Arkansas, state, United States: Government, Politics, and Higher Education

The state constitution (1874) provides for an elected governor and bicameral legislature, with a 35-member senate and a 100-member house of representatives. Arkansas sends two senators and four representatives to the U.S. Congress and has six electoral votes. Democrats dominated control of the state until 1966, when Republicans gained the governorship for the first time since Reconstruction. The governor's office has switched hands between the two parties since then.

Among the institutions of higher education in the state are the Univ. of Arkansas, at Fayetteville; Arkansas State Univ., at Jonesboro; Hendrix College and the Univ. of Central Arkansas, at Conway; Ouachita Baptist Univ. and Henderson State Univ., at Arkadelphia; the Univ. of the Ozarks, at Clarksville; Lyon College, at Batesville; and Harding College, at Searcy.

Sections in this article:

• Introduction
• The Postwar Era
• Hard Times
• Reconstruction
• The Civil War
• Early History to Statehood
• Government, Politics, and Higher Education
• Economy
• Geography
• Facts and Figures
• Bibliography

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