Kentucky is one of the border states that lie between the North and the South of the United States. Its long northern border is formed by the Ohio River, one of the traditional boundaries between the Northern States and the Southern States. Kentucky also forms a link between two of the great land features of the United States. Its eastern border touches the Appalachian Mountains. About 350 miles (563 kilometers) to the west, Kentucky touches the Mississippi River.
Tobacco and champion race horses have long been symbols of Kentucky. Thoroughbred race horses still graze on the lush grass of the region around Lexington, in central Kentucky. The region is known for the bluish grass blossoms that give Kentucky the nickname the Bluegrass State. Each May, huge crowds thrill to the excitement of the country’s most famous horse race, the Kentucky Derby, held at Churchill Downs in Louisville.
Kentucky is also an important center of agriculture and mining. It leads the states in the production of burley tobacco, and it ranks second only to North Carolina in total tobacco production. Kentucky is a leading coal-producing state. Coal is mined in Kentucky’s eastern Appalachian counties and in western Kentucky. In addition, the state is the leading U.S. producer of bourbon whiskey.
Some of the nation’s most popular tourist attractions are in Kentucky. They include Cumberland Falls, Mammoth Cave, Natural Bridge, and Land Between the Lakes. Most of the nation’s gold reserves are stored in the depository at Fort Knox, which is south of Louisville.
A group of colonists from Pennsylvania established the first permanent white settlement in what is now Kentucky in 1774. Kentucky became the 15th state of the Union in 1792. During the American Civil War (1861-1865), Kentucky stayed in the Union, but thousands of Kentuckians joined the Confederate armies. Several Civil War battles took place in Kentucky. Abraham Lincoln and Jefferson Davis, the opposing presidents in the Civil War, both were born in Kentucky, less than 100 miles (160 kilometers) apart.
In 1900, an assassin’s bullet killed the governor of Kentucky, William Goebel, and Kentucky nearly had a civil war of its own. A few years later, conflict did occur in parts of the state. From 1904 to 1909, Kentucky farmers fought a group of tobacco firms in what became known as the Tobacco Wars.
Kentucky got its name from a Cherokee word with multiple possible meanings, including Land of Tomorrow and Meadowland. It is one of four U.S. states officially called Commonwealths. The others are Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. Kentucky was named a commonwealth to honor Virginia, which owned the region before Kentucky became a state.
People
Population.
The 2020 United States census reported that Kentucky had 4,505,836 people. The population had increased about 4 percent over the 2010 figure, 4,339,367. According to the 2020 census, Kentucky ranks 26th in population among the 50 states.
About half of Kentucky’s people live in the nine metropolitan areas that are entirely or partly in Kentucky (see Metropolitan area). These areas are Bowling Green; Cincinnati, Ohio; Clarksville, Tennessee; Elizabethtown; Huntington (West Virginia)-Ashland; Lexington-Fayette; Louisville/Jefferson County; Owensboro; and Paducah.
More than half of the state’s people live in urban areas (places of 2,500 people or more). Louisville and Lexington are the largest cities in Kentucky. Other large cities include Bowling Green, Covington, Georgetown, Owensboro, and Richmond.
About 80 percent of Kentucky’s residents are non-Hispanic white people. Many of Kentucky’s people are of English, German, or Irish ancestry. African Americans account for about 8 percent of the population. Hispanics make up about 5 percent of the state’s population, and Asians about 2 percent.
Schools.
The first school in the Kentucky region was established in about 1775. Jane Coomes, a pioneer schoolteacher, opened the school in Harrodsburg, Kentucky’s first permanent white settlement. Other early schools were established in McAfee’s Station in 1777, Boonesborough in 1779, and Lexington in 1783. The first institution of higher learning west of the Allegheny Mountains was chartered in Kentucky in 1780. The school, Transylvania Seminary, opened in 1785 in what is now Danville. It moved to Lexington in 1788 and later became Transylvania University.
In 1837, a fund for public education was set aside. In 1838, the legislature established the state’s first public school system. In 1989, the Kentucky Supreme Court declared the state’s school system unconstitutional because of vast differences in spending among school districts. The Kentucky Education Reform Act of 1990 made sweeping changes in the way the state’s schools are financed, managed, and held accountable for student learning.
Kentucky’s state Department of Education administers the public school system. The commissioner of education heads the department and oversees public education. The Kentucky Board of Education appoints the commissioner. Children between the ages of 6 and 18 must attend school. For the number of students and teachers in Kentucky, see Education (table: U.S. students, teachers, and school expenditures).
Libraries.
The Lexington Public Library was organized in 1795 as a subscription library. Members of this library contributed money to buy books, which they could then use free. The Lexington Public Library is the oldest circulating library west of the Allegheny Mountains. Today, the University of Kentucky Libraries have the state’s largest collection of books. The William T. Young Library is the central library in the university library system. The Thomas Merton Center at the W. L. Lyons Brown Library in Louisville houses photographs, drawings, and writings by Thomas Merton, a Roman Catholic monk. The Martin F. Schmidt Research Library of the Kentucky Historical Society in Frankfort is Kentucky’s largest genealogical library. 
Museums.
The John James Audubon Museum in Henderson County exhibits prints and publications by John James Audubon—the famous painter of birds—as well as personal items that belonged to the artist. Waveland State Historic Site in Lexington is an example of a Kentucky plantation of the mid-1800’s.
Other museums in Kentucky include the Behringer-Crawford Museum, a natural and cultural history museum in Covington; the Kentucky Military History Museum in Frankfort; the International Museum of the Horse in Lexington; the Kentucky Derby Museum and the Speed Art Museum in Louisville; and the General George Patton Museum at Fort Knox.
Visitor’s guide
Visitors to Kentucky may choose from many scenic attractions, recreational facilities, and historic sites. Mammoth Cave is the state’s most famous natural wonder. Cumberland Falls, in southeastern Kentucky, is often called the Niagara of the South. Natural Bridge in Daniel Boone National Forest is also popular with tourists. Most Kentucky cities have famous old homes. Several Civil War battlefields can also be visited. Kentucky’s lakes offer opportunities for fishing, boating, and other recreational activities.
Horse races are among Kentucky’s most important annual events. The most famous race is the Kentucky Derby, held at Churchill Downs in Louisville on the first Saturday in May. The Kentucky Derby, the Preakness in Maryland, and the Belmont Stakes in New York make up the Triple Crown of horse racing in the United States.
Land and climate
Land regions.
Kentucky has five main land regions. They are, from east to west: (1) the Eastern Kentucky Coal Field, (2) the Bluegrass Region, (3) the Pennyroyal Region, (4) the Western Kentucky Coal Field, and (5) the Jackson Purchase Region.
The Eastern Kentucky Coal Field
is a part of the Appalachian Plateau, which extends from New York to Alabama. In Kentucky, it is also called the Cumberland Plateau. This large, triangle-shaped region consists of mountain ridges, plateaus, valleys, rivers, and streams. The mountains are part of the Appalachian Mountains system. The Cumberland Mountains, Kentucky’s chief range, rise along the southeastern border of the state. Near them lies the Middlesboro Basin. Black Mountain, near Lynch on the southeastern border, rises 4,145 feet (1,263 meters) above sea level. It is the highest point in the state. Northwest of the Cumberland Mountains, the Eastern Kentucky Coal Field has been divided into a maze of sharp ridges and narrow valleys by eroding streams. Coal is the major product found in this region.
The Bluegrass Region
covers the north-central part of the state. The Ohio River borders the region on the north and west. The central part of the region is an area of gently rolling pastures on which horses and cattle graze. Farmers there also grow a large variety of crops, including corn and tobacco. Kentucky’s largest cities, most of its horse farms, and much of its manufacturing are in the Bluegrass Region.
Along the eastern, southern, and western edges of the Bluegrass Region lies an arc of conelike sandstone knobs interlaced by stream flood plains. This area is known as the Knobs Region. The light soils of the Knobs Region wear away quickly. Much of the region has been left wooded to hold the soil.
The Pennyroyal Region
is also known as the Mississippi Plateau. It stretches along Kentucky’s southern border from the Eastern Kentucky Coal Field to Kentucky Lake. Two “arms” of the region extend north to the Ohio River. The Pennyroyal Region is named for a small herb of the mint family that is common in the region. The southern part of the region has flat and rolling farmland with limestone soils. In the center of the region lies a treeless area, which early pioneers called The Barrens. The northern Pennyroyal Region rises to rocky ridges and bluffs. Many underground passages run beneath the limestone rock of the Pennyroyal Region. The most famous of these passages is Mammoth Cave.
The Western Kentucky Coal Field
is a region of sharply rolling land in northwestern Kentucky. The region is surrounded by the Ohio River on the north, and by the Pennyroyal Region on the east, south, and west. The section along the Ohio River has good farmland. About two-thirds of the state’s coal reserves are in this region. The area has been extensively strip-mined.
The Jackson Purchase Region
is part of the East Gulf Coastal Plain, which extends from Florida west to Mississippi and north to Illinois. Andrew Jackson helped purchase this region from Native American groups in 1818. The region is bordered by Kentucky Lake on the east, the Ohio River on the north, and the Mississippi River on the west. The lowest point in the state is 257 feet (78 meters) above sea level along the Mississippi River.
The Jackson Purchase Region has wide flood plains covered by cypress swamps and oxbow lakes (see Oxbow lake). Low hills rise above the plains. A double bend in the Mississippi River separates about 10 square miles (26 square kilometers) of extreme southwestern Kentucky from the rest of the state. This area can be reached by land only by traveling through Tennessee. The large loop in the Mississippi crosses the New Madrid Fault Zone. In 1811 and 1812, severe earthquakes in the zone caused the formation of Reelfoot Lake near the Kentucky-Tennessee border.
Rivers, waterfalls, and lakes.
The Ohio River forms the entire northern border of the state. Kentucky’s border extends across the Ohio River to the northern banks, not to the center of the river. The Mississippi River is the state’s western border. The Big Sandy and Tug Fork rivers form the northeastern border. The principal rivers within Kentucky are the Cumberland, Green, Kentucky, Licking, Salt, and Tennessee. All of these rivers are northwestward-flowing tributaries of the Ohio River.
The state’s largest waterfall in terms of volume of water, Cumberland Falls, drops 68 feet (21 meters) on the Cumberland River near Corbin. Lake Cumberland lies nearby. Many lakes dot the countryside. Dale Hollow Reservoir lies on the Tennessee-Kentucky border. This mountain-rimmed, 30,000-acre (12,000-hectare) lake was created by the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA). The TVA also created Kentucky Lake, which is 185 miles (298 kilometers) long, in western Kentucky (see Tennessee Valley Authority). Other artificially created lakes in Kentucky include Barkley, Barren, Cave Run, Cumberland, Dale Hollow, Green, Herrington, Nolin, and Rough.
Plant and animal life.
Forests in Kentucky cover nearly half the state. The thickest forests are in the Eastern Kentucky Coal Field and in the Knobs Region of the Bluegrass. Most of the trees are hardwoods. The most common varieties include the ash, beech, hickory, maple, red oak, yellow-poplar, walnut, and white oak. The most common softwood trees include the hemlock, redcedar, shortleaf pine, Virginia pine, and white pine.
The Eastern Kentucky Coal Field has a wide variety of flowers and shrubs. Some of the more common flowering plants and shrubs are blueberries, dogwoods, ferns, huckleberries, mountain laurels, mountain magnolias, redbuds, rhododendrons, serviceberries, wild azaleas, and wild plums. Smaller woodland plants in the Eastern Kentucky Coal Field include the dogtooth violet, jack-in-the-pulpit, mayapple, snakeroot, trillium, and wild iris. Such grasses as Bermuda grass, bluegrass, broom sedge, crab grass, and fescue flourish in most parts of the state. The Knobs Region and the forests of the Western Kentucky Coal Field have anemones, buttercups, spring beauties, toothworts, and other wildflowers. The Bluegrass and Pennyroyal regions of Kentucky bloom with goldenrods, ironweeds, daisies, and violets. Pennyroyals flourish in the Pennyroyal Region, in the central part of the state.
Animal life in Kentucky’s fields and forests includes chipmunks, foxes, minks, muskrats, opossums, rabbits, raccoons, squirrels, and woodchucks. The most common birds include American egrets, blue and white herons, cardinals, crows, doves, grackles, grouse, kingfishers, nighthawks, quail, wild ducks, wild geese, and woodpeckers. More than 200 kinds of fish swim in Kentucky’s waters. They include bass, bluegill, buffalo fish, carp, catfish, crappies, gar, gizzard shad, muskellunge, rockfish, and walleye.
Climate.
Kentucky has a warm, rainy climate with generally warm summers and cool winters. January temperatures average 37 °F (3 °C) in western Kentucky, 34 °F (1 °C) in the central portion of the state, and 36 °F (2 °C) in the east. In July, temperatures average 79 °F (26 °C) in the west, 76 °F (24 °C) in central Kentucky, and 76 °F (24 °C) in the east. Kentucky’s record high temperature, 114 °F (46 °C), was recorded at Greensburg on July 28, 1930. The state’s lowest temperature, —37 °F (—38 °C), was recorded at Shelbyville on Jan. 19, 1994. 
Kentucky’s yearly precipitation averages about 46 inches (117 centimeters). Spring is the rainiest time of year, and autumn is the driest. Precipitation in southern Kentucky averages about 50 inches (127 centimeters) a year. Northern Kentucky has an average of 42 inches (107 centimeters) of precipitation a year. Southeastern Kentucky averages more snow than the southwestern part of the state.
Economy
Service industries, taken together, account for the largest portion of Kentucky’s gross domestic product—the total value of all goods and services produced in the state in a year. Manufacturing is one of Kentucky’s single most important economic activities. The center of the state’s manufacturing activity is within the so-called “Golden Triangle” area of Louisville, Lexington, and northern Kentucky.
Huge coal deposits provide Kentucky with billions of dollars in income. Farming is important in the Bluegrass, Pennyroyal, and Purchase regions. One of Kentucky’s most valuable farming activities is the raising of Thoroughbred horses. Tobacco is an important crop.
Natural resources
of Kentucky include rich soils and large coal deposits.
Soil.
More than half of Kentucky has soils that are good for farming. The Bluegrass Region has fertile limestone soils. The area of the Bluegrass around Fayette, Jessamine, Scott, and Woodford counties has especially rich soil. The Jackson Purchase region and part of the Western Kentucky Coal Field region have loess soils, yellow-brown soils composed of tiny mineral particles, that are generally well suited for farming (see Loess). The Knobs Region has shallow, poorly drained soils that are not as suitable for farming. Soils found in the Eastern Kentucky Coal Field are the poorest in the state.
Minerals.
Kentucky’s most important mined resource is bituminous (soft) coal. It is found in two large coal fields that cover about 40 percent of the state. Petroleum and natural gas are produced in the western, south-central, and eastern portions of the state. Limestone is Kentucky’s most important mined product not used as fuel. Other mined products found in the state include cement, clays, lime, and sand and gravel.
Service industries
account for the largest part of Kentucky’s gross domestic product and employment. Most of the service industries are in the state’s metropolitan areas.
Louisville is the state’s leading financial center. Many major banks and insurance companies have large branch offices there. Many shipping and trucking companies also have large operations in Louisville. Lexington and Louisville have major medical centers. The largest centers of civilian government services are Frankfort, Lexington, and Louisville. 
Part of Fort Campbell, a United States Army base, lies in Christian and Trigg counties. The Army’s Fort Knox lies primarily in Hardin County.
Manufacturing.
Louisville is Kentucky’s manufacturing center. The city is one of the nation’s leading centers of truck production. Louisville is the state’s main food processing center. Bakery goods, frozen foods, and meat products are processed there. Chemicals are also produced in Louisville.
Much manufacturing also occurs in other cities. Lexington makes computer printers and heating and cooling equipment. Bowling Green and Georgetown have large automobile plants. Many Kentucky cities produce motor vehicle parts. Chemical plants operate in Calvert City, Carrollton, and Paducah. Catlettsburg has a large petroleum refinery.
Kentucky leads the nation in the production of bourbon whiskey. Kentucky also ranks as one of the top states in the primary aluminum industry. Aluminum smelters are in Hawesville and Sebree. Kentucky is an important producer of hardwood lumber. Its wood products industries employ many workers. 
Mining.
Coal is, by far, the most valuable mined product of Kentucky. The state ranks among the leading U.S. coal producers. Coal is mined in two widely separated fields in Kentucky—the Western Kentucky Coal Field and the Eastern Kentucky Coal Field, part of the Cumberland Plateau. Hopkins and Union counties are the chief coal-producing counties in the Western Kentucky Coal Field. Harlan, Perry, and Pike counties produce the most coal in the Eastern Kentucky Coal Field. Most of Kentucky’s coal comes from underground mines. The rest of the coal comes from surface mines.
The other mined products in Kentucky include limestone, natural gas, and petroleum. Limestone is mined throughout the state, and Kentucky is an important limestone producer. Most of the natural gas comes from the Eastern Kentucky Coal Field. The Western Kentucky Coal Field supplies most of Kentucky’s petroleum.
Agriculture.
Farmland covers about one-half of Kentucky’s land area. Livestock and livestock products account for about half of Kentucky’s farm income. The most important livestock centers in the state are near Lexington and in western Kentucky. The breeding and selling of Thoroughbred horses is one of Kentucky’s most valuable sources of livestock income. Most of the Thoroughbred horses come from the bluegrass pastures near Lexington. 
Beef cattle and broilers (young, tender chickens) are also leading sources of livestock income. Cattle are raised throughout the state except in the Eastern Kentucky Coal Field. Broilers are primarily raised in the western part of the state. Other important livestock products in Kentucky are eggs, hogs, and milk.
Crops of Kentucky also provide about half of the state’s farm income. Traditionally, tobacco has been one of the state’s most valuable crops. Since the early 2000’s, however, such crops as corn and soybeans have surpassed tobacco in value. Kentucky leads the states in growing burley tobacco, and it ranks second only to North Carolina in total tobacco production. Farmers in nearly every Kentucky county raise burley tobacco. Dark tobacco is grown in the southwestern part of Kentucky in an area sometimes called the Black Patch.
Other leading crops in Kentucky include corn, hay, soybeans, and wheat. Corn, soybeans, and wheat are primarily grown on farms in the western part of the state. Hay is mainly raised in the central part of Kentucky. Apples and peaches are the state’s leading fruits.
Electric power and utilities.
Coal-burning plants account for most of Kentucky’s electric power. Hydroelectric utilities and plants that burn natural gas or petroleum produce most of the rest.
Transportation.
Most of Kentucky’s early transportation routes were waterways and small trails. The Wilderness Road, which Daniel Boone cut through the Cumberland Gap in 1775, was Kentucky’s first road. In 1815, the steamboat Enterprise traveled from New Orleans to Louisville. It was the first steamboat to travel up the Mississippi and Ohio rivers. Soon, steamboats were regularly carrying passengers and cargo along both rivers.
Kentucky’s first railroad, the Lexington and Ohio, began operating in 1832. It later became a part of the Louisville and Nashville Railroad, and it is now part of the CSX Railroad. Many other railroads were built in the late 1800’s.
Most of the early roads in Kentucky were privately owned. Travelers had to pay tolls to use them. A state highway commission was created in 1912. In 1914, the legislature approved a system of free roads throughout the state. Today, Kentucky has an extensive network of roads and highways
The Mississippi River, which forms Kentucky’s western border, links the state with the Gulf of Mexico. Many barges travel to and from the Mississippi River on the Ohio River, which forms Kentucky’s northern border. The Tennessee River, which flows through western Kentucky, is linked to the Gulf of Mexico by the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway and the Tombigbee and Mobile rivers.
The state’s busiest airport is the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport, in Boone County near the Ohio border. Louisville and Lexington also have large airports.
Communication.
The Kentucky Gazette, Kentucky’s first newspaper, was established in Lexington in 1787 by John Bradford. The first successful newspaper in the state was the Advertiser of Louisville. The Advertiser was founded in 1818. Today, Kentucky’s leading papers include The Courier-Journal of Louisville, the Lexington Herald-Leader, the Messenger-Inquirer of Owensboro, and The Paducah Sun.
Government
Constitution.
Kentucky has had the same Constitution since 1891. Earlier constitutions were adopted in 1792, 1799, and 1850.
Constitutional amendments (changes) may be proposed by the state legislature or by a constitutional convention. An amendment must be approved by three-fifths of the members of each house. The amendment must then be approved in a general election by a majority of the people voting on the issue. Before a constitutional convention can meet, it must be approved by a majority of each house of the legislature. It also must be approved by the next legislature elected to office. Finally, a constitutional convention must be approved by a majority of the people voting on the proposition. The number of approving votes must equal at least a fourth of the number of voters who took part in the most recent general election.
Executive.
Kentucky’s governor and lieutenant governor serve four-year terms. The governor appoints the adjutant general, the secretaries of the departments called cabinets, such as the Education and Workforce Development Cabinet and the Transportation Cabinet, and the heads of departments within those cabinets. Top elected state officials include the attorney general, auditor of public accounts, commissioner of agriculture, secretary of state, and treasurer. Each official is elected to a four-year term. These elected officials and the cabinet secretaries and department heads make up the governor’s general cabinet.
Legislature
of Kentucky is called the General Assembly. It consists of a 38-member Senate and a 100-member House of Representatives. Voters in each of the state’s 38 senatorial districts elect one senator. Voters in each of the 100 representative districts elect one representative. Senators serve four-year terms, and representatives two-year terms. 
In even numbered years, legislative sessions begin in January and last 60 working days or until April 15, whichever comes first. In odd-numbered years, the legislative sessions are shorter. They begin in February, after a January organizational gathering. They last 30 working days and must be completed by March 30.
Courts.
Kentucky’s highest court is the state Supreme Court. This court has a chief justice and six associate justices. The next highest court is the Court of Appeals, with 14 judges. The judges of both courts are elected to eight-year terms. The justices of each court select one judge to serve a four-year term as chief justice.
Kentucky’s chief trial courts are its circuit courts. The state has 57 judicial circuits. The number of circuit court judges in a circuit depends on the circuit’s population. Some circuits have only one judge. Circuit court judges are elected to eight-year terms. The court system includes 60 district courts, which are also used as trial courts. District court judges serve four-year terms.
Local government.
Each of Kentucky’s 120 counties, except Fayette and Jefferson counties, is managed by a lawmaking body called a fiscal court. An elected official called the county judge/executive presides over the fiscal court. A mayor is the top official of the Fayette County and Jefferson County governments.
Cities in Kentucky are divided into two classes, based on the form of government. First-class cities use the mayor-alderman form of government. Home rule cities use the mayor-council, commission, or city-manager form.
Revenue.
Taxes account for about two-fifths of the state government’s general revenue (income). About two-fifths of this revenue also comes from federal grants and U.S. government programs. Personal income tax and a general sales tax account for most of the tax revenue. Taxes on corporate income, coal production, and motor fuels are also important. Other sources of revenue include government services and a state lottery.
Politics.
Since the American Civil War (1861-1865), most of Kentucky’s governors have been Democrats. Kentucky voters began electing an increasing number of Republicans to Congress and to the state legislature during the mid-1900’s. By the mid-2010’s, Republicans had become the dominant party in state politics.
Democrats carried Kentucky in every presidential election from 1932 through 1952. Since then, Republicans have won the state’s electoral votes more often than Democrats have (see Electoral College).
History
Early days.
As long as 12,000 years ago, Indigenous (native) peoples probably lived in the forests of what is now western Kentucky. Early European explorers found many different tribes in the Kentucky region. These tribes included the Cherokee, Delaware, Iroquois, and Shawnee.
Exploration and settlement by Europeans.
Several English and French explorers probably visited the Kentucky region during the late 1600’s and early 1700’s. The English explorers included Colonel Abram Wood, Gabriel Arthur, and John P. Salling (also spelled Salley). Among the French explorers were Father Jacques Marquette, Louis Jolliet, and René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle.
In 1750, Thomas Walker, a pioneer scout, entered Kentucky through the Cumberland Gap and made the first thorough exploration of the eastern part of the region. Daniel Boone explored eastern Kentucky in 1767. He came to Kentucky again in 1769 and then spent two years in the Bluegrass Region. In 1773, Boone led a group of settlers into Kentucky, but Indigenous groups forced them to turn back. Simon Kenton explored northeastern Kentucky in 1773 and 1774. In 1774, James Harrod led a group of colonists into Kentucky from Pennsylvania. They established Harrodsburg, Kentucky’s first permanent white settlement. Boone led another group of settlers through the Cumberland Gap into Kentucky in 1775. His route became known as the Wilderness Road. Boone settled along the Kentucky River and called his site Boonesborough. 
Mountains and forests stood between the settlers and the protection of the American colonies. After the American Revolution began in 1775, Indigenous groups friendly to the British made repeated attacks on Kentuckians. The colonies could give the settlers only a little help. Boone, Kenton, and George Rogers Clark successfully defended Kentucky against attacks.
In 1776, Kentucky became a county of Virginia. Many Virginians moved into the Kentucky region. Indigenous groups supplied with British weapons continued to attack the settlers. In 1778, George Rogers Clark led a small band of men against three British-controlled settlements northwest of Kentucky. Clark captured the settlements and cut off British supplies to Indigenous groups. Attacks by Indigenous raiders against the settlements then became less frequent.
Statehood.
In May 1792, Kentuckians adopted a constitution in preparation for statehood. On June 1, 1792, Kentucky became the nation’s 15th state. Isaac Shelby, a Revolutionary War hero, became the first governor. Frankfort was made the capital. 
In 1798, Congress passed a series of acts known as the Alien and Sedition Acts. These acts gave the president special powers against people born in other countries and people who tried to create discontent with the government. Kentuckians opposed these acts, as did many other Americans, including Vice President Thomas Jefferson and Virginia politician James Madison. Kentucky adopted strong resolutions, written by Jefferson, declaring the Alien and Sedition Acts unconstitutional. Jefferson’s opposition to the acts helped him to be elected president of the United States.
Progress as a state.
Farming had always been important to settlers in the Kentucky region. After Kentucky became a state, its population increased and more areas of farmland were opened to settlement. Early in the 1800’s, horse breeders recognized the superior feeding qualities of pastures in central Kentucky. This area became the center of Kentucky horse breeding. The use of steamboats in the early 1800’s helped the state’s farms to prosper. Farmers shipped huge cargoes of crops and livestock products to markets along the Ohio and Mississippi rivers. Hemp, used for making rope, was an important crop in Kentucky. In the mid-1800’s, Kentucky produced nearly all the nation’s hemp.
Tobacco farming became important after 1830. By the 1860’s, Kentucky led the nation in tobacco production. A market for whiskey in New Orleans, down the Mississippi River, aided the growth of Kentucky agriculture and manufacturing. Kentucky farmers raised corn, rye, and other grains used in manufacturing alcoholic beverages. Whiskey production became an important industry. The use of enslaved Black people was central to Kentucky’s agricultural economy, and slavery flourished in the Bluegrass Region.
The Civil War
began in 1861. Kentucky hoped to stay neutral. The state had social, economic, and political ties with both the North and the South. But Confederate troops invaded western Kentucky in the summer of 1861. Then Union troops under General Ulysses S. Grant occupied Paducah. In September 1861, the state legislature created a military force to drive the Confederates out and preserve the state’s neutrality. This action placed Kentucky on the Union side. But many Kentuckians favored the South. Members of some families fought each other in battle. About 75,000 Kentuckians fought for the Union, and about 35,000 fought for the Confederacy. Loading the player...
Abraham Lincoln
On Jan. 19, 1862, Union troops won an important victory at Mill Springs in southern Kentucky. This victory opened Eastern Tennessee to the Union forces. In August 1862, the Confederates won a battle at Richmond, Kentucky. Both sides suffered heavy losses in the Battle of Perryville in October 1862. The Confederate troops finally retreated from Perryville into Tennessee. 
After the Civil War ended in 1865, Kentucky became strongly sympathetic toward the South. There were several reasons for this attitude. The government freed enslaved people without paying their owners. Soldiers remained in the state longer than the people thought necessary. Black troops were sent to sections that had supported the South. Kentuckians began to feel as though they had lost the war, rather than helped win it.
Postwar depression.
Kentucky was affected by the economic depression that hit the South after the Civil War. Southern markets could not afford to buy Kentucky farm products. The state’s hemp industry was particularly hard hit. Before the war, hemp had been used for bagging and ties for cotton bales and for cables and rigging of sailing vessels. But the South’s cotton production declined after the war, and steamships replaced most sailing ships in the 1860’s. A decrease in boat traffic along the Mississippi and Ohio rivers hurt Kentucky’s smaller port cities. However, railroad construction helped many areas of the state. Louisville, with access to both river and rail transport, became a major center for the exchange of goods between the North and the South.
The 1870’s and 1880’s brought further economic changes. An increased interest in horse racing after the Civil War encouraged Kentucky racing establishments to raise Thoroughbred horses. Many horse farms and stables were opened in the Bluegrass Region. The development of burley tobacco in central and eastern Kentucky contributed to a tremendous increase in tobacco production. But periodic depressions marked by falling tobacco prices resulted in many farm failures and a sharp rise in the number of tenant farmers. 
By the 1890’s, the railroad system had expanded so that the resources of eastern Kentucky could be developed. Speculators bought huge land areas in the Eastern Kentucky Coal Field. Coal, oil, and timber production rose dramatically. But much of the profits went to absentee landowners outside the state.
The early 1900’s.
Economic unrest contributed to a bitterly fought campaign for governor in 1899. Republican William S. Taylor won the election by a narrow margin over his Democratic opponent, William Goebel. Goebel charged fraud and demanded that the legislature examine the results of the election to determine the real winner. On Jan. 30, 1900, an assassin shot Goebel. The next day, the Democratic-controlled legislature declared Goebel the winner of the election. Taylor’s backers protested the decision. Goebel died on February 3, and Lieutenant Governor J. C. W. Beckham, also a Democrat, took over as governor. But many Kentuckians still insisted that Taylor had won the election. Two groups formed, each claiming a different governor. A civil war almost broke out. A special election for governor was held in November 1900, and Beckham won.
During the late 1800’s and early 1900’s, a group of tobacco firms held a monopoly of all tobacco-buying in Kentucky. Farmers in western and central Kentucky fought this monopoly during the Tobacco Wars, which occurred from 1904 to 1909. Night riders burned the warehouses, barns, and fields of tobacco growers who had sold to the monopoly. For the region’s tobacco growers, prices remained low, and their desperation grew.
The depression of the 1930’s hit Kentucky hard. Miners lost their jobs. Small farms were abandoned. Kentuckians began to seek jobs in the cities. Many worked on state highways. Others worked on forestry and other conservation projects. Factories were built. The United States Treasury established its gold vault at Fort Knox in 1936.
The mid-1900’s.
During World War II (1939-1945), farms and mines in Kentucky became productive again. The state’s factories produced war materials. After the war, manufacturing grew and Kentucky began to shift from an agricultural to an industrial economy. In 1955, Kentucky lowered its voting age to 18.
The state’s coal industry prospered in the 1960’s, and Kentucky rose to second place behind West Virginia in coal mining. Tourism became a major industry, aided by new highways that made vacation spots easier to reach. In 1964, the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) opened the first facilities of the Land Between the Lakes recreation area in western Kentucky. In 1969, the TVA completed its largest steam-generating plant, in Paradise. 
The late 1900’s.
The Lexington region experienced rapid industrial growth during the 1970’s. The state became the nation’s leading coal producer in the early 1970’s. In 1972, the state legislature passed Kentucky’s first tax on coal production. The coal-mining industry boomed during the mid-1970’s, when an energy shortage hit the United States. Increased production brought new revenue to coal-producing counties in Kentucky. A 1980 state law helped these counties by returning to them half the revenue from the coal tax.
Strip mining, a method used to produce much of the state’s coal, came under attack in the early 1970’s. This type of mining strips off the earth to expose the coal. But rain washes away the loosened soil, causing soil erosion and water pollution. In 1978, a federal law went into effect that requires strip mine owners to restore the land as nearly as possible to its original condition.
In the 1980’s, several Kentucky school systems sued state officials, charging them with inadequate and unevenly distributed funding for public schools. In 1989, Kentucky’s Supreme Court ruled the state’s public school system unconstitutional. In 1990, a statewide school reform plan was adopted with the passage of the Kentucky Education Reform Act. The plan called for each school to be run by a committee made up of a principal, teachers, and parents. Other provisions included the establishment of preschool classes for children from low-income families, more funding for special education, and a testing system to evaluate school improvement.
In 1988, Toyota Motor Corporation opened an automobile manufacturing plant in Georgetown. With this plant and other automobile plants in Louisville and Bowling Green, Kentucky became one of the nation’s leaders in automobile production in the 1990’s.
At the end of the 1900’s, a decreasing number of jobs for miners left many workers unemployed in Kentucky’s coal fields. There, the levels of income, health, and education lagged behind the state’s urban areas and behind the nation as a whole.
In 1999, Governor Paul E. Patton was reelected. He was the first Kentucky governor eligible to be reelected to a second consecutive term since 1800. In 1992, voters had approved a constitutional amendment allowing reelection of state officers to a second consecutive term.
The 2000’s.
In 2000, voters approved a constitutional amendment to allow the legislature to meet every year. Previously, the legislature had been holding sessions in even-numbered years.
In 2003, Ernie Fletcher became only the second Republican since World War II to be elected governor. In 2007, however, he was defeated for reelection by Democrat Steve Beshear. Republican Matt Bevin succeeded Beshear as governor in 2015. In 2019, Democrat Andy Beshear—a son of former governor Steve Beshear—defeated Bevin in the election for governor. Andy Beshear was reelected in 2023.
A powerful thunderstorm system produced dozens of destructive tornadoes in Kentucky, Arkansas, Illinois, and other states on Dec. 10 and 11, 2021. Dozens of people were killed. Communities in western Kentucky suffered some of the worst damage and loss of life. In August 2022, heavy rains caused mudslides and severe flooding in eastern Kentucky. Hundreds of people lost their homes, and about 40 people were killed.
