USA HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -A slave state, Arkansas became the ninth state to secede from the union and join the Confederate States of America. Today Arkansas ranks 27th among the 50 states in the area, but, except for Louisiana and Hawaii, it is the smallest state west of the Mississippi River.

Detailed explanation-2: -By 1850, Arkansas produced more than twenty-six million pounds of cotton, the majority of it in the Delta, and the expansion of cotton production seemed certain to continue throughout the next decade. The growth of slavery in the state was directly linked to this expansion.

Detailed explanation-3: -On that day in 1865, the Arkansas General Assembly convened for a special session in the Old State House and with a unanimous vote ratified the 13th amendment of the U.S. Constitution which abolished slavery.

Detailed explanation-4: -Elisha Worthington of Chicot County was the state’s largest slave owner, holding more than 500 slaves on the eve of the Civil War. According to data giving 1860 Arkansas slave census numbers compared to total population, Sebastian County had 680 slaves with a total population of 9, 238.

Detailed explanation-5: -Arkansas became the 25th state of the United States on June 15, 1836, entering as a slave state. Some of antebellum Arkansas was still a wilderness in most areas, rural and sparsely populated. Slavery had existed in the area since French/Spanish colonial times, but had been limited in scale until after statehood.