Nebraska is a US state in the Midwest of the United States. The
name Nebraska comes from the Oto or Omaha language and means
"shallow water". The name comes from the Platte River that flows
through the state. Originally part of the Great American Desert,
Nebraska is now one of the largest producers of agricultural
produce. This is also evidenced by Nebraska's nickname:
Cornhusker State (“corn sheller state”).
Nebraska's
modern agriculture has transformed the prairie plains into a
land of ranches and farms. Nebraska's recent history is
therefore deeply linked to agriculture.
1 Lincoln – Capital and second largest city of the state
2
Bellevue
3 Grand Island
4 Kearney
5 Hastings
6 Omaha – the
largest city in the state
7 Nebraska City - the city is famous for
its Arbor Day and also bills itself as "Home of the Arbor Day".
8
Norfolk
Homestead National Monument of America
By plane
Epley Airfield (Omaha Airport, IATA: OMA) . Nebraska's
largest airport.
Lincoln Airport (IATA: LNK)
By car
interstate
I29 runs from Kansas City, MO along the eastern border of
Nebraska to Sioux City, IA
I80 runs from Cheyenne WY through Nebraska
NE and on to Des Moines, IA
Highway
H81 from Wichita via York
to Salem SD
H20 from Cheyenne WY via Sidney and Omaha NE and on to IO
H26 from Casper WY to Ogallala NE
Nebraska's riparian states are South Dakota to the north; Iowa and
Missouri to the east, beyond the Missouri River; Kansas to the south;
Colorado to the southwest, and
Wyoming to the west. The largest city in
Nebraska is Omaha; the capital of Nebraska is Lincoln. The state is
divided into 93 counties.
Nebraska is located in the middle of
the Great Plains at the western foothills of the grain belt and is
counted predominantly in the Midwest. One of Nebraska's slogans is
"Where the West begins."
A special feature is that, no matter in
which direction, at least three borders to other states or the state
border to Canada have to be crossed to get to the sea.
Nebraska lies in two climate zones. The eastern half of the state is
located in the zone of humid continental climate, the western half - in
the zone of semi-arid climate. Nebraska as a whole has significant
seasonal fluctuations in temperature and precipitation. Average
temperatures with hot summers and cold winters for the entire state are
approximately the same. The average annual rainfall decreases from east
to west from 800 mm in the southeastern part of the state to 350 mm in
the western part. Humidity also drops significantly from east to west.
Snowfalls in Nebraska are quite frequent, in most of the state the snow
cover reaches from 65 to 90 cm. of the year).
Nebraska is located
in the so-called Tornado Alley. Thunderstorms, severe storms and
tornadoes are common in spring and summer.
The word "Nebraska" comes from the Sioux Indian language, where it sounded like Ñí Brásge or Ní Btháska, which means "flat water" and goes back to the name of the Platte River, which flows through this state.
The history of Nebraska begins approximately 12,000 years ago, when
the Great Plains were first settled by humans. By the time the first
European traders and explorers arrived, this part of the plains was
inhabited by indigenous peoples, the Pawnee and Sioux. By the end of the
17th century, the area was part of French Louisiana. In 1803, Louisiana
was sold to the United States, and it was intended to reserve the
territory for the indigenous peoples. In 1823, Jedediah Smith discovered
a pass through the Rocky Mountains, which allowed the construction of a
road along the Platte River, which began the settlement of Oregon and
Utah. The Mormons also used this route through Nebraska to travel west.
After the annexation of California and the start of the California Gold
Rush, Indian Country became an obstacle to the west, so in 1854 the
Kansas-Nebraska Act created two new territories, including the Nebraska
Territory. As a result of three treaties, the Pawnee tribes ceded their
territory (all of central Nebraska) to the government in exchange for a
small reservation (from where they were relocated to Oklahoma in 1876),
and three treaties with the Lakota, Cheyenne, and Arapaho gave white
settlers access to western Nebraska.
There were no military
actions in Nebraska during the Civil War, but three regiments were
formed from local residents for the federal army. On March 1, 1867,
Nebraska became the 37th state of the United States. In 1868, the Treaty
of Fort Laramie was signed, under which the Sioux tribes ceded their
lands in the west of the state to the government. In May 1869, the First
Transcontinental Railroad passed through Nebraska.
Nebraska
suffered greatly from droughts and the crisis of 1893, which led to the
growth of farmer protests and the formation of the Populist Party. In
1894, William Bryan was able to form a coalition of populists and
democrats, which dominated US politics for several years. At the
beginning of the 20th century, the ideology of populism began to give
way to progressivism. It continued in the 1920s, when highways were
built in Nebraska and the first airplanes appeared. During the Great
Depression, the economic crisis was superimposed on natural disasters.
Senator George Norris, an active supporter of President Roosevelt's
policies, initiated the adoption of several laws for the New Deal
program, he also sought to electrify rural regions of Nebraska and
proposed reforming the state legislature, which led to the emergence of
a unicameral legislature. After the end of World War II, Nebraska faced
a tax crisis, a decline in farms, population outflow and the problem of
"brain drain". A lot of controversy was caused by the project to build a
repository for radioactive waste, which was canceled after much debate
in 1999. In the early 20th century, Nebraska became a solidly "red"
(i.e., Republican) state, regularly voting for Republican candidates for
governor, senator, and president.
Studies of Clovis and Folsom sites have shown that the first people
(Paleo-Indians) appeared on the North American continent approximately
12,500 years before the present. However, excavations in the 1970s and
1980s showed that this could have happened earlier. Of particular
interest were the 1987 excavations at Medicine Creek in Nebraska:
mammoth bones were found, scattered in a random order by someone. It was
suggested that people were hunting here as early as 18,000 years ago.
Traditionally, the Paleo-Indian era is divided into the Early,
associated with the Clovis culture (11,500-11,000 years ago), the
Middle, associated with the Folsom culture (11,000-10,500), and the Late
(10,500-8,000). No Clovis or Folsom sites have been found in Nebraska,
although some artifacts from that era have been found. Their presence is
possible, since they are found in neighboring states: South Dakota,
Kansas, Colorado, and Wyoming. Several Late Paleoindian sites have been
found in western Nebraska.
Archaeological sites from the latter
era include Hudson Meg near Crawford (presumably a site of mass bison
slaughter), as well as Lime Creek, Allen, and Red Smoke in Frontier
County. The latter were studied in 1947 and 1952 and dated to the period
8,000-10,000 years before the present. Excavations have shown that
during this period, man was already switching from megafauna to smaller
game, in particular beavers and antelopes. The subsequent fate of the
Paleoindians on the Great Plains is unknown. There are suggestions that
they killed off all the game and went to other regions; perhaps they
left because of drought; it is possible that the population survived in
some regions. About 8,000 years ago, the megafauna on the plains
completely died out and man began to adapt to new living conditions. The
Archaic period began: tools became more complex and diverse, man began
to eat plants and even occasionally use fire.
One of the most
famous sites of the Archaic period is the Signal Butte site in Scotts
Bluff County, which is also one of the earliest sites of ancient man
studied by science on the Great Plains. The lower layers of this site
date back to the period 5,000-1,500 years BC.
In the 1st century
AD, the bearers of the Woodland culture settled on the Great Plains.
They led a less nomadic lifestyle, were mainly engaged in hunting, but
already grew some plants. They already knew how to make ceramics, but
large in size, presumably for storing food. In southern Nebraska and
northern Kansas, the Keith culture was present at this time,
characterized by large stone points, but small points have also been
found, suggesting that these people had already mastered the bow and
arrow.
Around 1000, the Plains Woodlanders were replaced by other
people who settled in large, unfortified villages and grew corn and
beans. In Nebraska history, this period is known as the "Plains Village
Period." They made high-quality pottery and a large number of complex
tools. These people disappeared after 1400, probably due to climate
change. As a result, the plains remained almost uninhabited until the
17th century.
The first written record of the Great Plains was in 1541, when the Spanish detachment of Francisco Coronado came here in search of gold and described the village of Quivira, which was supposedly located in Nebraska. Coronado wrote in his report that there was no gold or other metals there, and the people lived in huts made of branches and skins. Coronado mentions the name Tartarrax and the place Harahey, which can be recognized as words of the Caddo language or the language of the Pawnee Indians, so it is believed that Coronado visited a Pawnee settlement. This tribe dominated Nebraska after 1600; their self-designation is unknown, and the word "Pawnee" was introduced into use by the Frenchman La Salle. In 1673, this name appeared on the map of Jacques Marquette. Legends of the Pawnees themselves, recorded in the 19th century, claim that they came to Nebraska around the 13th century. The Pawnee lived in villages in the Platte River Valley, but their hunting territories extended far beyond the valley. Pawnee society was a confederation of several tribes: the Chauie, Kitkehahki, Pitahauirat, and Skidi. Each tribe had its own village (sometimes two) with a sanctuary. They lived as settled farmers for part of the year, growing corn, and hunted bison twice a year. Later, with the advent of horses, the Pawnee began to devote more time to bison hunting. The Spanish did not attach importance to this region until the early 18th century, when information arrived that the Indians were already trading with the French. In 1720, the governor of the province of Santa Fe de Nuevo Mexico sent his deputy Don Pedro de Villasur on a reconnaissance expedition to the plains. He set out from Santa Fe, reached the Platte River, crossed it, and approached the Loup River, where he set up camp. At dawn, the Pawnee Indians attacked his camp, killed Villasur and his men, and only 13 Spaniards managed to return to Santa Fe. This expedition was the northernmost undertaken by the Spanish and the first European incursion into Nebraska territory.
The French first explored Nebraska in 1714, when Etienne Vinard de
Bourgmont visited the Missouri Valley. He was the first to use the word
"Nebraska" in his description of his travels. "There is another large
river higher up the river," he wrote, "which the French and Indians call
the Nibraskier." This river was later called the Platte. Impressed by
Bourgmont's reports, the French Indian Company commissioned him to
establish a fort on the Missouri River; in the winter of 1723–24,
Bourgmont founded Fort Orleans, made treaties with neighboring tribes,
and soon returned to Paris, taking with him several local chiefs.
Nebraska was then inhabited by the Ponca, Omaha, Otoe-Missouri, and
Ioway Indians, and later by the Santee and Winnebago; all were members
of the Sioux group. Bourgmont's successes were not followed up, the
French showed little interest in the region, and in 1763 they were
forced to cede the entire Mississippi Valley to the Spanish.
The
Spanish attempted to establish trade with the Missouri Valley Indians
and sent three expeditions there, in 1794, in the spring and autumn of
1795, but all of them ended in failure. Meanwhile, France decided to
return Louisiana, since it was needed to supply the Caribbean colonies:
in 1800, Napoleon persuaded the Spanish king to cede Louisiana to
France. However, in 1803, an attempt to return the rebellious island of
San Domingo failed, and France was forced to abandon the Caribbean
colonies and, accordingly, Louisiana. It was decided to give Louisiana
to the Americans in order to prevent their rapprochement with Britain.
On April 30, 1803, Robert Livingston and James Monroe signed the
Louisiana Purchase Treaty. This allowed President Jefferson to realize
his long-held dream of exploring the West. As early as January 1803, he
had obtained Congressional approval for an expedition to the West, and
had assigned his secretary, Meriwether Lewis, to lead it. He was tasked
with establishing contacts with the tribes of the Missouri Valley,
assessing the amount of fur animals in the region, and finding outlets
to the Pacific Ocean. Lewis took William Clark, the younger brother of
John Rogers Clark, as his companion.
Lewis sailed from Pittsburgh on August 31, 1803, met Clark in
Louisville, after which the expedition left Kentucky, wintered near St.
Louis, and on May 14 continued on its way, now through territory
formally belonging to the United States. In June, they reached the
Kansas River, and on July 11, they camped at the mouth of the Big
Nemahoe River, in what is now Nebraska. Clark discovered burial mounds
near the camp, believed to be the present-day Leary Archaeological Site.
On July 21, the expedition reached the Platte River, and then went
upriver and camped at what would later be Fort Atkinson. Here, in
August, Clark met with the Missouri and Otoe chiefs, gave them gifts,
and explained that the French and Spanish had left and that the area was
now under U.S. jurisdiction. He stated that if the Indians behaved well,
a trading post would be established at the mouth of the Platte River,
where trade could be profitable.
In Clark's reports, he reported
large numbers of fur-bearing animals in Nebraska, which led to the
American fur trade shifting to the upper Mississippi. In 1807, a trading
post, Fort Raymond, was established on the Bighorn River as a base for
trading with the Blackfeet, and in 1809, the Missouri Fur Company was
founded with Clark's help. The focus of trade quickly shifted west and
north from Nebraska, but Nebraska was an important trading route. Also
in 1809, Fort Leesa was founded to trade with the Omaha, Otoe, and
Ioway. The War of 1812 subsequently stopped the trade, but it resumed in
1819.
After the War of 1812, Britain retained influence over the Indians of
the Northwest, conducted trade with them, and some tribes never
recognized the supremacy of the United States. For this reason,
President James Monroe decided to send a military expedition to the
Missouri Valley and entrusted the organization to Secretary of War John
Calhoun. The main goal was to establish a trading post at the confluence
of the Yellowstone and Missouri Rivers, so the expedition was called the
"Yellowstone Expedition". It was led by Colonel Henry Atkinson. At the
same time, Major Stephen Long led a second expedition to explore the
lands west of Council Bluff. Long's expedition used the paddle steamer
Western Engineer, which became the first steamboat on the Missouri
River. Long founded Engineer Cantonment, and Atkinson founded Missouri
Cantonment and spent the winter of 1819-1820 there. In the spring of
1820, Atkinson built a fort on the site of one of the camps of the Clark
expedition.
In the spring of 1820, Congress considered the
continuation of the expedition inexpedient, so Atkinson's detachment
remained at the fort, but Long's expedition continued. Long went up the
Platte River to the Rocky Mountains, which turned out to be impassable.
He turned south to find the sources of the Red River, but was unable to
find them. In the fall, the expedition ended, and based on its results,
three volumes of descriptions of the region were compiled. Long called
the territory of the future Nebraska unpromising and hardly suitable for
settlement. His statement that the lands between the Missouri and the
Rocky Mountains could not support a farmer was subsequently often
quoted.
Meanwhile, that same summer, the 6th US Infantry Regiment was
transferred to the fort founded by Atkinson, and the fort was renamed
Fort Atkinson by order of the Secretary of War. The military was
encouraged to take up farming, and Atkinson, who had some knowledge of
agriculture, quickly established vegetable growing and livestock
raising. Atkinson was soon transferred to St. Louis, and Colonel Henry
Leavenworth, who also had farming experience, became the fort's
commander. In July 1822, he reported that 517 acres of land had already
been cultivated, growing potatoes, beans, wheat, etc. Field work
required a large number of horses, for which a blacksmith shop was
built, and later a mill and a kiln for firing clay appeared.
In
1821, industrialist John Astor began buying furs in the region and
within five years had almost monopolized the fur trade from Missouri to
the Rocky Mountains. In 1822, his rival William Ashley organized an
expedition to establish trade with the Blackfoot tribes, but this caused
discontent among the Arikara tribe, who were middlemen in the fur trade
and did not want to lose this advantageous position: on June 2, 1823,
the Arikara attacked Ashley's expedition and killed 14 people. This was
reported to Fort Atkinson. Colonel Leavenworth realized that the army
had to respond to what had happened. On June 15, he left the fort with a
detachment of 230 people with two guns, but this raid did not affect the
position of the Arikara. Ashley abandoned plans to trade with the
Blackfoot.
Throughout the 1820s, Fort Atkinson remained the main
base protecting the fur trade and maintaining peace with the Indians. In
1825, a major military expedition led by Stephen Carney and Henry
Leavenworth traveled 2,000 miles in 18 weeks, and concluded 12 treaties
with 16 Indian tribes. These treaties rendered the fort militarily
useless, although it had become a thriving farming community at the
time. In June 1827, the 6th Infantry was transferred to St. Louis, and
later that year, Fort Leavenworth was established at the head of the
Santa Fe Trail. Fort Atkinson lasted only 8 years, but it marked an
important era for the region: its inhabitants managed to survive on the
Great Plains, successfully farmed the land, proved its fertility, and
generally showed that Nebraska was suitable for farming. During these
years, the state of Missouri was admitted to the Union (1821) and the
Santa Fe Trail was opened, passing through the territory of the future
state of Kansas, through the lands of the Kansa tribe. In 1825,
government representatives met with the Kansa chiefs and concluded the
Treaty with the Kansa, in which the Indians ceded territory in Kansas
and a small area near the southern border of modern Nebraska.
Shortly after Fort Atkinson closed, Andrew Jackson became president
in 1829 and decided to end the problem of the native peoples of the
southeast and midwest by moving them somewhere where they would not
interfere with the settlers. Since the reports of Long and other
explorers showed that the lands west of the Missouri were of no interest
to settlers, it was decided to allocate territory there for Indian
settlement. On May 28, 1830, Jackson signed the Indian Removal Act, and
in 1834 another act defined the boundaries of the territory: west of the
Mississippi, from the Platte River to the Red River. The same act
introduced licensing of traders and prohibited the sale of alcohol in
Indian territory, although it was not possible to completely prevent the
sale of alcohol.
When the removal of the Indians began, several
religious organizations agreed with the government to establish
Christian missions in Indian territory to combat the influence of
alcohol and adapt the Indians to European culture. In 1833, the first
Baptist mission opened on the Otoe-Missouri lands near Bellevue, where a
school for the Indians was opened. However, the head of the mission died
in 1840. In 1834, a Presbyterian mission opened among the Pawnee
Indians, but it closed two years later, moved to Bellevue, and ceased
operations in 1846.
After the Louisiana Purchase, it became necessary to find a route to
the Pacific Ocean; the Lewis and Clark expedition route ran too far
north, so settlers began to use either the Santa Fe Trail or the Platte
River Road. The most difficult route was through the Rocky Mountains. In
1813, the South Passage was discovered by Robert Stewart of the American
Fur Company of industrialist and trader John Astor, but the discovery
remained a company secret. In 1823, Jedediah Smith's trapper party
discovered the South Passage, but it was not until 1838 that Reverend
William Gray traveled all the way to Oregon with a trading caravan,
proving the route was passable for wagons.
The crisis of 1837,
the end of the fur trade, and a new crisis in 1841 changed the nature of
colonization: now people went west not for fur animals, but to develop
the fertile lands of Oregon. In 1840, Joel Walker and a group of
settlers traveled along the Platte River to Oregon with the last fur
caravan. In 1841, 61 people from the Bidwell and Bartleson party
traveled this way. In 1842, another party of 100 people passed through,
and then John Fremont's expedition, with the participation of Kit
Carson, traveled the trail to the South Passage. Fremont's reports made
the Platte River Trail famous and created an image of it as the best
route to the West. In the 1840s and 1850s, thousands of people were
using the trail. It was 2,000 miles long, and the exact route changed
from time to time. Until 1847, the starting point was usually
Independence, Missouri, then it moved to St. Joseph to avoid crossing
the Kansas River.
Fremont's report was probably the first
document to mention the word Nebraska. Fremont called the Platte River
by this word. Within two years, it was proposed to name the entire
region Nebraska, after the river.
In addition to the routes to California and Oregon, a route to Salt Lake City appeared, where the Mormons settled in 1847. After the death of Joseph Smith, they decided to move west, beyond the Missouri River, but whites were forbidden to settle beyond the river. Then they turned to President Polk for help through Thomas Kane. They offered to provide volunteers for the Mexican War, and in return asked for permission to settle in Indian Territory. Polk agreed, and in July 1846 the Mormon Battalion was formed, which was placed under the command of General Stephen Carney at Fort Leavenworth. After this, 3,000 Mormons crossed the Missouri from Iowa and built "Winter Quarters" on the site of the future city of Florence. Those who remained in Iowa founded the settlement of Kanesville, in honor of Thomas Kane, later renamed Council Bluffs. In April 1847, a reconnaissance party of 148 people headed west, moving along the north side of the Platte River to meet fewer whites. In July, they founded a settlement at the Great Salt Lake, where another 2,000 people moved that same year. In 1848, another 3,000 people moved to the lake. From 1852 to 1956, the Mormons were actively engaged in proselytizing and resettling new converts to the lake. In 1855 alone, 4,225 people were resettled. Since 1856, the Mormons began using hand-pulled wagons, each usually pulled by a man and three women. The Mormon migration continued on these wagons until 1869, when the Transcontinental Railroad opened.
In January 1848, gold was discovered in California, which led to a
new phase of migration: in the spring of 1849, about 20,000 people
gathered at the beginning of the route in Independence and Fort
Leavenworth. From there they went to Fort Kearney (founded in 1848 on
the Platte River) and on to Fort Laramie. To add to the difficulties of
the journey, a cholera epidemic broke out that year. In total, about
40,000 people traveled the route in 1849, and in 1850, 65,000. In 1852,
70,000 travelers were recorded, and in 1853 the Gold Rush began to
subside. From 1849 onwards, many paper guides appeared, but many of them
were retellings of Fremont's reports. Many former fur trappers now
retrained as guides.
The trail was in operation from April or
May, with wagons moving at a speed usually not exceeding 15 miles per
day. Mortality was quite high: according to rough estimates, one in 17
travelers died on the way. Cholera was a common cause of death: in 1849,
750 people died from it. The danger from the Indians was more imaginary
than real; until 1860, they almost never attacked caravans. During the
entire existence of the road, the death rate at the hands of the Indians
was only 4%. Despite this, the army provided protection for the
caravans. In 1849, Fort Laramie was purchased from a private fur
company, which became the main headquarters of the army on the plains.
Travelers stopped at the forts to rest, repair wagons, or buy food.
The Platte River Road contributed to the development of Nebraska:
army forts appeared, where the military took up agriculture, the army
presence required the presence of artisans and other infrastructure. The
flow of settlers changed the lives of the Indians, who received more
opportunities for trade and sale of services, but this same flow led to
a reduction in the number of wild animals, depletion of pastures, and
also brought epidemics to the plains. Through the letters of travelers,
information about the Great Plains reached the East of the country. One
of the contemporaries wrote that the lands here were so good that any
resident of the Old States would certainly write to his friends,
inviting them to move to the West.
By the early 1850s, the Pacific coastline had become part of the
United States, and it was necessary to build a railroad from East to
West. Several options for the route of such a road were considered.
Northern politicians proposed northern options, for example, along the
Platte River, but the Indian Territory became an obstacle to this
project. Senator Stephen Douglas dreamed of a road across the Platte,
which would turn Chicago into an important railroad hub. It was he who
proposed to Congress in 1844 the creation of the Nebraska Territory, and
then repeated his proposal several times. In 1854, he took up this
project again, but this time the southern politicians were against the
road. If Nebraska became a state, it would become a free state,
according to the terms of the Missouri Compromise. In the 1850s, when
California, contrary to the Missouri Compromise, entered the Union as a
free state, a proposal arose to leave the question of the presence or
absence of slavery to the discretion of the state's residents. According
to these rules, the territories of New Mexico and Utah were created, and
then it was Nebraska's turn. It was needed for the construction of the
railroad, so large rallies calling for the creation of this territory
were held in Iowa and Missouri. Pro-Southern politicians were initially
against it, but when it became clear that the Missouri Compromise had
lost its force and the question of slavery in Nebraska would be decided
by the population itself, they changed their attitude and spoke out in
favor of creating the territory.
On January 9-10, 1854, a
convention of Nebraska delegates met in St. Joseph, Missouri, which
called for an expedited decision on the issue of organizing the
territory. Douglas actively supported this statement. Requests came from
the few residents of Nebraska and even from the Wyandot Indians, who
hoped that the territorial government would help resolve their disputes
with the settlers. On February 2, 1853, a bill to create the territory
of Nebraska was submitted by Congressman William Richardson from
Illinois. The bill easily passed the House of Representatives, but
failed in the Senate: it did not mention the issue of slavery, and it
was assumed that it would be resolved according to the principles of the
Missouri Compromise. Another bill was proposed on December 14, and on
January 4, 1854, Douglas filed another bill that proposed creating two
territories at once: Kansas and Nebraska. This bill was initially called
the "Nebraska-Kansas Act", but went down in history as the
"Kansas-Nebraska Act". The law stipulated that the question of the
legality of slavery in these territories would be decided by the
residents themselves, which effectively canceled the Missouri
Compromise. The law passed the Senate on March 3 by 37 votes to 14. On
May 21, the bill with amendments passed the House of Representatives
(113-100), and on May 25, the Senate adopted the amended version. On May
30, the law was signed by President Franklin Pierce. Several protest
rallies immediately took place in the north, accusing Douglas of
dividing the Nebraska territory into two parts and giving Kansas to
slave owners. The Republican Party gradually took shape in the wake of
these protests. Douglas was later condemned by many historians, although
his main motive was to extend US laws (in the form of a territorial
government) to lands through which a railroad was supposed to be built.
Nebraska became a territory in the years when its population consisted
of a group of missionaries in Bellevue, a small community at Fort
Kearney, and a few squatters on the west bank of the Missouri River.
After the act was passed, Peter Sarpy, the owner of a trading post in
Bellevue, immediately began to agitate for the territorial government to
be located in this town. Many more settlements arose on the banks of the
Missouri, which hoped to become prosperous cities, so they were
immediately given names with the prefix "-City". This is how Bellevue
City, Kearny City, Nebraska City, Omaha City, City of Chester and others
came into being. Omaha City was founded on the site of the Mormon
settlement of Kanesville, which in 1852 was renamed Council Bluffs, and
in 1853 was renamed Omaha. By 1854 there were already 20 houses, two
hotels and its own newspaper.
In January 1855, the first survey
patent was issued and by 1857, 2.5 million acres of land had been
divided into lots and put up for sale. Some of this land already had
owners who, to protect their interests, united in Land Owners' Clubs,
semi-legal organizations that, however, maintained order in the region,
enjoyed the trust of the population and eventually became something of a
government agency. The first session of the territorial legislature
legalized them. On October 7, 1854, the first territorial governor,
South Carolinian Francis Burt, arrived in the territory, in the city of
Bellevue. He fell ill on the way, so on October 16 he took the oath of
office as governor in bed, and died two days later. Thomas Cuming became
acting governor.
It is not known where Burt intended to place the
territorial capital, but Cuming's first order of business was to conduct
a census (which revealed 2,732 residents in Nebraska) and then convene
the first territorial legislature in Omaha. It met on January 16, 1855,
in the only brick building in Omaha. Almost the entire first session was
spent arguing about the legality of placing the capital in Omaha, but
Omaha's opponents were too disunited and did not achieve success. On
February 20, 1855, the new governor, Kentuckian Mark Izard, arrived in
Omaha. At his suggestion, Iowa laws were temporarily introduced in
Nebraska, since many of the state's residents came from Iowa and were
accustomed to these laws. Under his rule, a system of public schools was
introduced, interracial marriages were prohibited, and a ban on the
production, sale, and consumption of alcohol was introduced. The latter
law lasted until 1858. On January 8, 1856, activist Amelia Bloomer
petitioned the legislature to grant women the right to vote. The
proposal passed by a vote of 14 to 11, but for organizational reasons
the bill never passed, and Nebraska missed its historic chance to become
the first state to grant women the right to vote.
In December
1857, after a series of disagreements with the legislature, Governor
Izard resigned and President Buchanan appointed William Richardson of
Illinois to replace him. In 1858, Secretary Thomas Cuming died, and
Sterling Morton, an advocate of moving the capital from Omaha, became
territorial secretary under the patronage of Lewis Cass (the U.S.
Secretary of State). Richardson accepted the position in January 1858,
but abruptly resigned in December due to disagreements with President
Buchanan's policies. At this time, the crisis of 1857 had already
reached Nebraska, all of Nebraska's banks immediately went bankrupt, the
entire financial system collapsed, and the territory was left
practically without money. The crisis forced many residents to leave
Nebraska, and those who remained were forced to engage in agriculture.
Thanks to this, Nebraska stopped depending on imported food and began
selling goods to the east and south itself. In February 1859, President
Buchanan appointed Samuel Black as territorial governor - he became the
first governor from among Nebraska residents. On his recommendation, the
legislature decided to hold elections for a constitutional convention in
March 1860, thus beginning the process of joining the Union. A bill
banning slavery in Nebraska passed both houses of the legislature, but
the governor vetoed it. However, as the convention approached, a split
emerged in opinion: the Democrats, who dominated the lands south of the
Platte River, favored statehood, while the Republicans, who dominated
north of the river, were against it. Because of this split, the
convention was postponed for several years.
In March 1861, the
Dakota Territory was organized, which included all of the northern part
of the Nebraska Territory north of the 43rd parallel.
In 1850, the Utah Territory was formed, and conflicts with the Mormons immediately began. The US authorities wanted to introduce a federal judicial system in the territory, but the Mormons already had their own judicial system, which they did not want to give up. In early 1857, federal administrators were forced to leave Utah, and in May, President Buchanan ordered the army to enter Utah to enforce federal laws. The Mormon War began. The Russell, Majors, and Waddell Transportation Company won the tender to supply the army and the garrisons of Fort Riley and Fort Laramie. The wagon trains were to leave Fort Leavenworth and go to Fort Laramie, from where they would get to Utah along the Oregon Trail. But this route was time-consuming, so Russell proposed making Nebraska City the starting point, and Fort Kearney the second base. This measure changed the life of Nebraska City and helped it overcome the consequences of the crisis of 1857. Majors bought 138 plots of land in the city, where he located his office, warehouses and workshops. At the peak of activity, 66 transport companies operated in the city. In 1858, 34 wagon trains were sent west, half of which were unloaded at Fort Kearney. In 1859, about a hundred wagon trains left. In 1859, President Buchanan stopped hostilities and moved on to negotiations. The war ended, but 3,000 soldiers remained in Utah. At this time, trading companies realized that it made sense to supply goods to the civilian population of Utah. The Mormons were successfully engaged in agriculture, but they lacked artisans and industrial goods. Therefore, after the end of the war, trade only increased. In 1859, gold was discovered in Colorado and the Colorado Gold Rush began, further increasing the volume of traffic passing through Omaha and Nebraska City. To compete with Omaha, Majors began pushing for better roads from Nebraska City to Fort Kearney.
In December 1860, the 7th Nebraska Legislature convened, where
Governor Black delivered a speech in support of the Union. The
legislature again passed a bill prohibiting slavery, but the governor
again vetoed it. On February 24, 1861, Black resigned his commission and
returned to Pennsylvania, where he formed the 62nd Pennsylvania
Infantry, became its colonel, and was killed in 1862 at the Battle of
Gaines' Mill. On May 11, 1861, President Lincoln appointed Alvin
Saunders of Iowa as governor. At this time the Civil War had already
begun. It was not favored in Nebraska, since it weakened the garrisons
at Fort Kearney and on the plains.
After the withdrawal of the
Federal garrisons, Nebraska was ordered to form an infantry regiment for
service in the United States Army. It was assumed that it would remain
in the state for protection against Indians. The 1st Nebraska Infantry
Regiment, numbering 1,000 men, was formed at Omaha in the summer of 1861
under the command of Colonel John Thayer, but almost immediately orders
came to transport it to Missouri. The first companies departed on the
steamboat West Wind on July 20, 1861. They were stationed at Pilot Knob
near St. Louis, where the regiment remained all winter. In February
1862, it was sent to reinforce Grant's army, and took part in the
capture of Fort Henry and the siege of Fort Donelson. In April, the
regiment was assigned to Lew Wallace's division, Thayer's brigade, and
took part in the Battle of Shiloh, where it arrived on the second day of
hostilities. Subsequently, until February 1863, the regiment was
stationed in Missouri and took part in an unsuccessful campaign in
Arkansas. In December 1863, the regiment was reformed as a cavalry
regiment and subsequently fought against guerrillas in Arkansas. In
August 1864, the regiment was disbanded.
In 1908, it was
estimated that 239 Nebraskans died in the war from all causes, and 35
died in combat. These figures are probably underestimates, but it is
impossible to verify them due to the loss of many documents.
The Civil War accelerated the decision to build a railroad to
California. The northern states needed better communication with the
western states, and the departure of southern senators from Congress
removed opposition to the construction. On June 20, 1862, Congress
passed the Pacific Railroad Act, and President Lincoln signed it on July
1. In December 1863, it was decided that the road would begin in the
east at Omaha. By the fall of 1865, the financing problem was solved and
the first 15 miles of the road were laid from Omaha to the west. Omaha
became the headquarters of the construction, housing the main warehouses
for building materials and the homes of the builders, and only when the
road had stretched for 200 miles were the headquarters and warehouses
moved to Kearney. The road reached Kearney in August 1866, and North
Platte by November. In June 1867, the line crossed into Colorado, then
returned to Nebraska, and by the end of the year had crossed into
Wyoming. On April 10, 1869, the eastern half of the line joined the
western half near Salt Lake City.
The railroad was a major factor
in the development of Nebraska in the post-war years. The population of
all the states through which it passed roughly doubled in the 1860s, and
Nebraska's population increased by 326 percent between 1860 and 1870.
War veterans formed a new wave of migrants, and most of them went to
work building new railroads. In 1869, the Burlington Railroad laid 191
miles of track to Fort Kearney, and by 1882 the bridge across the
Missouri was completed.
In January 1864, Governor Saunders recommended to the legislature
that the admission process be resumed, and asked the U.S. Senate to pass
a law on the procedure for admitting Nebraska. On April 19, Congress was
asked to authorize the formation of a state government. In June,
Saunders called a constitutional convention for July 4. This time,
however, the Democrats opposed the formation of a state, and the
convention broke up without adopting a constitution. But Saunders and
his Republican supporters persisted; in 1866, they proposed adopting a
constitution without a convention, simply by legislative action, and
then submitting it to a referendum for approval. A small committee
secretly drafted a constitution, submitted it to the state senate on
February 5, 1866, and the legislature accepted it, which the governor
promptly signed. It was not printed, and few saw it in the early days.
When the Nebraska Constitution was published, it turned out that it only
briefly described the composition of the government and said almost
nothing about its functioning. Since the Nebraska authorities did not
have enough money, the government was made extremely cheap: the governor
received $ 1,000 per year, the state treasurer $ 400, members of the
legislature $ 3 per day. An election of officials was scheduled for June
2, 1866. The Republicans nominated David Butler for governor, and the
Democrats were initially against the constitution, but eventually
resigned themselves to its adoption and nominated Sterling Morton. The
election was emotional, and eventually the constitution was adopted
(3,938 for, 3,838 against), and Butler was elected governor (4,093 for,
3,984 against). On July 4, 1866, the Nebraska legislature convened for
session and nominated Thomas Tipton and John Thayer as Republican
candidates for senators. At the July 11 election, Tipton was chosen as
senator from the region south of the Platte River, and Thayer as senator
from the region north of the river.
When the Nebraska
Constitution was debated in Washington, it was discovered that it gave
the vote only to whites. This caused a protest from the Radical
Republicans, one of whom (Senator George Edmunds of Vermont) proposed
that Nebraska be admitted to the Union only if blacks were given the
vote. Moderate Republicans did not attach much importance to the voting
restrictions, since many states in the Union at that time had similar
restrictions, but they yielded to the pressure of the Radicals, and the
Nebraska admission bill was passed with the "Edmunds Amendment."
President Johnson immediately vetoed it. At the new session of the 39th
Congress in December 1866, the bill (with the amendment) was again
passed, and the president again vetoed it, and then Congress passed the
bill overriding the veto on February 9, 1867.
On February 20,
1867, the state legislature convened, passed the Black Voting Rights
Act, sent it to Washington, and on March 1, the president reluctantly
signed it. Nebraska became the 37th state of the United States. At that
time, Nebraska was only 20% of the original Nebraska Territory. Back in
1861, part of the territory was allocated to the Colorado Territory,
then another part was allocated to the Dakota Territory, and then
another part was added to the Idaho Territory. As a result, in 1867,
Nebraska consisted of 73,995 square miles. Later, in 1890, part of the
Great Sioux Reservation was added to Nebraska, slightly adjusting the
boundaries, and the state's territory reached its current area of
77,358 square miles or almost 50 million acres.
From the very first days, the state government had to work under the
rules of the hastily drafted constitution of 1866 and in the conditions
of an unstable economy, and it had to survive several major corruption
scandals. In April 1867, the governor called the legislature into
session to discuss numerous issues, but the issue of moving the capital
again came to the forefront. On June 14, a law on moving the capital and
creating a new city named "Lincoln" was finally passed. In July, a
special commission began to look for a place for the new capital and
chose a site near Lancaster, close to the salt marshes where it was
supposed to begin to mine salt. In August, the sites were marked out,
and on September 17, sites for private development were put up for sale.
Sales were slow at first, and only with great difficulty did they manage
to sell sites for $34,000. It was not immediately possible to find an
architect for the capitol project, then there were problems with
building materials, but eventually on December 1, 1868, the capitol was
ready. It cost $83,000 and was so poorly built that a new one had to be
built 10 years later.
On June 15, 1867, the legislature adopted
the official seal of the state. It was decided that it would depict a
steamboat ascending the Missouri River, with a blacksmith in the center,
a settler's house behind him, symbolizing the farmers of Nebraska, and
in the background a train heading for the Rocky Mountains, with the
Rocky Mountains themselves, with the state motto "Equality Under the
Law" written on a ribbon above them.
Butler was re-elected in
1868, and in 1869 the legislature met in the new capitol building. The
opposition revealed numerous abuses during the construction: money was
borrowed from other funds, officials lent part of the money to their
friends, received bribes and speculated in land, but the legislature
turned a blind eye to this: the construction was considered successful,
the state economy was growing, and people did not attach importance to
individual violations of the law. In his second term, Butler continued
his abuses, and before the elections of 1870 he again became the object
of harsh criticism, but this time he also managed to find an explanation
for his actions, and in 1870 he was re-elected for a third term.
However, already in 1871, the disappearance of 16 thousand dollars in
federal money was discovered. On March 6, the state House of
Representatives impeached the governor. On June 1, the Senate found the
governor guilty (by a vote of 9 to 3) and decided to remove him from
office (11 to 1). Secretary of State William James became acting
governor. The legislature ordered the governor to pay $23,000, which
included the seizure of 3,300 acres of his land. Despite this, Butler
was elected to the Senate in 1882 and ran for governor in 1888.
By the early 1870s, there was a need to revise the 1866 constitution. The main reasons were the rapid growth of the state's population, the Butler scandal, the growing power of large corporations, and the need for educational reform. On March 27, 1871, the legislature passed a law calling for a constitutional convention. 55 delegates to this convention met on June 13, 1871. The most controversial issue was women's voting. It was discussed for a whole month until opponents managed to push it into the background. In addition, issues of compulsory schooling and the right to impeach officials were discussed. On August 7, women's voting rights were again recalled: it was proposed to conduct a survey of the female population of the state to find out whether they wanted to have such a right. A compromise on this issue was reached on August 18, the day before the end of the convention. It was decided to put the question of women's suffrage to a separate vote, simultaneously with the vote on the constitution. Several other proposals were also put to a separate vote, in particular the proposal to prohibit alcohol. The new constitution retained many provisions of the 1866 constitution, but also borrowed much from the Illinois constitution of 1871. It introduced the principle of separation of powers and a system of checks and balances. A Supreme Court was introduced, as well as the position of lieutenant governor and the mandatory three readings of a law before adoption. In August, the constitution was published for public discussion, and on September 19, a vote was held. 48.1% (7,986 people) voted for it and 51.9% (8,627 people) voted against it. Mostly residents of the territories south of the Platte River voted in favor of the constitution, and those who lived north of it voted against it. 61.3% of the state's residents voted against compulsory education, 62.6% against alcohol prohibition, and 78.1% against women's suffrage. This right was subsequently proposed several more times, but it was not until 1919 that it became law. The outcome of the vote led to a conflict with the governor: residents of the south proposed to reconvene the convention and adopt an amended constitution, but the governor vetoed this proposal. The legislators tried to remove the governor from office, but he turned off the heat in the Capitol, which forced the legislators to adjourn the session.
Calls for another convention were heard from time to time from 1871
to 1873. By 1873, the problem was exacerbated by the fact that the
population of the western part of the state had grown dramatically, but
was inadequately represented in the legislature. That same year, the
legislature proposed a bill to call a convention, but Governor Robert
Furness vetoed it. The legislature tried again at the next session and
on February 20, 1875, passed a bill to call a convention. The new
governor, Silas Garber, did not object and signed the bill.
All
materials on the work of the 1875 convention are now lost, but judging
by the recollections of the participants, it did not last long, from May
11 to June 12, and in fact only approved the decisions of the 1871
convention with minor adjustments. On October 12, 1875, a vote was held
on a new constitution and two separate questions. 84.7% of those who
voted this time spoke in favor of the constitution. It was very close to
the constitution of 1871 and also had many borrowings from the Illinois
constitution. It introduced a Supreme Court, headed by three judges with
a salary equal to the governor's ($2,500 per year). Members of the
Legislative Assembly now received $3 for each day of session, but not
more than 45 days. The state was prohibited from lending money to
corporations. As a result, the constitution turned out to be quite
flexible and, after a number of amendments, has existed to this day.
Even the transformation of the legislature into a unicameral body was
introduced in 1934 by amendment.
Since the creation of the Mississippi River Indian Territory in 1830,
the federal government had been trying to persuade the Nebraska Indians
to cede some of their lands to accommodate the Indians displaced from
the east. Lakota raids and the depletion of the plains bison population
were additional motivations for the relocation. One of the largest
clashes between the Pawnee and the Lakota occurred in 1873, when 1,000
Lakota attacked 350 Pawnee Indians hunting bison on August 5. Twenty
Pawnee warriors and about fifty women and children were killed in the
Battle of Massacre Canyon. The American government paid the Pawnee
$9,000 in compensation, which was deducted from the annual payments to
the Lakota Indians. In addition to the raids, the Pawnee suffered
greatly from smallpox epidemics in 1800-1801 and 1837-1838, and by 1869
their numbers had dwindled to 2,400. The Pawnee switched to agriculture,
but because of this, they suffered from a locust plague in the 1870s.
Eventually, by 1876, the Pawnee sold all of their lands to the federal
government and agreed to relocation. The small Otoe and Missouri tribes
had given up their lands in the 1830s and lived on a small reservation,
but this did not save them from the Lakota, so by 1869 they sold their
last lands and began moving to Indian Territory. The relocation lasted
almost 10 years, and during this time only about 400 people remained
from the Otoe-Missouri tribe. In 1854, the Omaha tribe gave up all their
lands in the northeast of the state, keeping a small reservation. There
were opportunities for both agriculture and hunting, so the Omaha
quickly became the richest tribe in Nebraska.
The Dakota Indians
sold all their lands east of the Mississippi in 1837 and moved to a
reservation in Minnesota, but disagreements over monetary compensation
led to the so-called Sioux Rebellion in 1862, which was essentially a
Dakota uprising. The uprising was suppressed, but the residents of
Minnesota demanded the complete expulsion of the Dakota, and in 1866 the
federal government allocated them a small reservation in Nebraska, in
Knox County, now known as the Santee Reservation.
The small Ponca
tribe found itself in a difficult situation: part of their historic
lands were within the boundaries of a tract sold by the Omaha in 1854.
The Lakota claimed the rest of their lands. In 1858, the government
moved the Ponca to a reservation on Ponca Creek, but this did not save
them from Lakota raids. Droughts and locusts ruined their crops, bison
became scarce, and federal food aid was insufficient. In 1865, they were
allowed to return to their former lands at the mouth of Ponca Creek, but
locusts again destroyed their crops in 1867 and 1868. In 1868, the
government signed the Treaty of Fort Laramie, creating a reservation for
the Dakota and Lakota, and the Ponca, through an oversight, found
themselves within the reservation. The Lakota raids became more
frequent, so in 1877 the Ponca were relocated to Oklahoma. US Secretary
of the Interior Carl Schurz demanded the use of force if necessary. Many
Ponca died during the relocation, the rest suffered greatly from
epidemics unfamiliar to them in Oklahoma. They asked to be returned
back, but they were refused, so as not to create a precedent.
Chief Standing Bear regularly complained to the government about their
living conditions, and even visited Washington, where he met with
President Hayes. He allowed the Ponca to find better land for themselves
in Oklahoma, but the Ponca were unable to live there either, and the
chief's only son died in December 1877. Then Standing Bear gathered 30
reliable supporters, and in January 1879 secretly returned to Nebraska.
On March 4, they reached the Omaha reservation, where they were well
received, but General George Crook learned of their arrival and ordered
the arrest of the Ponca. However, after looking into the situation, he
realized that the Ponca were more likely to be victims of corruption,
and he decided to help them secretly. He told the editor of a major
newspaper about the Ponca's problems, who immediately notified every
Methodist church and newspaper across the country. Lawyers emerged who
claimed that the government was violating the 14th Amendment of the
Constitution and was holding the Ponca illegally. The case, Standing
Bear v. Crook, went to trial, and on May 12, Judge Elmer Dundee ruled in
favor of the Ponca. It was ruled that there was no legal basis for
returning them to Indian Territory. The following year, the Ponca
reclaimed the lands they had lost in 1868 through the courts. Standing
Bear and his people became known as the Northern Ponca tribe, and those
who remained in Oklahoma gained separate status.
Nebraska agriculture had its ups and downs, but by 1880 it had become
the state's leading industry. Despite this, many farmers were in debt
and were badly hit by the drought that hit Kansas, Colorado, and
Nebraska in 1890. The years 1891 and 1892 were good, but the drought
returned in 1893. Some farmers left Nebraska, while others turned to
irrigation, soil conservation, and new crop varieties. The first
attempts at canal construction were made in 1885 and 1887. In 1889, the
state passed its first irrigation laws. The Nebraska Irrigation
Association was formed in February 1881. At the same time, discontent
was growing over railroad abuses and their ties to the state
legislature. The earliest attempt to organize farmers to fight for their
common interests was the Grange, which was not intended to be a
political party, but quickly became one. It was founded in the early
1870s, reached its peak in 1875, but then declined, and was replaced by
the National Farmers' Alliance. It is not known exactly when and how it
was formed: according to one theory, it was created by Grange members in
New York in 1877, according to another, it appeared in Kansas in 1874.
The first cell of the party was formed in Nebraska in 1880, and the
Nebraska Farmers' Alliance was formed in January 1881 in Lincoln. Crop
failures in the late 1880s made the Alliance stronger and more radical,
so in 1887 it demanded that the government limit railroad companies and
free coinage of silver coins. Like Grange, the Alliance was initially
reluctant to get involved in politics, but gradually it became clear
that neither the Democrats nor the Republicans were inclined to help the
farmers, and they decided to act independently. On May 29, a convention
of delegates from all the counties of the state met in Lincoln and
announced the creation of the People's Party, which became better known
as the Populist Party. This alarmed both existing parties, which
immediately began to attack their competitors, portraying farmers as
lazy, naive people who did not appreciate their advantages. That same
year, elections to the state legislature were held, which became an
unexpected triumph for the Populists: they captured the majority in both
houses, pushing the Republicans into the category of a parliamentary
minority. Now there were 18 Populists, 8 Democrats and 7 Republicans in
the state Senate. In the elections to the US House of Representatives,
the Populists won in two of the three congressional districts. Democrat
James Boyd won the gubernatorial election, but Governor Thayer declared
him not a citizen and refused to resign. The Supreme Court advised
Thayer to give in, so on January 15, 1891, he resigned and Boyd became
governor.
Boyd's rise to power dealt a heavy blow to the Populist
Party and their fight against the railroad companies. He sided with the
railroads and vetoed all bills to limit them. Only on May 5, 1891, the
Populist-dominated Supreme Court ruled that Boyd could not hold the
governorship after all and restored Thayer to the post. Boyd appealed to
the U.S. Supreme Court, drawing attention to the fact that he had
repeatedly held administrative positions and won many elections. The
court ruled that Boyd, although not on paper, had proven in practice
that he was a citizen, and the people recognized him as such. Thayer was
again ousted, and Boyd became governor again. His brief tenure deprived
the Populists of all the benefits of their victory in the 1890
elections. At the same time, they were hurt by the victory of William
Bryan, who entered Congress on the same platform as the Populists.
In 1890, the United States conducted a census, according to which
Nebraska received the right to send 6 members of the House of
Representatives to Congress, so in 1891 the state was divided into 6
congressional districts.
In 1893, a crisis began, which greatly
affected agricultural states, and Nebraska in particular. Land worth $40
an acre fell in price to $2. The crisis exacerbated the disputes over
the gold standard and split the Democratic Party into "Gold Democrats"
and "Silver Democrats". Nebraska Congressman William Bryan was a "Silver
Democrat" who decided to take advantage of his opponents' weakness and
unite the Populists with the Democrats. He initiated the formation of
the Democratic Free Coinage League in 1894, which nominated Bryan for
senator and Silas Holcomb, a former Populist, for governor. This event
was often called the "Revolution of 1894." Bryan managed to form a
coalition that dominated politics for the next five years. This event
also marked the beginning of the decline of Populism and the emergence
of Progressive ideology in Nebraska.
Bryan's successes made him a
strong candidate for President in the 1896 election. He traveled
extensively throughout the country campaigning for silver coins, and
eventually, at the Democratic Convention in July 1896, a majority of the
delegates were "Silver Democrats." Bryan spoke effectively at the
convention and became the Democratic Party's presidential nominee. His
success united the Democrats and Republicans of Nebraska, and he won the
state election with 115,999 votes to Republican McKinley's 103,064. He
carried 22 states and received 176 electoral votes, but McKinley carried
23 states and received 271 electoral votes. Governor Hallcomb was
re-elected that year. Bryan was subsequently elected as a Democrat in
1900 and 1908, but he was unable to achieve the same success as in 1896.
Yet he remained the leader of the Democratic Party for 22 years.
After 1896, Bryan began to lean toward the ideas of progressivism,
but this was initially hampered by the war with Spain, which began in
1898. President McKinley called for the formation of an army, for which
Nebraska provided 3,382 men. Bryan joined the 3rd Nebraska Regiment as a
simple private, but the governor awarded him the rank of colonel. But
since Bryan was a political opponent of the president, he was not given
the opportunity to prove himself, and the regiment never made it to
Cuba. On August 12 of that year, the war ended. The 2nd Nebraska
Regiment also did not see combat and stood in Georgia throughout the
war. The 1st Nebraska was sent to the Philippines, fought in clashes
with Filipino rebels, and returned to Nebraska only in August 1899. And
while the war was going on, Nebraska hosted a major event in the spirit
of progressivism: the Trans-Mississippi Exposition. The fair opened on
200 acres in the northern part of Omaha on June 1, 1898, and, contrary
to expectations, was not disrupted by the outbreak of war. The end of
the fair coincided with the end of the war. Up to 100,000 people a day
visited the fair, and the president and members of the cabinet, as well
as members of the Indian Congress, visited it. During the fair, Apache
chief Geronimo met with his former enemy, General Nelson Miles.
Twenty-eight states and 11 countries were represented at the fair:
Mexico, France, Italy, Russia, Switzerland, Denmark, Austria, England,
Germany, Canada, and China. More than 2.5 million people visited the
fair. However, all the buildings of the fair were temporary, and not a
single one has survived to the 21st century.
The effect of the
fair was mainly psychological: it became propaganda for the ideas of
progressivism, saying that society can be improved almost to perfection.
Two years later, Theodore Roosevelt became the President of the United
States, and he began to promote the idea of the need for federal
intervention in the economy and social life. Roosevelt's philosophy was
largely conservationist, and it was popular in Nebraska. On the
initiative of Charles Bessie, a program of greening the state began in
1900. In April 1902, two reserves were created by presidential decision,
one of which was named in honor of Bessie. Roosevelt was extremely
popular in Nebraska, so in the 1904 presidential election, he easily won
in the state, and the Republicans took all the positions in the state
and all the seats in Congress. Roosevelt's ideology changed the
political situation in the entire Midwest and in Nebraska; the influence
of populism faded and its politicians joined the Republican and
Democratic parties. In 1903, John Miki became governor, who called for
amendments to the state constitution to simplify the reform process. He
also called for laws to control the quality of food products. He
succeeded in achieving stricter control over the railroads and the
adoption of tougher legislation regarding trusts and monopolies. By
1906, progressivism was so popular that the platforms of the Republicans
and Democrats were practically indistinguishable. George Sheldon, the
first governor born in the Nebraska Territory, became governor. In his
inaugural address, he declared that corporations should be driven out of
politics, not the economy. He also fought for the introduction of
Prohibition and introduced several laws to limit alcohol consumption.
Sheldon's reforms seemed too radical to the Democrats, and they, with
the support of Germans, Czechs, and Lutherans, began an energetic
campaign to promote Bryan for president and Ashton Shellenberger for
governor. Bryan lost to Taft in the 1908 election, but Shellenberger won
and became governor. The new legislature avoided discussing Prohibition
and focused solely on the economy, passing laws to regulate banks and
oil companies.
The period from 1910 to 1914 became known in
Nebraska as the "Golden Age of Agriculture." The value of Nebraska's
corn crop increased by a third, from $84.9 million to $109 million, and
the value of its wheat crop by more than half, from $37 million to $60
million. This was due to political instability in Europe, growing demand
for American products, and then the war. From 1909 to 1919, Nebraska's
cropland tripled, attracting new settlers, and the state's population
grew by 22 percent, from 1,066,910 in 1900 to 1,296,372 in 1920. All
this led to a rise in land prices in the first decade: from about $20 to
$50 per acre, and in the southwest even to $88. During these years, more
and more sophisticated machinery began to appear in Nebraska
agriculture. The most striking innovation was gasoline tractors: from
1918 to 1920 alone, their number increased from 4,746 to 8,888.
In April 1917, Congress declared war on Germany. Nebraska Governor
Keith Neville supported the president's policy and called on the
legislature to convene a 12-committee National Security Council. The
council was tasked with preparing for war, promoting patriotism, and
combating "anti-Americanism" (in particular, the teaching of German in
schools). On July 18, 1918, a proclamation was issued calling for only
English to be spoken in public places. This policy was met with
resistance, and some laws restricting the use of German were struck down
by the state Supreme Court. Several such laws, passed in Nebraska, Iowa,
and Ohio, were declared unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court in
June 1923.
The 4th Nebraska Infantry Regiment and the 5th
Nebraska Infantry Regiment were mustered out as early as 1916 to
participate in General Pershing's expedition to Mexico. On March 26,
1917, the 4th Infantry was activated to guard the state's
communications. After war was declared, three regiments (the 4th, 5th,
and 6th) were sent to New Mexico and attached to the 34th Infantry
Division. They were never activated as a regiment, but were used to
reinforce other regiments.
In 1919 and 1920, Nebraska held a constitutional convention that
adopted a series of amendments to the state constitution, which helped
the state successfully deal with the problems of the post-war period.
The main problem was the development of automobile transport: the number
of cars in the state increased from 231,000 in 1920 to 418,226 in 1929.
Meanwhile, Nebraska had few roads, and in some places there were none at
all: for example, there was no road west of Omaha. In 1912, a project
was launched to build the Transcontinental Highway, which would pass
through Omaha and further west along the Platte River. To finance the
project, Nebraska imposed a property tax, which was extremely unpopular
with the people. Finding money to build this road became the main
problem of the state in the 1920s. Nebraska began improving its roads in
1923, and soon had 3,585 miles of gravel roads and 110 miles of paved
roads. The state received about 500 units of construction equipment
written off from the army after the end of the war. In addition,
soldiers returning from the front needed work, and the state was able to
attract many experienced builders to road construction. In 1925, the
state managed to get rid of the unpopular property tax, introducing a
gasoline tax (2 cents per gallon) instead, which gave the budget 3
million dollars. As the number of vehicles increased, so did the number
of accidents, so in 1929 the legislature introduced driver's licenses in
the state. That same year, traffic regulations were developed and the
State Patrol was created.
Despite the agricultural orientation of
the economy, Nebraska began to develop automobile and aircraft
industries. In 1916, the Ford company built an assembly plant in Omaha.
From 1918 to 1931, Nebraska produced Patriot trucks, which were popular
with farmers in the state. In 1909, the Beisdorfer brothers became
interested in building airplanes, and on November 21, 1910, the first
airplane built in Nebraska took off. In the early 1920s, Charles
Lindbergh was already giving passengers rides in an airplane (usually
for $5). In 1927, he became the first pilot to fly the New York-Paris
route. By the end of the twenties, three aircraft factories were
operating in Omaha.
Another innovation of the 1920s was radio.
The first licensed station opened in Pennsylvania in November 1920. In
Nebraska, 56 licensed radio stations appeared in this decade (half of
them in 1921 and 1922). The Norfolk Daily News started WJAG, a radio
station that still operates today and is considered the oldest radio
station in the state. One of its hosts, Carl Stephan, became so popular
that he easily won election to the U.S. House of Representatives in
1933. Radio was popular until the late 1950s, when it was replaced by
television.
On March 22, 1929, the Nebraska legislature passed a
resolution making the western meadowlark the state bird. The decision
was made based on school votes, birdwatchers, women's club resolutions,
and to raise awareness of the state's natural environment.
The Great Depression began in the United States in the early 1930s,
but the decline in agriculture began earlier, in the early 1920s. Land
prices fell by 26% nationally, but by 36% in Nebraska. Nebraska farmers'
incomes also fell below the national average. The price of a bushel of
corn in the United States fell from $1.52 in 1918 to $0.32 in 1933,
while in Nebraska it fell from $1.45 in 1918 to $0.15 in 1926, but then
rose to $0.41 by 1933. The price of wheat fell at about the same rate.
Meat prices rose nationally, but fell in Nebraska. These price changes
affected the entire state economy, even outside of agriculture. In 1928,
Herbert Hoover was elected president, and in 1929, the stock market
crisis began. Society demanded change, so Democrat Franklin Roosevelt
won the 1932 presidential election, receiving 57% of the votes
nationwide and 61% in Nebraska. The Democrats won a majority in the US
Congress.
Under Roosevelt, the issue of government regulation of
the economy became relevant. Railroad business regulation began in the
1880s, then it was addressed on a national scale during the Progressive
Era, but in the 1920s, the ideas of regulation were abandoned, and only
the crisis of the 1930s made them popular again. Nebraska farmers were
weakened by the economic downturn of the 1920s, and the crisis hit them
especially hard. The Hoover administration tried to prevent a drop in
grain prices, but failed to cope with the task. The Communist Party
tried to take advantage of the situation, but it did not gain traction
in Nebraska, partly because in 1933 the Roosevelt administration passed
a series of laws to help farmers. At the same time, the Civilian
Conservation Corps (CCC) was created to help the unemployed. In
Nebraska, the CCC operated out of Fort Omaha, where it organized the
unemployed into companies, issued them military uniforms left over from
the war, and sent them to work on creating parks. The CCC programs not
only helped the unemployed, but also gave them a kind of basic military
training that they needed during World War II.
Nebraska Senator
George Norris became one of the most active supporters of Roosevelt's
policies and drafted the "Norris Bill," a comprehensive development
program for the Tennessee River Valley. Based on this bill, the
Tennessee Valley Authority was created. In August 1933, a dam in the
Tennessee Valley was named in Norris's honor.
Nebraska suffered
severe droughts from 1934 to 1936, and in 1935 it suffered floods and a
May hurricane that destroyed Norris's hometown. This forced the senator
to address the water supply issue, and he secured federal aid for the
construction of a canal in Nebraska. Norris drafted a bill that was
passed by Congress in May 1936 as the Rural Electrification Act, and
became one of the most successful programs of the New Deal. In Nebraska,
Norris encouraged the construction of hydroelectric power plants, hoping
to improve life in the province. He believed that power plants should be
publicly owned, and he promoted the purchase of private companies. By
1942, only one privately owned power plant remained in Nebraska. On
December 2, 1946, it too became state property. Norris did not live to
see this moment, dying on September 2, 1944.
Norris's retirement
from politics and life marked the end of the liberal era in Nebraska. By
1940, three major Republican politicians had emerged: Hugh Butler,
Dwight Griswold, and Kenneth Wherry. In 1941, Griswold became governor,
and three Republican governors followed in succession. That same year,
Butler became a senator, and in 1942, Wherry defeated Norris in the
Senate election. Republicans held both Senate seats for decades.
Historians attribute the Republican dominance in Nebraska politics to
the rising prosperity of the postwar era.
The idea of a unicameral legislature was known in the United States
in the early days of independence, although it was never popular. It
existed in Vermont until 1938, in Pennsylvania until 1790, and in
Georgia until the adoption of the 1777 Constitution. In Nebraska, such a
legislature format was proposed in 1913 by John Norton, on whose
initiative a special committee was formed in 1915, but in 1917 the
project developed by the committee was rejected. The issue was returned
to in 1923, 1925, and 1933. In 1933, Senator George Norris began
campaigning for his idea in print. He explained the shortcomings of a
bicameral legislature: for example, the need to coordinate their
positions if they differed on some issue. In December 1933, Norris
drafted an amendment to the state constitution and submitted it for
discussion in 1934. Both political parties were against the amendment,
as were representatives of banks and big business. But despite the
opposition, the amendment was adopted by vote on November 6, 1934.
The amendment assumed that the number of deputies of the Legislative
Assembly would be no less than 30 people and no more than 50. In
practice, their number was reduced from 133 to 43 people (in 1962, their
number was raised to 49). The number of committees was reduced from 61
to 18. The last session of the bicameral legislature was held in 1935,
it lasted 110 days and cost $ 202,593. The session of 1937 was already
unicameral, it lasted 98 days and cost $ 103,445. In the conditions of
the Great Depression, reducing expenditures on the legislature was one
of the main reasons for the reform.
The 1930s saw a strong isolationist sentiment in the United States,
but this weakened after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, and
anti-war sentiment did not reach the levels of 1917. Likewise, the
country avoided the anti-German hysteria that characterized World War I.
During the war, agricultural prices rose, giving Nebraska's economy
nearly 15 years of prosperity (until about 1954). The entire U.S.
military was under federal control during the war, so state militias
were rarely used. The Nebraska National Army became the 134th Infantry
Regiment, was mustered into service in December 1940, and under the
command of General Butler Miltonberger, fought in France and Germany,
and participated in the Battle of St. Lo. During the war, 120,000
Nebraskans served in the infantry, navy, and air force. 3,839 Nebraska
residents never returned home.
The state remained largely
agricultural, with little military industry, although weapons factories
were established in Meade, Grand Island, and Sidney, and the Navy
maintained a large ammunition depot in Hastings. In Omaha, the Glenn L.
Martin Bomber Plant was built in 1942, producing Martin B-26 Marauders
before switching to the Boeing B-29 Superfortress in 1944. Nebraska was
the home of the Enola Gay and Bockscar bombers that dropped the atomic
bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The last B-29 was built in September
1945. With its flat terrain and plenty of sunshine, Nebraska became a
popular training ground for pilots. Major air bases were established in
Alliance, Ainsworth, Bruning, Fairmont, Grand Island, Garland, Kearney,
Lincoln, McCook, Scottsbluff, and Scribner.
During the war, the
construction and repair of highways was prohibited in the United States,
since construction materials were reserved for military needs. Only in
1944, Congress passed the Federal Road Assistance Act of 1944, which
assumed the improvement and expansion of the road network, but the
problem turned out to be more serious than congressmen thought, so in
1946 this law was repealed.
Dwight Griswold, a former state
senator (1924-1929), who won the gubernatorial election on his fourth
try, remained the governor of Nebraska throughout the war years
(1941-1947). After completing his term as governor, he sought election
to the U.S. Senate but was unable to defeat Senator Hugh Butler.
During the war and postwar eras, farms in Nebraska grew in size and
declined in number. The number of farms peaked in 1935 (134,000), with
an average size of 349 acres, and then declined steadily: by the end of
the war, there were 112,000 farms with an average size of 427 acres. By
1960, there were 93,000 farms with an average size of 518 acres. The
postwar prosperity of farmers was due to good crop yields, as well as a
number of federal projects, such as air force bases and highway
projects. In the 1950s, Nebraska experienced an unprecedented military
construction boom: in 1953, construction began on 29 new arsenals. In
1946, the Strategic Air Command was created, with headquarters initially
located in Washington, and in 1948, it was moved to Nebraska, to Offutt
Air Force Base, which was convenient for its good communications and
housing for personnel.
A serious problem for the state was the
poor condition of highways. In 1944, Nebraska had 9,119 miles of
highways, but only half of them were paved. Of the 1,200 miles of
concrete roads, half were in poor condition. By the late 1940s, the
condition of the roads had worsened even more, and there was a shortage
of materials and funding for their repair. To find a way out of this
situation, the Highway Commission was created in 1953. Meanwhile, in the
1952 presidential election, Republican Dwight Eisenhower won in
Nebraska, receiving 69.15% of the vote. During the war, he had visited
Germany, was familiar with the German autobahn system, and intended to
create a similar one in the United States. As a result, in 1956,
Congress passed the Federal Assistance Highway Act, which required the
construction of 41,000 miles of interstate highways over 13 years, and
allocated $27 billion for this program. The highways were to go through
states by any route, but were required to pass through special control
points chosen for reasons of national security. For example, in
Nebraska, the highway had to pass through Omaha due to the existence of
Offutt Air Force Base there. Work on the construction of I-80 officially
began in 1957 near Gretna, lasted 16 years, and was completed in 1974
with the official opening of the entire 455.27-mile section of the
highway. Nebraska became the first state to commission its section of
I-80.
On November 6, 1962, a referendum approved a law prepared by the
Nebraska Legislature to extend the term of office of the governor and
lieutenant governor to 4 years. It was adopted by a small margin of
votes (50.43% against 49.57%).
In the postwar years, residents of
Nebraska, as well as the rest of the country, became increasingly
dependent on government programs, which led to a gradual growth of the
state apparatus. At the same time, the Government's main source of
income remained the property tax, which mainly concerned farmers. As
society urbanized, the number of farmers began to decrease, and they now
paid a disproportionate share of taxes. Some suggested expanding the tax
base so as not to depend entirely on farmers, while others were strongly
opposed. For a long time, the official parties tried not to touch on
this issue. As a result, the legislature was unable to balance the
budget and was forced to discuss the introduction of an income tax or
sales tax. In 1965, a law was issued on the introduction of income tax,
which was put to a referendum during the 1966 elections. The referendum
participants strongly opposed this law and at the same time approved a
proposal to prohibit the state from levying property taxes. Against the
background of rising costs, this has put the government in a
particularly difficult position. In the same election, Republican
Norbert Thyman defeated the Democratic candidate, Lieutenant Governor
Philip Sorensen.
The issue of taxes became the main topic of
Timan's election campaign. He argued that in this demographic situation,
the state should not rely solely on taxes from farmers. Immediately
after his election, he proposed to the legislature at the very first
session to consider the introduction of a double tax: on income and on
sales at the same time. Timan had no political experience, but he had
organizational skills and was well versed in economics. This helped him
convince the legislature of the need for the proposed measures and at
the same time reach an agreement with the senators. As a result, when a
new referendum was held in 1968, the new tax format was adopted with the
same majority of votes as it was rejected in 1966. The 100th anniversary
of Nebraska, celebrated in 1967, was an occasion to evaluate historical
achievements and reflect on the prospects of the state in the future. In
his inaugural address, Timan pointed to the advantages of Nebraska: a
central location convenient for the transportation industry, stable
agriculture, and a good education system. There were proposals to
convene a constitutional convention and improve the Constitution so as
not to start the second century of its history with a "constitution of
the age of horses and carts," but this idea did not receive sufficient
support. Timan had to work hard to propose reforms that could not be
introduced through the convention: he proposed to abolish long-outdated
and difficult-to-regulate taxes, such as the tax on medical care and the
tax on stocks and cash. The same session adopted the law on minimum wage
and the law on the prohibition of discrimination in housing.
Timan was the first governor to serve a 4-year term, so he could afford
a more radical program of action. In his 4 years, he proposed 33
amendments to the constitution, of which 23 were approved. One of the
issues that worried him was the cost of building interstate highways,
where Nebraska had a certain share of the costs. In 1967, the
legislature's commission estimated that Nebraska would need to spend
$3.2 billion by 1985 to meet all road construction obligations. At the
same time, the constitution prohibited the government from taking on
debts of more than $100,000. After much debate, in 1968, a referendum
passed an amendment that allowed the state to issue bonds to finance
road construction. As a result, Nebraska became the first state to
complete its share of construction. In addition to roads, Timan was
concerned about the weak development of industry in Nebraska. In 1967,
there were about the same number of industrial enterprises in the state
as in 1900. The Great Depression was partly to blame for this, during
which the industry shrank by a third. Timan's main achievement in this
area was the creation of the Department of Economic Development. His
hopes for industrial growth did not materialize, and for the next 30
years Nebraska lived mainly on agriculture and related industries.
The problems of the Vietnam War bypassed Nebraska; they were
discussed in the newspapers, but all discussions were reduced to
approval of the policies of the US government. Cases of sit-ins were
isolated until 1970, when students of the University of Nebraska in
Lincoln took over the military and naval training building located on
the campus, thus protesting against the shooting at Kent University in
Ohio. Tieman decided to call in the National Guard, but this could lead
to a repeat of the Kent incident, so they tried to resolve the conflict
peacefully. In addition to anti-war protests, a wave of racial riots
swept across the United States. This wave largely bypassed Nebraska and
it experienced only one racial riot in Omaha in the summer of 1966. It
took place without major casualties, only one participant was shot by a
police officer. 79 people were arrested during these days. Another riot
occurred during the presidential elections of 1968, when Alabama
Governor George Wallace visited Omaha. During the protests against
Wallace, a black man was shot, which led to an outbreak of violence.
Isolated riots occurred in Omaha until 1969, when the last major riot
occurred. The events showed the government that racial problems could
not be solved by administrative measures, since the causes were rooted
in poverty, discrimination, and everyday racism. It became clear that
Nebraska society was not monolithic, but consisted of social groups with
different cultures and worldviews.
The 1960s saw the birth of the
financial empire of Nebraska billionaire Warren Buffett. At the
beginning of the decade, he was a shareholder in Berkshire Hathaway, and
gradually bought up shares of the company until he acquired a
controlling stake in 1965. Berkshire Hathaway was an unprofitable
textile company, but this capital became the basis for all of Buffett's
subsequent investments, and the value of the company itself increased by
1.8 million percent from 1965 to 2015.
The Republicans won the 1966 election easily, but by 1970 Nebraskans
were growing tired of Governor Tieman and his expensive social programs.
"It's not that Nebraskans are against progress," wrote one Lincoln
newspaper, "they just don't want to pay for it." That year, Tieman's
opponent was Democrat James Axson, a Lincoln businessman. He promised
not to raise taxes and to cut budget expenditures. He received 53.8
percent of the vote, but it was a personal victory, not a party victory;
Republican candidates won all other administrative posts. In his
inaugural address, Axson promised to keep taxes at the 1970 level. He
managed to save the budget money by abolishing controls on dairy and
meat products, since federal controls existed at the same time. At this
time, in the late 1960s, economic growth was slowing across the country,
and in Nebraska, corn prices were falling: from $2.12 per bushel in 1947
to $1.50 in the mid-1950s and to $1.15 in the 1960s.
In 1974,
Democrats made significant gains nationwide, but in Nebraska, the
majority of voters were Republican, but they re-elected Democrat Exxon
for a second term with a 60% majority. Meanwhile, Exxon managed to
maintain his budget spending levels in 1972 and 1973, but spending
skyrocketed in 1974 and 1975. In 1975, Exxon was in a long debate with
the legislature about imposing new taxes. He argued that the increase
was unnecessary, while the legislature believed that it was inevitable.
Exxon called the legislature into special session to discuss the issue,
but the legislature insisted on raising the income tax, which ended up
being higher than it had been under the Timan administration.
Nebraska managed to avoid a rise in unemployment during the recessionary
1970s. In the mid-1970s, the average U.S. unemployment rate reached 10%,
but in Nebraska the unemployment rate hovered between 2.5% and 3.0%
throughout the 1960s, rising to 4.3% by 1974. Growth peaked at 6.1% in
1975, then began to decline, returning to 3% by the end of the decade.
Despite the slowdown in the economy overall, Nebraska saw rising grain
prices in the 1970s, with the total value of grain growing from $1
billion at the beginning of the decade to $3 billion by the end.
However, inflation and gasoline prices were rising at the same time,
especially after the 1973 Oil Crisis. In February 1977, Exxon asked the
legislature to declare a six-day energy emergency, which included
minimizing heat in public buildings, switching from oil to coal where
possible, and creating a committee to develop resource-saving
technologies. The economic crisis led to another decline in the number
of farms in the state: from 73,000 to 65,000 over the course of a
decade.
In the 1970s, blacks and Hispanics became more active in
public life in the United States, while Mexicans and Native Americans
became more visible in Nebraska. The state legislature created the
Commission on Indian Affairs in 1971, which monitored Indian rights and
coordinated work between Indian activists and state agencies. That same
year, the Commission on the Status of Women was transformed into an
agency. In 1976, a similar commission on Mexican affairs was created.
The issue of race relations became more acute in 1972, after the murder
of Raymond Yellow Lightning, a Lakota Indian. In 1976, Indian activist
Jo Ann Yellow Bird sued the police for brutality. The case attracted
national attention, since this time the accusers were Indians. Yellow
Bird won the case, receiving $300,000 in compensation from the police.
In 1979, Nebraska experienced a second wave of recession, which
resulted in record inflation. That year, Republican Charles Thon became
governor, and he could not afford to introduce new taxes or raise
existing ones. He could only cut budget expenditures, so in his
inaugural address, he called for a budget that would not require new
taxes. This did not help avoid a crisis: in 1981, inflation began to eat
away at private savings, people began to buy less, which is why
factories began to lay off staff. Unemployment reached 6%, the level of
the mid-1970s. Teachers, firefighters, and government employees began to
unite in unions to more effectively demand higher wages. Inflation also
ate away at farmers' incomes, despite high harvests. Farmers were dealt
another blow when several grain elevators went bankrupt. In October
1982, Thon called the legislature into a special session and achieved
even greater budget cuts. Newspapers compared the situation to the Great
Depression, but the situation began to improve that same year. Inflation
fell to 6%, and a year later to 3.2%. Political observers were convinced
that Thon would win the gubernatorial election in November 1982, but he
was beaten by Democrat Bob Kerrey, who received 50.7% of the vote. Other
posts were mostly filled by Republicans, in particular, for the first
time in Nebraska history, a high-ranking position was held by a woman,
Republican Kay Orr (state treasurer).
In the first days, Kerrey
drew the attention of the legislature to the fact that a significant
portion of taxes came from small businesses, and proposed developing
them through educational programs. A former businessman himself, Kerrey
understood the importance of business development, and he managed to
achieve some success. In February 1985, a plant was opened in Hastings
that processed corn into ethyl alcohol, producing almost half of the
alcohol consumed by the state. Timpte Trucks moved its headquarters to
David City, and opened a plant there in 1987. Kerry also took steps to
conserve energy resources, allocating money for the implementation of
energy-saving technologies in schools, hospitals, and low-income homes.
Kerry made a good impression with his energy, charisma, and even his
relationship with actress Debra Winger. Winger was once fined for
driving without a license in a car owned by the governor, but this did
not spoil Kerry's reputation. During his first term as governor,
Nebraska entered into an agreement with Kansas, Arkansas, Louisiana, and
Oklahoma, choosing the city of Butte as a site for storing low-level
radioactive waste. This decision also did not affect Kerry's reputation
in any way, although it created many problems for subsequent governors.
In October 1985, Kerry announced that he would not run for reelection
because he did not want to serve another four years as governor, and the
Republicans nominated state treasurer Kay Orr, who had become famous for
her long-running disputes with Kerry over fiscal policy. Her Democratic
challenger was unexpectedly another woman, Helen Busalis, a two-time
mayor of Lincoln. It was the first time in U.S. history that two women
ran for governor. Orr won and became the first woman governor in
Nebraska history and the first woman governor in the Republican Party.
President Reagan personally came to Nebraska to support her in the
election. The tax issue remained Nebraska's main problem. It was
complicated when the U.S. Congress passed the Tax Reform Act of 1986,
which forced Nebraska to raise federal taxes. And like all governors
since the 1960s, Orr was concerned about the "brain drain." Young
Nebraskans, after receiving an education, were eager to leave the state
in search of better jobs. The governor tried to attract large industries
to the state, but in 1986, Enron moved from Omaha to Houston, costing
the state 2,200 jobs. The following year, Conagra moved its headquarters
to Kentucky, costing Nebraska another 670 jobs. Orr realized that it was
time to act, and she convinced the legislature to pass a series of
pro-business laws. Not everyone believed that these laws would help, but
a 1990 analysis showed that 79 companies took advantage of the law,
increasing the number of jobs by 13,138.
In 1988, Nebraska had a
population of 1,571,465 and had 5 votes in the Electoral College. In the
1988 presidential election, Republican candidate George H. W. Bush won
in Nebraska, receiving 60.15% of the vote in the state. His competitor
Michael Dukakis received 39.20% of the vote.
In 1987, Nebraska
began to wrestle with a low-level waste agreement. Protests against the
decision lasted until the 1990 gubernatorial election. During the
campaign, Orr insisted that Nebraska could not withdraw from the waste
agreement, while her Democratic challenger, Ben Nelson, suggested that
the repository could be avoided. Nelson ultimately won, receiving 49.9
percent of the vote to Orr's 49.2 percent.
Nelson took office on January 10, 1991, as Nebraska was entering
another crisis and the nation was on the brink of a recession. In the
1980s, the Reagan administration had cut federal spending, essentially
shifting it to the states, forcing the states to raise taxes, a point
Nelson made in his inaugural address. Nelson had resisted these measures
for most of his term as governor. He was concerned about population loss
and the brain drain: studies had shown that Nebraska had lost 45,661
residents between 1985 and 1990, and nearly as many in the previous five
years; half of them had college degrees. It was estimated that Nebraska
had lost 13,000 highly skilled workers and more than $1 billion in lost
wages in that five-year period. Nelson decided that it was necessary to
develop not only industry, but also agriculture, and created a
commission on agricultural development, headed by Lieutenant Governor
Maxine Mole. She identified the most depressed regions of the state and
developed a number of tax incentives for businesses in these regions.
Special efforts were made to identify the problems of indigenous
peoples. Representatives of the Winnebago, Omaha, Santee Sioux and Ponca
tribes were invited to a meeting with officials to improve the situation
in health care and education. In 1993, the Nebraska Community Foundation
was created, which managed to improve the situation with immigrants and
achieve an increase in Nebraska's GDP from 33 billion in 1990 to 47
billion in 1997.
A serious blow to Nelson's plans was dealt by
the merger of Northwestern Bell and US West, after which Northwestern
Bell moved its offices to Denver and Phoenix. However, in 1993, the
company announced that it would spend large sums of money to build a
high-speed cable across Nebraska. Omaha was the test city for the new
cable. Few people paid attention to the announcement at the time, and
only former Governor Kerry noted that the construction could have
long-term effects and bring new jobs to the state. At the same time,
Nelson was thinking about establishing international ties: in 1991, he
organized a tour for a group of businessmen. He then conducted 11 more
such tours, visiting Argentina, Brazil, China, Egypt, Israel, and Japan.
As a result, he managed to increase agricultural exports from $2.2
billion to $3.5 billion by 1998.
In the 1992 presidential
election, George Bush received 46.58% of the statewide vote and 5
Electoral College votes from Nebraska. This election was the first to
use a new rule: the winner of the general election received two votes,
plus one vote for each of Nebraska's three congressional districts.
Nebraska was the second state after Maine to adopt this rule, and it led
to split electoral votes in the 2008 and 2016 elections. Despite his
success and great popularity, Nelson did not escape criticism for his
radioactive waste disposal program. In April 1991, Raymond Peary, the
director of the Interstate Waste Disposal Fund, was arrested and charged
with embezzling $600,000 from the fund. His successor conducted an audit
that revealed that even more had been stolen: $928,000. Peary was
convicted on all counts and sentenced to 50 months in prison. At his
trial, Peary claimed that the Nebraska waste disposal issue had been
decided in 1987 and that the decision was politically motivated. Former
Governor Orr denied this, calling it Peary's revenge for his arrest. In
December of that year, Nelson asked experts what would happen if the
Boyd County repository was not built. They told him that there would be
no place to bury the waste and the two nuclear plants in Nebraska would
have to be shut down. Nelson won reelection in 1994 with a strong
showing, but the battle over the waste disposal site continued. With the
1996 Senate elections approaching, Exxon announced that it would not
seek another term. Nelson decided to run for the Senate, which kicked
off the campaign for governor. However, Nelson was defeated in the 1996
election by Chuck Hagel, one of Reagan's 1980 campaign managers. Nelson
got his next chance in 2000 when Bob Kerrey opted out of a third term in
the Senate to run for president in 2000, a repeat attempt after his 1988
defeat. Kerrey's second attempt was also unsuccessful. Nelson won this
time and became a senator on January 3, 2001.
Governor Michael
Johans took office in 1999 and immediately established good relations
with the legislature. During the session of that year, the legislature
approved all of his proposals. The most important decision of that
session was the withdrawal from the agreement on the disposal of
low-level radioactive waste. On May 6, 1999, Nebraska officially
withdrew from the agreement and notified all parties.
Overall,
the last decade of the 20th century was a good time for the country in
general and for Nebraska in particular, if you don’t count a number of
problems in agriculture. The recession of the 1990s ended, and an
economic recovery began that lasted almost 10 years (107 months). The
unemployment rate in the United States fell to 4.5% by 1998, and in
Nebraska to 2.7%. The number of industrial enterprises grew by only
3.4%, but the number of jobs increased by 12.2%.
In 2000, Nebraska had a population of 1,711,263 and 5 electoral
college seats. George W. Bush won the 2000 presidential election in
Nebraska with 62.25% of the vote.
At the beginning of the
century, the agricultural crisis continued and farms became fewer and
fewer, so that in 2005 there were 48,000 (more than double the number
since 1935). This was due to rising taxes, which in turn were caused by
rising state budget expenditures. Johannes argued from the first days of
his term that the size of the administrative apparatus should be kept
under control in order to prevent tax increases. In addition, he ensured
that law enforcement agencies were adequately funded and fought drug
trafficking in Nebraska. Like his predecessors, he continued to seek new
markets for the state's products, organizing business trips to Taiwan,
Japan, Hong Kong, China, Australia, Brazil, Chile, South Korea,
Malaysia, and Mexico. Meanwhile, the parties to the agreement on the
disposal of radioactive waste accused Nebraska of violating the
agreement. In 2002, the U.S. District Court sided with the plaintiff and
sentenced Nebraska to pay a fine of $151 million. In 2004, the U.S.
Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit upheld this decision. A petition
for a rehearing was denied. Then the state administrators approached the
parties to the agreement directly, offering to conclude a settlement
agreement. In the end, Nebraska paid $145.8 million, and the dispute was
settled. It was later decided that Nebraska would send the waste from
its nuclear plants to South Carolina and Utah. Also in 2001, the
Nebraska Highway Department announced a program to widen I-80 to six
lanes. Work began in 2003 and was completed in November 2013.
When the terrorist attacks occurred on September 11, 2001, President
Bush was in Florida. He immediately flew to Louisiana, but found no
means of communication there, so he flew to Nebraska's Offutt Air Force
Base, which had a secure command bunker with well-established
communications. There, the president held a briefing for troops, after
which he held a video conference with national security advisers. Bush
spent a total of 90 minutes at the base.
After the terrorist
attacks on September 11, the economy began to decline, due to which
Nebraska was expected to lose $183 million in tax revenue. Johanns
called an emergency session of the legislature and achieved a $171
million cut in spending, for which about a hundred state employees were
laid off. That same year, the lieutenant governor resigned, and Johans
appointed former state treasurer David Heineman to replace him. In 2002,
Johans ran for reelection with Heineman and was elected to a second
term. That year's elections saw Republicans win seats, with Chuck Hagel
being reelected as a senator. In 2003, the legislature passed a two-year
budget plan, with analysts predicting a large budget deficit by 2005.
During the spring session of 2003, the legislature passed a tax hike to
raise an additional $340 million to balance the budget.
In 2004,
President George W. Bush appointed Johans Secretary of Agriculture, so
he stepped down as governor, handing the job to Lieutenant Governor
Heineman, who was reelected in 2006 and again in 2010. Before that,
Nebraskans had been choosing either a Republican or a Democrat, without
a long-term preference for either party. Republican Heineman changed
this trend. He was elected after a Republican, and after him Nebraska
also voted Republican. Under Heineman, Nebraska also managed to briefly
reverse the “brain drain” trend: in 2008, the influx of migrants with
higher education exceeded the outflow by 267 people, and the following
year by 1,644 people. Analysts believed that this was due to the low
unemployment rate in the state. But this trend did not develop.
In 2012, the US presidential election was held, in which Republican
candidate Mitt Romney won in Nebraska, gaining 60.5% of the vote,
against only 37.8% of the vote for Barack Obama. In the race for the
Senate seat, Republican Debra Fisher defeated Democrat and former
Governor Bob Kerrey, which was the final triumph of Nebraska Democrats:
they now controlled both the governor's office and both Senate seats.
Kerrey was trying to return to politics after a 12-year hiatus, during
which he served as president of New York's New School, and his tenure at
the head of this liberal institution became a minus from the point of
view of Nebraska conservatives.
Republican John Ricketts won the
2014 gubernatorial election, receiving 57.2% of the vote. He was
subsequently re-elected in 2018 (59% of the vote), and in 2023 he became
a senator.
In 2016, Donald Trump predictably won the presidential
election in Nebraska, receiving 58.7% of the vote and all five of
Nebraska's electoral votes. Hillary Clinton was able to win only two
counties and received 33.7% of the vote.
In the 2020 presidential
election, Trump defeated his competitor Joe Biden with the same
percentage as in the previous election (58.2%), but this time he
received only 4 electoral votes, and 1 vote went to Biden. This was the
second time after 2008 that the electoral votes were split.
Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic and through 2023, Nebraska has recorded 570,835 cases of SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus infection and 5,068 deaths from it, meaning 1 in 382 people died. The peak in mortality occurred in December 2020, and the peak in incidence occurred in January 2022.
Nebraska is the only state in the United States with a unicameral
legislature. The members of this parliament, the Nebraska Legislature,
call themselves "senators".
In its political orientation,
Nebraska is typical of the states of the Great Plains. The predominantly
rural part of the state is deeply Republican-conservative, while the
Democrats can only occasionally achieve success in the only two major
cities, Lincoln and Omaha. Republicans Pete Ricketts and Deb Fischer
represent the state in the US Senate. Nebraska's delegation to the 118th
Congress of Representatives consists of three Republicans, Mike Flood,
Adrian M. Smith and Don Bacon.
Nebraska has five electoral votes
up for grabs; since 1992, their allocation in presidential elections has
differed from the system in most states. Nebraska allocates two
electoral votes to the state-wide winner and one vote to each
congressional district winner. This means Nebraska doesn't necessarily
have to vote unanimously -- which has only happened twice so far, in the
2008 and 2020 presidential elections. The only other state that also
votes by this method is Maine.
As of 2010, the population of Nebraska was 1,826,341. Compared to the
2000 census data, the population has increased by more than 85,000 (5%)
mainly due to natural increase. The center of population is in Polk
County.
Racially, Nebraska is a state with an absolute
predominance of whites - 93.53%. African Americans make up 4.48%,
Indians - 1.32%, Asians - 1.58%, Hawaiians - 0.11%.
Whites by
origin are distributed as follows: German Americans - 38.6%, Irish -
12.4%, English - 9.6%, Swedish - 4.9%, Czech - 4.9%. Percentage-wise,
Nebraska is home to the largest group of Czech Americans in the US, with
Butler County being one of the two US counties with a majority of Czech
Americans.
Thurston County has an Indian majority.
Only 11% of all settlements in Nebraska have more than
3,000 people. Hundreds of settlements have less than 1000 people.
Nebraska is seeing a significant decline in the rural population,
leading to the consolidation of many rural schools.
Fifty-three
of Nebraska's ninety-three counties experienced population declines
between 1990 and 2000. Conversely, Nebraska's major cities are
experiencing steady and rapid population growth. The main reason for
this phenomenon is the migration of the rural population to large
cities. Thus, the population of Omaha grew by 6.3% over the five years
from 2000 to 2005, while the population of Lincoln increased by 14.5%
over the same period.
By religion, the population of
the state is divided as follows: Christians make up 90%, do not identify
themselves with any religion - 9%, other religions account for 1%.
Among Christians stand out: Catholics (28%), Lutherans (16%),
Methodists (11%), Baptists (9%), Presbyterians (4%), other Protestants
(21%), other Christians (1%).
The government of Nebraska operates under the Nebraska Constitution, adopted in 1875. Power is divided into three branches: executive, legislative and judicial.
The head of the executive branch is the governor (James Pillen). Other elected positions in the executive branch include lieutenant governor (Joseph Kelly; elected in tandem with the governor), attorney general, secretary of state, state treasurer, and comptroller of the state. All these persons are elected for a four-year term.
Nebraska is the only US state with a unicameral parliament. Although it is called simply "Legislature", its members call themselves "Senators". The Nebraska Legislature is also the only "nonpartisan" state legislature in the United States. The candidate's party affiliation is not indicated on the ballot papers. The speaker and committee heads are elected by majority vote, so these positions can be filled by a representative of any party. The Nebraska Legislature can override a governor's veto with a three-fifths majority vote.
The lowest level of court in Nebraska is the county courts. Above
them are twelve district courts, uniting several districts. Above them
stands the Nebraska Supreme Court. Judges at all levels are elected.
Until May 27, 2015, Nebraska allowed the death penalty as capital
punishment. However, during the first decade of the 21st century, not a
single such sentence was issued by Nebraska courts.
Nebraska is represented in the US Senate by Ben Sasse and Deb Fischer
(both Republicans).
Nebraska has three representatives in the
House of Representatives. As of 2011, they are: Jeff Fortenberry, Lee
Terry and Adrian Smith (all Republicans).
State law provides for
a non-unanimous distribution of Electoral College votes: of the 5 votes
that a state has, only 2 go to the candidate with a simple majority of
votes in the entire state, and the remaining 3 go to the winners in each
of the state's three congressional districts. The first division of
electoral votes occurred in the 2008 elections, when John McCain
received the majority of the state's votes, but Barack Obama won in one
of the three districts; thus, 1 of Nebraska's 5 electoral votes went to
Obama. A similar system was adopted in the state of Maine, which,
however, has never before divided votes in history.
In 2008, there were 56,754 crimes reported in Nebraska, including 68 murders.
Nebraska's gross domestic product in 2010 was $89.9 billion,
according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis. Per capita income (2004) -
$31,339, according to this indicator, Nebraska ranks 25th among all
states.
The agricultural sector plays an important role in
Nebraska's economy. Nebraska is a major producer of beef, pork, corn and
soybeans. Other important sectors of the economy include: trucking,
manufacturing, telecommunications, information technology and insurance.
As of January 2010, unemployment in Nebraska was 4.6%.
Omaha is the headquarters of Berkshire Hathaway, whose CEO Warren
Buffett is one of the world's richest people, according to Forbes
magazine. The following companies are also headquartered in Omaha:
ConAgra, Mutual of Omaha, InfoUSA, TD Ameritrade, West Corporation,
Valmont Industries, Woodmen of the World, Kiewit Corporation and Union
Pacific Railroad.
UNIFI Companies, Sandhills Publishing Company
and Duncan Aviation are headquartered in Lincoln. Buckle, a clothing and
footwear retailer, is based in Kearney.
The Kool-Aid company,
which produces the worldwide popular drink of the same name, was founded
by Edwin Perkins in 1927 in Hastings. Kool-Aid is currently the official
drink of Nebraska.
Nebraska has progressive taxation. Persons with income from $0 to
$2,400 pay 2.56%, from $2,400 to $17,500 - 3.57%, from $17,500 to
$27,000 - 5.12%, over $27,000 - 6.84%. The standard tax deduction is
$5,700.
Nebraska uses a sales tax of 5.5%. In addition to the
general state tax, some cities impose their own additional tax of no
more than 1.5%.