Few People Know The Story Of How Arkansas Almost Never Became A State

The biggest deterrent to statehood was politics and slavery. Factional politics kept many citizens from supporting statehood because of the fear it would give an advantage to certain political parties. Missouri's recent statehood furthered this belief.

(Pictured: Texarkana in 1874)

Missouri was the 24th state to be inducted and caused some major changes to whether or not a territory could enter statehood as a free state. After the Missouri Compromise of 1820, a temporary solution was put into place to ease factions of political rivalries. New states had to keep a balance between the number of free and slave states already part of the union (so for every slave state, a free state would also be inducted). Many Arkansas Territory citizens viewed the compromise as a loss for Missouri and felt that statehood wasn't worth it.

(Pictured: Train station at Augusta at the turn of the century)

Although technically large enough to apply for statehood, the overall population was sparse. Many areas remained uninhabited. Another factor was the undeveloped road system. At this time, mail delivery often involved wading across creeks to reach remote townships.

(Pictured: Walnut Ridge and Hoxie mule car line in 1880)

The Arkansas Territory was in debt at this time, which caused many people to fear that statehood would interrupt federal funding. Because of underdevelopment, the area just wasn't self-sufficient yet.

(Pictured: Sharecropper family in front of the company house at the Wilson Cotton Plantation in Mississippi County in 1935)

In order to become a state, a territory must conduct a census, hold a vote, and create a constitution after an enabling act has been passed, the keyword here being "after." Arkansas did these things before the act so Congress debated whether or not the territory broke the law.

(Pictured: Lawbreaker Belle Star in the 1880s)

Congress argued for more than 24 hours straight on whether or not to grant statehood to Arkansas.

(Pictured: The nearly completed state capitol in 1910)

Statehood proved to be the best choice for the territory since it increased the population as well as development.

(Pictured: Arkansas display at the 1915 World's Fair in San Francisco)