Arkansas

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State of Arkansas
Flag of Arkansas Seal Nickname(s): The Natural State (current) The Land of Opportunity (former) Motto(s): Regnat populus (Latin)
Official language(s)	English
Demonym	Arkansan
Capital	Little Rock
Largest city	Little Rock
Largest metro area	Memphis Metropolitan Area
Area	Ranked 29th in the US
- Total	53,179 sq mi (137,002 km²)
- Width	239 miles (385 km)
- Length	261 miles (420 km)
- % water	2.09
- Latitude	33° 00′ N to 36° 30′ N
- Longitude	89° 39′ W to 94° 37′ W
Population	Ranked 32nd in the US
- Total	2,855,390 (2008 est.)[1] 2,673,400 (2000)
- Density	51.34/sq mi  (19.82/km²) Ranked 34th in the US
Elevation
- Highest point	Mount Magazine[2] 2,753 ft  (840 m)
- Mean	650 ft  (198 m)
- Lowest point	Ouachita River[2] 55 ft  (17 m)
Admission to Union	June 15, 1836 (25th)
Governor	Mike Beebe (D)
Lieutenant Governor	Bill Halter (D)
U.S. Senators	Blanche Lincoln (D) Mark Pryor (D)
Congressional Delegation	3 Democrats, 1 Republican (list)
Time zone	Central: UTC-6/DST-5
Abbreviations	AR Ark. US-AR
Website	www.arkansas.gov

Arkansas State Symbols
Animate insignia
Bird	Mockingbird
Butterfly	Diana Fritillary
Flower	Apple blossom
Insect	European honey bee
Mammal	White-tailed deer
Tree	Loblolly Pine
Inanimate insignia
Beverage	Milk
Dance	Square Dance
Food	South Arkansas Vine Ripe Pink Tomato
Gemstone	Diamond
Instrument	Fiddle
Mineral	Diamond
Rock	Bauxite
Soil	Stuttgart
Song(s)	Arkansas, Arkansas (You Run Deep In Me), Oh, Arkansas, The Arkansas Traveler
Tartan	Arkansas Traveler Tartan
Route marker(s)
State Quarter
Released in 2003
Lists of United States state insignia

Arkansas ( /ˈɑrkənsɔː/ (help·info); AR-kən-saw)^[3] is a state located in the southern region of the United States. Arkansas shares a border with six states, with its eastern border largely defined by the Mississippi River. Its diverse geography ranges from the mountainous regions of the Ozarks and the Ouachita Mountains, which make up the U.S. Interior Highlands, to the eastern lowlands along the Mississippi River. The capital and most populous city is Little Rock, located in the central portion of the state.

Contents 1 Name 2 Geography 2.1 Climate 3 History 4 Demographics 4.1 Religion 5 Economy 5.1 Taxation 6 Transportation 6.1 Highways 6.1.1 Interstate Highways 6.1.2 U.S. Routes 6.1.3 State highways 6.2 Airports 6.3 Rail 7 Law and government 8 Metropolitan areas 9 Important cities and towns 10 Education 10.1 Public school districts 10.2 Centers of research 10.3 Colleges and universities 11 Notable residents 12 See also 13 References 14 Further reading 15 External links

[edit] Name

The name Arkansas derives from the same root as the name for the State of Kansas. The Kansas tribe of American Indians are closely associated with the Sioux tribes. The word is a French pronunciation of a Quapaw (a related "Kaw" tribe) word meaning "land of downriver people" or "people of the south wind". The pronunciation of Arkansas was made official by an act of the state legislature in 1881 after a dispute between the two U.S. Senators from Arkansas. One wanted to pronounce the name /ɑrˈkænzəs/ ar-KAN-zəs and the other wanted /ˈɑrkənsɔː/ AR-kən-saw.^[4]

[edit] Geography

The Mississippi River forms most of Arkansas's eastern border, except in Clay and Greene counties where the St. Francis River forms the western boundary of the Missouri Bootheel, and in dozens of places where the current channel of the Mississippi has meandered from where it had last been legally specified.^[5] Arkansas shares its southern border with Louisiana, its northern border with Missouri, its eastern border with Tennessee and Mississippi, and its western border with Texas and Oklahoma.

Arkansas is a land of mountains and valleys, thick forests and fertile plains. The so-called Lowlands are better known by names of their two regions, the Delta and the Grand Prairie. The Arkansas Delta is a flat landscape of rich alluvial soils formed by repeated flooding of the adjacent Mississippi. Further away from the river, in the southeast portion of the state, the Grand Prairie consists of a more undulating landscape. Both are fertile agricultural areas.

The Delta region is bisected by an unusual geological formation known as Crowley's Ridge. A narrow band of rolling hills, Crowley's Ridge rises from 250 to 500 feet (150 m) above the surrounding alluvial plain and underlies many of the major towns of eastern Arkansas.

Northwest Arkansas is part of the Ozark Plateau including the Boston Mountains, to the south are the Ouachita Mountains and these regions are divided by the Arkansas River; the southern and eastern parts of Arkansas are called the Lowlands. All of these mountains ranges are part of the U.S. Interior Highlands region, the only major mountainous region between the Rocky Mountains and the Appalachian Mountains.^[6][7] The highest point in the state is Mount Magazine in the Ozark Mountains; it rises to 2,753 feet (839 m) above sea level.

Arkansas is home to many caves, such as Blanchard Springs Caverns. It is currently the only U.S. state in which diamonds are mined^[8][9] (near Murfreesboro). Arkansas has the only operating diamond mine in the United States.

Arkansas is home to many areas protected by the National Park System. These include:^[10]

• Arkansas Post National Memorial at Gillett
• Buffalo National River
• Fort Smith National Historic Site
• Hot Springs National Park
• Little Rock Central High School National Historic Site
• Pea Ridge National Military Park

The Trail of Tears National Historic Trail also runs through Arkansas.^[10]

[edit] Climate

Arkansas generally has a humid subtropical climate, which borders on humid continental in some northern highland areas. While not bordering the Gulf of Mexico, Arkansas is still close enough to this warm, large body of water for it to be the main weather influence in the state. Generally, Arkansas has very hot, humid summers and mild, slightly drier winters. In Little Rock, the daily high temperatures average around 90 °F (32 °C) in the summer and close to 50 °F (10 °C) in winter. Annual precipitation throughout the state averages between about 40 and 60 inches (1,000 to 1,500 mm); somewhat wetter in the south and drier in the northern part of the state.^[11] Snowfall is not uncommon, but not excessive in most years, as the average snowfall is approximately five inches (13 cm).^[12]

Despite its subtropical climate, Arkansas is known for occasional extreme weather. Between both the Great Plains and the Gulf States, Arkansas receives around 60 days of thunderstorms. As a part of Tornado Alley, tornadoes are not an uncommon occurrence in Arkansas, and a few of the most destructive tornadoes in U.S. history have struck the state. While being sufficiently away from the coast to be safe from a direct hit from a hurricane, Arkansas can often get the remnants of a tropical system which dumps tremendous amounts of rain in a short time and often spawns smaller tornadoes.

High water pouring down the White River caused historic flooding in cities along its path in eastern Arkansas.

Monthly Normal High and Low Temperatures For Various Arkansas Cities
City	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Fort Smith	48/28	55/33	64/41	73/49	80/59	88/67	93/71	93/70	85/63	75/50	61/40	51/31
Little Rock	50/31	56/35	64/43	73/50	81/59	89/68	93/72	92/70	85/64	75/52	62/42	52/34
[13]

[edit] History

The first European to reach Arkansas was the Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto at the end of the 16th century. Arkansas is one of several U.S. states formed from the territory purchased from Napoleon Bonaparte in the Louisiana Purchase. The early Spanish or French explorers of the state gave it its name, which is probably a phonetic spelling for the Illinois word for the Quapaw people, who lived downriver from them^[14]. Other Native American nations that lived in Arkansas prior to westward movement were the Quapaw, Caddo, and Osage nations. In their forced move westward (under U.S. Indian removal policies), the Five Civilized Tribes inhabited Arkansas during its territorial period.

The Territory of Arkansaw^[4] was organized on July 4, 1819, and on June 15, 1836, the State of Arkansas was admitted to the Union as the 25th state and the 13th slave state. Planters settled in the Delta to cultivate cotton, and this was the area of the state where most enslaved African Americans were held. Other areas had more subsistence farmers and mixed farming.

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 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.^[15] When the fighting began, a stream of volunteers from Arkansas and the southeastern states flowed through the town toward the Texas battle fields.

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

The state developed a cotton culture in the east in lands of the Mississippi Delta. This was where enslaved labor was used most extensively, as planters brought with them or imported slaves from the Upper South. On the eve of the Civil War in 1860, enslaved African Americans numbered 111,115 people, just over 25% of the state's population.^[16]

Arkansas refused to join the Confederate States of America until after United States President Abraham Lincoln called for troops to respond to the attack on Fort Sumter, South Carolina, by Confederate forces. The State of Arkansas seceded from the Union on May 6, 1861. While not often cited in historical accounts, the state was the scene of numerous small-scale battles during the American Civil War. Arkansans of note during the Civil War included Confederate Major General Patrick Cleburne. Considered by many to be one of the most brilliant Confederate division commanders of the war, Cleburne was often referred to as "The Stonewall of the West." Also of note was Major General Thomas C. Hindman. A former United States Representative, Hindman commanded Confederate forces at the Battle of Cane Hill and Battle of Prairie Grove.

Under the Military Reconstruction Act, Congress readmitted Arkansas in June 1868. The Reconstruction legislature established universal male suffrage, a public education system, and other general issues to improve the state and help more of the population. Years later, as conservative Democrats began to regain political power, the legislature passed a new constitution in 1874.

In 1874, the Brooks-Baxter War, a political struggle between factions of the Republican Party shook Little Rock and the state governorship. It was settled only when President Ulysses S. Grant ordered Joseph Brooks to disperse his militant supporters.^[17]

In 1881, the Arkansas state legislature enacted a bill that adopted an official pronunciation, to combat a controversy then raging around the proper pronunciation of the state's name. (See Law and Government below).

After Reconstruction the state began to receive more immigrants and migrants. Some were originally recruited to work as farm labor in the developing Delta region. Some immigration continued into the early decades of the 20th century. The state witnessed numbers of Chinese, Italian, Syrian and immigrants from eastern Europe who made the Delta more diverse than the rest of the state. In addition, some black migrants moved into the area because of opportunities to develop the bottomlands and own their own property. The Chinese and Italians moved quickly out of positions as farm labor. Many Chinese became such successful merchants in small towns that they were able to educate their children at college.^[18]

Construction of railroads enabled more farmers to get their products to market. It also brought new development into different parts of the state, including the Ozarks. In a few years at the end of the 19th century, for instance, Eureka Springs in Carroll County grew to 10,000 people, having become a tourist destination and the fourth largest city of the state. It featured newly constructed, elegant resort hotels and spas planned around its springs. The town's attractions included horse racing and other entertainment. It appealed to a wide variety of classes, becoming almost as popular as Hot Springs.

In the late 1880s, the worsening agricultural depression catalyzed Populist and third party movements, leading to interracial coalitions. Struggling to stay in power, in the 1890s the Democrats in Arkansas followed other Southern states in passing legislation and constitutional amendments that disfranchised blacks and poor whites. Democrats wanted to prevent their alliance. In 1891 state legislators passed a requirement for a literacy test, knowing that many blacks and whites would be excluded, at a time when more than 25% of the population could neither read nor write. In 1892 the state constitution was amended to include a poll tax and related residency requirements, which adversely affected poor people and forced them from electoral rolls. By 1900 the Democratic Party expanded use of the white primary in county and state elections, further denying blacks a part in the political process, as only in the primary was there any competition. The state was one-party for decades.^[19]

Between 1905 and 1911, Arkansas began to receive a small migration of German, Slovak, and Irish immigrants. The German and Slovak peoples settled in the eastern part of the state known as the Prairie, and the Irish founded small communities in the southeast part of the state. The Germans were mostly Catholic and the Slovaks were Lutheran. The Irish were mostly Protestant from Ulster, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom

After the case of Brown v. Topeka Board of Education in 1954, the Little Rock Nine brought Arkansas to national attention when the Federal government intervened to protect African-American students trying to integrate a high school in the Arkansas capital. Governor Orval Faubus ordered the Arkansas National Guard to aid segregationists in preventing nine African-American students from enrolling at Little Rock's Central High School. After attempting three times to contact Faubus, President Dwight D. Eisenhower sent 1000 troops from the active-duty 101st Airborne Division to escort and protect the African-American students as they entered school on September 25, 1957. In defiance of federal court orders to integrate, the governor and city of Little Rock decided to close the high schools for the remainder of the school year. By the fall of 1959, the Little Rock high schools were completely integrated.^[20]

Bill Clinton, the 42nd President of the United States, was born in Hope, Arkansas. Before his presidency, Clinton served nearly twelve years as the 40th and 42nd Governor of Arkansas.

[edit] Demographics

Historical populations
Census	Pop.		%±
1810	1,062		—
1820	14,273		1,244.0%
1830	30,388		112.9%
1840	97,574		221.1%
1850	209,897		115.1%
1860	435,450		107.5%
1870	484,471		11.3%
1880	802,525		65.6%
1890	1,128,211		40.6%
1900	1,311,564		16.3%
1910	1,574,449		20.0%
1920	1,752,204		11.3%
1930	1,854,482		5.8%
1940	1,949,387		5.1%
1950	1,909,511		−2.0%
1960	1,786,272		−6.5%
1970	1,923,295		7.7%
1980	2,286,435		18.9%
1990	2,350,725		2.8%
2000	2,673,400		13.7%
Est. 2008[1]	2,855,390		6.8%

As of 2006, Arkansas has an estimated population of 2,810,872,^[21] which is an increase of 29,154, or 1.1%, from the prior year and an increase of 105,756, or 4.0%, since the year 2000. This includes a natural increase since the last census of 52,214 people (that is 198,800 births minus 146,586 deaths) and an increase due to net migration of 57,611 people into the state. Immigration from outside the United States resulted in a net increase of 21,947 people, and migration within the country produced a net increase of 35,664 people. It is estimated that about 48.8% is male, and 51.2% is female. From 2000 through 2006 Arkansas has had a population growth of 5.1% or 137,472.^[22] The population density of the state is 51.3 people per square mile.

The center of population of Arkansas is located in the far northeast corner of Perry County.^[23]

Demographics of Arkansas (csv)
By race	White	Black	AIAN*	Asian	NHPI*
2000 (total population)	82.65%	16.02%	1.39%	0.96%	0.12%
2000 (Hispanic only)	3.04%	0.14%	0.08%	0.03%	0.02%
2005 (total population)	82.43%	16.09%	1.40%	1.18%	0.13%
2005 (Hispanic only)	4.43%	0.19%	0.10%	0.04%	0.02%
Growth 2000–05 (total population)	3.68%	4.42%	4.94%	28.03%	14.80%
Growth 2000–05 (non-Hispanic only)	1.85%	4.08%	3.36%	27.99%	14.48%
Growth 2000–05 (Hispanic only)	51.65%	43.64%	30.22%	28.97%	16.86%
* AIAN is American Indian or Alaskan Native; NHPI is Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander

The racial background of Arkansas is made up of:

• European Descendant (81.1%)
• African Descendant (15.7%)
• Multiracial (1.3%)
• Asian Descendant (1.0%)
• American Descendant (0.8%)
• Pacific Descendant (0.1%)

People of Irish, German, and English background comprised the majority of Arkansas' European descendant residents.[3]

People of European ancestry have a strong presence in the northwestern Ozarks and the central part of the state. African Americans live mainly in the fertile southern and eastern parts of the state. Arkansans of Irish, English and German ancestry are mostly found in the far northwestern Ozarks near the Missouri border. Ancestors of Irish in the Ozarks were chiefly Scotch-Irish, Protestants from Northern Ireland and the Scottish lowlands, part of the largest group of immigrants from Great Britain and Ireland before the American Revolution. Scots-Irish settled throughout the backcountry of the South and in the more mountainous areas.^[24]

As of 2000, 95.07% of Arkansas residents age 5 and older speak English at home and 3.31% speak Spanish. German is the third most spoken language at 0.299%, followed by French at 0.291% and Vietnamese at 0.13%.^[25]

In 2006, Arkansas has a larger percentage of tobacco smokers than the national average, with 24% of adults smoking.^[26]

[edit] Religion

Arkansas, like most other Southern states, is part of the Bible Belt and is predominantly Protestant. The religious affiliations of the people are as follows:^[27]

• Christian: 86%
  • Protestant: 78%
    • Baptist: 39%
    • Methodist: 9%
    • Pentecostal: 6%
    • Church of Christ: 6%
    • Assemblies of God: 3%
    • Other Protestant: 15%
  • Roman Catholic: 7%
  • Orthodox Christian: <1%
  • Other Christian: <1%
• Other religions: <1%
• Non-religious: 14%

The largest denominations by number of adherents in 2000 were the Southern Baptist Convention with 665,307; the United Methodist Church with 179,383; the Roman Catholic Church with 115,967; and the American Baptist Association with 115,916.^[28]

[edit] Economy

The state's gross domestic product for 2005 was $87 billion. Its per capita household median income (in current dollars) for 2004 was $35,295, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.^[29] The state's agriculture outputs are poultry and eggs, soybeans, sorghum, cattle, cotton, rice, hogs, and milk. Its industrial outputs are food processing, electric equipment, fabricated metal products, machinery, paper products, bromine, and vanadium.

Several global companies are headquartered in the northwest corner of Arkansas, including Wal-Mart (the world's largest public corporation by revenue in 2007),^[30] J.B. Hunt and Tyson Foods. This area of the state has experienced an economic boom since the 1970s as a result.

In recent years, automobile parts manufacturers have opened factories in eastern Arkansas to support auto plants in other states. Additionally, the city of Conway is the site of a school bus factory.

Tourism is also very important to the Arkansas economy; the official state nickname "The Natural State" was originally created (as "Arkansas Is A Natural") for state tourism advertising in the 1970s, and is still regularly used to this day.

According to Forbes.com^[31] Arkansas currently ranks 21st for The Best States for Business, 9th for Business Cost, 40th for Labor, 22nd for Regulatory Environment, 17th for Economic Climate, 9th for Growth Prospects, 34th in Gross Domestic Product, and positive economic change of 3.8% or ranked 22nd.

[edit] Taxation

Arkansas imposes a state income tax with six brackets, ranging from 1.0% to 7.0%. The first $9,000 of military pay of enlisted personnel is exempt from Arkansas tax; officers do not have to pay state income tax on the first $6,000 of their military pay. Retirees pay no tax on Social Security, or on the first $6,000 in gain on their pensions (in addition to recovery of cost basis). Residents of Texarkana, Arkansas are exempt from Arkansas income tax; wages and business income earned there by residents of Texarkana, Texas are also exempt. Arkansas's gross receipts (sales) tax and compensating (use) tax rate is currently 6%. The state has also mandated that various services be subject to sales tax collection. They include wrecker and towing services; dry cleaning and laundry; body piercing, tattooing and electrolysis; pest control; security and alarm monitoring; self-storage facilities; boat storage and docking; and pet grooming and kennel services.

In addition to the state sales tax, there are more than 300 local taxes in Arkansas. Cities and counties have the authority to enact additional local sales and use taxes if they are passed by the voters in their area. These local taxes have a ceiling or cap; they cannot exceed $25 for each 1% of tax assessed. These additional taxes are collected by the state, which distributes the money back to the local jurisdictions monthly. Low-income taxpayers with a total annual household income of less than $12,000 are permitted a sales tax exemption for electricity usage.

Sales of alcoholic beverages account for added taxes. A 10% supplemental mixed drink tax is imposed on the sale of alcoholic beverages (excluding beer) at restaurants. A 4% tax is due on the sale of all mixed drinks (except beer and wine) sold for "on-premises" consumption. And a 3% tax is due on beer sold for off-premises consumption.

Property taxes are assessed on real and personal property; only 20% of the value is used as the tax base.

[edit] Transportation

[edit] Highways

[edit] Interstate Highways

• Interstate 30
• Interstate 40
• Interstate 55
• Interstate 430
• Interstate 440
• Interstate 530
• Interstate 540
• Interstate 630

[edit] U.S. Routes

• U.S. Route 49
• U.S. Route 59
• U.S. Route 61
• U.S. Route 62
• U.S. Route 63
• U.S. Route 64
• U.S. Route 65
• U.S. Route 67
• U.S. Route 70
• U.S. Route 71
• U.S. Route 82
• U.S. Route 165
• U.S. Route 167
• U.S. Route 270
• U.S. Route 271
• U.S. Route 278
• U.S. Route 371
• U.S. Route 412
• U.S. Route 425

[edit] State highways

In March 2008, The American State Litter Scorecard, presented at the American Society for Public Administration national conference, rated Arkansas a national Worst state for removing litter and debris from highways and public properties. The state has an above national average fatality rate from litter/debris-related vehicle accidents, based on NHTSA statistics ^[32].

[edit] Airports

Little Rock National Airport (Adams Field) and Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport in Highfill in Benton County are Arkansas's main air terminals. Passenger service is also available at Fort Smith, as well as limited service at Texarkana, Russellville,Pine Bluff, Harrison, Ozark Regional Airport Mountain Home, Hot Springs, El Dorado and Jonesboro. Many air travelers in eastern Arkansas use Memphis International Airport.

[edit] Rail

Amtrak's Texas Eagle makes several stops in Arkansas daily on its run from Chicago to San Antonio and Los Angeles.

[edit] Law and government

The current Governor of Arkansas is Mike Beebe, a Democrat. He was elected on November 7, 2006.^[33][34]

Both of Arkansas's U.S. Senators are Democrats: Blanche Lincoln and Mark Pryor. The state has four seats in U.S. House of Representatives. Three seats are held by Democrats—Marion Berry (map), Vic Snyder (map), and Mike Ross (map). The state's lone Republican congressman is John Boozman (map).

Presidential elections results

Year	Republican	Democratic
2008	58.72% 638,017	38.86% 422,310
2004	54.31% 572,898	44.55% 469,953
2000	51.31% 472,940	45.86% 422,768
1996	36.80% 325,416	53.74% 475,171
1992	35.48% 337,324	53.21% 505,823
1988	56.37% 466,578	42.19% 349,237
1984	60.47% 534,774	38.29% 338,646
1980	48.13% 403,164	47.52% 398,041
1976	34.93% 268,753	64.94% 499,614
1972	68.82% 445,751	30.71% 198,899
1968*	31.01% 189,062	30.33% 184,901
1964	43.41% 243,264	56.06% 314,197
1960	43.06% 184,508	50.19% 215,049
*State won by George Wallace of the American Independent Party, at 38.65%, or 235,627 votes

The Democratic Party holds super-majority status in the Arkansas General Assembly. A majority of local and statewide offices are also held by Democrats. This is rare in the modern South, where a majority of statewide offices are held by Republicans. Arkansas had the distinction in 1992 of being the only state in the country to give the majority of its vote to a single candidate in the presidential election—native son Bill Clinton—while every other state's electoral votes were won by pluralities of the vote among the three candidates. Arkansas has become more reliably Republican in presidential elections in recent years. The state voted for John McCain in 2008 by a margin of 20 percentage points, making it one of the few states in the country to vote more Republican than it had in 2004. Obama's relatively poor showing in Arkansas was likely due to a lack of enthusiasm from state Democrats following former Arkansas First Lady Hillary Clinton's failure to win the nomination, and his relatively poor performance among rural white voters. However, the Democratic presence remains strong on the state level; in 2006, Democrats were elected to all statewide offices by the voters in a Democratic sweep that included the Arkansas Democratic Party regaining the governorship, and in 2008, Mark Pryor was re-elected without opposition.

Most Republican strength lies mainly in the areas around Fort Smith and Bentonville, as well as North Central Arkansas around the Mountain Home area. In the latter area, Republicans have been known to get 90 percent or more of the vote. The rest of the state is more Democratic. Arkansas has only elected one Republican to the U.S. Senate since Reconstruction, Tim Hutchinson, who was defeated after one term by Mark Pryor. The General Assembly has not been controlled by the Republican Party since Reconstruction and is the fourth most heavily Democratic Legislature in the country, after Massachusetts, Hawaii, and Connecticut. Starting in 2009, Arkansas will be one of only two states among the states of the former Confederacy that sends two Democrats to the U.S. Senate (the other being Virginia).

Although Democrats have an overwhelming majority of registered voters, the Democratic Party of Arkansas is more conservative than the national entity. Two of Arkansas' three Democratic Representatives are members of the Blue Dog Coalition, which tends to be more pro-business, pro-military, and socially conservative than the center-left Democratic mainstream. Reflecting the state's large evangelical population, the state has a strong social conservative bent. Under the Arkansas Constitution Arkansas is a right to work State, its voters passed a ban on same-sex marriage with 74% voting yes, and the state is one of a handful that has legislation on its books banning abortion in the event Roe vs. Wade is ever overturned.

In Arkansas, the lieutenant governor is elected separately from the governor and thus can be from a different political party.

Each officer's term is four years long. Office holders are term-limited to two full terms plus any partial terms prior to the first full term. Arkansas gubernatorial terms became four years with the 1986 general election; before this, the terms were two years long.

Some of Arkansas's counties have two county seats, as opposed to the usual one seat. The arrangement dates back to when travel was extremely difficult in the state. The seats are usually on opposite sides of the county. Though travel is no longer the difficulty it once was, there are few efforts to eliminate the two seat arrangement where it exists, since the county seat is a source of pride (and jobs) to the city involved.

Arkansas is the only state to specify the pronunciation of its name by law (AR-kan-saw).^[4]

Article 19 (Miscellaneous Provisions), Item 1 in the Arkansas Constitution is entitled "Atheists disqualified from holding office or testifying as witness," and states that "No person who denies the being of a God shall hold any office in the civil departments of this State, nor be competent to testify as a witness in any Court," despite unanimous decision by the United States Supreme Court in Torcaso v. Watkins (1961) that a similar requirement in Maryland violated protections under First and Fourteenth Amendments to the Constitution.

[edit] Metropolitan areas

This section may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards.

The Little Rock-North Little Rock-Pine Bluff Combined Statistical Area had 841,326 people in the 2007 census estimates and is the largest in Arkansas.

The Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers metropolitan area is increasingly important to the state and its economy. The US Census estimated the population of the MSA to be 435,714 in 2007, up from 347,045 in 2000, making it one of the fastest growing in the nation.

See also Arkansas Metropolitan Areas.

Largest Cities Above 10,000 as of 2007

Rank	City	2007–2008 Pop.	Region	Pop. +/- since '09
1.	Little Rock	187,452	Central	+ 2,952
2.	Fort Smith	84,375	Northwest	+ 4,107
3.	Fayetteville	72,208	Northwest	+ 5,050
4.	Springdale	66,881	Northwest	+ 6,791
5.	Jonesboro	63,190	Northeast	+ 3,751
6.	North Little Rock	59,400	Central	+ 504
7.	Conway	57,006	Central	+ 1,672
8.	Rogers	54,959	Northwest	+ 2,772
9.	Pine Bluff	50,667	Southeast	- 1,091
10.	Hot Springs	39,064	Southwest	+ 1,217
11.	Bentonville	33,744	Northwest	+ 1,895
12.	Jacksonville	31,190	Central	+ 684
13.	Texarkana	30,006	Southwest	+ 382
14.	West Memphis	27,400	Northeast	+ 1,748
15.	Benton	28,352	Central	+ 635
16.	Russellville	26,700	Northwest	+ 686
17.	Bella Vista	25,219	Northwest	+ 1,219
18.	Paragould	24,248	Northeast	+ 257
19.	Sherwood	24,152	Central	+ 730
20.	Cabot	23,171	Central	+ 985
21.	Van Buren	22,001	Northwest	+ 1,193
22.	Searcy	21,749	Central	+ 736
23.	El Dorado	19,891	Southeast	- 440
24.	Blytheville	16,076	Northeast	- 573
25.	Maumelle	15,867	Central	+ 752
26.	Bryant	14,678	Central	+ 1,065
27.	Siloam Springs	14,480	Northwest	+ 490
28.	Forrest City	13,831	Northeast	- 381
29.	Harrison	13,108	Northwest	+ 122
30.	Mountain Home	12,457	Northwest	+ 242
31.	Helena-West Helena	12,246	Southeast	- 751
32.	Magnolia	11,766	Southwest	+ 1,288
33.	Camden	11,657	Southeast	- 309
34.	Marion	11,058	Northeast	+ 539
35.	Arkadelphia	10,833	Southwest	- 15
36.	Hope	10,478	Southwest	+ 3

Population Numbers are According to US Census of July 2007 and Current City Population Numbers.

Biggest Population Gainers 1. Springdale + 6,791 2. Fayetteville + 5,050 3. Fort Smith + 4,107 4. Jonesboro + 3,751 5. Little Rock + 2,952 6. Rogers + 2,772 7. Bentonville + 1,895 8. West Memphis + 1,748 9. Conway + 1,672 10. Magnolia + 1,288 11.Bella Vista + 1,219

Biggest Population Losers 1. Pine Bluff - 1,091 2. Helena-W.Helena - 751 3. Blytheville - 573 4. El Dorado - 440 5. Forrest City - 381 6. Camden - 309 7. Arkadelphia - 15

[edit] Important cities and towns

Names in bold have populations greater than 20,000.

Alma Arkadelphia Batesville Beebe Bella Vista Benton Bentonville Blytheville Booneville Bryant Cabot Camden Conway El Dorado Eureka Springs Fayetteville Forrest City Fort Smith Harrison Helena-West Helena Hope Hot Springs Jacksonville Jonesboro Lake Village Little Rock Lonoke Magnolia Malvern Marion

Marked Tree Maumelle Monticello Morrilton Mountain Home Mountain View Natural Steps Newport North Little Rock Osceola Paragould Pine Bluff Pleasant Hill Pocahontas Rogers Russellville Searcy Sherwood Siloam Springs Springdale Stuttgart Texarkana Trumann Van Buren Walnut Ridge Warren West Memphis Wynne

[edit] Education

[edit] Public school districts

• List of school districts in Arkansas

[edit] Centers of research

• National Center for Toxicological Research
• University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture

[edit] Colleges and universities

• Arkansas Baptist College
• Arkansas State University System
  • Arkansas State University - Jonesboro
  • Arkansas State University - Mountain Home
• Arkansas Tech University
• Central Baptist College
• Harding University
• Henderson State University
• Hendrix College
• John Brown University
• Lyon College
• Ouachita Baptist University
• Ozarka College
• Philander Smith College
• Southern Arkansas University

• University of Arkansas System
  • University of Arkansas, Fayetteville
  • University of Arkansas at Fort Smith
  • University of Arkansas at Little Rock
  • University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences
  • University of Arkansas at Monticello
  • University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff
• University of Central Arkansas
• University of the Ozarks
• Williams Baptist College

[edit] Notable residents

Maya Angelou, Daisy Bates, Dee Brown, Paul "Bear" Bryant, Glen Campbell, Hattie Caraway, Johnny Cash, Wesley Clark, Bill Clinton, "Dizzy" Dean, Beth Ditto, Orval Faubus, James W. Fulbright, John Grisham, Levon Helm, Mike Huckabee, Johnnie Bryan Hunt, Torii Hunter, John H. Johnson, Scott Joplin, Amy Lee, Cliff Lee, Douglas MacArthur, Mark Martin, John L. McClellan, James S. McDonnell, Wilbur Mills, Ben Moody, Scottie Pippen, Charles Portis, Dick Powell, Brooks Robinson, Winthrop Rockefeller, Shaffer Smith, Mary Steenburgen, Edward Durell Stone, Billy Bob Thornton, Don Tyson, Sam Walton and Archibald Yell. (World Almanac & Book of Facts, Reader's Digest Publishing, 2008)

[edit] See also

• List of Arkansas-related topics

[edit] References

[edit] Further reading

[edit] External links

• Arkansas State Code (the state statutes of Arkansas)
• Arkansas State Databases - Annotated list of searchable databases produced by Arkansas state agencies and compiled by the Government Documents Roundtable of the American Library Association.*Arkansas State Facts
• Official State tourism website
• Official State website
• The Encyclopedia of Arkansas History & Culture
• Lakeport Plantation--Arkansas's only Antebellum Plantation Home on the Mississippi River
• Energy & Environmental Data for Arkansas
• U.S. Census Bureau
• USGS real-time, geographic, and other scientific resources of Arkansas
• Hot Springs Village, AR • A gated community with 9 golf courses outside Hot Springs, AR.

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Coordinates: 34°48′N 92°12′W / 34.8°N 92.2°W / 34.8; -92.2