name	Arkansas
fullname	State of Arkansas
flag	Flag of Arkansas.svg
flaglink	Flag
seal	Seal of Arkansas.svg
map	Arkansas in United States.svg
nickname	The Natural State (current) The Land of Opportunity (former)
motto	Regnat populus (Latin)
mottoenglish	The People Rule
former	Arkansas Territory
capital	Little Rock
officiallang	English
demonym	Arkansan; Arkansawyer;Arkansawian
largestcity	capital
largestmetro	Little Rock Metropolitan Area
governor	Mike Beebe (D)
lieutenant governor	Mark Darr (R)
legislature	General Assembly
upperhouse	Senate
lowerhouse	House of Representatives
senators	Mark Pryor (D)John Boozman (R)
Representative	3 Republicans, 1 Democrat
postalabbreviation	AR
tradabbreviation	Ark.
arearank	29th
totalarea	137,733
totalareaus	53,179
landarea	134,856
landareaus	52,068
waterarea	2876
waterareaus	1,110
pcwater	2.09
poprank	32nd
2000pop	2,937,979 (2011 est)
median income	$24,375 (50th)
densityrank	34th
2000density	21.8
2000densityus	56.4
admittanceorder	25th
admittancedate	June 15, 1836
timezone	Central: UTC-6/-5
latitude	33° 00′ N to 36° 30′ N
longitude	89° 39′ W to 94° 37′ W
width	385
widthus	239
length	420
lengthus	261
highestpoint	Magazine Mountain
highestelev	839
highestelevus	2,753
meanelev	200
meanelevus	650
lowestpoint	Ouachita River at
lowestelev	17
lowestelevus	55
isocode	US-AR
tradabbrev	Ark
website	www.arkansas.gov }}

boxwidth	25em
flag	Flag of Arkansas.svg
name	Arkansas
bird	Mockingbird
butterfly	Diana Fritillary
flower	Apple blossom
insect	European honey bee
mammal	White-tailed deer
tree	Loblolly Pine
beverage	Milk
dance	Square Dance
food	South Arkansas Vine Ripe Pink Tomato
gemstone	Diamond
instrument	Fiddle
mineral	Quartz
staterock	Bauxite
soil	Stuttgart
song	''Arkansas (song)'',''Arkansas (You Run Deep In Me)'',''Oh, Arkansas'',''The Arkansas Traveler''
tartan	Arkansas Traveler Tartan
route marker	Arkansas 201.svg
quarter	2003 AR Proof.png
quarterreleasedate	2003 }}

Arkansas ( ) is a state located in the southern region of the United States. Its name is an Algonquian name of the Quapaw Indians. Arkansas shares borders with six states (N: Missouri; E: Tennessee, Mississippi; S: Louisiana; SW: Texas; W: Oklahoma), and its eastern border is 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. Arkansas is the 29th most extensive and the 32nd most populous of the 50 United States. The capital and most populous city is Little Rock, located in the central portion of the state.

Etymology

The name “Arkansas” derives from the same root as the name for the state of Kansas. The Kansa tribe of Native Americans are closely associated with the Sioux tribes of the Great Plains. The word “Arkansas” itself is a French pronunciation (“Arcansas”) of a Quapaw (a related “Kaw” tribe) word, ''akakaze'', meaning “land of downriver people” or the Sioux word ''akakaze'' meaning “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 two U.S. Senators from Arkansas. One wanted to pronounce the name and the other wanted .

In 2007, the state legislature passed a non-binding resolution declaring the possessive form of the state's name to be ''Arkansas's'', which has been followed increasingly by the state government.

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. 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 lakes and rivers, thick forests and fertile soil. The Arkansas Delta is a flat landscape of rich alluvial soils formed by repeated flooding of the adjacent Mississippi. Farther 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 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 Ozark 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. These mountain ranges are part of the U.S. Interior Highlands region, the only major mountainous region between the Rocky Mountains and the Appalachian Mountains. The highest point in the state is Mount Magazine in the Ouachita Mountains; it rises to above sea level.

Arkansas is home to many caves, such as Blanchard Springs Caverns. More than 43,000 Native American living, hunting and tool making sites, many of them Pre-Columbian burial mounds and rock shelters, have been catalogued by the State Archeologist. Arkansas is currently the only U.S. state in which diamonds are mined—although by members of the public with primitive digging tools for a small daily fee, not by commercial interests. (near Murfreesboro).

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

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

President William Jefferson Clinton Birthplace Home National Historic Site

The Trail of Tears National Historic Trail also runs through Arkansas.

Arkansas is home to a dozen Wilderness Areas totaling around . These areas are set aside for outdoor recreation and are open to hunting, fishing, hiking, and primitive camping. No mechanized vehicles are allowed in these areas, some of which are rarely visited and can provide a good experience of feeling as if you are the only person to have ever stepped foot there.

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 influence the weather in the state. Generally, Arkansas has hot, humid summers and cold, slightly drier winters. In Little Rock, the daily high temperatures average around with lows around in the month of July. In January highs average around and lows around . In Siloam Springs in the northwest part of the state, the average high and low temperatures in July are and and in January the average high and lows are and . Annual precipitation throughout the state averages between about ; somewhat wetter in the south and drier in the northern part of the state. Snowfall is common, more so in the north half of the state, which usually gets several snowfalls each winter. This is not only due to its closer proximity to the plains states, but also to the higher elevations found throughout the Ozark and Ouachita mountains. The half of the state south of Little Rock gets less snow, and is more apt to see ice storms, however, sleet and freezing rain are expected throughout the state during the winter months, and can significantly impact travel and day to day life. Arkansas' all time record high is at Ozark on August 10, 1936; the all time record low is at Pond on February 13, 1905.

Arkansas is known for extreme weather. A typical year will see thunderstorms, tornadoes, hail, snow and ice storms. Between both the Great Plains and the Gulf States, Arkansas receives around 60 days of thunderstorms. 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.

==History== The first European to reach Arkansas was the Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto, a veteran of Pizarro's conquest of Peru who died near Lake Village on the Mississippi River in 1542 after almost a year traversing the southern part of the state in search of gold and a passage to China. 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 of the Illinois tribe's name for the Quapaw people, who lived downriver from them. Other Native American tribes who lived in Arkansas before moving west 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 Arkansas was organized on July 4, 1819. 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; 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 from Mexico; it sent 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. 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.

Arkansas refused to join the Confederate States of America until after United States President Abraham Lincoln called for troops to respond to the Confederate attack upon Fort Sumter, South Carolina. The state of Arkansas declared its secession 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 who contributed to 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 restored Arkansas to the Union in June 1868. The Reconstruction legislature established universal male suffrage while disenfranchising former Confederates (mostly Democrats), a public education system, and other general issues to improve the state and help more of the population. The state came under almost exclusive control of Radical Republicans, (those who emigrated from the North being derided as "carpetbaggers" by ex-Confederates based on allegations of corruption), led by newly elected Governor Powell Clayton, marking a time of great upheaval and racial violence in the state between state militia and the Ku Klux Klan.

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.

Following the Brooks-Baxter War, a new state constitution was ratified re-enfranchising former Confederates.

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

After Reconstruction, the state began to receive more immigrants and migrants. Chinese, Italian, and Syrian men were recruited for farm labor in the developing Delta region. None of these nationalities stayed long at farm labor; the Chinese especially quickly became small merchants in towns around the Delta. Some early 20th century immigration included people from eastern Europe. Together, these immigrants made the Delta more diverse than the rest of the state. In the same years, some black migrants moved into the area because of opportunities to develop the bottomlands and own their own property. Many Chinese became such successful merchants in small towns that they were able to educate their children at college. 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, where some areas were developed as resorts. In a few years at the end of the 19th century, for instance, Eureka Springs in Carroll County grew to 10,000 people, rapidly becoming a tourist destination and the fourth largest city of the state. It featured newly constructed, elegant resort hotels and spas planned around its natural springs, considered to have healthful properties. 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 they amended the state constitution to include a poll tax and more complex residency requirements, both of which adversely affected poor people and sharecroppers, 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. Only in the primary was there any competition among candidates, as Democrats held all the power. The state was a Democratic one-party state for decades, until after the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Act of 1965 were passed.

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.

After the Supreme Court's decision in ''Brown ''v.'' Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas'' 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.

Bill Clinton, the 42nd President of the United States, was born in Hope, Arkansas. Before his presidency, Clinton served as the 40th and 42nd Governor of Arkansas, a total of nearly 12 years.

Demographics

The United States Census Bureau estimates that the population of Arkansas was 2,937,979 on July 1, 2011, a 0.76% increase since the 2010 United States Census.

As of 2006, Arkansas has an estimated population of 2,810,872, 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. The population density of the state is 51.3 people per square mile.

According to the 2010 U.S. Census, Arkansas had a population of 2,915,918. In terms of race and ethnicity, the state was 79.5% White (77.5% non-Hispanic White), 14.3% Black or African American, 0.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.2% Asian, 0.2% Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander, 2.8% from Some Other Race, and 1.3% from Two or More Races. Hispanics or Latinos of any race made up 5% of the population.

According to the 2006–2008 American Community Survey, the ten largest ancestry groups in the state are African American (15.5%), Irish (13.6%), German (12.5%), American (11.1%), English (10.3%), French (2.4%), Scotch-Irish (2.1%), Dutch (1.9%), Scottish (1.9%) and Italian (1.7%).

European Americans have a strong presence in the northwestern Ozarks and the central part of the state. African Americans live mainly in the 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 the Irish in the Ozarks were chiefly Scotch-Irish, Protestants from Northern Ireland, the Scottish lowlands and northern England part of the largest group of immigrants from Great Britain and Ireland before the American Revolution. English and Scotch-Irish immigrants settled throughout the backcountry of the South and in the more mountainous areas. Americans of English stock are found throughout the state.

According to the 2006–2008 American Community Survey, 93.8% of Arkansas' population (over the age of five) spoke only English at home. About 4.5% of the state's population spoke Spanish at home. About 0.7% of the state's population spoke any other Indo-European language. About 0.8% of the state's population spoke an Asian language, and 0.2% spoke other languages.

In 2006, Arkansas has a larger percentage of tobacco smokers than the national average, with 24.0% of adults smoking.

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:

Christian: 86.0%

*Protestant: 78.0%

**Baptist: 39.0%

**Methodist: 9.0%

**Pentecostal: 6.0%

**Church of Christ: 6.0%

**Assemblies of God: 3.0%

**Other Protestant: 15.0%

*Roman Catholic: 7.0%

*Eastern Orthodox: <1.0%

*Other Christian: <1.0%

Non-religious: 14.0%

Other religions: <1.0%

Jewish: <1.0%

Muslim: <1.0%

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.

Economy

The state's gross domestic product for 2010 was $103 billion. Its per capita household median income (in current dollars) for 2004 was $35,295, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. 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.

As of August 2011, the state's unemployment rate is 8.3%.

Several global companies are headquartered in the northwest corner of Arkansas, including Wal-Mart (the world's largest public corporation by revenue in 2007), 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.

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 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.

Largest employers

According to the Arkansas Economic Development Commission, the following are the largest employers in Arkansas by number of in-state employees as of 2010:

! Rank	! Company
1	State of Arkansas
2	Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.
3
4
5	Baptist Health
6	Acxiom Corporation
7	Arkansas Children's Hospital
8	J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc.
9	Sisters of Mercy Health System
10	The Kroger Company
11	Arvest Bank Group, Inc.
12	Community Health Systems, Inc.
13	Simmons Foods, Inc.
14	USA Truck, Inc.
15	Georgia-Pacific Corporation
16	Lowe's Companies, Inc.
17	St. Vincent Infirmary Medical Center
18	FedEx Corporation
19	Entergy Corporation
20	Verizon Communications, Inc. (Cellco Partnership)
21	Union Pacific Railroad Company
22
23	PAM Transportation Services, Inc.
24	Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation
25	AT&T
26	Baldor Electric Company
27	United Parcel Service
28	St. Bernard's Medical Center
29
30	Arkansas Blue Cross & Blue Shield
31	Whirlpool Corporation
32	George's, Inc.
33	Husqvarna Home Products
34	Sparks Health System
35	Dassault Aviation Group
36	OK Industries, Inc.
37	Jefferson Regional Medical Center
38	Harps Food Stores, Inc.
39	Walgreen Company
40	University of Central Arkansas
41	Cooper Tire & Rubber Company
42	Washington Regional Medical Center
43	JC Penney Company, Inc.
44	Nucor Corporation
45	The Heritage Company
46	ConAgra Foods, Inc.
47	Riceland Foods, Inc.
48	Home Depot, Inc.
49	McKee Foods Corporation
50	American Greetings Corporation

The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, including the UAMS Medical Center, is included in the state of Arkansas' numbers, and would rank in the top ten if listed separately.

Aquaculture

The state also ranks third in terms of channel catfish aquaculture, with about under catfish farming in 2010. The peak of catfish farming in the state was in the year 2002, when were under farming. In 2007, the state’s catfish producers generated sales of $71.5 million – 16 percent of the total U.S. market. Arkansas was the first state to develop commercial catfish farms in the late 1950s. The number of catfish farms in the state grew through the 1990s as farmers entered the catfish business as a way to provide additional income during a time of low prices for cotton and soybeans. Banks loaned money to support what they saw as a stable source of revenue.

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 along with 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.

Along with 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. 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.

Transportation

The Interstate Highway system in Arkansas includes

27px Interstate 430 Connector Route

27px Interstate 440 Connector Route

27px Interstate 530 Extension Route

27px Interstate 540 Extension Route

27px Interstate 630 Connector Route

Also Additional Future Interstate Highways in Arkansas under construction such as:

23px Interstate 49 Proposed/Future Route from Belle Vista, AR. to Texarkana, AR.

23px Interstate 69 Future Route From Greenville, MS. to El Dorado, AR.

27px Interstate 130 Future Connector Route Texarkana, AR. Area

27px Interstate 555 Future Route From Gilmore, AR. to Jonesboro, AR.

There are 20 U.S. Routes in Arkansas, and over 200 Arkansas state highways.

There are four airports with commercial service: Little Rock National Airport, Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport, Fort Smith Regional Airport, and Texarkana Regional Airport, with dozens of smaller airports in the state. The Texas Eagle, an Amtrak passenger train, serves five stations in the state: Walnut Ridge, Little Rock, Malvern, Arkadelphia, and Texarkana. About two dozen railroads carry freight in the state. Public transit and community transport services for the elderly or those with developmental disabilities are provided by agencies such as the Central Arkansas Transit Authority and the Ozark Regional Transit, organizations that are part of the Arkansas Transit Association.

Law and government

The current Governor of Arkansas is Mike Beebe, a Democrat, who was elected on November 7, 2006.

One of Arkansas's U.S. Senators is Democrat Mark Pryor, and the other one is Republican John Boozman. The state has four seats in U.S. House of Representatives. One seat is held by Democrats: Mike Ross (map), and three are held by Republicans: Rick Crawford (politician), (map), Tim Griffin(map), and Steve Womack(map).

+ Presidential elections results
! Year	Republican Party (United States)>Republican	Democratic Party (United States)>Democratic
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The Democratic Party holds 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. (The others were Louisiana, Tennessee, Oklahoma and West Virginia.) 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 Democratic Party of Arkansas regaining the governorship, and in 2008, freshman Senator Mark Pryor was re-elected with nearly 80% of the vote against Green candidate Rebekah Kennedy with no Republican opposition.

Most Republican strength lies mainly in the northwestern part of the state, particularly 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 two Republicans to the U.S. Senate since Reconstruction, Tim Hutchinson, who was defeated after one term by Mark Pryor and John Boozman, who defeated incumbent Blanche Lincoln. 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. Arkansas was one of just three states among the states of the former Confederacy that sent two Democrats to the U.S. Senate (the others being Florida and Virginia) during the first decade of the 21st century.

Although Democrats have an overwhelming majority of registered voters, Arkansas Democrats tend to be a lot more conservative than their national counterparts, particularly outside Little Rock. Arkansas' Democratic congressman is a member 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 75% voting yes, and the state is one of a handful with legislation on its books banning abortion in the event ''Roe v. 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 before the first full term. Arkansas governors served two-year terms until a referendum lengthened the term to four years, effective with the 1986 general election. Statewide elections are held two years after presidential elections.

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).

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." However, in 1961, the United States Supreme Court in ''Torcaso v. Watkins'' (1961), held that a similar requirement in Maryland was unenforceable because it violated the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the US Constitution. The latter amendment, per current precedent, makes the federal Bill of Rights binding on the states. As a result, this provision has not been known to have been enforced in modern times, and it is understood that it would be struck down if challenged in court.

Metropolitan areas

The Little Rock-North Little Rock-Pine Bluff Combined Statistical Area had 877,091 people in the 2010 census. It is the largest in Arkansas.

The Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers metropolitan area is increasingly important to the state and its economy. The US Census showed the population of the MSA to be 463,204 in 2010 (up from 347,045 in 2000), making it one of the fastest growing areas in the nation.

See also Arkansas Metropolitan Areas.

Cities with 10,000 or More Residents as of 2010

Fort Smith, ArkansasFayetteville, ArkansasSpringdale, ArkansasJonesboro, ArkansasNorth Little Rock, ArkansasConway, ArkansasRogers, ArkansasPine Bluff, ArkansasBentonville, ArkansasHot Springs, ArkansasTexarkana, ArkansasBenton, ArkansasSherwood, ArkansasJacksonville, ArkansasRussellville, ArkansasBella Vista, ArkansasWest Memphis, ArkansasParagould, ArkansasCabot, ArkansasSearcy, ArkansasVan Buren, ArkansasEl Dorado, ArkansasMaumelle, ArkansasBryant, ArkansasBlytheville, ArkansasForrest City, ArkansasSiloam Springs, ArkansasHarrison, ArkansasMountain Home, ArkansasMarion, ArkansasHelena-West Helena, ArkansasCamden, ArkansasMagnolia, ArkansasArkadelphia, ArkansasMalvern, ArkansasBatesville, ArkansasHope, Arkansas

Rank	! City	! 2010 Pop.	! Region
1.	Little Rock, Arkansas	193,524
2.	|	86,209	Northwest
3.	|	73,580	Northwest
4.	|	69,797	Northwest
5.	|	67,263	Northeast
6.	|	62,304	Central
7.	|	58,908	Central
8.	|	55,964	Northwest
9.	|	49,083	Southeast
10.	|	35,301	Northwest
11.	|	35,193	Southwest
12.	|	30,681	South
13.	|	29,919	Central
14.	|	29,523	Central
15.	|	28,364	Central
16.	|	27,920	Northwest
17.	|	26,461	Northwest
18.	|	26,245	Northeast
19.	|	26,113	Northeast
20.	|	23,776	Central
21.	|	22,858	Central
22.	|	22,791	Northwest
23.	|	18,884	South-Central
24.	|	17,163	Central
25.	|	16,688	Central
26.	|	15,620	Northeast
27.	|	15,371	Northeast
28.	|	15,039	Northwest
29.	|	12,943	Northwest
30.	|	12,448	Northwest
31.	|	12,345	Northeast
32.	|	12,282	Northeast
33.	|	12,183	Southwest
34.	|	11,577	Southwest
35.	|	10,714	Southwest
36.	|	10,318	Southwest
37.	|	10,248	Northeast
38.	|	10,095	Southwest

These population numbers are according to the 2010 US Census.

Cities and towns

Names in bold have populations greater than 20,000. {| |- | valign = top |

Alma

Alpena

Arkadelphia

Augusta

Avoca

Batesville

Bay

Beech Grove

Beebe

Bella Vista

Bellefonte

Benton

Bentonville

Bergman

Berryville

Biggers

Black Oak

Black Rock

Blytheville

Bono

Booneville

Bryant

Brookland

Cabot

Camden

Caraway

Cash

Conway

Clinton

College City

Corning

Cotter

Crossett

Dardanelle

Delaplaine

Dell

DeQueen

De Witt

Diamond City

Earle

El Dorado

Egypt

Eureka Springs

Everton

Fayetteville

Forrest City

Fort Smith

Flippin

Gassville

Greenwood

Grubbs

Gurdon

| valign = top |

Harrison

Horatio

Helena-West Helena

Hope

Hot Springs

Hoxie

Hughes, Arkansas

Jasper

Jacksonville

Jonesboro

Kingsland

Lafe

Lake City

Lake Village

Leachville

Lead Hill

Little Rock

Lonoke

Lockesburg

Magnolia

Malvern

Marion

Marked Tree

Maumelle

Mena

Midway

Monticello

Morrilton

Monette

Mountain Home

Mountain View

Natural Steps

Newport

North Little Rock

Omaha

Osceola

Otwell

Paragould

Parkin

Pine Bluff

Piggott

Pleasant Hill

Pocahontas

Pyatt

Ravenden

Ravenden Springs

Rea Valley

Rison

Rogers

Russellville

Searcy

Sherwood

Sheridan

| valign = top |

Siloam Springs

Smackover

Springdale

South Lead Hill

Stuttgart

Summit

Swifton

Texarkana

Trumann

Tuckerman

Valley Springs

Van Buren

Waldron

Walnut Ridge

Warren

West Memphis

Weiner

Western Grove

Wynne

Yardelle

Yellville

Zinc

|}

Education

Public school districts

List of school districts in Arkansas

Centers of research

National Center for Toxicological Research

University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture

Colleges and universities

Arkansas Baptist College

Arkansas State University System

*Arkansas State University – Jonesboro

*Arkansas State University Beebe

*Arkansas State University - Mountain Home

Arkansas Tech University

Central Baptist College

Crowley's Ridge College

Harding University

Henderson State University

Hendrix College

John Brown University

Lyon College

Northwest Arkansas Community College

Ouachita Baptist University

Ozarka College

Philander Smith College

Southern Arkansas University

University of Arkansas System

*University of Arkansas at 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 Arkansas Community College at Batesville

*University of Arkansas Community College at Morrilton

University of Central Arkansas

University of the Ozarks

Williams Baptist College

Notable residents

Joey Lauren Adams

Homer Martin Adkins

Bill Alexander

Dale Alford

Kris Allen

Maya Angelou

Beryl Anthony

Morris Arnold

Richard S. Arnold

Harry Ashmore

Wayne H. Babbitt

Carl Edward Bailey

Gilbert Baker

Richard Barclay

Daisy Bates

Garland E. Bayliss

Mike Beebe

Bruce Bennett

Robert Marion Berry

Edwin R. Bethune

Len Blaylock

Brian Bohrer

Fay Boozman

John Boozman

Vickey Boozman

Henry M. Britt

Maurice L. Britt

Lou Brock

Charles Hillman Brough

Frank Broyles

Dee Brown

Helen Gurley Brown

Paul "Bear" Bryant

Dale Bumpers

Preston Bynum

Glen Campbell

Hattie Caraway

Johnny Cash

William Lee Cazort

Francis Cherry

Norris Church (Barbara Jean Davis)

Wesley Clark

Jerry Climer

Bill Clinton

Chelsea Clinton

Hillary Rodham Clinton

L. L. Clover

Ken Coon

James Cotten

Maud Crawford

Fulham Davies

Ronald N. Davies

Lynn A. Davis

"Dizzy" Dean

Elizabeth R. Deans

Bill Dickey

Jay Dickey

Beth Ditto

David O. Dodd

Jimmy Driftwood

Duggar family

Jimmy Dykes

G. Thomas Eisele

Orval Faubus

Derek Fisher

John Gould Fletcher

Connie Franklin

Woody Freeman

J. William Fulbright

Junius Marion Futrell

Augustus Garland

Tyson Gay

David Delano Glover

Robert W. Glover

Nathan Green Gordon

Leon Griffith

John Grisham

E. Lynn Harris

Oren Harris

John Paul Hammerschmidt

Ronnie Hawkins

Brooks Hays

Jim Holt

Ernest Hemingway

Kim Hendren

Peyton Hillis

Harlan Holleman

Mike Huckabee

Johnnie Bryan Hunt

Torii Hunter

Walter E. Hussman, Jr.

Walter E. Hussman, Sr.

Asa Hutchinson

Jeremy Hutchinson

Tim Hutchinson

Joe Jackson

Keith Jackson

Travis Jackson

James Douglas "Justice Jim" Johnson

Joe Johnson

John H. Johnson

Virginia Morris Johnson

Jerry Jones

Scott Joplin

Jim Keet

George Kell

Larry Lacewell

Alan Ladd

Benjamin T. Laney

Marjorie Lawrence

Amy Lee

Cliff Lee

Blanche Lambert Lincoln

Jim Lindsey

Sonny Liston

A. Lynn Lowe

Josh Lucas

Douglas MacArthur

Charlotte Mailliard

Mark Martin

John Little McClellan

Hayes McClerkin

James S. McDonnell

James McDougall

Darren McFadden

Sid McMath

Thomas Chipman McRae

John Ellis Martineau

C.W. Melson

John E. Miller

Ada Mills

Wilbur Mills

Martha Beall Mitchell

Ben Moody

Justin Moore

Jonathan Moreira

Sheffield Nelson

Joe Nichols

Catherine Dorris Norrell

William F. Norrell

Clyde E. Palmer

Robert Palmer

Harvey Parnell

Bobby Petrino

Judy Petty Wolf

Albert Pike

Scottie Pippen

Carolyn Pollan

Odell Pollard

Charles Portis

Dick Powell

A. T. Powers

David H. Pryor

Mark Pryor

Joe Purcell

James B. Reed

Pratt Remmel

Willis Ricketts

Thomas Robb

Brooks Robinson

Joseph T. Robinson

Tommy F. Robinson

Winthrop Rockefeller

Winthrop Paul Rockefeller

Mike Ross

Monroe Schwarzlose

Shaffer Smith

Jim L. Smithson

John W. Snyder

Jefferson W. Speck

Sir Henry Morton Stanley

Mary Steenburgen

Edward Durell Stone

Pat Summerall

Barry Switzer

Boyd Anderson Tackett

Reece "Goose" Tatum

Jermain Taylor

Tom Jefferson Terral

David D. Terry

Jerry Thomasson

Billy Bob Thornton

James William Trimble

Thomas Clark Trimble, III

Leona Troxell

Jim Guy Tucker

Don Tyson

Steve Womack

C. Vann Woodward

Arky Vaughan

Ehron VonAllen

Sam Walton

Joseph H. Weston

Frank D. White

Barry Williamson

Effiegene Locke Wingo

Otis Wingo

James Lee Witt

Travis Wood

Archibald Yell

Eden Wood

See also

Outline of Arkansas

Index of Arkansas-related articles

List of National Register of Historic Places in Arkansas

List of people from Arkansas

List of places in Arkansas

U.S. state

References

Further reading

Blair, Diane D. & Jay Barth ''Arkansas Politics & Government: Do the People Rule?'' (2005)

Deblack, Thomas A. ''With Fire and Sword: Arkansas, 1861–1874'' (2003)

Donovan, Timothy P. and Willard B. Gatewood Jr., eds. ''The Governors of Arkansas'' (1981)

Dougan, Michael B. ''Confederate Arkansas'' (1982),

Duvall, Leland. ed., ''Arkansas: Colony and State'' (1973)

Fletcher, John Gould. ''Arkansas'' (1947)

Hamilton, Peter Joseph. ''The Reconstruction Period'' (1906), full length history of era; Dunning School approach; 570 pp; ch 13 on Arkansas

Hanson, Gerald T. and Carl H. Moneyhon. ''Historical Atlas of Arkansas'' (1992)

Key, V. O. ''Southern Politics'' (1949)

Kirk, John A., ''Redefining the Color Line: Black Activism in Little Rock, Arkansas, 1940–1970'' (2002).

McMath, Sidney S. ''Promises Kept'' (2003)

Moore, Waddy W. ed., ''Arkansas in the Gilded Age, 1874–1900'' (1976).

Peirce, Neal R. ''The Deep South States of America: People, Politics, and Power in the Seven Deep South States'' (1974)\

Thompson, Brock. ''The Un-Natural State: Arkansas and the Queer South'' (2010)

Thompson, George H. ''Arkansas and Reconstruction'' (1976)

Whayne, Jeannie M. et al. ''Arkansas: A Narrative History '' (2002)

Whayne, Jeannie M. ''Arkansas Biography: A Collection of Notable Lives'' (2000)

White, Lonnie J. ''Politics on the Southwestern Frontier: Arkansas Territory, 1819–1836'' (1964)

Williams, C. Fred. ed. ''A Documentary History Of Arkansas'' (2005)

WPA., ''Arkansas: A Guide to the State'' (1941)

External links

Arkansas.gov (Official Website for the State of Arkansas)

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

The Encyclopedia of Arkansas History & Culture

Energy & Environmental Data for Arkansas

U.S. Census Bureau

2000 Census of Population and Housing for Arkansas, U.S. Census Bureau

USGS real-time, geographic, and other scientific resources of Arkansas

Arkansas Summer Camps

Arkansas Shakespeare Theatre

}}

Category:States of the United States Category:States of the Confederate States of America Category:States and territories established in 1836 Category:States of the Southern United States

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