June 22, 1868

After the ratification of a new state constitution giving African-American citizens the right to vote, serve on juries, hold office, and serve in the militia, Arkansas was readmitted to the Union. At the beginning of the Civil War, Union sympathizers seemed to be more predominant in the state. With the refusal of Governor Henry Massie Rector to comply with President Abraham Lincoln’s call for forces to combat the uprising, however, Arkansas’s assembly had reconvened in April 1861 and voted 69 to 1 to join the Confederacy.