Arkansas Becomes A State. Voting to Become a State An unofficial, territory-wide vote in August came...
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Transcript of Arkansas Becomes A State. Voting to Become a State An unofficial, territory-wide vote in August came...
Voting to Become a State
• An unofficial, territory-wide vote in August came out 1,942 in favor of statehood and 908 against.
• Arkansas had the minimum population for becoming a state.
Missouri Compromise
• In 1835 there were 24 states in the Union.
• Half were free and half were slave states.
• To keep it this way the Missouri Compromise of 1820 said new states must come into the Union in pairs, one free-one slave.
Map of the Missouri Compromise
Sister States.• Arkansas wanted to enter the Union as a
slave state. To do this it needed a free state to enter with it.
• At this same time Michigan territory applied for statehood.
• So Michigan and Arkansas became sisters.
Territory vs. State
• A territory had an appointed state government and national funding for almost all its needs.
• A state could elect its own officials, but would have to tax itself for many of its needs.
• As a whole, Arkansans were not wealthy and lacked the cash needed to pay taxes.
• But, a state can charter banks, which is a source for wealth.
• Delegates met in January of 1836 to write a proposed state constitution to send to Congress for approval.
• Southern counties in Arkansas had large cotton plantations and slave labor.
• Northern upland counties had small farms.
• The constitution they wrote said that slave counties would have more representation in the senate and free counties would have more in the house.
Constitution Goes to Congress
• Delegates picked Charles F.M. Noland of Batesville to take the new constitution to Congress.
• At the same time William Woodruff had sent a special edition of the Gazette by postal service.
• The newspaper beat Noland to Washington, and Congress approved Arkansas statehood based upon the version written in the newspaper.
Arkansas Becomes a State
• Arkansas became the twenty-fifth state of the Union of June 15, 1836.
• Michigan, delayed by a border dispute, entered as Arkansas’s sister state in January 1837.
• In the fall of 1836, Arkansas’s three electoral votes participated in the national election.
Arkansas Elections
• By Arkansas law, only white males over twenty-one who had lived in the state over six months could vote.
• On election day a voter would go to his county seat and vote by voice to the sheriff or clerk who would record it.
New Government Officials
• When voters chose their new state government in 1836, the Family and democrats won all of the offices.
• James Sevier Conway became governor.• Archibald Yell became the U.S. House
representative.• William Fulton and Ambrose Sevier were
appointed to the U.S. Senate.
A Booming Economy
• The new state’s economy was doing well in the boom years of the late 1830s.
• In 1837 the state government had a $50,000 surplus. This money was used to build a prison in Little Rock.
State Banks
• The legislature established two state banks.
• Banks began granting as many loans as possible.
• The two banks in Arkansas were the Real Estate Bank and the State Bank.
Banks
• Planters and large farmers primarily used the Real Estate Bank.
• Smaller farmers and merchants primarily used the State Bank.
Problems Begin• President Jackson destroyed the Bank of
the U.S., smaller state banks no longer had anyone controlling them.
• It wasn’t long before the bank ran out of money and had to start borrowing from banks in other states, like New York.
• Two years after the State Bank opened it had debts of two million dollars.
Specie
• State banks issued their own bank notes.
• These notes were supposed to be backed up with an equal value in gold and silver, called specie.
• Arkansas banks issued far more notes than they had specie.
• President Jackson issued the “Specie Circular” that said the federal government would only accept specie for public land
Panic of 1837• When the Specie Circular went into effect
if caused a nation-wide economic crisis called the Panic of 1837.
• By 1842 both banks were forced to close their doors because people couldn’t pay their loans.
• The banks left behind a huge debt that the state was required to pay.
Problems for the State
• As a result of the huge debt, the state outlawed the existence of banks.
• The state continued to default on loans and was short of capital.
• The state’s credit was ruined with all the big banks in the East.
Archibald Yell
• While all of this was going on Archibald Yell was elected governor.
• He called for public education, internal improvements, and financial reform.
• As a result the General Assembly passed the “Common School Law” in 1842.
• This set aside sections of land in each township to be sold to raise the revenue to open public schools.