|
The Commonwealth of
Kentucky, also known as The Bluegrass State, is a southern state of
the United States of America and was the 15th state admitted to the Union.
It touches West Virginia, Virginia, Tennessee, Missouri, Illinois,
Indiana, and Ohio.
Its northern border is the
low-water mark on the north side of the Ohio River. Its western border is
the Mississippi River. Other major rivers in Kentucky include the
Tennessee River, the Cumberland River, the Green River and the Licking
River.
There are five main
regions, the Cumberland Mountains and Cumberland Plateau in the southeast,
the north-central Bluegrass Region, the south-central and western
Pennyroyal Plateau, also sometimes termed "Pennyrile", the western
coal-fields area, and the far-west Jackson Purchase.
History
Kentucky is one of four
states to call itself a commonwealth. Before the American War of
Independence, this land was called Transylvania with its capital at
Boonesborough. After the war, it became Kentucky County, Virginia and ten
constitutional conventions took place at the courthouse of Constitution
Square in Danville, Kentucky between 1784 and 1792. In 1790, Kentucky
delegates accepted Virginia's terms for separation and the state
constitution was drafted at the final convention in April 1792. On June 1,
1792, Kentucky became the fifteenth state in the union and Isaac Shelby, a
Revolutionary War hero, was named the first Governor of the Commonwealth
Of Kentucky.
On May 20, 1861 during the
American Civil War, Kentucky proclaimed its neutrality in the conflict but
was forced to take the side of the Union on September 3 when Confederate
forces under General Leonidas Polk invaded.
Kentucky’s name is possibly
derived from the Cherokee word for "meadowland" after the bluegrass
pastures that lured early pioneers to the state.
|