|
I think you will remember this one!!
Kansas: Prarie Proud
Capital: Topeka
State abbreviation/Postal
code: Kans./KS
Governor: Kathleen Sebelius, D (to Jan. 2011)
Lieut. Governor: Mark Parkinson, D (to Jan. 2011)
Organized
as territory: May 30, 1854
Entered Union (rank): Jan. 29, 1861 (34)
Present constitution adopted: 1859
Motto: Ad
astra per aspera (To the stars through difficulties)
State symbols:
flower sunflower (1903)
tree cottonwood (1937)
bird western meadowlark (1937)
animal buffalo (1955)
song “Home on the Range”
(1947)
Nicknames: Sunflower State; Jayhawk State
Origin of name: From a Sioux word meaning “people of the south
wind”
State parks: 24
Residents: Kansan
2005 resident population est.: 2,744,687
Spanish explorer Francisco de Coronado,
in 1541, is considered the first European to have traveled this region. Sieur de la Salle's extensive land claims for France
(1682) included present day Kansas. Ceded to Spain by France in 1763, the territory reverted to France in 1800 and was sold
to the U.S. as part of
the Louisiana Purchase in 1803. Lewis and Clark, Zebulon Pike, and Stephen H. Long explored the region between 1803
and 1819. The first permanent white settlements in Kansas were outposts. Fort Leavenworth (1827), Fort Scott (1842), and Fort
Riley (1853), established to protect travelers along the Santa Fe and Oregon Trails.
Just before
the Civil War, the conflict between the pro- and anti-slavery forces earned the region the grim title of Bleeding Kansas.
Today, wheat fields, oil-well derricks, herds of cattle, and grain storage elevators are chief features of the Kansas landscape.
A leading wheat-growing state, Kansas also raises corn, sorghum, oats, barley, soybeans, and potatoes. Kansas stands high
in petroleum production and mines zinc, coal, salt, and lead. It is also the nation's leading producer of helium. Wichita is one of the nation's leading aircraft-manufacturing
centers, ranking first in production of private aircraft. Kansas City is an important transportation, milling, and meat packing
center.
Points of interest include the Kansas History Center at Topeka, the Eisenhower boyhood
home and the Eisenhower Memorial Museum and Presidential Library at Abilene, John Brown's cabin at Osawatomie, re-created
Front Street in Dodge City, Fort Larned (an important military post on the Santa Fe Trail), Fort Leavenworth, and Fort Riley.
History
Early Inhabitants, Exploration,
and Relocations
When the Spanish explorer Francisco Vásquez de Coronado visited (1541) the Kansas area in his search for
Quivira, a fabled kingdom of riches, the area was occupied by various Native American groups of the Plains descent, notably
the Kansa, the Wichita and the Pawnee. Another Spanish explorer, Juan de Oñate, penetrated the region in 1601. A result of
Spanish entry into the region was the introduction of the horse, which revolutionized the life of the Native Americans. While
not actually
exploring the Kansas area, Robert Cavelier,
sieur de La Salle, claimed (c.1682) for France all territory drained by the Mississippi River, including Kansas. French traders and Native Americans
had a great deal of contact during most of the 18th cent. By the Treaty of Paris of 1763 ending the French and Indian Wars,
France ceded the territory of W Louisiana (including Kansas) to Spain. In 1800, Spain secretly retroceded the territory to
France, from whom the United States acquired it in the Louisiana Purchase in 1803. The region was little known, however, and
subsequent explorations to include Kansas were the Lewis and Clark expedition (1803–6), the Arkansas River journey of
Zebulon M. Pike in 1806, and the scientific expedition of Stephen H. Long in 1819.
Most of the territory that eventually
became Kansas was in an area known as the “Great American Desert,” considered unsuitable for U.S. settlement because
of its apparent barrenness. In the 1830s the region was designated a permanent home for Native Americans, and northern and
eastern tribes were relocated there. Forts were constructed for frontier defense and for the protection of the growing trade
along the Santa Fe Trail, which crossed Kansas. Fort Leavenworth was established in 1827, Fort Scott in 1842, and Fort Riley
in 1853.
Pro- and Antislavery
Factions
Kansas, at this time mainly a region to be crossed on the way to California and Oregon, was organized as a territory
in 1854. Its settlement, however, was spurred not so much by natural westward expansion as by the determination of both proslavery
and antislavery factions to achieve a majority population in the territory. The struggle between the factions was further
complicated by conflict over the location of a transcontinental railroad, with proponents of a central route (rather than
a southern route) eager to resolve the slavery issue in the area and promote settlement. The Kansas-Nebraska Act (1854),
an attempted compromise on the extension of slavery, repealed the Missouri Compromise and reopened the issue of extending
slavery north of lat. 36°30' by providing for popular sovereignty in Kansas and Nebraska, allowing settlers of territories
to decide the matter themselves. Meanwhile, the Emigrant Aid
Company was organized in Massachusetts
to foster antislavery immigration to Kansas, and proslavery interests in Missouri and throughout the South took counteraction.
Towns were established by each faction Lawrence and Topeka by the free staters and Leavenworth and Atchison by the proslavery
settlers. Soon all the problems attendant upon organizing a territory for statehood became subsidiary to the single
issue of slavery. The first elections in 1854 and 1855 were won by the proslavery group; armed Missourians intimidated voters
and election officials and stuffed the ballot boxes. Andrew H. Reeder was appointed the first territorial governor in 1854.
The first territorial legislature ousted (1855) all free state members, secured the removal of Gov. Reeder, established the
capital in Lecompton, and adopted proslavery statutes. In retaliation the abolitionists set up a rival government at Topeka
in Oct., 1855.
The Wakarusa
War and Bleeding Kansas
Violence soon came to the territory. The murder of a free state man in Nov., 1855, led to the so
called Wakarusa War, a bloodless series of encounters along the Wakarusa River. The intervention of the new governor, Wilson
Shannon, kept proslavery men from attacking Lawrence. However, civil war ultimately turned the territory into “bleeding
Kansas.” On May 21, 1856, proslavery groups and armed Missourians known as “Border Ruffians” raided Lawrence.
A few days later a band led by the abolitionist crusader John Brown murdered five proslavery men in the Pottawatamie massacre.
Guerrilla warfare between free state men called Jayhawkers and proslavery bands—both sides abetted by desperadoes and
opportunists terrorized the land. After a new governor, John W. Geary, persuaded a large group of “Border Ruffians”
to return to Missouri, the violence subsided. The Lecompton legislature met in 1857 to make preparations for convening
a constitutional convention. Gov. Geary resigned after it became clear that free elections would not be held to approve a
new constitution. Robert J. Walker was appointed governor, and a convention held at Lecompton drafted a constitution. Only
that part of the resulting proslavery constitution dealing with slavery was submitted to the electorate, and the question
was drafted to favor the proslavery group. Free state men refused to participate in the election with the result that the
constitution was overwhelmingly approved. Despite the dubious validity of the Lecompton constitution, President
James Buchanan recommended (1858) that Congress accept it and approve statehood for the territory. Instead, Congress returned
it for another territorial vote. The proslavery group boycotted the election, and the constitution was rejected. Lawrence
became de facto capital of the troubled territory until after the Wyandotte constitution (framed in 1859 and totally forbidding
slavery) was accepted by Congress. The Kansas conflict and the question of statehood for the territory became a national issue
and figured in the 1860 Republican party platform. Kansas became a state in 1861, with the capital at Topeka. Charles
Robinson was the first governor and James H. Lane, an active free stater during the 1850s, one of the U.S. Senators. In the
Civil War, Kansas fought with the North and suffered the highest rate of fatal casualties of any state in the Union. Confederate
William C. Quantrill and his guerrilla band burned Lawrence in 1863.
Life on the Prairie
With peace came the development of
the prairie lands. The construction of railroads made cow towns such as Abilene and Dodge City, with their cowboys, saloons,
and frontier marshals, the shipping point for large herds of cattle driven overland from Texas. The buffalo herds disappeared
(some buffalo still roam in state parks and game preserves), and cattle took their place. Pioneer homesteaders, adjusting
to life on the timberless prairie and living in sod houses, suffered privation. In 1874, Mennonite emigrants from Russia brought
the Turkey Red variety of winter wheat to Kansas. This wheat was instrumental in making Kansas the Wheat State as winter wheat
replaced spring wheat on an ever increasing scale. Corn, too, soon became a major cash crop.
Agricultural production was periodically
disrupted by national depressions and natural disasters. Repeated and prolonged droughts accompanied by dust storms, occasional
grasshopper invasions, and floods all caused severe economic dislocation. Mortgages often weighed heavily on farmers, and
discontent was expressed in farmer support of radical farm organizations and third party movements, such as the Granger movement,
Greenback party, and Populist party. Tax relief, better regulation of interest rates, and curbs on the power of railroads
were sought by these organizations. Twice in the 1890s, Populist Democrats were elected to the governorship. As conditions
improved, Kansas returned largely to its allegiance to the Republican party and gained a reputation as a conservative stronghold
with a bent for moral reform, indicated in the state's strong support of prohibition; laws against the sale of liquor remained
on the books in Kansas from 1880 to 1949. Over the years the use of improved agricultural methods and machines increased crop
yield. Irrigation proved practicable in some areas, and winter wheat and alfalfa could be cultivated in dry regions.
Wars and Depression
Wheat
production greatly expanded during World War I, but the end of the war brought financial difficulties. During the 1920s and
30s, Kansas was faced with labor unrest and the economic hardships of the depression. As part of the Dust Bowl, Kansas sustained
serious land erosion during the long drought of the 1930s. Erosion led to the implementation of conservation and reclamation
projects, particularly in the northern and western parts of the state. In 1924 an effort of the Ku Klux Klan to gain political
control was fought by William Allen White, editor of the Emporia Gazette, who supported many liberal causes. Alfred M. Landon,
elected governor in 1932, was one of the few Republican candidates in the country to win election in the midst of the sweeping
Democratic victory that year. He was nominated as the Republican presidential candidate in 1936.
During World War II agriculture thrived
and industry expanded rapidly. The food processing industry grew substantially, the cement industry enjoyed a major revival,
and the aircraft industry boomed. After the war agricultural prosperity once again declined when the state was hit by a severe
drought and grasshopper invasion in 1948. Prosperity returned briefly during the Korean War, but afterward farm surpluses
and insufficient world markets combined to make the state's tremendous agricultural ability part of the national farm problem.
Modern Kansas
Kansas
has become increasingly industrialized and urbanized, and industrial production has surpassed farm production in economic
importance. Flood damage in the state, especially after a major flood in 1951, spurred the construction of dams (such as the
Tuttle Creek, Milford, and Wilson dams) on major Kansas rivers, and their reservoirs have vastly increased water recreational
facilities for Kansans. Since the 1970s, Kansas has become increasingly more urban and suburban. Accordingly, the economy
has shifted its emphasis to finance and service industries located in and around the major urban centers. For
trip planning and other attractions in Kansas please visit www.travelks.com .
IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII
Kentucky Blue
Capital: Frankfort
State abbreviation/Postal code: Ky./KY
Governor:
Steve Beshear, D (to Dec. 2011)
Lieut. Governor: Daniel Mongiardo, D (to Dec. 2011)
Senators: Jim Bunning, R (to Jan.
2011); Mitch McConnell, R (to Jan. 2009)
U.S. Representatives: 6
Secy. of State: C.M. “Trey” Grayson, R
(to Dec. 2007)
Treasurer: Jonathan Miller, D (to Dec. 2007)
Atty. General: Gregory D. Stumbo, D (to Dec. 2007)
Entered
Union (rank): June 1, 1792 (15)
Present constitution adopted: 1891
Motto: United we stand, divided we fall
State symbols:
tree tulip poplar (1994)
flower
goldenrod
bird Kentucky cardinal
song “My Old Kentucky Home”
Nickname: Bluegrass State
Origin
of name: From an Iroquoian word “Ken-tah-ten” meaning “land of tomorrow”
State forests: 5 (35,809
ac.)
State parks: 52
Residents: Kentuckian
2005 resident population est.: 4,173,405
Kentucky was the first region west of the Allegheny Mountains
to be settled by American pioneers. James Harrod established the first permanent settlement at Harrodsburg in 1774; the following
year Daniel Boone, who had explored the area in 1767, blazed the Wilderness Trail through the Cumberland Gap and founded Boonesboro.
Politically,
the Kentucky region was originally part of Virginia, but statehood was gained in 1792. Gen. Anthony Wayne's victory in 1794
at Fallen Timbers in Ohio marked the end of Native American resistance in the area and secured the Kentucky frontier.
As
a slaveholding state with a considerable abolitionist population, Kentucky was caught in the middle during the Civil War,
supplying both Union and Confederate forces with thousands of troops.
Kentucky prides itself on producing some of the nation's
best tobacco, horses, and whiskey. Corn, soybeans, wheat, fruit, hogs, cattle, and dairy products are among the agricultural
items produced.
Among the manufactured items produced in the state are motor vehicles, furniture, aluminum ware, brooms,
apparel, lumber products, machinery, textiles, and iron and steel products. Kentucky also produces significant amounts of
petroleum, natural gas, fluorspar, clay, and stone. However, coal accounts for 85% of the total mineral income.
Louisville
is famous for the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs, and the Bluegrass country around Lexington is the home of some of the
world's finest race horses. Other attractions are Mammoth Cave, the George S. Patton, Jr., Military Museum at Fort Knox, and
Old Fort Harrod State Park.
History
Early Exploration and Settlement
When
the Eastern seaboard of North America was being colonized in the 1600s, Kentucky was part of the inaccessible country beyond
the mountains. After Robert Cavelier, sieur de La Salle, claimed all regions drained by the Mississippi and its tributaries
for France, British interest in the area quickened. The first major expedition to the Tennessee region was led by Dr. Thomas
Walker, who explored the eastern mountain region in 1750 for the Loyal Land Company. Walker was soon followed by hunters and
scouts including Christopher Gist. Further exploration was interrupted by the last conflict (1754–63) of the French
and Indian Wars between the French and British for control of North America, and Pontiac's Rebellion, a Native American uprising
(1763–66).
With the British victorious in both, settlers soon began to enter Kentucky. They came in defiance of a
royal proclamation of 1763, which forbade settlement west of the Appalachians. Daniel Boone, the famous American frontiersman,
first came to Kentucky in 1767; he returned in 1769 and spent two years in the area. A surveying party under James Harrod
established the first permanent settlement at Harrodsburg in 1774, and the next year Boone, as agent for Richard Henderson
and the Transylvania Company, a colonizing group of which Henderson was a member, blazed the Wilderness Road from Tennessee
into the Kentucky region and founded Boonesboro. Title to this land was challenged by Virginia, whose legislature voided (1778)
the Transylvania Company's claims, although individual settlers were confirmed in their grants.
Native American Resistance and Statehood
Kentucky was
made (1776) a county of Virginia, and new settlers came through the Cumberland Gap and over the Wilderness Road or down the
Ohio River. These early pioneers of Kentucky and Tennessee were constantly in conflict with the Native Americans. The growing
population of Kentuckians, feeling that Virginia had failed to give them adequate protection, worked for statehood in a series
of conventions held at Danville (1784–91). Others, observing the weaknesses of the U.S. government, considered forming
an independent nation. Since trade down the Mississippi and out of Spanish-held New Orleans was indispensable to Kentucky's
economic development, an alliance with Spain was contemplated, and U.S. General James Wilkinson, who lived in Kentucky at
the time, worked toward that end.
However, in 1792 a constitution was finally framed and accepted, and in the same year
the Commonwealth of Kentucky (its official designation) was admitted to the Union, the first state W of the Appalachians.
Isaac Shelby was elected the first governor, and Frankfort was chosen capital. U.S. General Anthony Wayne's victory at the
battle of Fallen Timbers in 1794 effectively ended Native American resistance in Kentucky.
River Rights and Banking Problems
In 1795, Pinckney's
Treaty between the United States and Spain granted Americans the right to navigate the Mississippi, a right soon completely
assured by the Louisiana Purchase of 1803. Enactment by the federal government of the Alien and Sedition Acts (1798) promptly
provoked a sharp protest in Kentucky (see Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions). The state grew fast as trade and shipping centers
developed and river traffic down the Ohio and Mississippi increased.
The War of 1812 spurred economic prosperity in Kentucky,
but financial difficulties after the war threatened many with ruin. The state responded to the situation by chartering in
1818 a number of new banks that were allowed to issue their own currency. These banks soon collapsed, and the state legislature
passed measures for the relief of the banks' creditors. However, the relief measures were subsequently declared unconstitutional
by a state court. The legislature then repealed legislation that had established the offending court and set up a new one.
The state became divided between prorelief and antirelief factions, and the issue also figured in the division of the state
politically between followers of the Tennessean Andrew Jackson, then rising to national political prominence, and supporters
of the Whig Party of Henry Clay, who was a leader in Kentucky politics for almost half a century.
The Slavery Issue and Civil War
In the first half of
the 19th cent., Kentucky was primarily a state of small farms rather than large plantations and was not adaptable to extensive
use of slave labor. Slavery thus declined after 1830, and for 17 years, beginning in 1833, the importation of slaves into
the state was forbidden. In 1850, however, the legislature repealed this restriction, and Kentucky, where slave trading had
begun to develop quietly in the 1840s, was converted into a huge slave market for the lower South.
Antislavery agitation
had begun in the state in the late 18th cent. within the churches, and abolitionists such as James G. Birney and Cassius M.
Clay labored vigorously in Kentucky for emancipation before the Civil War. Soon Kentucky, like other border states, was torn
by conflict over the slavery issue. In addition to the radical antislavery element and the aggressive proslavery faction,
there was also in the state a conciliatory group.
At the outbreak of the Civil War, Kentucky attempted to remain neutral.
Gov. Beriah Magoffin refused to sanction President Lincoln's call for volunteers, but his warnings to both the Union and the
Confederacy not to invade were ignored. Confederate forces invaded and occupied part of S Kentucky, including Columbus and
Bowling Green. The state legislature voted (Sept., 1861) to oust the Confederates and Ulysses S. Grant crossed the Ohio and
took Paducah, thus securing the state was secured for the Union. After battles in Mill Springs, Richmond, and Perryville in
1862, there was no major fighting in the state, although the Confederate cavalryman John Hunt Morgan occasionally led raids
into Kentucky, and guerrilla warfare was constant.
For Kentucky it was truly a civil war as neighbors, friends, and even
families became bitterly divided in their loyalties. Over 30,000 Kentuckians fought for the Confederacy, while about 64,000
served in the Union ranks. After the war many in the state opposed federal Reconstruction policies, and Kentucky refused to
ratify the Thirteenth and Fourteenth amendments to the U.S. Constitution.
Postwar Adjustment
As in the South, an overwhelming majority
of Kentuckians supported the Democratic party in the period of readjustment after the war, which in many ways was as bitter
as the war itself. After the Civil War industrial and commercial recovery was aided by increased railroad construction, but
farmers were plagued by the liabilities of the one-crop (tobacco) system. After the turn of the century, the depressed price
of tobacco gave rise to a feud between buyers and growers, resulting in the Black Patch War. Night riders terrorized buyers
and growers in an effort to stage an effective boycott against monopolistic practices of buyers. For more than a year general
lawlessness prevailed until the state militia forced a truce in 1908.
The Twentieth Century
Coal mining, which began on a large
scale in the 1870s, was well established in mountainous E Kentucky by the early 20th cent. The mines boomed during World War
I, but after the war, when demand for coal lessened and production fell off, intense labor troubles developed. The attempt
of the United Mine Workers of America (UMW) to organize the coal industry in Harlan co. in the 1930s resulted in outbreaks
of violence, drawing national attention to “bloody” Harlan, and in 1937 a U.S. Senate subcommittee began an investigation
into allegations that workers' civil rights were being violated. Further violence ensued, and it was not until 1939 that the
UMW was finally recognized as a bargaining agent for most of the state's miners. Labor disputes and strikes have persisted
in the state; some are still accompanied by violence.
After World War I improvements of the state's highways were made,
and a much-needed reorganization of the state government was carried out in the 1920s and 30s. Since World War II, construction
of turnpikes, extensive development of state parks, and a marked rise in tourism have all contributed to the development of
the state. Kentucky benefited from the energy crisis of the 1970s, enjoying new prosperity when its large coal supply was
in great demand during the 70s and 80s. The broader economy, however, recovered slowly from a decline in manufacturing during
the same period.
IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII
Want to create the perfect food with the perfect mood? The secrets are here! Please click here
Lively Louisiana
Capital: Baton Rouge
State abbreviation/Postal
code: La./LA
Governor: Bobby Jindal, R (to Jan. 2012)
Lieut. Governor: Mitch Landrieu, D (to Jan. 2012)
Senators:
David Vitter, R (to Jan. 2011); Mary Landrieu, D (to Jan. 2009)
U.S. Representatives: 7
Secy. of State: Jay Dardenne
(to Jan. 2012)
Treasurer: John Neely Kennedy, D (to Jan. 2012)
Atty. General: James D. Caldwell, D (to Jan. 2012)
Organized
as territory: March 26, 1804
Entered Union (rank): April 30, 1812 (18)
Present constitution adopted: 1974
Motto:
Union, justice, and confidence
State symbols:
flower magnolia (1900)
tree bald cypress
(1963)
bird eastern brown pelican (1958)
songs “Give Me Louisiana” and “You Are My Sunshine”
Nickname: Pelican State
Origin of name: In honor of Louis XIV of France
10 largest cities (2005 est.): New Orleans,
454,863; Baton Rouge, 222,064; Shreveport, 198,874; Lafayette, 112,030; Lake Charles, 70,555; Kenner, 69,911; Bossier City,
60,505; Monroe, 51,914; Alexandria, 45,693; New Iberia, 32,495
Land area: 43,562 sq mi. (112,826 sq km)
Geographic center:
In Avoyelles Parish, 3 mi. SE of Marksville
Number of parishes (counties): 64
Largest parish by population and area:
Orleans, 454,863 (2005); Vernon, 1,328 sq mi.
State forests: 1 (8,000 ac.)
State parks: 35
Residents: Louisianan,
Louisianian
2005 resident population est.: 4,523,628
Louisiana has a rich, colorful historical
background. Early Spanish explorers were Alvárez Piñeda, 1519; Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca, 1528; and Hernando de Soto in 1541.
Sieur de la Salle reached the mouth of the Mississippi and claimed all the land drained by it and its tributaries for Louis
XIV of France in 1682.
Louisiana became a French crown colony in 1731 but was ceded to Spain in 1763 after the French and
Indian Wars. (The portion east of the Mississippi came under British control in 1764.) Louisiana reverted to France in 1800
and was sold by Napoleon to the U.S. in 1803. The southern part, known as the territory of Orleans, became the state of Louisiana
in 1812.
During the Civil War, Louisiana joined the Confederacy, but New Orleans was captured by Union Adm. David Farragut
in April 1862. The state's economy suffered during Reconstruction; however, the situation improved at the turn of the 20th
century, with the discovery of oil and natural gas and the growth of industry.
Louisiana is a leader in natural gas, salt,
petroleum, and sulfur production. Much of the oil and sulfur comes from offshore deposits. The state also produces large crops
of sweet potatoes, rice, sugar cane, pecans, soybeans, corn, and cotton. Leading manufactured items include chemicals, processed
food, petroleum and coal products, paper, lumber and wood products, transportation equipment, and apparel.
The state has
become a popular tourist destination. New Orleans is the major draw, known particularly for its picturesque French Quarter
and the annual Mardi Gras celebration, held since 1838.
Other major points of interest include the Superdome in New Orleans,
historic plantation homes near Natchitoches and New Iberia, Cajun country in the Mississippi Delta Region, Chalmette National
Historic Park, and the state capital at Baton Rouge.
On Aug. 29, 2005, Louisiana was hit by Hurricane Katrina, devastating
New Orleans, and killing hundreds elsewhere in the state, particularly in the parishes of Jefferson and St. Bernard. Federal
and local officials were widely criticized for their slow and inadequate response to the initial disaster and subsequent recovery
programs.
History
Early Louisiana
Louisiana has a long and colorful
history. The region was possibly visited by Cabeza de Vaca and his fellow survivors of a Spanish expedition of 1528, and it
was certainly seen by some of De Soto's men (1541–42). In 1682, La Salle reached the mouth of the Mississippi and claimed
for France all of the land drained by that river and its tributaries, naming it Louisiana after Louis XIV. Europeans did not
permanently settle there until 1699, when Pierre le Moyne, sieur d'Iberville, founded a settlement near Biloxi. This settlement
became the seat of government for Louisiana, an enormous territory embracing the entire Mississippi drainage basin.
In
1702, Iberville's brother, the sieur de Bienville, was appointed governor and moved the territorial government to Fort Louis
on the Mobile River. This colony was later moved (1710) to the present site of Mobile (Alabama), and Mobile became the capital
of Louisiana. French missionaries and fur traders explored some of the vast territory, and Natchitoches (the oldest settlement
within the present boundaries of the state of Louisiana) grew from a French military and trading post established (c.1714)
to protect the Red River area from the Spanish.
In order to increase the value of the colony, France granted (1712) a monopoly
of commercial privileges, which in 1717 passed to a company organized by John Law. The promise of riches under Law's Mississippi
Scheme brought many settlers to Louisiana, and a large number of them remained even after his scheme had collapsed. New Orleans
was founded in 1718, and in 1723 the capital was transferred there. Large numbers of Africans were brought in as slaves, and
the Code Noir, adopted in 1724, provided for the rigid control of their lives and the protection of the whites.
Spanish Louisiana
The last conflict (1754–63)
of the French and Indian Wars was ending disastrously for the French, and in order to keep the entire Louisiana territory
from falling into the hands of the British, the French secretly ceded (by the Treaty of Fontainebleau in 1762) the area W
of the Mississippi and the “Isle of Orleans” to Spain. By the Treaty of Paris (1763; see Paris, Treaty of), Great
Britain gained control of all Louisiana E of the Mississippi except the “Isle of Orleans”; these changes were
announced in 1764.
The French colonists resisted the new Spanish rule, but were subdued and finally Spanish mercantilistic
monopoly of trade was instituted. During the Spanish years agriculture flourished with the cultivation of rice and sugarcane,
and New Orleans grew as a major port and trading center. The Spanish government welcomed thousands of Acadians (see Acadia),
known there as Cajuns, and they settled what came to be known as the Cajun country. During the American Revolution, New Orleans
was a center for Spanish aid to the colonies. After Spain declared war on Great Britain in 1779, Louisiana's governor, Bernardo
de Gálvez, became an active ally of the revolutionists, capturing Baton Rouge and Natchez (1779), Mobile (1780), and Pensacola
(1781).
After the war Louisiana's control of the great inland trade route, the Mississippi, led to heated controversy with
the Americans. In the secret Treaty of San Ildefonso (1800), Napoleon I forced the retrocession of the territory to France.
Revelation of this treaty caused profound concern in the United States. President Jefferson attempted to purchase the “Isle
of Orleans” from France. To the surprise of the American representatives in France, Napoleon decided to sell all of
Louisiana to the United States (see Louisiana Purchase).
Statehood
The United States took possession
in 1803, and in 1804 the territory was divided into two parts. The southern part, which was called the Territory of Orleans,
was admitted to the Union in 1812 as the state of Louisiana. Settlement (1819) of the West Florida Controversy gave Louisiana
the area between the Mississippi and Pearl rivers, which formerly had been part of Florida. After statehood French and Spanish
influence remained, not only in the Creole and Cajun societies but also in the civil law (based on French and Spanish codes)
and in the division of the state into parishes rather than counties. In the early years of the 19th cent. the diverse people
of Louisiana—the French, the Spanish, the Germans, and Isleños brought by Gálvez from the Canary Islands—united
behind Andrew Jackson to defeat (1815) the British at the Battle of New Orleans during the War of 1812. (The battle site is
contained in Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve; see National Parks and Monuments, table.)
With settlers
pouring in from other Southern states, great sugar and cotton plantations developed rapidly in the fertile lowlands, and the
less productive uplands were also settled. The state capital was moved several times, finally to Baton Rouge in 1849. The
advent of steam propulsion on the Mississippi (the first steamboat to navigate the river arrived in New Orleans in 1812) was
a boon to the state's economy; by 1840, New Orleans was the nation's second largest port. Plantation owners, with their large
landholdings and many slaves (more than half the population) dominated politics and largely controlled the state.
The Civil War and Its Aftermath
On Jan. 26,
1861, Louisiana seceded from the Union and six weeks later joined the Confederacy. The fall of New Orleans to David G. Farragut
in 1862 prefaced the detested military occupation under Gen. B. F. Butler. Occupied Louisiana was a proving ground for Lincoln's
moderate restoration program, but after Lincoln's assassination radical Republicans seized control and Louisiana suffered
greatly during Reconstruction. The Ku Klux Klan was particularly active from 1866 to 1871. In the election of 1872 the radical
Republican candidate for governor lost but was installed with the help of federal troops. Reconstruction in Louisiana finally
ended with the disputed presidential election of 1876, when Louisiana's electoral votes were “traded” to the Republicans
(whose candidate was Rutherford B. Hayes) in exchange for the withdrawal of federal troops from the state. Francis R. T. Nicholls,
a Democrat, became governor of Louisiana, and white control of the state was reestablished.
Economic recovery was slow.
The disrupted plantation system was largely replaced by farm tenancy and sharecropping. The decline of steamboat traffic was
offset somewhat by new railroad building and the opening of the Mississippi River for oceangoing vessels from New Orleans
to the sea (a feat accomplished by James B. Eads). Mississippi floods constituted a serious problem, and levee building increased
after the flood of 1882; it was only after the disastrous flood of 1927, however, that the federal government undertook a
vast control system. The water resources development program encompasses flood control, navigation, drainage, and irrigation.
The
pattern of Louisiana's economy was changed by the discovery of oil and natural gas in the early 1900s, and industries began
to grow on the basis of cheap fuel and cheap labor. Medical advances helped to curb the yellow-fever epidemics that had periodically
disrupted the state.
Huey Long and His Legacy
Industrial growth
and the continuing woes of the tenant farmers did not alter control of the state by “Bourbon” Democrats, but in
1928 a virtual revolution occurred when Huey P. Long was elected governor. His almost dictatorial rule, detested by liberals
across the nation, brought material progress at the cost of widespread official corruption. Long withstood all outside pressures,
including the opposition of President F. D. Roosevelt's administration. After his assassination in 1935 (he had resigned the
governorship in 1931 to become a U.S. Senator but had retained control over the state), his political heirs made their peace
with the New Deal, and federal funds, withheld during Long's last years, poured into the state.
In 1948, Huey's brother,
Earl Long, invoking the memory of his dead brother (still regarded by many as a savior and a martyr), gained the governorship.
In addition, Huey's son Russell was elected to the U.S. Senate and served for 38 years until he retired in 1986. In 1956,
Earl Long was again elected governor, but his second term was marked by scandal and controversy.
Civil Rights, Disasters, and Diversification
About
one third of Louisianans are African American, and their struggle for civil rights has been long and bitter. The move toward
integration following the 1954 Supreme Court ruling against racial segregation in public schools was difficult, and continuing
resistance to social change is reflected in the careers of David Duke and others.
Hurricanes and flooding are recurrent
dangers for the state. In 1965, Hurricane Betsy killed 74 and caused property damage in excess of $1 billion. In 1969, Hurricane
Camille was even more destructive, ravaging Louisiana and neighboring states and killing 256 people. In Apr., 1973, the Mississippi
River rose to its highest level recorded in Louisiana and, with its tributaries, flooded more than 10% of the state.
Louisiana
enjoyed an oil boom in the early 1980s but then suffered following the 1986 collapse of oil prices. The state's unemployment
rate rose to the highest in the nation, and economic distress grew. The slump placed a great burden on the tourist industry
and led to increased efforts to diversify the economy. The state's recent environmental woes have largely arisen from the
fact that natural erosion, oil exploitation, and river control projects have severely degraded its freshwater marshlands,
especially in the delta of the Mississippi.
In 2005 Hurricanes Katrina and Rita devastated parts of the state, especially
around New Orleans and along the Gulf Coast; as a result, it was estimated that some 240,000 people subsequently left Louisiana,
though it was unclear if the population losses would be permanent.
IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII
Maine Mariners
Capital: Augusta
State abbreviation/Postal code:
Maine/ME
Governor: John Baldacci, D (to Jan. 2011)
Senate President: Beth Edmonds, D (to Jan. 2009)
Senators: Susan
Collins, R (to Jan. 2009); Olympia J. Snowe, R (to Jan. 2013)
U.S. Representatives: 2
Historical biographies of Congressional
members
Secy. of State: Matthew Dunlap, D (to Jan. 2009)
Treasurer: David Lemoine, D (to Jan. 2009)
Atty. General:
G. Steven Rowe, D (to Jan. 2009)
Entered Union (rank): March 15, 1820 (23)
Present constitution adopted: 1820
Motto:
Dirigo (I lead)
State symbols:
flower white pine cone and tassel
(1895)
tree white pine tree (1945)
bird chickadee (1927)
fish landlocked salmon (1969)
mineral tourmaline
(1971)
song “State of Maine Song” (1937)
animal moose (1979)
cat Maine coon cat (1985)
fossil
pertica quadrifaria (1985)
insect honeybee (1975)
Nickname: Pine Tree State
Origin of name: First used to distinguish
the mainland from the offshore islands. It has been considered a compliment to Henrietta Maria, queen of Charles I of England.
She was said to have owned the province of Mayne in France.
10 largest cities (2005 est.): Portland, 63,889; Lewiston,
36,050; Bangor, 31,074; South Portland, 23,742; Auburn, 23,602; Biddeford, 22,072; Augusta, 18,626; Saco, 18,230; Westbrook,
16,108; Waterville, 15,621
Land area: 30,862 sq mi. (79,933 sq km)
Geographic center: In Piscataquis Co., 18 mi. N of
Dover-Foxcroft
Number of counties: 16
Largest county by population and area: Cumberland, 274,950 (2005); Aroostook,
6,672 sq mi.
State forests: 1 (21,000 ac.)
State parks: 30+
State historic sites: 18 (403 ac.)
Residents: Mainer
2005
resident population est.: 1,321,505
John Cabot and his son, Sebastian, are believed to have
visited the Maine coast in 1498. However, the first permanent English settlements were not established until more than a century
later, in 1623. The first naval action of the Revolutionary War occurred in 1775 when colonials captured the British
sloop Margaretta off Machias on the Maine coast. In that same year, the British burned Falmouth (now Portland). Long
governed by Massachusetts, Maine became the 23rd state as part of the Missouri Compromise in 1820.
Maine produces 98% of
the nation's low-bush blueberries. Farm income is also derived from apples, potatoes, dairy products, and vegetables, with
poultry and eggs the largest selling items.
The state is one of the world's largest pulp-paper producers. With almost 89%
of its area forested, Maine turns out wood products from boats to toothpicks. Maine also leads the world in the production
of the familiar flat tins of sardines, producing more than 75 million of them annually. In 2005, Maine lobstermen landed nearly
63 million pounds of lobster. A scenic seacoast, beaches, lakes, mountains, and resorts make Maine a popular vacationland.
There are more than 2,500 lakes and 5,000 streams, plus more than 30 state parks to attract hunters, fishermen, skiers, and
campers. Major points of interest are Bar Harbor, Acadia National Park, Allagash National Wilderness Waterway, the Wadsworth-Longfellow
House in Portland, Roosevelt Campobello International Park, and the St. Croix Island National Monument.
History
Early Inhabitants and European Colonization
The
earliest human habitation in what is now Maine can be traced back to prehistoric times, as evidenced by the burial mounds
of the Red Paint people found in the south central part of the state. The Native Americans who came later left enormous shell
heaps, variously estimated to be from 1,000 to 5,000 years old. At the time of settlement by Europeans the Abnaki were scattered
along the coast and in some inland areas. The coast of Maine, which may have been visited by the Norsemen, was included
in the grant that James I of England awarded to the Plymouth Company, and colonists set out under George Popham in 1607. Their
settlement, Fort St. George, on the present site of Phippsburg at the mouth of the Kennebec (then called the Sagadahoc) River,
did not prosper, and the colonists returned to England in 1608. The French came to the area in 1613 and established a colony
and a Jesuit mission on Mt. Desert Island; however, the English under Sir Samuel Argall expelled them. In 1620 the Council
for New England (successor to the Plymouth Company) granted Ferdinando Gorges and Captain John Mason the territory between
the Kennebec and Merrimack rivers extending 60 mi (97 km) inland. At this time the region became known as Maine, either to
honor Henrietta Maria, queen of Charles I, who was feudal proprietor of the province in France called Maine, or to distinguish
the mainland from the offshore islands. Neglected after Gorges's death in 1647, Maine settlers came under the jurisdiction
of the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1652. King Philip's War (1675–76) was the first of many struggles between the British
on one side and the French and Native Americans on the other, all of which slowed further settlement of Maine. French
influence, which had been reasserted east of the Penobscot, declined rapidly after 1688, when Sir Edmund Andros, royal governor
of all New England, seized French fortifications there. After the colonists overthrew Andros, Massachusetts received a new
charter (1691) that confirmed its hold on Maine. With Sir William Phips, a Maine native, as governor and the territorial question
settled, local government and institutions in the Massachusetts tradition took root in Maine. Maine soon had prosperous fishing,
lumbering, and shipbuilding industries.
Revolution and Economic Development
Dissatisfaction
with British rule was first expressed openly after Parliament passed the Stamp Act in 1765; in protest, a mob at Falmouth
(Portland) seized a quantity of the hated stamps. As conflicts increased between the colonies and England, nonimportation
societies formed to boycott English goods sprang up in Maine. During the American Revolution Falmouth paid dearly for its
defiance; it was devastated by a British fleet in 1775. In that same year Benedict Arnold led his grueling, unsuccessful expedition
against Quebec through Maine. During the war supplies were cut off and conflicts with Native Americans were frequent,
but with American independence won, economic development was rapid in what was then called the District of Maine, one of the
three admiralty districts of Massachusetts set up by the Continental Congress in 1775. However, the Embargo Act of 1807 and
the War of 1812 interrupted the thriving commerce and turned the district toward industrial development.
Statehood and Prosperity
Agitation for statehood,
which had been growing since the Revolution, now became widespread. Dissatisfaction with Massachusetts was aroused by the
inadequate military protection provided during the War of 1812; by the land policy, which encouraged absentee ownership; and
by the political differences between conservative Massachusetts and liberal Maine. The imminent admission of Missouri into
the Union as a slave state hastened the separation of Maine from Massachusetts, and equality of power between North and South
was preserved by admitting Maine as a free state in 1820, as part of the Missouri Compromise.
With Portland as its capital
(moved to Augusta in 1832) the new state entered a prosperous period. During the first half of the 19th cent. Maine enjoyed
its greatest population increase. A highly profitable timber trade was carried on with the West Indies, Europe, and Asia,
and towns such as Bath became leaders in American shipbuilding. The long-standing Northeast Boundary Dispute almost precipitated
border warfare between Maine and New Brunswick in the so-called Aroostook War of 1839; the controversy was settled by the
Webster-Ashburton Treaty with Great Britain in 1842.
Political Issues since the 1850s
Political life was
vigorous, particularly in the 1850s when the reluctance of the Democrats, who had been dominant since 1820, to take a firm
antislavery stand swept the new Republican party into power. Hannibal Hamlin was a leading Republican politician and was vice
president during Abraham Lincoln's first administration. Antislavery sentiment was strong, and Maine made sizable contributions
of men and money to the Union in the Civil War. Generals Oliver O. Howard and Joshua L. Chamberlain were from Maine. For decades
regulation of the liquor traffic was the chief political issue in Maine, and the state was the first to adopt (1851) a prohibition
law. It was incorporated into the constitution in 1884 and was not repealed until 1934. State politics entered a hectic
stage in 1878 when the newly organized Greenback party combined with the Democrats to carry the election, ending more than
20 years of Republican rule. The following year the coalition was accused of manipulating election returns, a charge sustained
by the state supreme court, which seated a rival legislature elected by the Republicans. In 1880 the fusionists were again
successful, but from that time until the 1950s the state was generally Republican, providing that party with such national
leaders as James G. Blaine, Thomas B. Reed, and Margaret Chase Smith, who in 1948 became the first Republican woman U.S. senator.
Former U.S. Secretary of State Edmund S. Muskie, a Democrat, was elected governor in 1954. In 1964 and 1968 (when Muskie,
then a U.S. senator, ran unsuccessfully for vice president) the state voted Democratic in the presidential election for the
first time since 1912. In 1969 personal and corporate income taxes were added to the sales tax within the state. Maine's
population grew 13.2% during the 1970s and 9.2% during the 1980s, its largest increases since the 1840s. Environmental issues
have occupied the state's attention in recent decades. In an attempt to revive native salmon populations, river logging was
banned in the 1970s, and some dams have been removed or slated for removal. Maine voters narrowly defeated several referendum
proposals to hasten the scheduled 1997 closing of the nuclear power plant at Wiscasset. The effects of clear-cutting practices
in Maine's forests and of large-scale fish farming along the coast were also focuses of debate.
IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII
Military Maryland
Capital: Annapolis
State abbreviation/Postal code: Md./MD
Governor:
Martin O'Malley, D (to Jan. 2011)
Lieut. Gov.: Anthony Brown (to Jan. 2011)
Senators: Barbara A. Mikulski, D (to Jan.
2011); Ben Cardin, D (to Jan. 2013)
U.S. Representatives: 8
Historical biographies of Congressional members
Treasurer:
Nancy K. Kopp, D (elected by state legislature)
Atty. General: Douglas Ganser, D (to Jan. 2011)
Entered Union (rank):
April 28, 1788 (7)
Present constitution adopted: 1867
Motto: Fatti maschii, parole femine (Manly deeds, womanly words)
State symbols:
bird Baltimore oriole (1947)
boat
skipjack (1985)
crustacean Maryland blue crab (1989)
dinosaur Astrodon johnstoni (1998)
dog Chesapeake Bay retriever
(1964)
beverage milk (1998)
flower black-eyed susan (1918)
fish rockfish (1965)
folk dance square dance (1994)
fossil shell ecphora gardnerae gardnerae (Wilson) (1994)
insect Baltimore checkerspot butterfly (1973)
reptile
Diamondback terrapin (1994)
song “Maryland! My Maryland!” (1939)
sport jousting (1962)
team sport
lacrosse (2004)
tree white oak (1941)
Nicknames: Free State; Old Line State
Origin of name: In honor of Henrietta
Maria (queen of Charles I of England)
State forests: 7 (136,907 ac.)
State parks: 40 (90,239 ac.)
Residents: Marylander
2005
resident population est.: 5,600,388
In 1608, Capt. John Smith explored Chesapeake Bay. Charles
I granted a royal charter for Maryland to Cecil Calvert, Lord Baltimore, in 1632, and English settlers, many of whom were
Roman Catholic, landed on St. Clement's (now Blakistone) Island in 1634. Religious freedom, granted all Christians in the
Toleration Act passed by the Maryland assembly in 1649, was ended by a Puritan revolt, 1654–1658. From 1763 to
1767, Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon surveyed Maryland's northern boundary line with Pennsylvania. In 1791, Maryland ceded
land to form the District of Columbia. In 1814, during the British attempt to capture Baltimore, the bombardment of
Fort McHenry inspired Francis Scott Key to write the words to “The Star-Spangled Banner.” During the Civil War,
Maryland was a slave state but remained in the Union. Consequently, Marylanders fought on both sides and many families were
divided. Maryland's Eastern Shore and Western Shore embrace the Chesapeake Bay, and the many estuaries and rivers create
one of the longest waterfronts of any state. The Bay produces more seafood—oysters, crabs, clams, fin fish—than
any comparable body of water. Important agricultural products are greenhouse and nursery products, chickens, dairy products,
eggs, and soybeans. Stone, coal, sand, gravel, cement, and clay are the chief mineral products. Manufacturing industries
include food products, chemicals, computer and electronic products, transportation equipment, and primary metals. Baltimore,
home of the Johns Hopkins University and Hospital, ranks as the nation's second port in foreign tonnage. The capital, Annapolis,
is the site of the U.S. Naval Academy. Among the popular attractions in Maryland are the Fort McHenry National Monument;
Harpers Ferry and Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historic Parks; Antietam National Battlefield; National Aquarium, USS
Constellation, and Maryland Science Center at Baltimore's Inner Harbor; Historic St. Mary's City; Jefferson Patterson Historical
Park and Museum at St. Leonard; U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis; Goddard Space Flight Center at Greenbelt; Assateague Island
National Park Seashore; Ocean City beach resort; and Catoctin Mountain, Fort Frederick, and Piscataway parks.
History
Exploration and Colonization
Giovanni da Verrazano,
an Italian navigator in the service of France, probably visited (1524) the Chesapeake region, which was certainly later explored
(1574) by Pedro Menéndez Marqués, governor of Spanish Florida. In 1603 the region was visited by an Englishman, Bartholomew
Gilbert, and it was charted (1608) by Capt. John Smith. In 1632, Charles I granted a charter to George Calvert, 1st
Baron Baltimore, yielding him feudal rights to the region between lat. 40°N and the Potomac River. Disagreement over the boundaries
of the grant led to a long series of border disputes with Virginia that were not resolved until 1930. The states still dispute
the use of the Potomac River. The territory was named Maryland in honor of Henrietta Maria, queen consort of Charles I. Before
the great seal was affixed to the charter, George Calvert died, but his son Cecilius Calvert, 2d Baron Baltimore, undertook
development of the colony as a haven for his persecuted fellow Catholics and also as a source of income. In 1634 the ships
Ark and Dove brought settlers (both Catholic and Protestant) to the Western Shore, and a settlement called St. Mary's (see
Saint Marys City) was set up. During the colonial period the Algonquian-speaking Native Americans withdrew from the area gradually
and for the most part peacefully, sparing Maryland the conflicts other colonies experienced.
Religious Conflict and Economic
Development
Religious conflict was strong in ensuing years as the Puritans, growing more numerous in the colony and supported
by Puritans in England, set out to destroy the religious freedom guaranteed with the founding of the colony. A toleration
act (1649) was passed in an attempt to save the Catholic settlers from persecution, but it was repealed (1654) after the Puritans
seized control. A brief civil war ensued (1655), from which the Puritans emerged triumphant. Anti-Catholic activity persisted
until the 19th cent., when in an unusual reversal of the prevailing pattern many Catholic immigrants came to Baltimore.
In 1694, when the capital was moved from St. Mary's to Annapolis, those were the only towns in the province, but the next
century saw the emergence of commercially oriented Baltimore, which by 1800 had a population of more than 30,000 and a flourishing
coastal trade. Tobacco became the basis of the economy by 1730. In 1767 the demarcation of the Mason-Dixon Line ended a long-standing
boundary dispute with Pennsylvania.
The Revolution and a New Nation
Economic and religious grievances led Maryland to
support the growing colonial agitation against England. At the time of the American Revolution most Marylanders were stalwart
patriots and vigorous opponents of the British colonial policy. In 1776 Maryland adopted a declaration of rights and a state
constitution and sent soldiers and supplies to aid the war for independence; supposedly the high quality of its regular “troops
of the line” earned Maryland its nickname, the Old Line State. The U.S. Congress, meeting at Annapolis, ratified the
Treaty of Paris ending the Revolutionary War in 1783. A party advocating states' rights, in which Luther Martin was prominent,
was unsuccessful in opposing ratification of the Constitution, and in 1791 Maryland and Virginia contributed land and money
for the new national capital in the District of Columbia. Industry, already growing in conjunction with renewed commerce,
was furthered by the skills of German immigrants. The War of 1812 was marked for Maryland by the British attack of 1814 on
Baltimore and the defense of Fort McHenry, immortalized in Francis Scott Key's “Star-Spangled Banner.” After the
war the state entered a period of great commercial and industrial expansion. This was accelerated by the building of the National
Road, which tapped the rich resources of the West; the opening of the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal (1829); and the opening
(1830) of the Baltimore & Ohio RR, the first railroad in the United States open for public traffic.
The Coming of the Civil War
Southern ways and sympathies
persisted among the plantation owners of Maryland, and as the rift between North and South widened, the state was torn by
conflicting interests and the intense internal struggles of the true border state. In 1860 there were 87,000 slaves in Maryland,
but industrialists and businessmen had special interests in adhering to the Union, and despite the urgings of Southern sympathizers,
made famous in J. R. Randall's song, “Maryland, My Maryland,” the state remained in the Union. At the beginning
of the Civil War, President Lincoln suspended habeas corpus and sent troops to Maryland who imprisoned large numbers of secessionists.
Nevertheless, Marylanders fought on both sides, and families were often split. General Lee's Army of Northern Virginia invaded
Maryland in 1862 and was repulsed by Union forces at Antietam (see Antietam campaign). In 1863, Lee again invaded the North
and marched across Maryland on the way to and from Gettysburg. Throughout the war Maryland was the scene of many minor battles
and skirmishes.
Industrialization
With the end of the Civil War, industry
quickly revived and became a dominant force in Maryland, both economically and politically. Senator Arthur P. Gorman, a Democrat
and the president of the Baltimore & Ohio RR, ran the controlling political machine from 1869 to 1895, when two-party
government was restored. New railroad lines traversed the state, making it more than ever a crossing point between North and
South. Labor troubles hit Maryland with the Panic of 1873, and four years later railroad wage disputes resulted in large-scale
rioting in Cumberland and Baltimore. During the 20th cent., however, Maryland became a leader in labor and other reform legislation.
The administrations of governors Austin L. Crowthers (1908–12) and Albert C. Ritchie (1920–35) were noted for
reform. Ritchie, a Democrat, became nationally known for his efforts to improve the efficiency and economy of state government.
The great influx of people into the state during World War I was repeated and accelerated in World War II as war workers poured
into Baltimore, where vital shipbuilding and aircraft plants were in operation. In addition, military and other government
employees moved into the area around Washington, D.C.
Growth since World War II
Since World War II, public-works
legislation, particularly that concerning roads and other traffic arteries, has brought major changes. The opening of the
Chesapeake Bay Bridge in 1952 spurred significant industrial expansion on the Eastern Shore; a parallel bridge was opened
in 1973. The Patapsco River tunnel under Baltimore harbor was completed in 1957, and the Francis Scott Key Bridge (1977),
crosses the Patapsco. Other construction projects have included the Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport,
formerly called Friendship International Airport (1950), south of Baltimore, and the Baltimore-Washington Parkway (1954).
The state gained a different kind of attention in 1968 when its governor, Spiro T. Agnew was elected vice president.
Maryland experienced tremendous suburban growth in the 1980s, especially in the metropolitan Washington, D.C., area. This
growth occurred in spite of a decline in government jobs, as service sector employment rose dramatically. Suburban Baltimore
grew as well although the city proper lost 6.4% of its population during the 1980s. Baltimore undertook major revitalization
projects in the 1980s and the early 1990s, including the construction of Oriole Park at Camden Yards, the new home of the
Baltimore Orioles baseball team. Maryland has become increasingly popular as a vacation area—Ocean City is a popular
seashore resort, and both sides of Chesapeake Bay are lined with beaches and small fishing towns. The Chesapeake Bay Bridge
has brought the culture of the Eastern Shore, formerly quite distinctive, into a more homogeneous unity with that of the rest
of the state; the area, however, is still noted for its unique rural beauty and architecture, strongly reminiscent of the
English countryside left behind by early settlers.
Back to the top of the page
|
