KENTUCKY 



3229 



KENTUCKY 



fourth constitution the state has had since its 

 admission to the Union in 1792. Amendments 

 may be adopted if they receive three-fourths of 

 the vote of each house of the legislature and 

 are afterwards approved by a majority vote 

 of the people. A convention to revise the con- 

 stitution or draft a new one may be convened 

 after such a proposal has been adopted by 

 two successive legislatures and approved by 

 a majority of the popular vote, provided that 

 majority be at least one-fourth of the total 

 number of votes cast at the preceding general 

 election. 



The executive officials, who are the governor, 

 lieutenant-governor, secretary of state, treas- 

 urer, auditor, attorney-general, superintendent 

 of public instruction, registrar of land office, 

 commissioner of agriculture, labor and statis- 

 tics, are each elected for four years. All ex- 

 cept the governor may be reflected. If a 

 vacancy occurs in the office of governor in 

 the first two years of his term, a new election 

 is held; if during the last two years, the lieu- 

 tenant-governor serves out the term. Among 

 the offices created recently are those of state 

 commissioner of public roads and state fire 

 marshal. 



The legislative power is vested in a general 

 assembly, composed of a senate and a house 

 of representatives. The senate is composed oi 

 thirty-eight members, elected for four years, 

 half of whom are renewed every two years; 

 the house of representatives is composed of 

 100 members, elected for two years. Sessions 

 are held every second year, beginning on the 

 first Tuesday after the first Monday in Janu- 

 ary of even-numbered years. 



Kentucky sends eleven members to the 

 United States House of Representatives. 



At the head of the judicial department is a 

 supreme court, known as the court of appeals, 

 consisting of not fewer than five nor more than 

 seven judges, elected for eight years. The 

 judge longest in service is chief justice. The 

 state is divided into judicial districts, and every 

 county possesses a circuit court, presided over 

 by a judge elected in the district for six years. 

 ach district has so-called quarterly courts, the 

 judges of which are also justices of the county 

 courts. 



For purposes of local government the 

 state is divided into counties, and these into 

 towns, which are divided into six classes, ac- 

 cording to population. Towns and cities with 

 a population of 3,000 inhabitants or over may 

 adopt the commission form of government. 



Other Constitutional Provisions. The mar- 

 riage of whites and negroes is prohibited. The 

 state adopted in 1912 a primary election law 

 for direct nominations of all elective state, 

 county and municipal officers. Kentucky has 

 adopted county local option for dealing with 

 the liquor traffic, and ninety-one counties had 

 voted for the prohibition of the sale of liquor 

 within their territory in 1916. Legislation for 

 the protection of the labor of women and chil- 

 dren has been recently enacted. The working 

 hours for women under twenty-one, except in 

 domestic service and in nursing, are limited to 

 sixty a week and ten a day, and these hours 

 were made the maximum for all women work- 

 ing in factories, stores, hotels, telephone and 

 telegraph companies. The employment of 

 children under fourteen during the school term 

 is prohibited. A law has been passed forbid- 

 ding public drinking cups. 



Charitable and Penal Institutions. The 

 state maintains a school for the blind at Louis- 

 ville, one for the deaf and dumb at Danville, 

 and one for feeble-minded children at Frank- 

 fort. The state prisons are situated at Frank- 

 fort and Eddyville; insane asylums are main- 

 tained at Lexington, Hopkinsville and Anchor- 

 age. There are several hospitals maintained by 

 the state, and a Confederate Soldiers' Home is 

 located at Pewee Valley. 



History. Kentucky was probably first vis- 

 ited by Dr. Thomas Walker in 1750, but it 

 was not settled until 1774, when James Har- 

 rod planted a colony where Harrodsburg now 

 stands. Meanwhile, Daniel Boone had led ex- 

 ploring expeditions into the region, and in 1775 

 he established Boonesborough. In 1775 Rich- 

 ard Henderson induced the Cherokee Indians 

 to give up a section of their land, comprising 

 many thousands of square miles, and he found- 

 ed a land company known as the Transylvania 

 Company. In 1776 Kentucky was organized as 

 a separate county of Virginia. In 1780 this was 

 divided into three counties, and an agitation 

 for its separation from Virginia and admission 

 as a state to the Union was started. Virginia 

 for a long time refused to consent to the sepa- 

 ration, but finally passed the necessary legisla- 

 tion in 1790. On June 1, 1792, Kentucky was 

 admitted as the fifteenth state of the Union. 



Kentucky took a prominent part in the War 

 of 1812, its great leader, Henry Clay, being 

 a conspicuous member of the war party. It 

 also was well represented in the Mexican War. 

 In the War of Secession Kentucky at first 

 attempted to remain neutral. Both Union and 



