A chance to learn a little bit about each of the states in the nation.
The Arkansas State Seal was adopted in 1864 and modified to its present form on May 23, 1907. The outer ring of the seal contains the text "Great Seal of the State of Arkansas". The inner seal contains the Angel of Mercy, the Sword of Justice and the Goddess of Liberty surrounded by a bald eagle. The eagle holds in its beak a scroll inscribed with the Latin phrase "Regnat Populus", the state motto, which means "The People Rule". (The scroll read "Regnant Populi" prior to 1907.) On the shield of the seal are a steamboat, a plow, a beehive and a sheaf of wheat, symbols of Arkansas's industrial and agricultural wealth.
Source: Wikipedia
Arkansas- "The Natural State"
- Arkansas was the 25th state to enter the Union on June 15, 1836
- Constitution was adopted in 1874
- Capital- Little Rock
- State Motto- "Regnat populus" - The People Rule
- State Flower- Apple blossom
- Gemstone- Diamond
- State Bird- Mockingbird
- State Tree- Pine tree
- Mammal- White-tailed deer
- State Insect- Honeybee
- Trout Capital of the USA
- Major Industries- agriculture (chickens, soybeans, rice, cotton), paper and wood products (including furniture), electronic equipment, mining (aluminum and diamonds)
- Presidential Birthplace- William Jefferson Clinton was born in Hope, Arkansas on August 19, 1946 (42nd President serving from 1993-2001)
How Arkansas Got Its Name
The first Europeans to arrive in the area of present-day Arkansas were French explorers accompanied by Illinois Indian guides. The Illinois referred to the Ugakhpa people native to the region as the Akansa (“wind people” or “people of the south wind”), which the French adopted and pronounced with an r. They added an s to the end for pluralization, and for some reason it stuck when the word was adopted as the state's name. The pronunciation of Arkansas was a matter of debate (Ar-ken-saw vs. Ar-kan-zes) until it was officially decided by an act of the state legislature in 1881.
The
official state flag of Arkansas was chosen in a design contest in
1913; the winner was Miss Willie Kavanaugh Hocker of Wabbaseka. The
flag's design was finalized in 1926.
Spaniard Hernando de Soto was among the early European explorers to visit the territory in the mid-16th century, but it was a Frenchman, Henri de Tonti, who in 1686 founded the first permanent white settlement—the Arkansas Post.
Part of the Territory of Missouri from 1812, the area became a separate entity in 1819 after the first large wave of settlers arrived. The next several decades were marked by the development of the cotton industry and the spread of the Southern plantation system west into Arkansas. Arkansas joined the Confederacy in 1861, but from 1863 the northern part of the state was occupied by Union troops.
Food products are the state's largest employing sector, with lumber and wood products a close second. Arkansas is also a leader in the production of cotton, rice, and soybeans. It has the country's only active diamond mine; located near Murfreesboro, and it is operated as a tourist attraction.
Hot Springs National Park and Buffalo National River in the Ozarks are major state attractions. Blanchard Springs Caverns, the Historic Arkansas Museum at Little Rock, the William J. Clinton Birthplace in Hope, and the Arkansas Folk Center in Mountain View are also of interest.
Read more: Arkansas: History, Geography, Population, and State Facts — Infoplease.com http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0108184.html#ixzz10e6YFJ5H
How Arkansas Got Its Shape
"In 1803 the area was acquired by the U.S. as part of the Louisiana Purchase. The purchase created Arkansas' eastern border- the Mississippi River- since the Mississippi River was the only clearly defined border of the Louisiana Purchase other than the Gulf of Mexico."
"The southern border of Arkansas was created a year later when President Thomas Jefferson proposed dividing the Louisiana Purchase along the 33rd parallel. The land to the south of the 33rd parallel was deemed Orleans territory (soon to become Louisiana) and everything to the north was deemed Louisiana territory."How the States Got Their Shapes by Mark Stein ©2008, pages 27-32
"With the acquisition of the Louisiana Purchase, President Jefferson acquired a new population of citizens - French-speaking citizens for the most part. Jefferson was very well aware of the need to earn the trust and loyalty of this new population. For that reason, he and Congress created a state for these new Americans that was small enough to govern effectively, yet large enough to include all of the existing French settlements. At that time, the 33rd parallel represented the extent of those settlements in the lower region of the Louisiana Purchase."
"In 1819, the population that had long been clustered at the juncture of the Mississippi and Missouri rivers (the city of St. Louis) was rapidly expanding. Congress responded by creating the territory of Missouri, which also resulted in the creation of the Arkansas territory, lodged as it was between Missouri and Louisiana. Arkansas would the acquire its norther border to be whatever the southern border of Missouri acquired. That border, as it turned out, immediately became historic."
"On the face of it, the line used to divide Missouri and Arkansas was simply an extension of the line dividing its neighbors to the east, Kentucky and Tennessee. That line, in turn, was an extension of the line dividing Virginia and North Carolina. An that line, which originates at the Atlantic coast, midway between the Chesapeake Bay and Albemarle Sound, turns out to be line 36°30' N latitude. But upon becoming the southern of Missouri (and northern border of Arkansas) that line dovetailed with another American dividing line: slavery."
"With the Louisiana Purchase, a question had arisen regarding slavery in the states to be created from this newly acquired land. Slavery had been prohibited in the states being created from the Northwest Territory (Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin). On the other hand, Congress allowed the state of Louisiana to continue the practice, since it had existed there prior to American acquisition. When Missouri sought statehood, being the first Louisiana Purchase territory to do so, it sparked a bitter dispute in Congress that resulted in the Missouri Compromise (1820). Under this agreeement, only those states in the new territory whose northern borders were below 36°30' could sanction slavery - with the exception of of Missouri."
"The reason Congress chose 36°30' is that this preexisting line divided the United States (to the extent that it then existed) about as equally as one could gauge between present and future slave states and free states - given that the mountainous western end of the country was poorly suited to a slave economy, and given that some slave states already existed north of 36°30'."
"The northern border of Arkansas is interrupted by a notch in the northeast corner. The fact that this corner belongs to Missouri reflects attitudes regarding Arkansas when it was separated from Missouri. Plantation owners and other wealthy residents in what would have become Arkansas' northern corner wished to remain with the more populated territory, since it was currently seeking statehood, and because of its powerful hub at St. Louis. So influential were these individuals that accommodations were made to extend the Missouri line below 36°30' by having it follow the St. Francis river south to the 36th parallel."
"Also in 1819, the year Congress created Arkansas, the United States negotiated was was to become the notch in Arkansas' southwest corner. The Adams-Onis Treaty defined Spanish territory from the Louisiana Purchase territory. One segment of that division was a line due north from the point where the Sabine River crosses 32° N latitude. This turn in the border between the United States and the Spanish-ruled Mexico accounts for the notch in the southwest corner of Arkansas.
When the Arkansas Territory was vertically divided, creating Arkansas on the eas and what would become Oklahoma on the west, why didn't Congress make the border between Arkansas and Oklahoma simply a continuation of the straight line coming up from teh Sabine River in Texas (or a continuation of the straight line coming down from Missouri)? And why is the line that became the western border bent?"
"Actually, it was an accident. And it was none other than Andrew Jackson who goofed. The line that serves as the western border of southern Missouri was indeed intended to continue as the western edge of Arkansas. But in renegotiating with the Choctaws in 1820, Jackson inadvertently gave them far more of Arkansas than he realized. The Choctaws, after considerable urging (including a possibly involuntary "suicide" of one of their leaders) renegotiated the border in 1824, agreeing to relocate further west, but not as far west as the western border of Missouri."
"Under the later treaty, the eastern boundary of the Choctaw lands began 100 paces west of the southwest corner of the main garrison at Fort Smith. After 100 paces, the lower half of the boundary extended due south to its intersection with the Red River. The upper half angled slightly on a straight line to the southwest corner of Missouri. To this day, this line serves as the western border of Arkansas."
Arkansas and World War II
Most of these airfields were under the command of Third Air Force or the Army Air Forces Training Command (AAFTC) (A predecessor of the current-day United States Air Force Air Education and Training Command). However the other USAAF support commands (Air Technical Service Command (ATSC); Air Transport Command (ATC) or Troop Carrier Command) commanded a significant number of airfields in a support roles.
It is still possible to find remnants of these wartime airfields. Many were converted into municipal airports, some were returned to agriculture and several were retained as United States Air Force installations and were front-line bases during the Cold War. Hundreds of the temporary buildings that were used survive today, and are being used for other purposes.
From Wikipedia
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