations late at night to meet with slaves on other plantations to worship and comfort each other. These meetings were clandestine. Very few planters gave permission to their slaves to have these meetings.<ref>Moneyhon 1999, p. 34.</ref> Often slaves were threatened if they didn't work fast enough. They had to work in horrible conditions, with broken tools, even when they didn't understand instructions at the threat of violence. Sometimes conditions were so horrific that slaves would run away at the risk of being tortured and/or murdered if caught.<ref>Moneyhon 1999, pp. 32–33.</ref><ref>Bolton 1999, p. 11.</ref> Rarely slaves who were desperate would resort to stealing food or clothes from their master though these things would also end in violence towards the slaves. Slaves' churches often preached the message of [[Moses]] and the [[The Exodus|Exodus]].<ref>Bolton 1999, pp. 13–14.</ref> The largest form of rebellion was the slave family.<ref>Moneyhon 1999, p. 26.</ref> Although slave marriages were illegal, many informal relationships were honored by plantation owners who thought a family would keep the slaves from rebelling.<ref>Moneyhon 1999, p. 31.</ref> Planters often used threats against the slave's family such as selling members away, torture, rape and even murder as methods of quelling rebellion. Relationships also happened between slaves on different plantations and between slaves and their owners.<ref>Bolton 1999, p. 14.</ref> In a very unusual situation, one female slave named Abby Guy sued her owner for freedom in 1855 and won two jury trials, and her freedom was sustained by the Arkansas Supreme Court in 1861 just as the Civil War was beginning.<ref>Mahan, Russell, Abby Guy: Race and Slavery on Trial in an 1855 Southern Court; Historical Enterprises, Santa Clara, Utah, 2017.</ref> Nothing made the slave experience more bearable. The planters had ultimate control over their slaves and helped perpetuate slavery.<ref>Arnold et al. 2002, p. 144.</ref>

===Pioneer women===
[[File:Arkansasturnoftune.jpg|thumb|left|220px|''The Turning of the Tune: Traveller Playing the "Arkansas Traveller"'', lithograph by [[Currier and Ives]], 1870]]
Although the [[Victorian morality|Victorian ideals]] of men and women maintaining different spheres of influence still held strong in communities, the system broke down on the frontier when survival took priority over the social contract.<ref>Gatewood and Whayne 1993, pp. 6–7.</ref> Women were often tasked with maintaining the property's day-to-day operations while their husbands were away conducting business. This included dealing with slave overseers or the farm's labor itself.<ref name="wo" >Arnold et al 2002, p. 119.</ref> This break from Victorian principles often went unacknowledged by frontier men and women, however.<ref name="wo" />

Many women founded the first marks of civilization in their areas, including schools and churches. Women often met with other women at church and had many superficial friendships to repel loneliness.<ref name="wo" /> Health care on the frontier was the responsibility for women, as very few doctors were available. If an entire household fell ill, a neighboring woman was responsible for nursing them back to health.<ref>{{ Cite encyclopedia |title= Women |first= Lea Flowers |last= Baker |url= http://www.encyclopediaofarkansas.net/encyclopedia/entry-detail.aspx?entryID=400 |encyclopedia= Encyclopedia of Arkansas History and Culture |publisher= The Pryor Center |date= October 17, 2012 |access-date= January 4, 2013}}</ref> Childbirth also weighed on women as a risky proposition that often resulted in the death of the mother. As a result, the process was feared, dreaded, and often went unmentioned in diaries from the period. The pressures of childbirth, being the primary health care provider and chief farm operator upon their husband's departure gave many frontier women anxiety.

==Early years of the state==
[[File:Exterior of the Old State House, Little Rock, Arkansas — Roman Eugeniusz.jpg|right|thumb|[[Old State House (Little Rock, Arkansas)|Arkansas State House]], [[Little Rock, Arkansas|Little Rock]].]]
{{See also|The Family (Arkansas politics)}}
The question of statehood was first raised by [[National Republican Party|National Republican]] [[Benjamin Desha]] in 1831 in the ''Little Rock Arkansas Advocate''. This position was contrary to the Democrats and [[The Family (Arkansas politics)|The Family]], who feared that the taxation required to maintain state government would be onerous on the state's meager population. [[Arkansas Territory's at-large congressional district|Arkansas's territorial delegate]] and Family member [[Ambrose Sevier]] shared this concern about high taxes; however his inability to vote with [[Andrew Jackson]] to oppose the [[Whig Party (United States)|Whigs]], the National Bank and other various economic policies eventually made him more amenable to statehood.<ref>Bolton 1999, p. 20.</ref>

When it was announced that [[Michigan]] would be applying for statehood as a free state, Sevier knew the abolitionists would have a numerical advantage in the U.S. Senate unless Arkansas also entered as a slave state as a result of the [[Missouri Compromise]].<ref>{{ Cite encyclopedia |title= Louisiana Purchase through Early Statehood, 1803 through 1860 |url= http://www.encyclopediaofarkansas.net/encyclopedia/entry-detail.aspx?entryID=398 |publisher= Butler Center for Arkansas Studies at the Central Arkansas Library System |encyclopedia= Arkansas Encyclopedia of History and Culture |date= October 2, 2014 |first= S. Charles |last= Bolton}}</ref> Both states applied for statehood, and both were initially denied by congressional Whigs because they were Democratic strongholds.<ref>Scroggs 1961, pp. 234–235</ref> Arkansas and Michigan both began to draw up state constitutions despite the ruling.<ref>Arnold, et al 2002, p. 107.</ref>

Almost immediately, [[sectionalism]] came to the forefront when drafting the constitution, and discussion primarily centered on the issue of representation. Tempers flared between delegates from southeast Arkansas, who proposed representation include a [[three-fifths rule]] to count the numerous slaves held in the region.<ref>Scroggs 1961, p. 238.</ref> Upland delegates, despite being led by slaveholder [[David Walker (Arkansas politician)|David Walker]], wanted to proportion the congressional districts based on only free white men, which would give that region a political advantage.<ref>Bolton 1999, pp. 20–21.</ref><ref>Gatewood and Whayne 1993, p. 19.</ref><ref>{{ cite book |title= Territorial Ambition: Land and Society in Arkansas, 1800–1840 |first=S. Charles |last=Bolton |year= 2019 |location=Fayetteville, Arkansas |publisher= University of Arkansas Press |pages= 99–100 |isbn= 9781682261286 |lccn= 92-39501 |oclc=1142099534 |ref={{harvid|"Bolton"|2019}} }}</ref> Eventually a geographic compromise was struck, with districts in [[Arkansas Senate]] from the northwest, eight from the southeast, and one from a central district.<ref>Scroggs 1961, p. 241.</ref> The compromise codified political balance between the two sections of Arkansas, negating the lowland's wealth advantage and the upland's free white population advantage.<ref>{{harvp|"Bolton"|2019|pp= 100–102}}.</ref> After this compromise, the Arkansas Constitution was drafted and sent to Washington for approval. After a 25-hour session in the House over the slavery issue, the Arkansas Constitution was approved.<ref name="soa">Scroggs 1961, p. 243.</ref> President [[Andrew Jackson]] approved the bill creating the State of Arkansas on June 15, 1836.<ref name="soa" />

===Banking crisis===
{{See also|Banking in the Jacksonian Era}}
Arkansas's economy was in poor shape in the period leading up to statehood and was not in a position to support state government functions. Tax rates were very low in all Southern states controlled by planters, and Arkansas was no exception. Most planters did not carry a lot of cash and were usually indebted to cotton factories most months of the year. The little extra cash planters had was usually invested in slaves or land, leaving most plantations in the margins for long periods of time. The northwest parts of Arkansas that did not rely on cotton production relied on a cash scarce economy that consisted of bartering for necessities. Although farmers produced enough goods to sell, they were locked into the local market and were unable to transport their goods to other markets, keeping the region cash-poor. The Federal government gave land to the state, to be sold for seed money to start a treasury for Arkansas.<ref>Worley 1949, p. 179.</ref> These funds were quickly wasted, and since frontier Arkansas did not offer many services to its citizens, revenues from taxes and fees were incapable of supporting the state government. President Jackson's ''[[Specie Circular]]'' also hurt the state economy by forcing land purchases to be made with gold and silver rather than paper money. In addition to affecting private citizens who were land speculating, the policy stymied state revenues since Arkansas had been relying on the tax revenue from each land purchase as its primary source of income.<ref>Worley 1949, p. 184.</ref>

[[File:AR Conway James Sevier.jpg|thumb|left|200px|[[James Sevier Conway|James Conway]]]]
Arkansas considered selling bonds to raise funds, but the frontier state remained an unknown and was not seen as a safe investment. The state also lacked agencies capable of issuing bonds, until Governor [[James Sevier Conway|James Conway]] signed acts which chartered two banks during Arkansas's first legislative session, a State Bank and a [[Real Estate Bank of Arkansas|Real Estate Bank]]. This system had contemporaries in many other states. The Real Estate Bank was to be privately owned by shareholders, but too few shareholders bought in, causing the state to fund both banks. A showdown on the state legislature floor ended with knives being drawn. President of the Real Estate Bank/Speaker of the Arkansas House [[John Wilson (Arkansas politician)|John Wilson]] killed state legislator Joseph Anthony after Anthony offered a bill that criticized Wilson's management of the Real Estate Bank. Wilson was acquitted of murder but expelled from the legislature.<ref>Fletcher 1989, p. 54.</ref> Wilson was reelected in 1840, and later had to be restrained in another [[knife fight]].

In 1836, Arkansas was to be the recipient of funds from the Deposit and Distribution Act, rumored by some to be as much as $1&nbsp;million (${{formatnum:{{Inflation|US|1|1836|r=2}}}} million in today's dollars).<ref>Worley 1949, p. 185.</ref> A very important sources of seed money for the State Bank; the program encountered a harsh recession that limited its effectiveness. Treasurer [[William E. Woodruff (politician)|William Woodruff]] had trouble cashing the first two installments of $45,583.83 and $50,000 (${{formatnum:{{Inflation|US|45583.83|1836|r=-3}}}} and ${{formatnum:{{Inflation|US|50000|1836|r=-3}}}} today) at the two banks in [[Natchez, Mississippi]], due to a [[bank run]].<ref>Worley 1949, p. 186.</ref> Since the deposits were going to a state bank, the cash-strapped banks couldn't simply borrow the money from the state of Arkansas.<ref>Worley 1949, p. 187.</ref> Woodruff traveled to Washington, D.C., where he received replacement drafts on [[Louisiana]], [[Kentucky]], and [[Ohio]] banks from [[United States Treasurer]] [[John Campbell (US Treasurer)|John Campbell]], but encountered the same troubles in those states.<ref>Worley 1949, p. 188.</ref>

The problems Woodruff was encountering would become known as the [[Panic of 1837]], a recession that took many years to recover from. Arkansas would only receive $45,583.83 of federal money, the amount of the first check which was ultimately settled by the Natchez banks.<ref>Worley 1949, p. 190.</ref> While Woodruff was trying to acquire the Distribution Act funds, the Arkansas State Banks had opened in Arkansas Post, Batesville, Fayetteville, Little Rock, and Washington and had been loaning money based on the notes given to Woodruff from various other states.<ref>Worley 1964, p. 67.</ref> Further, the bonds issued by the banks were not selling as anticipated, leaving the institutions without much of their anticipated seed money.<ref>Worley 1964, p. 71.</ref> Both banks would fail within a decade, with the bonds they had issued becoming entangled in legally questionable deals. Eventually the bonds fell into the hands of London banker James Holford, and they would come to be known as the "[[Holford Bonds]]", valued at $1,239,526.82 (${{formatnum:{{Inflation|US|1.2395|1858|r=3}}}} million today) in 1858.<ref>Worley 1964, pp. 73.</ref> 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.<ref>Worley 1964, pp. 71–2.</ref>

===Mexican War===
{{See also|Arkansas Militia and the War with Mexico}}
[[File:Original Courthouse at Historic Washington State Park IMG 1481.JPG|thumb|[[Historic Washington State Park#Major buildings|Hempstead Court House]]]]
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, Arkansas|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.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.arkansasmediaroom.com/news-releases/listings/display.asp?id=165|title=Old Washington State Park Conserves Town's Heyday|first=Jim|last=Taylor|access-date=2007-07-13|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070909034934/http://www.arkansasmediaroom.com/news-releases/listings/display.asp?id=165|archive-date=2007-09-09|url-status=dead}}</ref> When the fighting began a stream of volunteers from Arkansas and the eastern states flowed through the town toward the Texas battlefields.

When the [[Mexican–American War]] began in 1846, Washington became a rendezvous for volunteer troops. Governor [[Thomas S. Drew|Thomas 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 troops assembled here where they were formed into the first Regiment of Arkansas Cavalry.

===Late antebellum period===
The young state began to show its first signs of improving beyond a frontier wilderness in the 1850s. The growing need for cotton gave many Arkansans an avenue to become involved in market economy for the first time, a transition that made the state significantly more prosperous. At the time, the most efficient way to grow cotton was a plantation-style system, and this quickly became the norm in the southeast part of Arkansas. During the late antebellum period, most Arkansans were identified with farming and ranching. Fewer worked as carpenters, blacksmiths, gunsmiths, and wagon builders and fewer still as lawyers, doctors, and teachers. This economic shift also allowed some Arkansans to work outside the factory or field as artisans, including James Black who is credited with creating the first [[Bowie Knife]] in Arkansas during the period. Improving transportation also helped the state's economy grow. The [[Southwest Trail]] and [[Butterfield Overland Mail]] were major roads in the state, and steamboats began using the state's rivers for commerce. Arkansas increased its cotton production from {{convert|6000000|lbs|kg}} in 1840 to {{convert|26000000|lbs|kg}} in 1850.<ref>Arnold et al 2002, pp. 140–141.</ref> Arkansas and the southeast grew rapidly due to cotton, but its use of the plantation system would ultimately set the state and region behind the rest of the nation for decades.<ref>Arnold et al 2002, p. 135.</ref> Southeast Arkansas became significantly more prosperous than the northwestern highlands, causing a rift to form between the two regions.

[[File:Henry Massey Rector.jpg|thumb|left|200px|[[Henry Massey Rector|Henry Rector]]]]
Although the slave issue had been tabled following the Missouri Compromise, it again came to the forefront when California's admission to the Union threatened the political balance between free and slave states. [[John Selden Roane|John Roane]], [[William K. Sebastian|William Sebastian]], [[Solon Borland]], and [[Robert Ward Johnson|Robert Johnson]] began rallying support for the Southern cause in Arkansas, including discussing secession. However, most Arkansans were looking to compromise and preserve the Union. After the [[Compromise of 1850]], several Family members in favor of secession acquired political office, including [[Elias Conway]] as governor. [[Thomas Hindman]], a lawyer from [[Helena-West Helena, Arkansas|Helena]] and strong supporter of Southern rights, acquired the congressional seat in Arkansas's northern district with the support of the Family.<ref>Ferguson 1965, p. 4.</ref> Hindman would later side with [[Henry Massey Rector|Henry Rector]] against the Family, and both were successful in 1860.<ref>Ferguson 1965, pp. 6–7.</ref> During this time, the nation was continuing to grapple with the slavery issue. The [[Dred Scott v. Sandford]] decision and [[John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry]] kept slavery in the news. The creation of a Republican party who wanted to restrict the spread of slavery gave abolitionists a new option at the polls.

{{further|Origins of the American Civil War|Conway-Johnson family|1860 Democratic National Conventions|Provisional Congress of the Confederate States}}
[[Abraham Lincoln]] was elected president in 1860 when Rector became the first governor from outside the Family. Although Arkansans were leery of Lincoln, they were unsure of Rector's position with regard to secession.<ref>Ferguson 1965, p. 13.</ref><ref>Dougan 1976, p. 35.</ref> Hindman, Johnson, and [[Edward W. Gantt]] continued to advocate the Southern rights cause along with those loyal to the Family.<ref>Ferguson 1965, p. 15.</ref> [[South Carolina]] voted to secede in December 1860, and Hindman called for a secession vote, a move backed by Rector.<ref>Ferguson 1965, p. 19.</ref> The governor also forced the surrender of the garrison in Little Rock after rumors of Lincoln reinforcing the outfit.<ref>Dougan 1965, pp. 41–42.</ref> A vote in February 1861 showed Arkansas in favor of a state convention to decide the issue of [[secession]], but the delegates voted to remain in the Union.<ref name="b22">Bolton 1999, p. 22</ref> Although the vote was close, it favored the Union, mirroring the demographics of Arkansas at the time.<ref name="b22" /> Northwest Arkansas was mostly pro-Union and had a slight population majority, and the southeast primarily in favor of secession.<ref>Ferguson 1965, p. 23.</ref>

Following [[President Lincoln's 75,000 volunteers|President Lincoln's call for volunteers]] to quell the Southern rebellion following the [[Battle of Fort Sumter|bombardment of Fort Sumter]] on April 4, 1861, Rector ordered the state militia to take control of Fort Smith from the Federal government.<ref>Dougan 1965, p. 61.</ref> Secession was again put to a vote at the state convention on May 6. Given the recent events, less than 10% of the delegates voted to remain in the Union.<ref>Dougan 1965, p. 62.</ref> Chairman David Walker requested another vote in the interest of obtaining a unanimous decision. Only [[Isaac Murphy]] cast a ballot against secession for the second vote, officially ending Arkansas's membership in the Union.<ref name="b22" />

==Civil War and Reconstruction==

===Secession and Civil War===
{{Main|Arkansas secession|Arkansas in the American Civil War}}
{{further|Mississippi River in the American Civil War|Mississippi River campaigns|Trans-Mississippi Theater of the American Civil War}}
{{See also|Arkansas Militia in the Civil War|List of Arkansas Civil War Confederate units|List of Arkansas Union Civil War Units|Missouri State Guard}}
[[File:Hempstead Rifles.jpg|thumb|[[Muster (military)|Muster]]ing in the "Hempstead Rifles," Arkansas Volunteers, at [[Arkadelphia, Arkansas]], in 1861.]]
Support for the Confederate cause was immediate following secession. Many towns sent soldiers with hunting rifles to Little Rock. People across the state thought victory over the [[Union Army]] would come swiftly. Some anti-war organizations formed in northwest Arkansas, such as [[Arkansas Peace Society]], but [[Southern Unionist|members of these groups]] were arrested and charged with treason or forced to join the [[Confederate States Army|Confederate Army]]. Geographically Arkansas was an important state during the Arkansas Civil War, giving the [[Confederate States of America|Confederate]] government control of the Mississippi River and tenuous holds on [[Missouri in the American Civil War|Missouri]], [[Louisiana in the American Civil War|Louisiana]] and [[Indian Territory in the American Civil War|Indian Territory]] to the west. Confederate Brigadier-General [[Benjamin McCulloch]] was ordered to defend northern Arkansas and [[Indian Territory]]; however he elected to lead his troops into Missouri in support of [[Confederate government of Missouri|Missouri]] Major-General [[Sterling Price]]'s [[Missouri State Guard|state guard]], leading to the [[Battle of Wilson's Creek]] near [[Springfield, Missouri]]. This bloody battle shocked many who had thought the war would be a quick victory for the Confederacy.

{{further|Confederate Conscription Acts 1862–1864|Marshall Conferences|Economy of the Confederate States of America|Union blockade}}
Once it became apparent to Arkansans and the new nation that the war would not be a quick and painless proposition, excitement began to temper. Unpopular Confederate [[conscription]] laws and high taxes became major political and social issues in addition to reports of tremendous loss of life at such far off places as [[Battle of Shiloh|Shiloh]] in April 1862. Casualties were high for both sides at this battle, as a result of [[List of weapons in the American Civil War|advanced weapons technology]], but also poor [[Medicine in the American Civil War|battlefield medicine]]. Both sides battled disease, poor nutrition, and transportation issues throughout the war.

[[File:Battle of Pea Ridge.png|thumb|left|[[Battle of Pea Ridge]] in March 1862]]
The [[Union (American Civil War)|Union]] began an offensive across Arkansas in early 1862 in which Brigadier-General [[Samuel Ryan Curtis|Samuel Curtis]] led troops near [[Leetown, Arkansas|Leetown]], where the [[Battle of Pea Ridge]] occurred. After securing a Union victory, Curtis swept across the state to [[Helena, Arkansas|Helena]]. He intended to knock Arkansas out of the war by capturing Little Rock until Confederate reinforcements arrived in Spring 1862 under Brigadier-General [[William Steele (Confederate general)|William Steele]]. Confederate Major-General [[Thomas C. Hindman|Thomas Hindman]], although recently defeated at the [[Battle of Cotton Plant]], attempted to return northwest Arkansas to Confederate control. The [[Battle of Prairie Grove]] was essentially a stalemate, but Hindman's command withdrew to [[Van Buren, Arkansas|Van Buren]] and was driven from the region completely by December 1862. The [[Union Army]] defeated Confederate forces at the [[Battle of Fayetteville (1863)|Battle of Fayetteville]] in April 1863, but a week later abandoned northwest Arkansas and retreated back into Missouri for the summer.<ref>Mahan, Russell L. Fayetteville, Arkansas, in the Civil War. Historical Byways, Bountiful, Utah, 2003.</ref>

{{further|Guerrilla warfare in the American Civil War|Emancipation Proclamation|Ten percent plan|Turning point of the American Civil War}}
After Union Major-General [[Benjamin Butler]] decided to treat escaped slaves flocking to his lines as contraband of war, plantation owners began moving them away from Federal armies. Some planters moved to Brazil, including some Arkansans. Congress passed the [[Confiscation Act of 1862]] that stated if their master was fighting for the South; a slave could gain freedom by crossing behind Union lines. Following the Union victory at [[Battle of Antietam|Antietam]], the [[Emancipation Proclamation]] defined the impetus of further fighting to be slavery. This kept the United Kingdom out of the war, who was rumored to be sympathetic to the Southern cause but did not want to be viewed as promoting slavery. Many slaves sought freedom in the North, but arrived only to work on plantations for meager wages since cotton was also critical to the Northern war effort.

[[File:Battle of Fort Hindman.png|thumb|[[Battle of Arkansas Post (1863)|Bombardment and capture of Fort Hindman]] at [[Arkansas Post]] in 1863]]
The war began to turn against the Confederates in 1863, losing at the [[Battle of Helena]] despite a coordinated attack by generals [[Theophilus H. Holmes|Theophilus Holmes]], Sterling Price, [[John S. Marmaduke|John Marmaduke]], and [[James Fleming Fagan|James Fagan]]. The [[Siege of Vicksburg]] concluded as a Union victory the same day, severely compromising the Rebels' control of the Mississippi River. Later in the year the Union used the post at Helena to capture Little Rock, forcing the state government to relocate, with the state archives, to [[Washington, Arkansas|Washington]]. Despite controlling the state capital at Little Rock, the Union hold on the state was tenuous. Guerrilla warfare ravaged the countryside and small towns throughout the war.<ref>Arnold et al 2002, p. 200.</ref> Bands of guerrillas often stole from houses and burned fields wherever the Union or Confederate forces were not present.

The last major fighting within the state occurred during the 1864 [[Camden Expedition]]. The expedition was a military campaign in south central Arkansas which involved Union forces stationed at Little Rock and Fort Smith under the command of Major-General [[Frederick Steele]]. The plan called for Steele's force to march to [[Shreveport, Louisiana]], where it would link up with an amphibious expedition led by Major-General [[Nathaniel P. Banks|Nathaniel Banks]] and Rear-Admiral [[David Dixon Porter|David Porter]], whose force was to advance up the Red River Valley. Once joined, the Union force was to strike into Texas. But the two pincers never converged, and Steele's columns suffered terrible losses in a series of battles with Confederate forces led by Price and General [[Edmund Kirby Smith|Kirby Smith]].

[[File:Price Raid (cropped).jpg|thumb|240px|left|[[Price's Missouri Expedition|Price's Missouri Raid]] in the fall of 1864]]
The victory by Confederates in the [[Red River campaign]] and its Arkansas phase, the Camden Expedition, opened a brief window of opportunity for Arkansas Confederates. Missouri General Joseph Shelby was dispatched to northeast Arkansas with his cavalry brigade and began recruiting. Throughout the summer of 1864, Confederate strength in northeast Arkansas steadily grew with many soldiers who had either deserted from their previous commands or become separated, returning to Confederate Service. The last formation of new Confederate units occurred during this time with the formation of the 45th through the 48th Arkansas Mounted Infantry regiments.<ref>Sellmeyer, Deryl P.: "Jo Shelby's Iron Brigade", Pelican Publishing Company, 2007, {{ISBN|978-1-58980-430-2}}, page 184</ref> Several existing Arkansas units were converted to Mounted Infantry and dispatched to northeast Arkansas. Shelby was eventually able to seriously threaten vital Union lines of communication along the Arkansas River between Helena and Little Rock, and for a while it appeared that Confederates would mount a serious attempt to retake Little Rock. However, Confederate authorities in Richmond were pressuring Kirby Smith to dispatch some of his infantry to reinforce Confederate armies east of the Mississippi. This caused an uproar with the Arkansas regiments and as a compromise, Smith approved a plan by Sterling Price to organize a large-scale raid into Missouri that would coincide with the [[1864 United States presidential election]].<ref>Suderow, Bryce A. "Pt 1 Natl. Archives Material" Arkansas in the Civil War Message Board, Posted 5/15/2011, Accessed 20 March 2013, http://history-sites.com/cgi-bin/bbs62x/arcwmb/webbbs_config.pl?md=read;id=23980</ref> Many Arkansas troops would participate in the last Confederate offensive operation in the [[Trans-Mississippi Department]] when Price lead a [[Price's Missouri Expedition|large cavalry raid into Missouri]] in the fall of 1864. Following his defeat at the [[Battle of Westport]] in on October 23, 1864, most of the Arkansas cavalry units returned to the state and were furloughed for the remainder of the war.

{{further|Hampton Roads Conference|Conclusion of the American Civil War|Confederate colonies|Fort Smith Council|Lost Cause of the Confederacy}}
When the war ended, the [[3d Arkansas Infantry Regiment (Confederate States)|Third Arkansas]] surrendered with Lee's [[Army of Northern Virginia]] at [[Appomattox, Virginia]],  on April 9, 1865. The remnants of Major-General Patrick Cleburne's division of Arkansas Troops surrendered with the remnants of the [[Army of Tennessee]] at [[Bennett Place]] near [[Durham Station, North Carolina]], on April 26. The [[Jackson Light Artillery]] was among the last of the Confederate troops east of the Mississippi to surrender. The Jackson Light Artillery aided in the defense of [[Mobile, Alabama|Mobile]] and surrendered with the Department of Alabama, Mississippi, and East Louisiana. The battery spiked their guns and were paroled at [[Meridian, Mississippi]], May 11.<ref>Howerton, Bryan R., "Jackson Light Artillery (Thrall's Battery)", Edward G. Gerdes Civil War Page, Accessed 30 January 2011, http://www.couchgenweb.com/civilwar/jackson.html</ref>

Arkansas infantry regiments assigned to the Trans-Mississippi Department were all included in the formal surrender negotiations of that department on May 26, 1865.<ref name="confederate">Field, Ron, The Confederate Army, 1861–1865 (4), Virginia & Arkansas, Osprey Publishing, 2006, {{ISBN|978-1-84603-032-1}}, page 23,</ref> At the time, the infantry was encamped in and around [[Marshall, Texas]], as war-ravaged Arkansas was no longer able to provide adequate sustenance to the army. The regiments were all ordered to report to [[Shreveport, Louisiana]], to be paroled. In actuality, none of them did so. Some individual soldiers went to Shreveport on their own to be paroled, but the regiments simply disbanded without formally surrendering.<ref>Howerton, Bryan, "Re: 17th/1st/35th/22nd Arkansas Infantry Regiment", Arkansas in the Civil War Message Board, Posted 26 October 2011, Accessed 26 October 2011, http://history-sites.com/cgi-bin/bbs53x/arcwmb/webbbs_config.pl?noframes;read=24907</ref> Most Arkansas cavalry units were surrendered by Brigadier-General [[M. Jeff Thompson|Jeff Thompson]], commanding the Military Sub-District of Northeast Arkansas and Southeast Missouri. He agreed to surrender the command at [[Chalk Bluff, Arkansas|Chalk Bluff]] on May 11, and to have his cavalrymen assemble at Wittsburg and [[Jacksonport, Arkansas|Jacksonport]] to lay down their arms and receive their paroles. The command was formally surrendered and paroled at [[Wittsburg, Arkansas|Wittsburg]] on May 25 or [[Jacksonport, Arkansas|Jacksonport]] June 5.<ref name=autogenerated2>Howerton, Bryan R. "Re: Jacksonport 1865 surrender list?", Arkansas in the Civil War Message Board, Posted 1 January 2004, Accessed 1 January 2012, http://history-sites.com/mb/cw/arcwmb/archive_index.cgi?noframes;read=6006 {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120406192308/http://history-sites.com/mb/cw/arcwmb/archive_index.cgi?noframes%3Bread=6006 |date=2012-04-06 }}</ref> Smaller commands surrendered at various locations throughout May and June 1865, to include Fort Smith and the Union posts of Little Rock and [[Pine Bluff, Arkansas|Pine Bluff]].

===Reconstruction Period===
{{further|Reconstruction era|Arkansas Militia in Reconstruction|Brooks–Baxter War}}
Following the war, the Southern economy was in shambles, including Arkansas. The cost of the war effort, loss of [[human capital]], and Confederate currency losing value were serious issues for the south in addition to the destruction of property, infrastructure, and crops. Emancipated blacks also rushed out of the south following the war. [[Abraham Lincoln]]'s moderate [[ten percent plan]] allowed the Confederate states to return once 10% of their 1860 voters pledged allegiance to the United States and [[abolitionism in the United States|emancipation]]. A constitutional convention elected [[Isaac Murphy]] provisional governor, the lone vote against secession in the 1861 convention. Confederate loyalists quickly labeled Murphy as a traitor and compromised his effectiveness. Arkansas's two senators [[Elisha Baxter]] and [[William Fishback]] were denied seating in Washington by the Radical Republicans who thought Lincoln's policies were too lenient. Confederate governor [[Harris Flanagin]] brought state documents back from Washington and retired after the war. The [[Arkansas Constitution]] was redrawn in 1864 with the provisions necessitated by the 10% plan. When [[Assassination of Abraham Lincoln|Lincoln was assassinated]] on April 14, 1865, the hopes of a painless restoration of the Union died as well.

[[File:Mustered out, harper's weekly, little rock, AR.jpg|thumb|left|A drawing of [[United States Colored Troops|U.S. Colored Troops]] [[Muster (military)|mustered out]] at [[Little Rock, Arkansas|Little Rock]], 1866.]]

The southeast Arkansas planters tried several avenues to maintain cotton production despite emancipation. The system of [[sharecropping]] eventually became most popular, allowing individuals to use farmland, seed, tools and a dwelling provided by the landowner. At season end he received a share of the crop (which in turn was used to pay off local merchants who had provided credit for living expenses.) The duty of supervising these contracts between newly freed slaves and planters was  the responsibility of the federal [[Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands|Freedman's Bureau]]. Many plantation owners despised paying the same slaves that had run off from their plantation years earlier. Blacks began using their own schools and churches for the first time. Following the frustrations of losing the war and slavery, the [[Ku Klux Klan]] (KKK) became the military arm of the Democratic party in much of the south, including Arkansas. Tasked with keeping blacks as well as white Republicans on plantations and away from the polls, the KKK and other groups like the [[Bald Knobbers]] reigned terror throughout the state for years.

President [[Andrew Johnson]] granted pardons to many leading Confederates. The Confederate veterans in Arkansas formed a conservative political party to oppose the Unionists, lead at first by [[Augustus Hill Garland|Augustus Garland]]. The strong anti-Unionist feelings in the state were evident when Arkansas voters refused to ratify the 14th amendment, guaranteeing citizenship, due process, and equal protection to freedmen, and in fact passed laws restricting freedmen. Once it became clear the South would not return to the Union easily, the [[Reconstruction era of the United States#Military Reconstruction|Military Reconstruction Act]] was passed in 1867. Arkansas became a military territory under General [[Edward Ord]].<ref>Herndon 1922, p. 110.</ref>

[[File:OldMainUofA.jpg|thumb|[[University of Arkansas]], founded by the [[Arkansas General Assembly|General Assembly]] in 1868, is one of many public universities in the state.]]
General Ord kept Governor Murphy in power but dissolved the state legislature. Republicans called a convention in Little Rock in April 1867 to discuss how Arkansas could return to the Union. Freedmen began to participate in politics through organizations such as the [[Union League]], including registering blacks for the upcoming election. The election selected seventy delegates to a constitutional convention, composed primarily of [[Radical Republicans]]. The resulting constitution gave blacks full citizenship, due process, and the right to vote, as well as free public schools for all races and the establishment of the [[University of Arkansas]]. The document infuriated many conservatives and many thought it was a partisan document created for the benefit of the Republicans. The new constitution was approved in a corrupt election that also gave many offices to the Republicans. Ord certified the results, as did Congress over the president's veto, and the new Arkansas assembly ratified the 14th amendment, allowing Arkansas to reenter the Union on June 22, 1868.

[[Powell Clayton]], a Union general who had returned to live in Arkansas after the war, was elected governor in the corrupt 1868 election. Clayton took it upon himself to keep former Confederate personnel out of power and protect the newly freed blacks. Many of his political appointments were from northern states, leading his opponents to paint him and his allies as [[carpetbagger]]s. To build Arkansas's infrastructure, Clayton raised taxes, another unpopular decision. Financial incentives were given to railroad companies, who ultimately laid {{convert|662|mi|km}} of track by the end of Reconstruction with $9&nbsp;million (${{Formatprice|{{Inflation|US|9000000|1875|r=3}}}} in current dollars) in state assistance.

[[File:Corner of Markham and Main Streets, Little Rock.jpg|thumb|left|250px|[[Anthony House (Little Rock, Arkansas)|Anthony House]] – Scene of the 1874 [[Brooks–Baxter War|conflict between Brooks and Baxter]].]]

Following the 1868 election, many residents were frustrated by the radical Republicans that had taken control of most county offices. The KKK began [[whitecapping]] throughout Arkansas, and Governor Clayton declared [[martial law]] in ten counties, later adding four more. In [[Mississippi County, Arkansas|Mississippi County]], one of the martial law counties, a racially and politically charged event called the Black Hawk War took place in 1872 that is indicative of Reconstruction. County registrar Charles Fitzpatrick rode around with an armed group of blacks, collecting taxes and issuing threats to his opponents. Fitzpatrick accused Sheriff J. B. Murray of misappropriating county funds, and the allegation became a heated argument. When the two met to shake hands at the Osceola Post Office, Murray punched Fitzpatrick, who responded by shooting and killing Murray. Upon Fitzpatrick turning himself in, a trial was held but the judge adjourned the tense court for two days before ordering Fitzpatrick to disperse his company of 200 armed men. Fitzpatrick complied, and the judge went across town to disperse a crowd of KKK members, led by former Confederate Captain Charles Bowen. Both parties dispersed but ran into each other south of town and shots were fired. Fitzpatrick was never convicted and was nominated for the state legislature, but was defeated by Hiram McVeigh.

<!-- [[WP:NFCC]] violation: [[File:TroopsArkansasOldStateHouse.jpg|left|thumb|Baxter's troops gathered in front of the Old State House in Downtown Little Rock, this image is actually inaccurate; the split rail fence had been replaced by a wrought iron one by 1874]] -->
The 1872 gubernatorial election was also marked by fraud and corruption. 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 (politician)|Joseph Brooks]] to disperse his militant supporters.

==Gilded Age and the New South==
[[File:Augustus Hill Garland - Brady-Handy.jpg|thumb|left|upright|[[Augustus Hill Garland|Augustus Garland]] served as the 11th [[List of governors of Arkansas|governor of Arkansas]]]]
Following Reconstruction, many [[Northern United States|Northern]] and [[Western United States|Western]] states entered a period of rapid economic growth, railroad building, immigration, and industrialization. The period became known as the [[Gilded Age]]; [[real wages]] grew, but the [[Distribution of wealth#Wealth concentration|concentration of wealth]] became more visible and contentious, leading working-class Americans to calls for reform in the labor, political, and economic systems.

A similar desire for reform was founded in Arkansas, but was impeded by many factors. When Congress voted to approve [[Augustus Hill Garland|Augustus Garland]] as governor a year after a corrupt 1874 election, Arkansas and other Southern states began to envision a revolution in which the old Confederate states could update their economies using Northern capital and industry to replace plantation agriculture. Contemporary Arkansans also believed cultural and social change could come with this transition.<ref>Moneyhon 1997, p. 4.</ref> Various groups and organizations sought to use the [[producerism]] ideology to rebalance income and political power in favor of the working-class and "producers". Although [[Third party (U.S. politics)|third parties]] persistently challenged Democratic hegemony in the late 1880s and 1890s, and changes did take place, reform efforts suffered from segregation and exclusion of women. Public corruption, disinclination to organized labor, resistance to change and disfranchisement also slowed reforms, delaying many of the benefit from a new diversified economy into the 20th century.<ref name="harvp|Johnson III|2019|p= 6">{{harvp|"Johnson III"|2019|p= 6}}.</ref><ref>{{harvp|"Gilded"|2018|p= 3-4}}.</ref>

{{See also|African American officeholders from the end of the Civil War until before 1900#Arkansas}}
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. However, 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.<ref name="oldstatehouse.com"/> 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 disenfranchised.<ref>[http://isher.lib.virginia.edu/collections/stats/histcensus/php/state.php Historical Census Browser, 1900 US Census, University of Virginia]{{Dead link|date=July 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}, accessed 15 Mar 2008</ref> Since they could not vote, they could not serve on juries, which were limited to voters. They were again shut out of the political process.

===Discontented farmers===
{{See also|History of agriculture in the United States#Railroad age: 1860–1910|American farm discontent}}
[[File:Arkansas1895.jpg|thumb|250px|[[Rand McNally]] map of Arkansas, 1895]]
Farmers in Arkansas were devastated following the war, and a combination of forces aligned to further depress the agriculture sector. As the [[Cotton Belt]] expanded into Oklahoma and Texas, Arkansas farmers faced new competition from outside their region for the first time, depressing prices.<ref name="harvp|Johnson III|2019|p= 6"/><ref>Moneyhon 1997, p. 25.</ref> Though railroads had expanded to {{convert|2373|mi|km}} of track in Arkansas by 1895, farmers were often charged higher rates to serve rural areas.<ref>Moneyhon 1997, pp. 27–28.</ref><ref name="harvp|Narrative|2002|p= 262">{{harvp|"Narrative"|2002|p= 262}}.</ref> Selling [[cash crop]]s into expanding (and often oversupplied) commodity markets left farmers with limited financial control of their operations. Many took [[Crop-lien system|crop lien]]s, putting up their land as collateral to pay for seeds in spring.<ref>Moneyhon 1997, p. 6.</ref> Looking for a return on investment, the creditors usually insisted that farmers plant largely cotton, which remained the most valuable cash crop.<ref>Moneyhon 1997, p. 7.</ref> Many chose to plant cotton willingly, resisting calls from [[agricultural extension agent]]s and university research recommending crop diversification or conservation methods.<ref name="harvp|Johnson III|2019|p= 6"/> Cash-poor farmers in the Arkansas Delta and throughout the South often resorted to [[tenant farming]], where tenants work an owner's land in exchange for a fixed percentage of the crop yield.<ref name="harvp|Narrative|2002|p= 262"/> By the Great Depression, most farmers in Arkansas did not own the land they worked.<ref name="harvp|Johnson III|2019|p= 6"/> Owning few assets, many in the farm economy had few ways to climb the economic ladder, leaving many Arkansans behind the prosperity seen in other states during the [[Gay Nineties]].

===Reform efforts===
[[National Grange of the Order of Patrons of Husbandry|The Grange]] came to Arkansas in 1872, and counted 20,471 members by 1875. The group sought to increase the economic and political interests of the farm family through [[collectivism]].<ref>{{harvp|"Gilded"|2018|pp= 8–10}}.</ref> However, the group struggled to initiate reforms in Arkansas under charges of becoming co-opted by political and large-producer interests at the expense of smaller producers, and is historically viewed as pushing both radical and conservative agendas prior to fading from prominence by 1876.<ref>{{harvp|"Gilded"|2018|pp= 10–12}}.</ref> The [[Greenback Party]] rose as a successor to the Grange nationally, and in Arkansas, to suggest replacement of the [[bullion]]-based monetary system (favored by Republicans and Democrats) with [[United States Note|greenbacks]], a paper money which would fight [[deflation]] and thus raise prices for agricultural commodities. The party also pushed for wage increases and labor rights, and included blacks in the state convention (in contrast to the segregated Grange). The party's currency platform was co-opted by Arkansas Democrats in the 1878 elections, causing the Greenback-Labor Party candidates to withdraw in August, though some continued and won as independents.<ref>{{harvp|"Gilded"|2018|pp= 14–15}}.</ref> When Democrats reversed support for soft-money policies shortly after the election, some prominent Democrats, including [[Rufus King Garland Jr.]], left the Democratic party and resuscitated the Greenback-Labor Party in Arkansas. Having become more of an [[Opposition (politics)|opposition party]] than a vehicle for reform, the Arkansas Greenback-Labor Party entered a [[Electoral fusion in the United States|fusion]] arrangement with the Arkansas Republicans in 1880, and added repudiation of the state debt incurred during Reconstruction to its platform. The fusion arrangement had limited electoral results, and completely collapsed by 1882, when Republicans ran their own ticket.<ref>{{harvp|"Gilded"|2018|pp= 15–17}}.</ref>

Nine frustrated farmers in [[Prairie County, Arkansas|Prairie County]] formed an organization called the [[Agricultural Wheel|Grand Agricultural Wheel]] (usually shortened to Wheel) in 1882 to address issues relevant to the small farmer.<ref>{{harvp|"Narrative"|2002|pp= 263–264}}.</ref> Although open to all races, separate black and white Wheels were often formed. Major platform issues for the Wheel included high rates of farm foreclosure, anaconda mortgages, corrupt politicians who failed to assist farming issues, and high railroad rates. Although a strong populous movement, the Wheel struggled to provide a political voice for its supporters. A partnership with the [[Union Labor Party (California)|Union Labor Party]] for the 1888 elections did not provide results as many Wheelers were hesitant to "betray" the Democrats who had traditionally earned their vote.

[[File:Union labor party LCCN2003656923.jpg|right|thumb|National campaign poster for [[Alson Streeter]] for President and Arkansas activist [[Charles E. Cunningham]] for Vice President on the [[Labor Party (United States, 19th century)|Union Labor Party]] ticket in the [[1888 United States presidential election]].]]
Following the disappointing results of that election, the Wheel merged with the Northern [[Farmer's Alliance]] in an attempt to combine both organizations' political clout. However, the coalition featured two factions who had the same problems but fundamentally disagreed on how to solve them: one of anti-tariff Southern Democrats and another of Northern farmers who were traditionally Republican and supported tariffs. The group became the [[Populist Party (United States)|Populists]] in 1890. During the late 1880s and 1890s, the [[Democratic Party (United States)|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 new 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 (United States)|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.<ref name="oldstatehouse.com">{{ cite web |url= http://www.oldstatehouse.com/educational_programs/classroom/arkansas_news |title= "White Primary" System Bars Blacks from Politics – 1900 |publisher= The Arkansas News |date= Spring 1987 |page= 3 |location= Little Rock, AR |access-date= March 22, 2008 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080503211520/http://www.oldstatehouse.com/educational_programs/classroom/arkansas_news/ |archive-date= May 3, 2008 |url-status= dead |df= mdy-all }}</ref>

===Diversification leads to economic growth===
{{Main|The New South}}

The "New South" progressive ideals were especially evident in the era's business leaders such as [[Robert E. Lee Wilson|Lee Wilson]] and [[Henry W. Grady|Henry Grady]]. Wilson became one of the most influential Arkansans of his time by exploiting the land, labor and resources available to him. His company towns in northeast Arkansas such as [[Wilson, Arkansas|Wilson]] and [[Marie, Arkansas|Marie]] attracted poor sharecroppers to his logging and farming operations.<ref>{{ cite web |title= Lee Wilson & Company, Yesterday and Today |url= https://libinfo.uark.edu/SpecialCollections/ardiglib/leewilson/history.html |publisher= University of Arkansas Libraries |access-date= July 15, 2013}}</ref> Amenities such as company housing, a town doctor, and other company-funded businesses not normally found in small towns drove his empire to grow to be the "World's Largest Plantation".<ref>{{ cite web |title= The Story of Lee Wilson and Company |page= 3 |publisher= Lee Wilson & Company |url=https://libinfo.uark.edu/SpecialCollections/ardiglib/leewilson/doc/doc52.html |access-date= July 15, 2013}}</ref> After Wilson's son, Wilson Jr., and his wife returned in 1925 from their honeymoon in England enthralled with the [[Tudor Revival architecture|Tudor]] style, all their public buildings were built with Tudor architecture, including retrofits to all existing public structures.<ref>{{ cite web | title= Life in Wilson: Town of Wilson | url= https://libinfo.uark.edu/SpecialCollections/ardiglib/leewilson/town.html |work= Lee Wilson & Company Archives |author = University of Arkansas Libraries Special Collections staff  |access-date= February 18, 2015}}</ref> The town incorporated in 1959, selling the houses to the renters living in them and gaining access to tax income it was previously excluded from as a company entity.<ref>{{ cite web | title= Life in Wilson: Robert E. Lee "Bob" Wilson, III | url= https://libinfo.uark.edu/SpecialCollections/ardiglib/leewilson/bob.html |work= Lee Wilson & Company Archives |author = University of Arkansas Libraries Special Collections staff |access-date= January 28, 2012}}</ref> As technology advanced on the farm, fewer employees were needed and many moved from Wilson to seek other employment.

The [[Arkansas Grand Prairie|Grand Prairie]] diversified into rice agriculture during this period; and remains a major source of rice production.<ref>{{ Cite encyclopedia |title= Grand Prairie |url= http://www.encyclopediaofarkansas.net/encyclopedia/entry-detail.aspx?entryID=2996 |date= November 21, 2018 |author=Staff of the CALS Encyclopedia of Arkansas |encyclopedia= Encyclopedia of Arkansas |publisher= Butler Center for Arkansas Studies at the Central Arkansas Library System |location= Little Rock |access-date= March 14, 2020 }}</ref> Economic forces also brought change in the Ozarks, where fruit orchards and vineyards more suitable to the soil, climate, and topography had long supplanted row agriculture. As fruit production moved to more productive areas of the United States, a variety of new crops and methods swept across the hills and hollers of the Ozarks. Poultry, dairy, and cattle production spread quickly in Benton and Washington counties, but did not follow into other parts of the Ozarks.<ref>{{harvp|"Johnson III"|2019|p= 7}}.</ref><ref>{{harvp|"Strausberg"|1995|p= 11}}.</ref> Mining and logging were prevalent where natural resources remained available.<ref>{{harvp|"Narrative"|2002|p= 246}}.</ref>

The growth in industrial jobs in the Northeast 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. Tractors and other new equipment displaced manual labor; fewer farm workers were needed and tens of thousands left the state for nearby cities such as Memphis as well as more distant St. Louis and Chicago.  During the 1940s blacks also migrated to Los Angeles and the West Coast,  where good jobs were expanding in defense industries.

==20th century==
===1900–1932===
The [[Progressive Era]] operated at the national level as Arkansas supported President [[Woodrow Wilson]].  At the state level the main themes were reforms demanded by women—who could not vote but could appeal to their menfolk.<ref>Frances Mitchell Ross, "The New Woman as Club Woman and Social Activist in Turn of the Century Arkansas." ''Arkansas Historical Quarterly'' 50#4 (1991), pp. 317–51. [https://doi.org/10.2307/40030819 online]</ref>  The [[Women's Christian Temperance Union]] and the Arkansas Prohibition Alliance advocated for local option and ultimately succeeded in getting a statewide ban on alcohol in 1915.  The same reformers demanded the vote. [[Women's suffrage in Arkansas]] gained traction, with activists pushing for enfranchisement and succeeding in getting the right to vote in primary elections in 1917. In 1920 the [[Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution]] finally gave women the right to vote in state and federal elections. In practice this meant white women only.<ref>A. Elizabeth Taylor, "The Woman Suffrage Movement in Arkansas." ''Arkansas Historical Quarterly'' 15#1 (1956), pp. 17–52. [https://doi.org/10.2307/40027189 online].</ref>  The cruel punishment involved in [[Convict leasing]]—with businesses using unpaid prisoners—was abolished in Arkansas by Governor [[George Washington Donaghey]]. He furloughed prisoners to end the practice. Arkansas's educational system was also a concern for progressives, who sought to improve literacy and education in the state. While some improvements were made, Arkansas's children still received a subpar education, and funding remained a significant issue. [[Junius Marion Futrell]], who became governor in 1932, campaigned on retrenchment, resulting in a reduction in state expenditures and a new crisis in education.<ref>Jeannie Whayne, "Early Twentieth Century, 1901 through 1940" ''Encyclopedia of Arkansas'' (2023) [https://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/early-twentieth-century-1901-through-1940-403/ online ]</ref>

With the arrival of the cheap [[Ford Model T]] in 1908, the state realized it needed to rapidly improve its roads. Historically roads were handled by county government at very low cost.  The state now attempted to coordinate road construction with a commission, but poorly supervised and coordinated construction led to inadequate support for automobiles. The state qualified for federal aid in 1917, but by 1921, the road system was in disarray, and federal funds were withdrawn due to a lack of centralization. Governor [[John Ellis Martineau]]  launched an ambitious state highway construction program, but the economic situation and drought of 1930–31 hindered its success. By 1933, the state's highway debt was $146,000,000. In 1934 Governor [[Junius Marion Futrell]] devised a strategy to consolidate it through the Highway Refunding Act.<ref>Whayne, "Early Twentieth Century, 1901 through 1940" ''Encyclopedia of Arkansas'' (2023)</ref>

===Elaine Race Riots of 1919===
{{Main|Elaine massacre}}
Race relations grew tense during this time, with many poor whites blaming freedmen for their unemployment. At the same time, blacks felt they were being exploited and underpaid by white plantation owners. In 1919, 100 frustrated black farmers gathered near [[Elaine, Arkansas|Elaine]] to discuss how to receive a fair wage for their work on the plantations. A fight broke out when a sheriff and railroad detective arrived at the church. The white deputy was wounded and the white detective killed. As word spread of a "black uprising", whites came from the surrounding area to quell the "rebellion". Chaos ensued for three days in the town, with mobs roaming the street and random killings throughout. Federal troops found the town in a state of violence and were ultimately able to disarm the groups. Five whites and between 100 and 200 blacks were killed.<ref>Grif Stockley, "Elaine Massacre of 1919" ''Encyclopedia of Arkansas'' (2023) [https://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/elaine-massacre-of-1919-1102/ online]</ref>

===Great Depression and the New Deal===
[[File:Wife and children of a sharecropper in Washington County, Arkansas - NARA - 195845.jpg|thumb|upright|Wife and children of a [[sharecropper]] in [[Washington County, Arkansas]], c. 1935]]
[[File:Man holds a child at an outdoor STFU meeting.jpg|right|thumb|Man with child at a meeting of the [[Southern Tenant Farmers Union]], 1937]]

The Great Depression caused severe economic hardship, exacerbated by severe droughts and the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927. In response, voters elected a progressive governor, Harvey Parnell, in 1928. Though Parnell was able to implement some reforms, such as improvements to education, highways and tax reform, the situation had deteriorated too much by 1932 for state assistance to make a difference. Arkansaw remained overwhelmingly Democratic. The New Deal's Agricultural Adjustment Act helped restore cotton prices, while federal relief programs such as the CCC and WPA provided jobs for unemployed men and some women.

With a rural economy based primarily on cotton, Arkansas was hard-hit in the [[Great Depression in the United States]]. Severe droughts in the 1930s and the [[Great Mississippi Flood of 1927]] greatly worsened the pain caused by low commodity prices in the early 1920s. Arkansans sought reforms during the era, electing [[Harvey Parnell]] governor in [[1928 Arkansas gubernatorial election|1928]], a progressive campaigning on education, highways, and tax reform.<ref>{{harvp|"Narrative"|2002|pp= 318–320}}.</ref> Implementation of reforms was limited by a struggling farm economy, natural disasters, and a strong tradition of low taxes.<ref>{{harvp|"Narrative"|2002|p= 320}}.</ref> By the [[1932 Arkansas elections|1932 elections]], the situation had devolved beyond the capacity of state assistance. Arkansans supported [[Franklin Roosevelt]] in huge numbers, while also electing the conservative Democrat [[J. M. Futrell]] on a retrenchment platform.<ref>{{harvp|"Narrative"|2002|pp= 320–321}}.</ref>

The [[Agricultural Adjustment Act]] restored cotton prices and [[Alphabet agencies|FDR's numerous federal relief programs]], such as the CCC and WPA provided jobs primarily for unemployed men and for women who were heads of family.<ref>Sandra Taylor Smith, "The Civilian Conservation Corps in Arkansas, 1933–1942". (1992) [http://www.arkansaspreservation.com/pdf/publications/CCC.pdf online] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120915222304/http://www.arkansaspreservation.com/pdf/publications/ccc.pdf |date=2012-09-15 }}.</ref>

[[Hattie Caraway]] (1878–1950) was the first woman elected to serve a full term as a United States Senator. She was appointed to succeed her husband who died in office in 1931. She was reelected in her own right in January 1932. She was reelected to a full term in November 1932, with considerable help from Louisiana Senator [[Huey Long]]. She won another term in 1938. However, in 1944, Caraway ran fourth in the Democratic primary, losing her Senate seat to freshman congressman [[J. William Fulbright]], the young, dynamic former president of the University of Arkansas who had already gained a national reputation.<ref>Nancy Hendricks, ''Senator Hattie Caraway: An Arkansas Legacy'' (2013)</ref>

===World War II===
World War II restored prosperity. Many farmers, especially blacks, left for much better-paying jobs in industrial centers.<ref>C. Calvin Smith, ''War and wartime changes: the transformation of Arkansas, 1940–1945'' (U of Arkansas Press, 1986)</ref> Cotton plantations ran short of unskilled labor to pick their crop, and were assisted by the US Department of Agriculture in finding workers.<ref>Nan Elizabeth Woodruff, "Pick or Fight: The Emergency Farm Labor Program in the Arkansas and Mississippi Deltas during World War II". ''Agricultural History'' (1990) 64#2 pp: 74–85 [https://www.jstor.org/stable/3743798 in JSTOR]</ref> Based on the order of President [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]] given shortly after [[Imperial Japan]]'s [[attack on Pearl Harbor]], nearly 16,000 [[Japanese Americans]] were forcibly removed from the [[West Coast of the United States]] and incarcerated in two internment camp located in the [[Arkansas Delta]].<ref name ="encyclopedia">[http://www.encyclopediaofarkansas.net/encyclopedia/entry-detail.aspx?entryID=2273 The Encyclopedia of Arkansas History & Culture – Japanese American Relocation Camps]</ref> The [[Rohwer War Relocation Center|Rohwer Camp]] in [[Desha County]] operated from September 1942 to November 1945 and its peak interned 8,475 persons.<ref name ="encyclopedia"/> The [[Jerome War Relocation Center]] in [[Drew County]] operated from October 1942 to June 1944 and held circa 8,000 persons.<ref name ="encyclopedia"/>

===Civil rights era===
[[File:Little-Rock-TIME-1957.jpg|thumb|right|''Time'' magazine (October 7, 1957), featuring Army paratroopers at [[Little Rock, Arkansas|Little Rock]].]]

In 1948, the [[University of Arkansas]] integrated its Schools of Law and Medicine, becoming the first school in any Southern U.S. state to accept black students.<ref name="collegeintegration"/><ref name=schoolintegration>{{cite news|date=September 10, 2007|title=Before Little Rock: Successful Arkansas School Integration|publisher=University of Arkansas|url=https://news.uark.edu/articles/9136/before-little-rock-successful-arkansas-school-integration|access-date=May 14, 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Edith Irby Jones, M.D.|url=https://www.nlm.nih.gov/locallegends/Biographies/Jones_Edith.html|publisher=National Library of Medicine|access-date=May 14, 2022|location=Bethesda, Maryland|date=2005}}</ref> In one of the first major cases of the [[Civil Rights Movement]], the [[Supreme Court of the United States|Supreme Court]] ruled in ''[[Brown v. Topeka Board of Education]]'' (1954) that segregated schools were unconstitutional. Both of Arkansas' [[United States Senate|U.S. Senators]] ([[J. William Fulbright]] and [[John L. McClellan]]) and all six of its [[United States House of Representatives|U.S. Representatives]] were among those who signed the [[Southern Manifesto]] in response. Despite this, success was made in integrating higher education in the state of Arkansas,<ref name=integratepublic>{{cite news|title=Higher Education in Arkansas|url=https://ualrexhibits.org/desegregation/hot-spots-of-progress/higher-education-in-arkansas/#:~:text=The%20University%20of%20Arkansas%20system,the%20law%20school%20in%201948.|publisher=University of Arkansas-Little Rock|access-date=May 14, 2022}}</ref> Public schools in [[Fayetteville, Arkansas|Fayetteville]], [[Charleston, Arkansas|Charleston]] and [[Hoxie, Arkansas|Hoxie]]  public schools also saw integration by 1955.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/desegregation-of-fayetteville-schools-5278/|title=Desegregation of Fayetteville Schools|publisher=Encyclopedia of Arkansas|access-date=May 14, 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite encyclopedia|title=Desegregation of Charleston Schools|url=http://www.encyclopediaofarkansas.net/encyclopedia/entry-detail.aspx?entryID=730|encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of Arkansas|access-date=May 14, 2022|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180105011843/http://www.encyclopediaofarkansas.net/encyclopedia/entry-detail.aspx?entryID=730|archive-date=January 5, 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last1=Appleby|first1=David|title=Hoxie – The First Stand|url=http://newsreel.org/video/HOXIE-THE-FIRST-STAND|access-date=May 14, 2022|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180105011643/http://newsreel.org/video/HOXIE-THE-FIRST-STAND|archive-date=January 5, 2018}}</ref><ref name=integratepublic /><ref name=collegeintegration>{{cite news|url=https://arkansasblacklawyers.uark.edu/articles/ahq68-2.pdf|title=Desegregating the University of Arkansas School of Law: L. Clifford Davis and the Six Pioneers|first=Judith|last=Kilpatrick|publisher=The Arkansas Historical Quarterly,VOL. LXVIII, NO. 2|date=Summer 2009|accessdate=May 14, 2022}}</ref>

The [[Little Rock Nine]] incident of 1957 centered around [[Little Rock Central High School]] brought Arkansas to national attention. After the [[Little Rock School District|Little Rock School Board]] had voted to begin carrying out desegregation in compliance with the law, [[Racial segregation|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 (judge)|Ronald Davies]] of [[United States District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas|U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas]] granted an injunction from the [[United States Department of Justice|U.S. Department of Justice]] compelling him to withdraw the Guard.<ref>Graeme Cope, "'A Thorn in the Side'? The Mothers' League of Central High School and the Little Rock Desegregation Crisis of 1957", ''Arkansas Historical Quarterly'' (1998) 57#2 pp: 160–190 [https://www.jstor.org/stable/40027928 in JSTOR]</ref><ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Pierce | first1 = Michael | year = 2011 | title = Historians of the Central High Crisis and Little Rock's Working-Class Whites: A Review Essay | journal = Arkansas Historical Quarterly | volume = 70 | issue = 4| pages = 468–483 | jstor=23188020}}</ref> White mobs began to riot when the nine black students began attending school. President [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]], on the request of Little Rock's mayor, deployed the [[101st Airborne Division (United States)|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. The Little Rock school episode drew international attention to the treatment of African Americans in the United States.<ref>Mary L. Dudziak, "The Little Rock Crisis and Foreign Affairs: Race, Resistance, and the Image of American Democracy", ''Southern California Law Review'' 70 (1996) pp: 1641–1716.</ref>  The Civil Rights era also saw the [[Freedom Rides]] in 1961, and the integration of the University of Arkansas in 1964.

Changing racial attitudes and growth in jobs have created a [[New Great Migration]] since the 1970s, with African Americans moving to Northern cities and to metropolitan areas within the South.

===1960s and 1970s===
In the 1960s and 1970s, Arkansas, like the rest of the United States, experienced significant social and political changes.<ref>Ben F. Johnson, ''Arkansas in Modern America since 1930'' (2019) pp 161–174.</ref> Arkansas was heavily affected by the Vietnam War, with thousands of its young men drafted into the military in an increasingly unpopular war. Many protests and demonstrations against the war took across the state, especially on college campuses. The economy underwent significant changes, with the decline of agriculture and the growth of manufacturing and service industries. State politics saw the rise of Governor [[Winthrop Rockefeller]], a moderate Republican from a famous family. He sought to modernize the state and improve race relations. He was elected in 1966 and served two terms, during which he implemented various reforms, including modernizing the state's prison system and improving education. The 1970s saw the election of Democrat [[David Pryor]] as governor, who continued some of Rockefeller's initiatives and also focused on environmental conservation and economic development.<ref>Diane D. Blair,"The Big Three of Late Twentieth-Century Arkansas Politics: Dale Bumpers, Bill Clinton, and David Pryor." '' Arkansas Historical Quarterly'' 54.1 (1995): 53–79.</ref><ref>Ben Johnson, "Divergent Prosperity and the Arc of Reform, 1968–2022" ''Encyclopedia of Arkansas'' (2023) [https://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/modern-era-1968-through-the-present-405/ online]</ref>

==President Bill Clinton==
In 1978, at 32 years old, [[Bill Clinton]] was elected governor of Arkansas, becoming in 1979 the youngest governor in the country. During his ten-year tenure, he worked on educational reform, improved the state's economy, and became a nationally prominent leader of the centrist [[New Democrats (United States)|New Democrats]]. Clinton's wife, [[Hillary Clinton]], chaired the Arkansas Education Standards Committee and proposed reforms that transformed the state's education system. In the 1980s, the Clintons' personal and business affairs became the basis of the [[Whitewater controversy]], which he ultimately survived. Clinton was a death penalty opponent in his early years but oversaw the state's first executions since 1964 in his final term as governor. Clinton hoped to run for president in 1988 but gave a poorly delivered speech at the Democratic National Convention. He recovered and was elected 42nd president in the [[1992 United States presidential election|1992 election]]. A Democrat, he battled an energized Republican opposition and was reelected in 1996. His term ended in January 2001; he then  relocated to New York.<ref>Ernest Dumas, "Bill Clinton" ''Encyclopedia of Arkansas'' (2023) [https://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/bill-clinton-95/ online]</ref><ref>David Maraniss, ''First in His Class: A Biography of Bill Clinton'' (Simon and Schuster, 1995) pp. 358–464.</ref>

==21st century==
The economy grew steadily, albeit with short dips during the [[Great Recession]] of 2008–2009 and the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020–2022. [[Walmart]] continues to be the major employer and economic force in Arkansas. The retail giant is headquartered in Bentonville, and employs tens of thousands of people in the state. The company has invested in a number of initiatives to support Arkansas communities, including education and workforce development programs. Its leadership has a strong religious bent which fits into the religiosity of most residents.  [[Tyson Foods]], a major food processing company, is also headquartered in Arkansas and also has a religious tone. The company has faced criticism in recent years for its labor practices, but remains an important employer and economic contributor in the state.<ref>Emma Bell, Scott Taylor, and Cathy Driscoll, "Varieties of organizational soul: The ethics of belief in organizations." ''Organization'' 19.4 (2012): 425–439 [https://www.academia.edu/download/80820863/download.pdf online]{{Dead link|date=August 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}.</ref>

In 2013, the state enacted a major tax cut that reduced income tax rates for many high income residents and businesses. The tax cut was controversial, with critics arguing that it would lead to budget shortfalls and cuts to public services. In December, 2021. the legislature passed the largest income tax cut in the state's history. In April 2023 Governor [[Sarah Huckabee Sanders]] signed a $124&nbsp;million tax cut into law.<ref>AP News, "Arkansas Gov. Sanders signs $124 million tax cut into law" (April 10, 2023) [https://apnews.com/article/huckabee-sanders-arkansas-tax-cuts-corporate-income-775414f45f0beaf25252ed0f30204739 online]</ref>

The state has invested heavily in infrastructure projects in recent years, including the expansion of highways and the development of a river port in Little Rock. These projects are aimed at improving transportation and logistics, which are key components of Arkansas' economy.

Tornado damage was a danger every year. In 2006, a tornado outbreak caused widespread damage and killed 13 people. In 2011, a series of tornadoes caused significant damage and killed 16 people.<ref>Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,  "Tornado-related fatalities—five states, southeastern United States, April 25–28, 2011." ''MMWR. Morbidity and mortality weekly report'' 61.28 (2012): 529–533.</ref> In August 2005, category-5  [[Hurricane Katrina]] caused significant damage to the southern regions.

Protestant churches made abortion a major target, In 2015, Governor [[Asa Hutchinson]] signed into law a bill that effectively banned abortion after 12 weeks of pregnancy.<ref>Rich Shumate, "Onward Christian Soldiers: How Arkansas Political Candidates Deploy Religious Texts to Motivate Voters." ''Southwestern Mass Communication Journal'' 30.2 (2015) [https://swecjmc-ojs-txstate.tdl.org/swecjmc/article/view/12/12 online].</ref>

On November 8, 2016, Arkansas voters approved Issue 6, the Arkansas Medical Marijuana Amendment, to legalize the medical use of cannabis.<ref>DFAS, "Medical Marijuana Amendment" (March 23, 2023) [https://web.archive.org/web/20201016155958/https://www.dfa.arkansas.gov/medical-marijuana-amendment#:~:text=The%20Arkansas%20Medical%20Marijuana%20Amendment,of%20cultivation%20facilities%20and%20dispensaries. online]</ref>

In 2017, Arkansas executed four death row inmates in an eight-day period, marking the first time any state had executed that many people in such a short time since the death penalty was reinstated in the United States in 1976.<ref>"Background on Arkansas April 2017 Executions," ''Death Penalty Information Center'' (Dec 8, 2017) [https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/facts-and-research/dpic-reports/dpic-special-reports/background-on-arkansas-april-2017-executions online]</ref>

In 2020–2022, [[COVID-19 pandemic in Arkansas|the COVID-19 pandemic]] had a significant impact. By March 2022, there had been 819,984 cumulative cases with 10,524 deaths.<ref name="kark.com">{{Cite web |date=2022-03-01 |title=COVID-19 in Arkansas: Active cases continue to fall steadily |url=https://www.kark.com/news/health/coronavirus/covid-19-in-arkansas-active-cases-continue-to-fall-steadily/ |access-date=2022-03-01 |website=KARK |language=en-US}}</ref>

==See also==
{{Portal|Arkansas|Modern history}}
* [[African Americans in Arkansas]]
*[[Women's suffrage in Arkansas]]
* [[Education in Arkansas]]
*[[History of the Southern United States]]
*[[Black Belt in the American South]]
*[[Deep South]]

==References==
{{Reflist|3}}

==Bibliography==
{{Further|African Americans in Arkansas#Further reading}}
{{Div col|colwidth=30em}}
* ''Encyclopedia of Arkansas'' (2023) [https://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/ online], over 7000 entries by  experts.

===Surveys===

* Arnold, Morris S., et al. ''Arkansas: A Concise History'' (2019) extract.
* {{cite book |last4= Whayne |first4= Jeannie M. |last2= DeBlack |first2= Thomas A. |last3= Sabo III |first3= George |last1= Arnold |first1= Morris S. |title= Arkansas: A narrative history |edition= 1st |year= 2002 |publisher= The University of Arkansas Press |location= Fayetteville, Arkansas |isbn= 1-55728-724-4 |oclc= 49029558 |url-access= registration |url= https://archive.org/details/arkansasnarrativ0000unse |ref={{harvid|"Narrative"|2002}} }}
* Bolton, S. Charles. ''Arkansas, 1800-1860: Remote and Restless'' (1998), a major scholarly history.
* DeBlack, Thomas A. ''With Fire and Sword: Arkansas, 1861–1874''. U. of Arkansas Pr., 2003. 307 pp. a major scholarly history.
* Dillard, Tom W. and Michael B. Dougan. ''Arkansas History: A Selected Research Bibliography'' (1984)
* Donovan, Timothy Paul, Willard B. Gatewood, and Jeannie M. Whayne, eds. ''The Governors of Arkansas: Essays in Political Biography'' (U of Arkansas Press, 1995).
* {{cite book |last=Fletcher |first= John Gould |title= Arkansas |year= 1989 |volume= 2 |editor-last= Carpenter |editor-first= Lucas |publisher= University of Arkansas Press |location= Fayetteville, Arkansas |isbn= 1-55728-040-1 |oclc= 555740849}}
*{{cite book |title=The Highlights of Arkansas History |last= Herndon |first= Dallas Tabor |edition= 2nd special |year= 1922 |page= 110}}
*{{cite book |title=Annals of Arkansas |year=1947 |last= Herndon |first= Dallas T. |volume=1–4 |publisher=The Historical Record Association |location=Hopkinsville, Kentucky |isbn=978-1-56546-450-6 |lccn=48002456 |oclc=3920841 |ref={{harvid|"Herndon"|1947}} }}
* Hopper, Shay E. et al. ''An Arkansas History for Young People'' (4th ed. 2008) for middle schools and junior high schools.
*{{cite book |last=Johnson III |first=Ben F. |title= Arkansas in Modern America Since 1930 |edition=2nd |publisher= [[University of Arkansas Press]] |location= Fayetteville |year= 2019 |isbn= 978-1-68226-102-6 |lccn= 2019000981  |ref={{harvid|"Johnson III"|2019}}}}
* {{cite book |last= Moneyhon |first= Carl H. |editor1-first= Elliott |editor1-last= West |year= 1997 |publisher= University of Arkansas Press |title= Arkansas and the New South, 1874-1929 |isbn= 1-55728-490-3 |lccn= 97026932 |ol= 680393M}}; a major scholarly history.
* Whayne, Jeannie M., et al. ''Arkansas: A Narrative History'' (University of Arkansas Press, 2013)

===Civil War and Reconstruction===

* Atkinson, James H. "The Brooks-Baxter Contest". ''Arkansas Historical Quarterly'' 4.2 (1945): 124–149. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/40022461 in JSTOR]
* Bailey, Anne, and Daniel E. Sutherland. ''Civil War Arkansas: Beyond Battles and Leaders'' (U of Arkansas Press, 2000).
* Bailey, Anne J., and Daniel E. Sutherland. "The history and historians of Civil War Arkansas". ''Arkansas Historical Quarterly'' 58.3 (1999): 232–63.  in JSTOR, historiography.
* Bolton, S. Charles. ''Fugitivism: Escaping Slavery in the Lower Mississippi Valley, 1820–1860'' (University of Arkansas Press, 2019) [https://books.google.com/books?id=AuedDwAAQBAJ&dq=slavery+slave&pg=PR7  online]
* Bradbury, John F. "'Buckwheat Cake Philanthropy': Refugees and the Union Army in the Ozarks". ''Arkansas Historical Quarterly'' 57.3 (1998): 233–254. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/40025882 in JSTOR]
* 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}}
* Christ, Mark K., ed. ''Rugged and Sublime: the Civil War in Arkansas'' (U of Arkansas Press, 1994).
* DeBlack, Thomas A. "'A Harnessed Revolution': Reconstruction in Arkansas". in ''Arkansas: A Narrative History'', eds. Jeannie M. Whayne, Thomas A. DeBlack, George Sabo III, and  Morris S. Arnold, (University of Arkansas Press, 2002) pp 219–27.
* Dillard, Tom. "To the Back of the Elephant: Racial Conflict in the Arkansas Republican Party". ''Arkansas Historical Quarterly'' 33.1 (1974): 3–15. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/40024651 in JSTOR]
* {{cite book |last= Dougan |first= Michael B. |title= Confederate Arkansas: The People and Policies of a Frontier State in Wartime |publisher= University of Alabama Press |location= [[Tuscaloosa, Alabama]] |orig-year= 1976 |year= 1991 |isbn= 0-8173-5230-9 |lccn= 76-40053 |url= https://archive.org/details/confederatearkan00doug }}
* {{cite book |editor-last= Ferguson |editor-first= John L. |title= Arkansas and the Civil War |publisher= Pioneer Press |location= Little Rock, Arkansas |year= 1965 |lccn= 64-25874 |oclc= 951171}}
* Finley, Randy. ''From Slavery to Uncertain Freedom: The Freedman's Bureau in Arkansas 1865–1869'' (U of Arkansas Press, 1996).
* Foster, B.T. "Arkansas" in Aaron Sheehan-Dean, ed. ''A Companion to the US Civil War'' (2 vol. 2014) pp 338–64.
* Huff, Leo E. "Guerrillas, Jayhawkers and Bushwhackers in Northern Arkansas during the Civil War". ''Arkansas Historical Quarterly'' 24.2 (1965): 127–148. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/40027595 JSTOR]
* Hume, Richard L. "The Arkansas Constitutional Convention of 1868: A Case Study in the Politics of Reconstruction". ''Journal of Southern History'' 39.2 (1973): 183–206. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/2205613 in JSTOR]
* Ledbetter, Cal. "The Constitution of 1868: Conqueror's Constitution or Constitutional Continuity?". ''Arkansas Historical Quarterly'' 44.1 (1985): 16–41. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/40027723 in JSTOR]
* {{cite journal |last= Ledbetter Jr. |first= Cal |title= General James Miller: Hawthorne's Hero in Arkansas |journal= Arkansas Historical Quarterly |volume= 47 |issue= 2 |date= Summer 1988 |pages= 99–115 |doi=10.2307/40038144|jstor= 40038144 }}
* Lovett, Bobby L. "African Americans, Civil War, and Aftermath in Arkansas". ''Arkansas Historical Quarterly'' 54.3 (1995): 304–358. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/40030945 in JSTOR]
* Lovett, Bobby L. "Some 1871 Accounts for the Little Rock, Arkansas Freedmen's Savings and Trust Company". ''Journal of Negro History'' 66.4 (1981): 326–328. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/2717240 online]
* Moneyhon, Carl H. ''The Impact of the Civil War and Reconstruction on Arkansas: Persistence in the Midst of Ruin'' (U of Arkansas Press, 2002).
* Neal, Diane, and Thomas W. Kremm. ''The Lion of the South: General Thomas C. Hindman'' (Mercer University Press, 1997).
* Price, Jeffrey R. ''A Courage and Desperation Rarely Equaled: The 36th Arkansas Infantry Regiment (Confederate States Army), 26 June 1862-25 May 1865''. (Army Command And General Staff Coll Fort Leavenworth KS, 2003) online.
* Richter, William L. "'A Dear Little Job': Second Lieutenant Hiram F. Willis, Freedmen's Bureau Agent in Southwestern Arkansas, 1866–1868". ''Arkansas Historical Quarterly'' 50.2 (1991): 158–200. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/40030809 in JSTOR]
* Staples, Thomas Starling. ''Reconstruction in Arkansas, 1862–1874''. (Columbia UP, 1923). [https://archive.org/details/reconstructionin01stap/page/n2/mode/1up  online]
* Sutherland, Daniel E. "Guerrillas: The Real War in Arkansas". ''Arkansas Historical Quarterly'' 52.3 (1993): 257–285. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/40030851 in JSTOR]
* Urwin, Gregory J.W. "'We cannot treat negroes... as prisoners of war': Racial Atrocities and Reprisals in Civil War Arkansas". ''Civil War History'' 42.3 (1996): 193–210.
* Wintory, Blake. "William Hines Furbush: African-American Carpetbagger, Republican, Fusionist, and Democrat". ''Arkansas Historical Quarterly'' 63.2 (2004): 107–165. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/40024078 in JSTOR]
* Wintory, Blake J. "African-American Legislators in the Arkansas General Assembly, 1868–1893". ''Arkansas Historical Quarterly'' 65.4 (2006): 385–434. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/40028092  in JSTOR]
* Woodward, Earl F. "The Brooks and Baxter War in Arkansas, 1872–1874". ''Arkansas Historical Quarterly'' 30.4 (1971): 315–336. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/40038083 in JSTOR]

===Specialized studies===
* {{ cite journal |last= Arnold |first= Morris S. |title= The Relocation of Arkansas Post to Ecores Rouges in 1779 |journal= Arkansas Historical Quarterly |date= Winter 1983 |volume= 42 |issue= 4 |pages= 317–331 |doi=10.2307/40020772|jstor= 40020772 |url= https://www.repository.law.indiana.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3462&context=facpub |url-access= subscription }}
* {{cite journal |last1= Arnold |first1= Morris S. |title= The Significance of the Arkansas Colonial Experience |pages= 69–82 |volume= 51 |issue= 1 |date= Spring 1992 |journal= Arkansas Historical Quarterly |doi=10.2307/40038202|jstor= 40038202 }}
* Blair, Diane D. "The Big Three of Late Twentieth-Century Arkansas Politics: Dale Bumpers, Bill Clinton, and David Pryor." '' Arkansas Historical Quarterly'' 54.1 (1995): 53–79. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/40030927 online]
* Blevins, Brooks. ''Hill Folks: A History of Arkansas Ozarkers and Their Image'' (University of North Carolina Press, 2003).
* {{cite journal |last= Bolton |first= S. Charles |title= Slavery and the Defining of Arkansas |journal= The Arkansas Historical Quarterly  |date= Spring 1999 |volume= 58 |issue= 1 |pages= 1–23 |doi=10.2307/40026271|jstor= 40026271 }}
* {{cite journal |last= Eno |first= Clara B. |title= Territorial Governors of Arkansas |journal= The Arkansas Historical Quarterly  |date= Spring 1945 |volume= 4 |pages= 276–284 |issue= 4 |doi=10.2307/40018362|jstor= 40018362 }}
* {{cite book |last1=Gatewood |first1= Willard B |last2= Whayne |first2= Jeannie |year= 1993 |publisher= University of Arkansas Press |location= Fayetteville, Arkansas |title= The Arkansas Delta: A Land of Paradox |isbn= 1-55728-287-0 |url= https://archive.org/details/arkansasdelta00jean }}
* Gordon, Fon Louise. ''Caste and Class: The Black Experience in Arkansas, 1880-1920'' (University of Georgia Press, 2007) online.
* Hendricks, Nancy. ''Senator Hattie Caraway: An Arkansas Legacy'' (Arcadia Publishing, 2013) online.
* {{cite book |last=Hild |first=Matthew |title= Arkansas's Gilded Age: The Rise, Decline, and Legacy of Populism and Working-Class Protes |year= 2018 |publisher= [[University of Missouri Press]] |location= Columbia, Missouri |isbn= 9780826221667 |lccn= 2018021863 |oclc=1030391765 |ref={{harvid|"Gilded"|2018}} }}
* {{cite journal |last=Johnson |first= William R. |title= Prelude to the Missouri Compromise: A New York Congressman's Effort to Exclude Slavery from Arkansas Territory |journal= Arkansas Historical Quarterly |volume= 24 |issue= 1 |date= Spring 1965 |pages= 47–66 |doi=10.2307/40023964|jstor= 40023964 }}
* {{cite journal | last1 = Kirk | first1 = John A | year = 2011 | title = Not Quite Black and White: School Desegregation in Arkansas, 1954-1966 | journal = Arkansas Historical Quarterly | volume = 70 | issue = 3| pages = 225–257 | jstor=23193404}}
* {{cite journal |last= Lyon |first= Owen |title= The Trail of the Quapaw |journal= Arkansas Historical Quarterly |volume= 9 |issue= 3 |date= Autumn 1950 |pages= 205–213 |doi=10.2307/40017228|jstor= 40017228 }}
* {{cite journal |last= Mattison |first= Ray H. |title= Arkansas Post: Its Human Aspects |journal= Arkansas Historical Quarterly |date= Summer 1957 |volume= 16 |issue= 2 |pages= 117–138 |doi=10.2307/40018446|jstor= 40018446 }}
* Miller, Fayneese. "Fifty years later: Understanding and responding to the challenges, implications, and legacy of Little Rock Nine and Sputnik." ''Journal of Curriculum and Pedagogy'' 6.2 (2009): 63–67. [https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/15505170.2009.10411744 online]
* {{cite journal |last= Moneyhon |first= Carl H. |title= The Slave Family in Arkansas |journal= Arkansas Historical Quarterly |date= Spring 1999 |volume= 58 |issue= 1 |pages= 24–44 |doi=10.2307/40026272|jstor= 40026272 }}
*  Niswonger, Richard L. (1990) ''Arkansas Democratic Politics, 1896-1920'' 
* {{cite journal |title= Arkansas Statehood: A Study in State and National Political Schism |first= Jack B. |last= Scroggs |pages= 227–244 |volume= 20 |issue= 3 |date= Autumn 1961 |journal= Arkansas Historical Quarterly |doi=10.2307/40038048|jstor= 40038048 }}
* Smith, C. Calvin. ''War and wartime changes: The transformation of Arkansas, 1940-1945'' (University of Arkansas Press, 1986).
* Stockley, Grif. ''Ruled by Race : Black/White Relations in Arkansas from Slavery to the Present'' (U of Arkansas Press, 2008).
*{{cite book |last=Strausberg |first=Stephen F. |title=From Hills and Hollers: Rise of the Poultry Industry in Arkansas |publisher=Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station |location= Fayetteville |year=1995 |isbn=0962285811 |oclc=32922427 |ref={{harvid|"Strausberg"|1995}}}}
*  Switzer, Ronald R. ''Arkansas, Forgotten Land of Plenty: Settlement and Economic Development, 1540-1900'' (McFarland, 2019) [https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=56178 online review]
* Taylor, Orville. ''Negro Slavery in Arkansas'' (1958; reprinted  University of Arkansas Press, 2000). [https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv6zdd27 online]
*{{ cite book |last=Thomas |first=Charles E. |title= Jelly Roll, A Black Neighborhood in a Southern Mill Town |publisher=[[The University of Arkansas Press]] |location=Fayetteville, Arkansas |year=1986 |isbn=9781557289827 |lccn= 2012005191}}
* Walton, Brian G. "The Second Party System in Arkansas, 1836-1848". ''Arkansas Historical Quarterly'' 28.2 (1969): 120–155. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/40018974 online]
* {{Cite journal |title= Arkansas Territorial Indian Affairs |first= Lonnie J. |last= White |journal= Arkansas Historical Quarterly |volume= 21 |date= Autumn 1962 |issue= 3 |pages= 193–212 |doi=10.2307/40018929|jstor= 40018929 }}
* {{Cite journal |title= Arkansas and the Money Crisis of 1836-1837 |first= Ted R. |last= Worley |journal= The Journal of Southern History |volume= 15 |date= May 1949 |issue= 2 |pages= 178–191 |doi=10.2307/2197996|jstor= 2197996 }}
* {{Cite journal |title= The Arkansas State Bank: Ante-Bellum Period |first= Ted R. |last= Worley |journal= Arkansas Historical Quarterly |volume= 23 |date= Spring 1964 |issue= 1 |pages= 65–73 |doi=10.2307/40021172|jstor= 40021172 }}
{{Div col end}}

=== Primary sources===
* Gigantino, James J., ed. ''Slavery and Secession in Arkansas: A Documentary History'' (U of Arkansas Press, 2015)
* Jolliffe, David A., et al. ''The Arkansas Delta Oral History Project: Culture, Place, and Authenticity'' (Syracuse University Press, 2016) online also see online review.
* Lewis, Catherine M., and J. Richard Lewis, eds. ''Race, Politics, and Memory: A Documentary History of the Little Rock School Crisis'' (University of Arkansas Press, 2007)
* Williams, C. Fred et al. eds. ''A Documentary History of Arkansas'' (U of Arkansas Press, 2014). 460pp
* Work Projects Administration. ''Slave Narratives: a Folk History of Slavery in the United States / From Interviews with Former Slaves / Arkansas Narratives'' (7 parts; 2010 reprint)

==External links==
{{Commons category}}
* [https://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/ Encyclopedia of Arkansas], comprehensive scholarly coverage
* [https://www.jstor.org/action/showPublication?journalCode=arkahistquar Scholarly articles] from ''[[Arkansas Historical Quarterly]]''
* [https://guides.loc.gov/arkansas-state-guide Arkansas State Resource Guide, from the Library of Congress]
* [https://www.arkansasheritage.com/ Arkansas Heritage], popular history
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20080811224744/http://www.arkansas.com/things-to-do/history-heritage/ Arkansas history and heritage], popular history
* [http://www.ark-ives.com/ Arkansas History Commission and State Archives] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170323194608/http://www.ark-ives.com/ |date=2017-03-23 }}

{{U.S. political divisions histories}}
{{Arkansas}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:History Of Arkansas}}
[[Category:History of Arkansas| ]]
[[Category:History of the Southern United States by state|Arkansas]]
[[Category:History of the United States by state or territory|Arkansas]]