Introduction to History of Kentucky
The area that is now Kentucky was first inhabited by prehistoric Indians several thousand years ago. The first group to enter the region were nomads who came to hunt game. They were followed by seminomads of the Adena and Hopewell cultures, who flourished from about 1000 B.C. to 1000 A.D. From around 1000 to 1650, Indians of the Mississippian culture lived in western Kentucky, where they farmed, fished, and hunted.
In the 17th century, at the time of contact with whites from the British colonies east of the Appalachians, there were few Indians dwelling permanently in Kentucky. The region, however, was the traditional hunting grounds of the Shawnee and the Cherokee.
Important dates in Kentucky1750 Thomas Walker made the first thorough exploration of what is now Kentucky.1767 Daniel Boone made his first journey to Kentucky.1774 Harrodsburg, Kentucky's first permanent white settlement, was founded.1775-1783 Frontier leaders defended Kentucky settlements against Indian attacks during the Revolutionary War.1792 Kentucky became the 15th state on June 1.1798-1799 The Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions declared the federal Alien and Sedition Acts unconstitutional.1861-1865 Kentucky stayed in the Union during the American Civil War.1900 Governor William Goebel was assassinated, and a civil war almost broke out in Kentucky.1904-1909 Farmers in western and central Kentucky fought the tobacco monopoly in the Tobacco Wars.1914 The state legislature authorized a statewide system of roads.1936 The U.S. Treasury established a gold vault at Fort Knox.1955 Kentucky lowered its voting-age requirement to 18.1969 The Tennessee Valley Authority completed its largest steam generating plant, at Paradise.1990 Kentucky launched reform of its public school system with the passage of the Education Reform Act.1992 Voters approved a constitutional amendment allowing reelection of state officers to a second consecutive term.2000 Voters approved a constitutional amendment allowing the state legislature to meet every year.Exploration and Settlement
The first whites to enter Kentucky were explorers, hunters, and traders who had heard of the rich, fertile land and abundant game that lay west of the mountains. At the time, the area was considered part of the Virginia frontier. In 1750 the Loyal Land Company sponsored an expedition, led by Thomas Walker of Virginia, to find land suitable for settlement. The expedition found the Cumberland Gap, a pass through the mountains where Virginia, Tennessee, and Kentucky meet, and explored the valley beyond. In 1751 Christopher Gist of Maryland, an agent of the Ohio Land Company, explored the area along the Ohio River as far west as what is now Louisville. The French and Indian War (1754–63) temporarily halted further exploration.
After the war, Britain issued the Proclamation of 1763, prohibiting settlement beyond the Appalachians until a policy to deal with the Indians was developed. It failed, however, to keep settlers from entering the region.
Daniel Boone, a frontiersman from North Carolina, tried to lead a group of settlers through the Cumberland Gap in 1773, but they were driven back by Cherokee Indians. The following year James Harrod, heading a small party of traders, established what is considered the first permanent settlement in Kentucky, in what is now Mercer County, calling it Harrod's Town (later Harrodsburg).
Also in 1774, Richard Henderson of North Carolina, having heard reports from Boone about the “Eden of the West,” organized the Transylvania Land Company, planning to establish a colony in what is now central Kentucky. He purchased a huge tract of land there from the Cherokee Indians. In 1775 he sent Boone ahead to blaze a trail (later called the Wilderness Road) through the Cumberland Gap and find a suitable location for settlement. In April, 1775, Boone built a fort, which he called Fort Boonesborough, south of the Kentucky River in present-day Madison County. Virginia dismissed the claims of the Transylvania Company and incorporated Kentucky as a county of Virginia in 1776.
Despite the Revolutionary War, which had begun in 1775, and the constant threat of attack by Indians from north of the Ohio River, thousands of immigrants poured through the Cumberland Gap and traveled the Wilderness Road. Settlements sprang up all over Kentucky County. Population totaled about 70,000 in 1790. The early settlers cleared the land, built homesteads, and fought off Indian raids in what came to be called the “dark and bloody ground” of Kentucky.
Statehood
By the mid-1780's, a movement had developed in Kentucky to separate from Virginia. Ten political conventions were held during 1784–92 to plan for independence. The last convention framed a constitution, and on June 1, 1792, the Commonwealth of Kentucky entered the Union as the 15th state, the first west of the Appalachians. Colonel Isaac Shelby was the first governor. Lexington briefly served as the state capital until Frankfort was chosen in December, 1792.
Kentucky, with rich agricultural lands and a growing trade, prospered over the next several decades. Its development was helped by the end of the Indian threat, the opening of navigation on the Mississippi, and the coming of railways. The Indian tribes of the Old Northwest were decisively defeated by General Anthony Wayne's forces, which included some 1,600 Kentucky volunteers, at the Battle of Fallen Timbers in Ohio in 1794. Navigational rights on the Mississippi were granted by Spain to the United States in 1795. In 1832 the Kentucky and Ohio Railroad began operation, between Lexington and Louisville; the Louisville and Nashville Railroad, over which freight was shipped to the South, opened in 1859.
Kentucky played an important role in national affairs in the early decades after statehood. Politically, Kentuckians were predominantly Jeffersonian Republicans, supporters of states' rights and of agrarian interests over those of commerce and industry. Kentucky's legislature joined Virginia's in denouncing the Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798 and adopting resolutions that asserted the right of states to declare acts of Congress unconstitutional.
There was widespread sentiment in the state for national expansion. Kentuckians supported the Louisiana Purchase of 1803 and the War of 1812, which was considered an opportunity to invade Canada and to force Indian allies of the British out of United States territory. Henry Clay of Kentucky, speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, was among the national leaders who brought strong pressure for the United States to enter into war against Great Britain. Kentucky volunteers and militia fought in several engagements of the war.
The period from 1820 to 1860 has often been referred to as Kentucky's golden age, because it was a time of general peace and prosperity. Agriculture became more highly developed, with hemp, flax, and tobacco being the major cash crops. Manufacturing and other industry grew, particularly the production of coal, iron, salt, and bourbon whiskey (named for Bourbon County). The state funded a variety of projects to facilitate trade: roads were improved, river channels deepened and canals constructed. The Bluegrass region around Lexington became important in the breeding of thoroughbred racehorses. Population doubled, reaching more than a million persons in 1860, and Louisville replaced Lexington as the commercial, industrial, and financial center of the state.
The Civil War and Its Aftermath
Despite the progress made in the early decades of the 19th century, there were social and economic problems. The most serious issue was slavery. (The slave population totaled 225,000 on the eve of the Civil War.) Although slavery was an integral part of the state's economy, strong antislavery sentiment had also developed. Prominent abolitionists were James G. Birney and Cassius M. Clay. In the U.S. Senate, two Kentucky political leaders, Henry Clay and John J. Crittenden, sought to ease national tensions over the slavery question by proposing compromise legislation.
When the Civil War began in 1861, Kentucky proclaimed itself “neutral” but eventually chose to remain in the Union. Kentuckians fought for both the Union, whose President, Abraham Lincoln, had been born in the state, and the Confederacy, also led by a Kentucky native, Jefferson Davis. About 70,000 men, including nearly 24,000 blacks, joined the Union army, while about 30,000 men went into Confederate service. Troops from both armies occupied parts of Kentucky at various times. The decisive engagement in the state was the Battle of Perryville, in October, 1862. Union troops under General Don Carlos Buell repulsed a Confederate invasion led by General Braxton Bragg. Throughout the war, in almost every county, guerrilla raids were conducted by Union and Confederate forces alike.
In the period following the war, Kentucky was the scene of bitter turmoil. Since it had remained in the Union, it was not subject to Reconstruction measures. However, as a former slave-holding state, it faced many of the same problems as the states of the Confederacy.
Kentucky's economy was in disarray. The loss of 10,000 men as war casualties and the freeing of the slaves had caused a sharp drop in food production. The war had also caused lingering bitterness between Kentuckians who had supported opposing sides. Years of violence followed. In the eastern mountains, long-lasting blood feuds between communities and among clans—including the notorious feud between the Hatfields of Kentucky and the McCoys of West Virginia—had their origin in Civil War antagonisms. Intimidation of former slaves was carried on by the Ku Klux Klan for years after the Civil War.
Modern Development
The economy recovered during the late 19th century, aided by increased railroad construction, restoration of trade, exploitation of the timber and coal resources of eastern Kentucky, and expansion of industry. Despite general economic improvement, however, agriculture suffered as a result of the dependence of many farmers on one crop, tobacco, and the collapse of land values following the Panic of 1873. Major national protest movements, such as the National Grange, the Farmers' Alliance, and the Populist party, which sought regulation of railroads and industries, gained support in Kentucky. A new constitution incorporating curbs on the powers of government and monopolistic corporations was adopted in 1891, but it failed to end political and social unrest.
In 1900, following an election marred by fraud and violence, governor-elect William Goebel, who had campaigned against “plutocratic” interests, was assassinated. Discontent among western Kentucky's tobacco farmers over their treatment by the processors (known as the “tobacco trust”) led to the Black Patch War of 1906–09, so-called because the farmers grew dark-leaf tobacco. The growers attempted to break the power of the processors by selling their tobacco only through cooperatives. Growers who refused to go along were intimidated by “night riders,” whose raids led the authorities to call out the state militia in 1908. Eventually legislation regulating the tobacco industry was enacted.
World War I brought prosperity to farmers and generated a boom in the coal mines of eastern Kentucky. In the 1920's, however, there was a prolonged agricultural depression. During the Prohibition era, 1920–33, the closing of the distilleries created serious unemployment. The Great Depression of the 1930's caused additional unemployment. During the mid-1930's, conditions of near anarchy prevailed in the coalfields, especially in Harlan and Perry counties, as mine owners resisted organization of their workers by the United Mine Workers.
Economic recovery came with World War II, as farmers and manufacturers stepped up production to meet war needs. Industrial expansion brought increased urbanization as workers left agricultural counties for major industrial centers, such as Louisville, Lexington, and Ashland. After the war, the state began a campaign to attract new industry, and made improvements in roads, schools, and various state services.
In 1950 Kentucky authorized admission of blacks to all state colleges and universities. However, there were disturbances in some areas of Kentucky when efforts were made to comply with the 1954 decision of the U.S. Supreme Court against racial segregation in public schools. In 1975 the courts ordered the use of busing to desegregate the predominantly black schools of Louisville and the mainly white schools of surrounding Jefferson County.
During the 1970's, the state's economy benefited from an increased national demand for coal, although the mining industry was beset by labor troubles that included a 109-day strike during 1977–78. In the early 1980's, the national economic recession seriously affected Kentucky; particularly hard hit were the heavy industries in the Louisville area.
In 1983 Martha Layne Collins was elected governor, the first woman to hold that post in the state's history.
Having come under attack during the previous decade, the Kentucky Supreme Court ruled the state’s public school system unconstitutional in 1989 because of unevenly distributed and inadequate funding. This led to, the passage of the Kentucky Education Reform Act in 1990.
Kentucky became one of the nation’s leaders in automobile production with the Toyota Motor Corporation opening a plant in 1988 to add to several existing auto plants.
By the end of the 1900s, fewer mining jobs left many people unemployed around Kentucky’s coal fields. This led income, health, and education levels to fall behind both the state’s urban areas and national levels.
In 1992, a constitutional amendment allowed state officers to serve two consecutive terms. In 2000, another amendment was approved that allowed the legislature to meet annually.