Louisiana: Government, Politics, and Higher Education

Louisiana has had 11 constitutions since it was admitted to the union in 1812. Its present constitution (1975) replaced the constitution of 1921, which had been amended more than 500 times. The state's executive branch is headed by a governor elected for a four-year term and allowed one reelection. Louisiana's bicameral legislature has a senate with 39 members and a house of representatives with 105 members, all elected for four-year terms. Louisiana is the only state to call its counties parishes, a holdover from the Spanish religious divisions. The state elects two senators and six representatives to the U.S. Congress and has eight electoral votes. Almost solidly Democratic between 1877 and the 1990s, Louisiana has had a more turbulent political climate in recent years.

Among the state's more prominent institutions of higher learning are Tulane Univ., the Univ. of New Orleans, Dillard Univ., Southern Univ., and Loyola Univ., all at New Orleans; Louisiana State Univ. and Agricultural and Mechanical College, mainly at Baton Rouge; the Univ. of Louisiana at Lafayette; Grambling State Univ., at Grambling; and Louisiana Tech Univ., at Ruston.

Sections in this article:

• Introduction
• Civil Rights, Disasters, and Diversification
• Huey Long and His Legacy
• The Civil War and Its Aftermath
• Statehood
• Spanish Louisiana
• Early Louisiana
• Government, Politics, and Higher Education
• Economy
• Geography
• Facts and Figures

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