Misplaced Pages

#537462

134-781: Llano County ( / ˈ l æ n oʊ / ) is a county located on the Edwards Plateau in the U.S. state of Texas . As of the 2020 census , its population was 21,243. Its county seat is Llano , and the county is named for the Llano River . Count Castell of the Adelsverein negotiated with the separate Darmstadt Society of Forty to colonize 200 families on the Fisher–Miller Land Grant in Texas. In return, they were to receive $ 12,000 in money, livestock, and equipment, and provisions for

268-1054: A city , town , or village . A few counties directly provide public transportation themselves, usually in the form of a simple bus system. However, in most counties, public transportation is provided by one of the following: a special district that is coterminous with the county (but exists separately from the county government), a multi-county regional transit authority, or a state agency. In western and southern states, more populated counties provide many facilities, such as airports, convention centers , museums, recreation centers , beaches, harbors, zoos, clinics, law libraries , and public housing . They provide services such as child and family services, elder services, mental health services, welfare services, veterans assistance services, animal control , probation supervision, historic preservation, food safety regulation, and environmental health services. They have many additional officials like public defenders , arts commissioners, human rights commissioners, and planning commissioners. There may be

402-446: A consolidated city-county or independent city exists, a city council usually governs city/county or city affairs. In some counties, day-to-day operations are overseen by an elected county executive or by a chief administrative officer or county administrator who reports to the board, the mayor, or both. In many states, the board in charge of a county holds powers that transcend all three traditional branches of government. It has

536-470: A significantly lower percentage of the populations of the Border States than the percentages in the former Confederate states from 1870 to 1960. Less than 10% of the populations of West Virginia and Missouri were African American. In Kentucky, 5-20% of the state's population was African American. In Delaware, 10-20% of the state's population was African American. In Maryland, 15-25% of the state's population

670-504: A Republican president as few as three times in that interval. Moreover, unlike Minnesota (or other nearly as reliably Democratic states like Massachusetts and Rhode Island), it usually had a unanimous (or nearly unanimous) congressional delegation and only elected two Republicans as governor (albeit for a combined 20 years between them). Kentucky did usually vote for the Democratic Party in presidential elections from 1877 to 1964, but

804-424: A county fire department and a county police department – as distinguished from fire and police departments operated by individual cities, special districts, or the state government. For example, Gwinnett County, Georgia , and its county seat, the city of Lawrenceville , each have their own police departments. (A separate county sheriff's department is responsible for security of the county courts and administration of

938-460: A few counties bear names of Native American , French, or Spanish origin. Counties are most often named for people, often political figures or early settlers, with over 2,100 of the 3,144 total so named. The most common county name, with 31, is Washington County , for America's first president, George Washington . Up until 1871, there was a Washington County within the District of Columbia , but it

1072-419: A free vote and a fair count, how are you going to beat 135,000 by 95,000? How are you going to do it? You had set us an impossible task. We did not disfranchise the negroes until 1895. Then we had a constitutional convention convened which took the matter up calmly, deliberately, and avowedly with the purpose of disfranchising as many of them as we could under the fourteenth and fifteenth amendments. We adopted

1206-577: A generation West Virginia was part of the Solid South. However, Republicans returned to power in 1896, controlling the governorship for eight of the next nine terms, and electing 82 of 106 U.S. Representatives until 1932. In 1932, as the nation swung to the Democrats, West Virginia again became solidly Democratic. It was perhaps the most reliably Democratic state in the nation between 1932 and 1996, being one of just two states (along with Minnesota) to vote for

1340-504: A grandfather voting by a particular year (usually before the Civil War, when black people could not vote.) U.S. Senator Benjamin Tillman explained how African Americans were disenfranchised in his state of South Carolina in a white supremacist speech: In my State there were 135,000 negro voters, or negroes of voting age, and some 90,000 or 95,000 white voters.... Now, I want to ask you, with

1474-463: A handful of U.S. Representatives and Senators, and Democratic presidential candidates regularly swept the region – from 1880 through 1944, winning a cumulative total of 182 of 187 states. The Democrats reinforced the loyalty of white voters by emphasizing the suffering of the South during the war at the hands of "Yankee invaders" under Republican leadership, and the noble service of their white forefathers in "

SECTION 10

#1732855903538

1608-511: A household in the county was $ 34,830, and for a family was $ 40,597. Males had a median income of $ 30,839 versus $ 21,126 for females. The per capita income for the county was $ 23,547. About 7.2% of families and 10.3% of the population were below the poverty line , including 17.2% of those under age 18 and 6.0% of those age 65 or over. Llano County, in common with the Solid South , voted predominantly for Democratic presidential candidates well into

1742-400: A land area of 20,057 square miles (51,947 km ). The least extensive county is Kalawao County, Hawaii , with a land area of 11.991 square miles (31.058 km ). The least extensive county equivalent in the 50 states is the independent city of Falls Church, Virginia , with a land area of 1.999 square miles (5.177 km ). If U.S. territories are included,

1876-453: A large number of counties, and many Western states were sparsely populated when counties were created by their respective state legislatures. The five counties of Rhode Island and eight of the 14 counties of Massachusetts no longer have functional county governments, but continue to exist as legal and census entities. Connecticut abolished county governments in 1960, leaving its eight counties as mere legal and census entities. In 2022,

2010-510: A lesser extent Oklahoma and Kentucky , which remained electorally competitive during the Jim Crow era. Delaware , Maryland , and West Virginia were rarely identified with the Solid South after the 1896 United States presidential election , while Missouri became a bellwether state after the 1904 United States presidential election . The Solid South can also refer to the " Southern strategy " that has been employed by Republicans since

2144-633: A majority of presidential elections from 1876 to 1964 (12 out of 23). For a generation bitter memories of Republican actions during the Civil War had kept the Democrats firmly in control of the government throughout Delaware. However, during this period gas executive J. Edward Addicks , a Philadelphia millionaire, established residence in Delaware, and began pouring money into the Republican Party, especially in Kent and Sussex County. He succeeded in reigniting

2278-882: A matter of U.S. state law , so the specific governmental powers of counties may vary widely between the states, with many providing some level of services to civil townships , municipalities , and unincorporated areas . Certain municipalities are in multiple counties ; New York City is uniquely partitioned into five counties, referred to at the city government level as boroughs . Some municipalities have been consolidated with their county government to form consolidated city-counties , or have been legally separated from counties altogether to form independent cities . Conversely, counties in Connecticut and Rhode Island , eight of Massachusetts's 14 counties , and Alaska's Unorganized Borough have no government power, existing only as geographic distinctions. The United States Census Bureau uses

2412-606: A number of counties in Appalachian parts of Alabama and Georgia would vote Republican in presidential elections through this period. Arkansas consistently voted Democratic from 1876 to 1964, though Democratic margins were lower than in the Deep South. Even in 1939, Florida was described as "still very largely an empty State," with only North Florida largely settled until after World War II . In East Tennessee , Western North Carolina , and Southwest Virginia , Republicans retained

2546-415: A population over 100,000; 137 counties have a population over 500,000; 45 counties have a population over 1,000,000; and 14 counties have a population over 2,000,000. At the other extreme, 35 counties have a population under 1,000; 307 counties have a population under 5,000; 709 counties have a population under 10,000; and 1,492 counties have a population between 10,000 and 50,000. At the 2000 U.S. Census ,

2680-461: A significant presence in these remote Appalachian regions which supported the Union during the Civil War and had few African Americans, winning occasional U.S. House seats and often drawing over 40% in presidential votes statewide. In particular, Tennessee's 1st and 2nd congressional districts have been continuously held by Republicans since 1881 and 1867, respectively, to the present day. In 1900, as

2814-401: A significant urban working class who supported Republicans. In the 1896 presidential election , the state was exceedingly close, with McKinley becoming the first Republican presidential candidate to carry Kentucky, by a mere 277 votes, or 0.06352%. McKinley's victory was, by percentage margin, the seventh-closest popular results for presidential electors on record. Republicans won Kentucky in

SECTION 20

#1732855903538

2948-527: A species of beetle that feeds on cotton buds and flowers, crossed the Rio Grande near Brownsville, Texas , to enter the United States from Mexico in 1892. It reached southeastern Alabama in 1909, and by the mid-1920s had entered all cotton-growing regions in the U.S., traveling 40 to 160 miles per year. The boll weevil contributed to Southern farmers' economic woes during the 1920s, a situation exacerbated by

3082-480: A state disenfranchised part of its population. However, this clause was never applied to Southern states that disenfranchised black residents. No black candidate was elected to any office in the South for decades after the turn of the century; and they were also excluded from juries and other participation in civil life. Democratic candidates won by large margins in a majority of Southern states in every presidential election from 1876 to 1948 , except for 1928 , when

3216-400: A vote of 30,174 to 28,380 (52% to 48%), abolished slavery in 1864 . Maryland voted for the Democratic Party presidential candidate from 1868 to 1892, but the 1896 presidential election was a realignment in the state, similar to West Virginia. Maryland voted for the Republican Party presidential candidate from 1896 to 1928, except for Democrat Woodrow Wilson in 1912 and 1916. In contrast to

3350-891: A year. After the first year, the colonies were expected to support themselves. The colonies attempted were Castell , Leiningen, Bettina, Schoenburg and Meerholz in Llano County; Darmstädler Farm in Comal County ; and Tusculum in Kendall County . Of these, only Castell survives. The colonies failed after the Adelsverein funding expired, and also due to conflict of structure and authorities. Some members moved to other Adelsverein settlements in Texas. Others moved elsewhere, or returned to Germany. Llano county libraries were purged of books containing sex education and discussion of racism in 2021 and 2022 by county commissioners. Titles removed include In

3484-428: Is Lake . Words from Native American languages, as well as the names of Native American leaders and tribes, lend their names to many counties. Quite a few counties bear names of French or Spanish origin, such as Marquette County being named after French missionary Father Jacques Marquette . The county's equivalent in the state of Louisiana, the parish (Fr. paroisse civile and Sp. parroquia ) took its name during

3618-564: Is 343 sq mi (890 km ), whereas in Utah it is 2,427 sq mi (6,290 km ). The most extensive county or county equivalent is the Yukon–Koyukuk Census Area, Alaska , with a land area of 145,505 square miles (376,856 km ). All nine of the most extensive county equivalents are in Alaska. The most extensive county is San Bernardino County, California , with

3752-564: Is an unusual case because it encompasses multiple entire counties in one city. Each of those counties is coextensive with one of the five boroughs of the city: Manhattan (New York County), The Bronx (Bronx County), Queens (Queens County), Brooklyn (Kings County), and Staten Island (Richmond County). Solid South The "Solid South" included all 11 former Confederate states: Alabama , Arkansas , Florida , Georgia , Louisiana , Mississippi , North Carolina , South Carolina , Tennessee , Texas , and Virginia . It also included to

3886-500: Is either done at the state level or at the municipal level. In Connecticut and parts of Massachusetts, regional councils have been established to partially fill the void left behind by the abolished county governments. The regional councils' authority is limited compared with a county government—they have authority only over infrastructure and land use planning, distribution of state and federal funds for infrastructure projects, emergency preparedness, and limited law enforcement duties. In

4020-399: Is greater than the populations of 41 U.S. states, and is only slightly smaller than the combined population of the 10 least populous states and Washington, D.C. It also makes the population of Los Angeles County 17.4 times greater than that of the least populous state, Wyoming. The second most populous county is Cook County, Illinois , with a population of 5,275,541. Cook County's population

4154-455: Is larger than that of 28 individual U.S. states and the combined populations of the six smallest states. The least populous county is Loving County, Texas , with 64 residents in 2020. Eight county equivalents in the U.S. territories have no human population: Rose Atoll , Northern Islands Municipality , Baker Island , Howland Island , Jarvis Island , Johnston Atoll , Kingman Reef , and Navassa Island . The remaining three islands in

Llano County, Texas - Misplaced Pages Continue

4288-713: Is no formal level of government (municipality, public education, or otherwise) existing below that of the county in the state. In most Midwestern and Northeastern states, counties are further subdivided into townships or towns , which sometimes exercise local powers or administration. Throughout the United States, counties may contain other independent, self-governing municipalities . In New England, counties function at most as judicial court districts and sheriff's departments (presently, in Connecticut only as judicial court districts—and in Rhode Island , they have lost both those functions and most others but they are still used by

4422-401: Is not now a thing of past history". The former Confederate states stayed mostly a single bloc until the 1960s, with a brief break in the 1920s, however. In the 1904 election , Missouri supported Republican Theodore Roosevelt, while Maryland awarded its electors to Democrat Alton Parker , despite Roosevelt's winning by 51 votes. Missouri was a bellwether state from 1904 to 2004, voting for

4556-410: Is rarely a county responsibility, execution of capital punishment is never a county responsibility, and the state's responses to prisoners' appeals are the responsibility of the state attorney general , who has to defend before the state appellate courts the prosecutions conducted by locally elected district attorneys in the name of the state. Furthermore, county-level trial court judges are officers of

4690-557: Is simultaneously a city, which is a municipality (municipal corporation), and a county, which is an administrative division of a state, having the powers and responsibilities of both types of entities. The city limit or jurisdiction is synonymous with the county line, as the two administrative entities become a non-dichotomous single entity. For this reason, a consolidated city-county is officially remarked as name of city – name of county (i.e., Augusta–Richmond County in Georgia). The same

4824-480: Is that white southerners with conservative views on taxes, moral values, and national security would vote for Democratic presidential candidates who didn't share their views. They did that as part of a strategy for maintaining white supremacy in the South. In the Deep South (South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana), Democratic dominance was overwhelming, with Democrats routinely receiving 80%–90% of

4958-501: Is true of the boroughs of New York City , each of which is coextensive with a county of New York State. For those entities in which the city uses the same name as the county, city and county of name may be used (i.e., City and County of Denver in Colorado). Similarly, some of Alaska 's boroughs have merged with their principal cities, creating unified city-boroughs. Some such consolidations and mergers have created cities that rank among

5092-438: The 1904 presidential election for the first time since 1872, repositioning itself from being associated with the Solid South to being seen as a bellwether state throughout the twentieth century. From 1904 until 2004, Missouri only backed a losing presidential candidate once, in 1956 . Missouri also elected some Republican governors before 1964, beginning with Herbert S. Hadley (1909-1913). The 1896 election resulted in

5226-484: The 1924 and 1928 presidential elections, the former of which was the only state that Warren G. Harding lost in the 1920 presidential election , but Coolidge won in the 1924 presidential election . Kentucky also elected some Republican governors during this period, such as William O'Connell Bradley (1895-1899), Augustus E. Willson (1907-1911), Edwin P. Morrow (1919-1923), Flem D. Sampson (1927-1931), and Simeon Willis (1943-1947). Maryland very narrowly, by

5360-661: The 56th Congress considered proposals for apportioning its seats among the 45 states following the 1900 Federal Census , Representative Edgar D. Crumpacker (R-IN) filed an independent report urging that the Southern states be stripped of seats due to the large numbers of voters they had disfranchised. He noted this was provided for in Section 2 of the Fourteenth Amendment , which provided for stripping representation from states that reduced suffrage due to race. From 1896 until 1900,

5494-634: The Alaska Constitutional Convention wanted to avoid the traditional county system and adopted their own unique model with different types of boroughs varying in powers and duties. In some states, these powers are partly or mostly devolved to the counties' smaller divisions usually called townships , though in New York, New England and Wisconsin they are called "towns". The county may or may not be able to override its townships on certain matters, depending on state law. The newest county in

Llano County, Texas - Misplaced Pages Continue

5628-454: The City and County of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania ; City and County of San Francisco, California ; and Lynchburg-Moore County, Tennessee A consolidated city-county may still contain independent municipalities maintaining some governmental powers that did not merge with the rest of the county. For example, the government of Jacksonville–Duval County, Florida , still provides county-level services to

5762-453: The Confederate government of Kentucky and the Confederate government of Missouri . The Confederacy controlled more than half of Kentucky and the southern portion of Missouri early in the war but largely lost control in both states after 1862. West Virginia , created in 1863 from Unionist and Confederate counties of Virginia, was represented in both Union and Confederate legislatures, and was

5896-598: The Great Depression in the 1930s. The boll weevil infestation has been credited with bringing about economic diversification in the Southern US, including the expansion of peanut cropping. The citizens of Enterprise, Alabama , erected the Boll Weevil Monument in 1919, perceiving that their economy had been overly dependent on cotton, and that mixed farming and manufacturing were better alternatives. By 1922, it

6030-604: The Great Plains . Oklahoma did not have a Republican governor until Henry Bellmon was elected in 1962 , though Republicans were still able to draw over 40% of the vote statewide during the Jim Crow era. Democrats were strongest in Southeast Oklahoma, known as "Little Dixie" , whose white settlers were Southerners seeking a start in new lands following the American Civil War. In Guinn v. United States (1915),

6164-501: The House Rules Committee John J. O'Connor of New York. In the 1930s, black voters outside the South largely switched to the Democrats, and other groups with an interest in civil rights (notably Jews, Catholics, and academic intellectuals) became more powerful in the party. Louisiana abolished its poll tax in 1934, as did Florida in 1937. The Republican Party began to make gains in the South after World War II , as

6298-597: The Mid-Atlantic and Midwest , counties typically provide, at a minimum, courts, public utilities , libraries, hospitals, public health services, parks, roads, law enforcement, and jails. There is usually a county registrar, recorder, or clerk (the exact title varies) who collects vital statistics , holds elections (sometimes in coordination with a separate elections office or commission), and prepares or processes certificates of births, deaths, marriages, and dissolutions (divorce decrees). The county recorder normally maintains

6432-552: The New York City Borough of Manhattan), with 72,033 persons per square mile (27,812 persons/km ) in 2015. The Yukon–Koyukuk Census Area, Alaska , is both the most extensive and the least densely populated county or county equivalent with 0.0380 persons per square mile (0.0147 persons/km ) in 2015. In the 50 states (plus the District of Columbia), a total of 981 counties have a population over 50,000; 592 counties have

6566-559: The Province of Maine founded York County . Massachusetts followed in 1643. Pennsylvania and New York delegated significant power and responsibility from the colony government to county governments and thereby established a pattern for most of the United States, although counties remained relatively weak in New England . When independence came, the framers of the Constitution left

6700-437: The U.S. Minor Outlying Islands ( Midway Atoll , Palmyra Atoll and Wake Island ) have small non-permanent human populations. The county equivalent with the smallest non-zero population counted in the census is Swains Island, American Samoa (17 people), although since 2008 this population has not been permanent either. The most densely populated county or county equivalent is New York County, New York (coextensive with

6834-569: The USGS counts Guam's election districts (villages) as county equivalents. The U.S. Census Bureau counts the 3 main islands in the U.S. Virgin Islands as county equivalents, while the USGS counts the districts of the U.S. Virgin Islands (of which there are 2) as county equivalents. Common sources of county names are names of people, geographic features, places in other states or countries, and animals. Quite

SECTION 50

#1732855903538

6968-545: The United States , a county or county equivalent is an administrative or political subdivision of a U.S. state or other territories of the United States which consists of a geographic area with specific boundaries and usually some level of governmental authority. The term " county " is used in 48 states, while Louisiana and Alaska have functionally equivalent subdivisions called parishes and boroughs , respectively. Counties and other local governments exist as

7102-671: The United States Census Bureau and some other federal agencies for some federal functions), and most of the governmental authority below the state level is in the hands of towns and cities . In several of Maine's sparsely populated counties, small towns rely on the county for law enforcement, and in New Hampshire several social programs are administered at the state level. In Connecticut, Rhode Island, and parts of Massachusetts, counties are now only geographic designations, and they do not have any governmental powers. All government

7236-516: The White League and Red Shirts from 1874, acted as "the military arm of the Democratic party" to disrupt Republican organizing, and intimidate and suppress black voters. By 1876, " Redeemer " Democrats had taken control of all state governments in the South. From then until the 1960s, state and local government in the South was almost entirely monopolized by Democrats. The Democrats elected all but

7370-403: The conservative coalition with conservative Republicans in 1937 to stymie further New Deal legislation. Roosevelt was unsuccessful in attempting to purge some of these conservative Southern Democrats in white primaries in the 1938 elections , such as Senator Walter George of Georgia and Senator Ellison Smith of South Carolina, in contrast to successfully ousting representative and chair of

7504-466: The county seat ("parish seat" in Louisiana, "borough seat" in Alaska, or " shire town " in several New England counties). The county seat usually resides in a municipality. However, some counties may have multiple seats or no seat. In some counties with no incorporated municipalities, a large settlement may serve as the county seat. The power of county governments varies widely from state to state, as does

7638-473: The median land area of U.S. counties was 622 sq mi (1,610 km ), which is two-thirds of the median land area of a ceremonial county of England , and a little more than a quarter of the median land area of a French département . Counties in the western United States typically have a much larger land area than those in the eastern United States. For example, the median land area of counties in Georgia

7772-532: The 1900s. Note that Missouri is classified as a Midwestern state by the Census bureau, and also did not disenfranchise its African American population. The border states, being the northern region of the Upper South , had close ties to the industrializing and urbanizing Northeast and Midwest , experiencing a realignment in the 1896 United States presidential election . African Americans generally comprised

7906-511: The 1960s to increase their electoral power in the South. Republicans have been the dominant party in most political offices within the South since 2010. The main exception to this trend has been the state of Virginia . At the start of the American Civil War , there were 34 states in the United States, 15 of which were slave states . Slavery was also legal in the District of Columbia until 1862 . Eleven of these slave states seceded from

8040-494: The 1960s, with those voters being in the majority even in the 1928 , 1952 and 1956 campaigns , with both races from the 1950s featuring native son Dwight D. Eisenhower heading the Republican ticket. This trend reversed itself beginning in 1972 and has become more pronounced, beginning in 2000 . 30°43′N 98°41′W  /  30.71°N 98.68°W  / 30.71; -98.68 County (United States) In

8174-451: The 50 states and District of Columbia. There are an additional 100 county equivalents in the territories of the United States . The average number of counties per state is 62, with a range from the three counties of Delaware to the 254 counties of Texas . Southern and Midwestern states generally tend to have more counties than Western or Northeastern states, as many Northeastern states are not large enough in area to warrant

SECTION 60

#1732855903538

8308-454: The 50 states and the District of Columbia. If the 100 county equivalents in the U.S. territories are counted, then the total is 3,244 counties and county-equivalents in the United States. The idea of counties originated with the counties of England . English (after 1707, British ) colonists brought to their colonies in North America a political subdivision that they already used in

8442-497: The Bible. However, it was widely believed that Republican Herbert Hoover supported integration or at least was not committed to maintaining racial segregation, overcoming opposition to Smith's campaign in areas with large nonvoting black populations. Smith only managed to carry Arkansas (the home state of his running mate Joseph T. Robinson ) and the 5 states of the Deep South, and nearly lost Alabama by less than 3%. The boll weevil ,

8576-973: The British metropole : the counties. Counties were among the earliest units of local government established in the Thirteen Colonies that would become the United States. Virginia created the first counties in order to ease the administrative workload in Jamestown . The House of Burgesses divided the colony first into four "incorporations" in 1617 and finally into eight shires (or counties) in 1634: James City , Henrico , Charles City , Charles River , Warrosquyoake , Accomac , Elizabeth City , and Warwick River . America's oldest intact county court records can be found at Eastville, Virginia , in Northampton (originally Accomac) County , dating to 1632. Maryland established its first county, St. Mary's in 1637. In 1639,

8710-474: The Civil War ended. Missouri enacted racial segregation, but did not disenfranchise African Americans, who comprised less than 10% of the state's population from 1870 to 1960. Between the Civil War and the end of World War II, Missouri transitioned from a rural economy to a hybrid industrial-service-agricultural economy as the Midwest rapidly industrialized. Missouri voted for the Republican presidential candidate in

8844-499: The Democratic Party presidential candidate from 1876 to 1892, but then consistently voted for the Republican Party presidential candidate from 1896 to 1932, except in 1912 for Woodrow Wilson when the Republican Party split. Delaware voted for Republican Herbert Hoover in 1932 , despite Democrat Franklin D. Roosevelt winning in a landslide. Although a border state during the Civil War, Missouri abolished slavery in January 1865 , before

8978-638: The Democratic candidate was Al Smith , a Catholic New Yorker. Even in that election, the divided South provided Smith with nearly three-fourths of his electoral votes. Scholar Richard Valelly credited Woodrow Wilson 's 1912 election to the disfranchisement of black people in the South, and also noted far-reaching effects in Congress, where the Democratic South gained "about 25 extra seats in Congress for each decade between 1903 and 1953". Journalist Matthew Yglesias argues: The weird thing about Jim Crow politics

9112-619: The District of Columbia in 1862. However, slavery persisted in Delaware, Kentucky, and 10 of the 11 former Confederate states, until the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution abolished slavery throughout the United States on December 18, 1865. Democratic dominance of the South originated in the struggle of white Southerners during and after Reconstruction (1865–1877) to reestablish white supremacy and disenfranchise black people. The U.S. government under

9246-581: The House of Representatives with a Republican majority had acted in more than thirty cases to set aside election results from Southern states where the House Elections Committee had concluded that "[B]lack voters had been excluded due to fraud, violence, or intimidation". However, in the early 1900s, it began to back off, after Democrats won a majority, which included Southern delegations that were solidly in Democratic hands. However, concerted opposition by

9380-591: The Llano and the Colorado , flow through Llano County. These rivers contribute to Lake Buchanan , Inks Lake , and Lake Lyndon B. Johnson , which are all located partially within the county. As of the 2000 census , 17,044 people, 7,879 households, and 5,365 families resided in the county. The population density was 18 people per square mile (6.9 people/km). There were 11,829 housing units at an average density of 13 units per square mile (5.0/km). The racial makeup of

9514-517: The Lost Cause". This rhetoric was effective with many Southerners. However, this propaganda was totally ineffective in areas that had been loyal to the Union during the war, such as eastern Tennessee. Most of East Tennessee welcomed U.S. troops as liberators, and voted Republican even in the Solid South period. Even after white Democrats regained control of state legislatures, some black candidates were elected to local offices and state legislatures in

9648-659: The Night Kitchen , Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents , and Between the World and Me . Librarian Suzette Baker in Kingsland was fired for her refusal to remove books from the shelves. The library board voted unanimously to close its meetings to the public in 2022. After a lawsuit was filed, a federal judge ruled in March 2023 that at least 12 of the books must be placed back onto shelves. In response, county commissioners considered closing

9782-464: The Republican Party had defeated the Confederacy, abolished slavery, and enfranchised black people. In several states, black voters were a majority or close to it. Republicans supported by black people controlled state governments in these states. Thus the Democratic Party became the vehicle for the white supremacist "Redeemers". The Ku Klux Klan , as well as other insurgent paramilitary groups such as

9916-527: The Republican Party, which would soon become the dominant party in the state. In 1894 , Republican Joshua H. Marvil was elected as the first Republican governor of Delaware since Reconstruction. The allegiance of industries with the Republican party allowed them to gain control of Delaware's governorship throughout most of the twentieth century. The Republican Party ensured Black people could vote because of their general support for Republicans and thus undid restrictions on Black suffrage. Delaware voted for

10050-590: The Republicans. In 1944, the Supreme Court ruled 8-1 in Smith v. Allwright against white primary systems, and most Southern states ended their racially discriminatory primary elections. They retained other techniques of disenfranchisement, such as poll taxes and literacy tests , which in theory applied to all potential voters, but in practice were administered in a discriminatory manner by white officials. Oklahoma

10184-417: The South industrialized and urbanized. World War II marked a time of dramatic change within the South from an economic standpoint, as new industries and military bases were developed by the federal government, providing much-needed capital and infrastructure in the former Confederate states. Per capita income jumped 140% from 1940 to 1945, compared to 100% elsewhere in the United States. Dewey Grantham said

10318-510: The South's cotton crop due to the boll weevil was a major impetus for the Great Migration, although not the only one. However, with the Democratic national landslide of 1932, the South again became solidly Democratic. A number of conservative Southern Democrats felt chagrin at the national party's growing friendliness to organized labor during the Franklin D. Roosevelt administration, forming

10452-590: The South. Black U.S. Representatives were elected from the South as late as the 1890s, usually from overwhelmingly black areas. Also in the 1890s, the Populists developed a following in the South, among poor white people who resented the Democratic Party establishment. Populists formed alliances with Republicans (including black Republicans) and challenged the Democratic bosses , even defeating them in some cases such as in North Carolina. To prevent such coalitions in

10586-513: The Southern Democratic bloc was aroused, and the effort failed. By the 1920s, as memories of the Civil War faded, the Solid South cracked slightly. For instance, a Republican was elected U.S. Representative from Texas in 1920, serving until 1932. The Republican national landslides in 1920 and 1928 had some effects. In the 1920 elections, Tennessee elected a Republican governor and five out of 10 Republican U.S. Representatives, and became

10720-480: The Supreme Court invalidated the Oklahoma Constitution 's "old soldier" and "grandfather clause" exemptions from literacy tests. Oklahoma and other states quickly reacted by passing laws that created other rules for voter registration that worked against blacks and minorities. However, Oklahoma did not enact a poll tax , unlike the former Confederate states. As a result, Oklahoma was still competitive at

10854-644: The U.S. Census Bureau began to also count Connecticut's Councils of Governments , which took over some of the regional powers from the state's former county governments, as county equivalents. Territories of the United States do not have counties; instead, the United States Census Bureau also divides them into county equivalents. The U.S. Census Bureau counts American Samoa 's districts and atolls as county equivalents. American Samoa locally has places called "counties", but these entities are considered to be " minor civil divisions " (not true counties) by

10988-473: The U.S. Census Bureau recognized the state's nine Councils of Governments as replacement for the state's eight legacy counties for all statistical purposes; full implementation was completed in 2024. The average U.S. county population was 104,435 in 2019, while the median county, which is Nicholas County, West Virginia , had a population of 25,965 in 2019. The most populous county is Los Angeles County, California , with 10,014,009 residents in 2020. This number

11122-475: The U.S. Census Bureau treats American Samoa's three districts and two atolls as county equivalents). American Samoa's counties are treated as minor civil divisions. Most territories are directly divided into municipalities or similar units, which are treated as equivalent of counties for statistical purposes: The U.S. Census Bureau counts all of Guam as one county equivalent (with the FIPS code 66010), while

11256-683: The U.S. Census Bureau. The number of counties per state ranges from the three counties of Delaware to the 254 counties of Texas . County populations also vary widely: in 2017, according to the Census Bureau, more than half the U.S. population was concentrated in just 143 of the more than 3,000 counties, or just 4.6% of all counties; the five most populous counties, ordered from most to least, are Los Angeles County, California ; Cook County, Illinois ; Harris County, Texas ; Maricopa County, Arizona ; and San Diego County, California . As of 2022 , there are 3,144 counties and county-equivalents in

11390-484: The United States is the city and county of Broomfield, Colorado , established in 2001 as a consolidated city-county , previously part of four counties. The newest county equivalents are the Alaskan census areas of Chugach and Copper River , both established in 2019, and the Alaskan boroughs of Petersburg established in 2013, Wrangell established in 2008, and Skagway established in 2007. A consolidated city-county

11524-477: The United States to form the Confederacy : South Carolina , Mississippi , Florida , Alabama , Georgia , Louisiana , Texas , Virginia , Arkansas , Tennessee , and North Carolina . The southern slave states that stayed in the Union were Maryland , Missouri , Delaware , and Kentucky , and they were referred to as the border states . Kentucky and Missouri both had dual competing Confederate governments,

11658-402: The board. These positions may include county clerk , county treasurer , county surrogate, sheriff , and others. District attorneys or state attorneys are usually state-level as opposed to county-level officials, but in many states, counties and state judicial districts have coterminous boundaries. The site of a county's administration, and often the county courthouse , is generally called

11792-410: The city and the county at least nominally exist, they are properly classified as counties in their own right. Likewise, the boroughs of New York City are coextensive with counties and are therefore by definition also not county equivalents. There are technically no counties in U.S. territories. American Samoa has its own counties , but the U.S. Census Bureau does not treat them as counties (instead,

11926-421: The county (which merely implements state law). A typical criminal defendant will be arraigned and subsequently indicted or held over for trial before a trial court in and for a particular county where the crime occurred, kept in the county jail (if he is not granted bail or cannot make bail), prosecuted by the county's district attorney, and tried before a jury selected from that county. But long-term incarceration

12060-457: The county jail.) In several southern states, public school systems are organized and administered at the county level. As of 2024 , there were 2,999 counties, 64 Louisiana parishes , 19 organized boroughs and 11 census areas in Alaska, 9 Councils of Government in Connecticut, 41 independent cities , and the District of Columbia for a total of 3,144 counties and county equivalents in

12194-556: The county was 96.3% White, 0.3% Black or African American, 0.4% Native American, 0.4% Asian, <0.1% Pacific Islander, 1.8% from other races, and 0.8% from two or more races. About 5.1% of the population were Hispanics or Latinos of any race. Of the 7,879 households, 16.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 59.5% were married couples living together, 5.0% had a female householder with no husband present, and 31.9% were not families. About 28.3% of all households were made up of individuals, and 16.0% had someone living alone who

12328-516: The educational qualification as the only means left to us, and the negro is as contented and as prosperous and as well protected in South Carolina to-day as in any State of the Union south of the Potomac . He is not meddling with politics, for he found that the more he meddled with them the worse off he got. As to his "rights"—I will not discuss them now. We of the South have never recognized the right of

12462-410: The election of John J. Jacob , a Democrat, to the governorship. It also led to the rejection of the war-time constitution by public vote and a new constitution written under the leadership of ex-Confederates such as Samuel Price , Allen T. Caperton and Charles James Faulkner . In 1876 the state Democratic ticket of eight candidates were all elected, seven of whom were Confederate veterans. For nearly

12596-501: The first break in the Solid South. Florida politician Marion L. Dawson, writing in the North American Review , observed: "The victorious party not only held in line those States which are usually relied upon to give Republican majorities ... More significant still, it invaded the Solid South, and bore off West Virginia, Maryland, and Kentucky; caused North Carolina to tremble in the balance and reduced Democratic majorities in

12730-465: The first former Confederate state to vote for a Republican candidate for U.S. President since Reconstruction. North Carolina abolished its poll tax in 1920. In the 1928 presidential election , Al Smith received serious backlash as a Catholic in the largely Protestant South in 1928. Southern Baptist churches ordered their followers to vote against Smith, claiming that he would close down Protestant churches, end freedom of worship, and prohibit reading

12864-404: The following States: Alabama, 39,000; Arkansas, 29,000; Florida, 6,000; Georgia, 49,000; Louisiana, 33,000; South Carolina, 6,000; and Texas, 29,000. These facts, taken together with the great landslide of 1894 and 1895, which swept Missouri and Tennessee, Maryland and Kentucky over into the country of the enemy, have caused Southern statesmen to seriously consider whether the so-called Solid South

12998-584: The former Confederate states, nearly half the African American population was free before the Civil War, and some had accumulated property. Literacy was high among African Americans and, as Democrats crafted means to exclude them, suffrage campaigns helped reach blacks and teach them how to resist. In 1895 , a biracial Republican coalition enabled the election of Lloyd Lowndes, Jr. as governor (1896 to 1900). The Democrat-dominated state legislature tried to pass disfranchising bills in 1905, 1907, and 1911, but

13132-399: The four independent municipalities within its borders: Atlantic Beach , Baldwin , Jacksonville Beach , and Neptune Beach . The term county equivalents is used by the United States Census Bureau to describe divisions that are comparable to counties but called by different names: Consolidated city-counties are not designated county equivalents for administrative purposes; since both

13266-552: The future and to end the violence associated with suppressing the black vote during elections, Southern Democrats acted to disfranchise both black people and poor white people. From 1890 to 1910, beginning with Mississippi, Southern states adopted new constitutions and other laws including various devices to restrict voter registration, disfranchising virtually all black and many poor white residents. These devices applied to all citizens; in practice they disfranchised most black citizens and also "would remove [from voter registration rolls]

13400-461: The general law of the state or by a charter specific to that county. States may allow only general-law counties, only charter counties, or both. Generally, general-law local governments have less autonomy than chartered local governments. Counties are usually governed by an elected body, variously called the county commission , board of supervisors , commissioners' court , county council , county court , or county legislature . In cases in which

13534-622: The geographically largest cities in the world, though often with population densities far below those of most urban areas. There are 40 consolidated city-counties in the U.S., including Augusta–Richmond County; the City and County of Denver, Colorado; the City and County of Honolulu, Hawaii ; Indianapolis–Marion County, Indiana ; Jacksonville–Duval County, Florida ; Louisville–Jefferson County, Kentucky ; Lexington–Fayette County, Kentucky ; Kansas City–Wyandotte County, Kansas ; Nashville–Davidson County, Tennessee ; New Orleans–Orleans Parish, Louisiana ;

13668-405: The judicial branch of the state government rather than county governments. In many states, the county controls all unincorporated lands within its boundaries. In states with a township tier, unincorporated land is controlled by the townships. Residents of unincorporated land who are dissatisfied with county-level or township-level resource allocation decisions can attempt to vote to incorporate as

13802-560: The least extensive county equivalent is Kingman Reef , with a land area of 0.01 square miles (0.03 km ). In some states, a municipality may be in only one county and may not annex territory in adjacent counties, but in the majority of states, the state constitution or state law allows municipalities to extend across county boundaries. At least 32 states include municipalities in multiple counties . Dallas , for example, contains portions of five counties, while numerous other cities comprise portions of four counties. New York City

13936-416: The legislative power to enact laws for the county; it has the executive power to oversee the executive operations of county government; and it has quasi-judicial power with regard to certain limited matters (such as hearing appeals from the planning commission if one exists). In many states, several important officials are elected separately from the board of commissioners or supervisors and cannot be fired by

14070-540: The legislature proposed the Digges Amendment to the state constitution. It would have used property requirements to effectively disenfranchise many African American men as well as many poor white men (including new immigrants). The Maryland General Assembly passed the bill, which Governor Austin Lane Crothers supported. Before the measure went to popular vote, a bill was proposed that would have effectively passed

14204-433: The less educated, less organized, more impoverished whites as well – and that would ensure one-party Democratic rules through most of the 20th century in the South". All the Southern states adopted provisions that restricted voter registration and suffrage, including new requirements for poll taxes , longer residency, and subjective literacy tests . Some also used the device of grandfather clauses , exempting voters who had

14338-454: The library in a special meeting. They have appealed the decision by the federal judge. According to the U.S. Census Bureau , the county has a total area of 966 square miles (2,500 km), of which 934 square miles (2,420 km) are land and 32 square miles (83 km) (3.3%) are covered by water. Enchanted Rock , a designated state natural area and popular tourist destination, is located in southern Llano county. Two significant rivers,

14472-674: The matter to the states. Subsequently, state constitutions conceptualized county governments as arms of the state. Louisiana instead adopted the local divisions called parishes that dated back to both the Spanish colonial and French colonial periods when the land was dominated by the Catholic Church . In the twentieth century, the role of local governments strengthened and counties began providing more services, acquiring home rule and county commissions to pass local ordinances pertaining to their unincorporated areas . In 1955, delegates to

14606-487: The negro to govern white men, and we never will.... I would to God the last one of them was in Africa and that none of them had ever been brought to our shores. White Democrats also opposed Republican economic policies such as the high tariff and the gold standard , both of which were seen as benefiting Northern industrial interests at the expense of the agrarian South in the 19th century. Nevertheless, holding all political power

14740-514: The next most common source of county names are geographic features and locations, with some counties even being named after counties in other states, or for places in other countries, such as the United Kingdom (the latter is most common in the area of the original Thirteen Colonies in the case of the United Kingdom, or in places which had a large number of immigrants from a particular area for other countries). The most common geographic county name

14874-424: The official record of all real estate transactions. Other key county officials include the coroner / medical examiner , treasurer , assessor , auditor , comptroller , and district attorney . In most states, the county sheriff is the chief law enforcement officer in the county. However, except in major emergencies where clear chains of command are essential, the county sheriff normally does not directly control

15008-704: The only border state to have civilian voting in the 1863 Confederate elections. By the time the Emancipation Proclamation was made in 1863, Tennessee was already under Union control. Accordingly, the Proclamation applied only to the 10 remaining Confederate states. Some of the border states abolished slavery before the end of the Civil War—Maryland in 1864 , Missouri in 1865, one of the Confederate states, Tennessee in 1865, West Virginia in 1865, and

15142-448: The police departments of city governments, but merely cooperates with them (e.g., under mutual aid pacts). Thus, the most common interaction between county and city law enforcement personnel is when city police officers deliver suspects to sheriff's deputies for detention or incarceration in the county jail. In most states, the state courts and local law enforcement are organized and implemented along county boundaries, but nearly all of

15276-402: The presidential level, voting for Warren G. Harding in 1920 and Herbert Hoover in 1928 . Oklahoma shifted earlier to supporting Republican presidential candidates, with the state voting for every Republican ticket since 1952 , except for Lyndon B. Johnson in his 1964 landslide. Oklahoma is the only Southern state to have never voted for a Democratic presidential candidate after 1964. It

15410-578: The relationship between counties and incorporated cities. The powers of counties arise from state law and vary widely. In Connecticut and Rhode Island , counties are geographic entities, but not governmental jurisdictions. At the other extreme, Maryland counties and the county equivalent City of Baltimore handle almost all services, including public education , although the state retains an active oversight authority with many of these services. Counties in Hawaii also handle almost all services since there

15544-576: The requirements of the Digges Amendment into law. Due to widespread public opposition, that measure failed, and the amendment was also rejected by the voters of Maryland with 46,220 votes for and 83,920 votes against the proposal. Nationally Maryland citizens achieved the most notable rejection of a black-disfranchising amendment. The power of black men at the ballot box and economically helped them resist these bills and disfranchising effort. In 1911 , Republican Phillips Lee Goldsborough (1912 to 1916)

15678-471: The state and federal levels during the Jim Crow era. Oklahoma elected three Republican U.S. Senators before 1964: John W. Harreld (1921-1927), William B. Pine (1925-1931), and Edward H. Moore (1943-1949). Oklahoma had a strong Republican presence in Northwestern Oklahoma , which had close ties to neighboring Kansas , a Republican stronghold. During the Civil War, most of present-day Oklahoma

15812-541: The state's French and Spanish colonial periods. Before the Louisiana Purchase and granting of statehood, government was often administered in towns where major church parishes were located. Of the original 19 civil parishes of Louisiana that date from statehood in 1807, nine were named after the Roman Catholic parishes from which they were governed. The structure and powers of a county government may be defined by

15946-421: The substantive and procedural law adjudicated in state trial courts originates from the state legislature and state appellate courts. In other words, most criminal defendants are prosecuted for violations of state law, not local ordinances, and if they, the district attorney, or police seek reforms to the criminal justice system, they will usually have to direct their efforts towards the state legislature rather than

16080-399: The term "county equivalent" to describe places that are comparable to counties, but called by different names. Louisiana parishes, the organized boroughs of Alaska, independent cities, and the District of Columbia are equivalent to counties for administrative purposes. Alaska's Unorganized Borough is further divided into 11 census areas that are statistically equivalent to counties. In 2024,

16214-525: The vote, and only a tiny number of Republicans holding state legislative seats or local offices. Mississippi and South Carolina were the most extreme cases – between 1900 and 1944 , only in 1928, when the three subcoastal Mississippi counties of Pearl River , Stone and George went for Hoover, did the Democrats lose even one of these two states' counties in any presidential election. The German-American Texas counties of Gillespie and Kendall , Arkansas Ozarks counties of Newton and Searcy , and

16348-550: The war "brought an abrupt departure from the South's economic backwardness, poverty, and distinctive rural life, as the region moved perceptively closer to the mainstream of national economic and social life." Florida began to expand rapidly after World War II, with retirees and other migrants in Central and South Florida becoming a majority of the state's population. Many of these new residents brought their Republican voting habits with them, diluting traditional Southern hostility to

16482-461: The winner of every presidential election except in 1956 . By the 1916 election , disfranchisement of blacks and many poor whites was complete, and voter rolls had dropped dramatically in the South. Closing out Republican supporters gave a bump to Woodrow Wilson , who took all the electors across the South (apart from Delaware and West Virginia), as the Republican Party was stifled without support by African Americans. The 1920 presidential election

16616-449: Was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.13 and the average family size was 2.56. In the county, the population was distributed as 15.9% under the age of 18, 4.5% from 18 to 24, 18.4% from 25 to 44, 30.5% from 45 to 64, and 30.7% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 53 years. For every 100 females, there were 94.4 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 91.7 males. The median income for

16750-554: Was African American. For West Virginia , " reconstruction , in a sense, began in 1861". Unlike the other border states , West Virginia did not send the majority of its soldiers to the Union. The prospect of those returning ex-Confederates prompted the Wheeling state government to implement laws that restricted their right of suffrage, practicing law and teaching, access to the legal system, and subjected them to "war trespass" lawsuits. The lifting of these restrictions in 1871 resulted in

16884-449: Was at the heart of their resistance. From 1876 through 1944, the national Democratic party opposed any calls for civil rights for black people. In Congress Southern Democrats blocked such efforts whenever Republicans targeted the issue. White Democrats passed " Jim Crow " laws which reinforced white supremacy through racial segregation . The Fourteenth Amendment provided for apportionment of representation in Congress to be reduced if

17018-408: Was considered part of the Solid South, but did not become a state until 1907 , and shared characteristics of both the border states and the former Confederate states in the Upper South . Oklahoma disenfranchised its African American population, which comprised less than 10% of the state's population from 1870 to 1960. However, Oklahoma did not enact a poll tax and remained electorally competitive at

17152-414: Was designated as Indian Territory and permitted slavery , with most tribal leaders aligning with the Confederacy. However, some tribes and bands sided with the Union , resulting in bloody conflict in the territory, with severe hardships for all residents. The Oklahoma Territory was settled through a series of land runs from 1889 to 1895, which included significant numbers of Republican settlers from

17286-440: Was dissolved by the District of Columbia Organic Act . Jefferson County , for Thomas Jefferson , is next with 26. The most recent president to have a county named for him was Warren G. Harding , reflecting the slowing rate of county creation since New Mexico and Arizona became states in 1912. The most common names for counties not named after a president are Franklin (25), Clay (18), and Montgomery (18). After people,

17420-452: Was elected governor, succeeding Crothers. Maryland elected two more Republican governors from 1877 to 1964, Harry Nice (1935 to 1939) and Theodore McKeldin (1951 to 1959). Despite Delaware not abolishing slavery until the ratification of the 13th amendment, due its proximity to the Northeast and not bordering any of the former Confederate States, Delaware voted for the Republican Party in

17554-418: Was one of only two Southern states, the other being Virginia, to be carried by Republican Gerald Ford in the 1976 presidential election . In contrast to the 11 former Confederate states, where almost all blacks were disenfranchised during the first half to two-thirds of the twentieth century , for varying reasons blacks remained enfranchised in the border states despite movements for disfranchisement during

17688-430: Was rebuffed on each occasion, in large part because of black opposition and strength. Black men comprised 20% of the electorate and had established themselves in several cities, where they had comparative security. In addition, immigrant men comprised 15% of the voting population and opposed these measures. The legislature had difficulty devising requirements against blacks that did not also disadvantage immigrants. In 1910,

17822-523: Was still a competitive state at both the state and federal levels. The Democratic Party in the state was heavily divided over free silver and the role of corporations in the middle 1890s, and lost the governorship for the first time in forty years in 1895 . In contrast to the former Confederate States, Kentucky was part of the Upper South and bordered the industrial Midwest across the Ohio River , and had

17956-556: Was taking 8% of the cotton in the country annually. A 2020 NBER paper found that the boll weevil spread contributed to fewer lynchings, less Confederate monument construction, less KKK activity, and higher non-white voter registration. Southern demography also began to change. From 1910 through 1970, about 6.5 million black Southerners moved to urban areas in other parts of the country in the Great Migration , and demographics began to change Southern states in other ways. The failures of

#537462