Editing Kentucky (section)

===The Civil War===
{{Main|Border states (American Civil War)|Kentucky in the American Civil War}}
Kentucky was a heavily divided slave state during the [[American Civil War]]. Though the state had dueling Union and Confederate state governments, Kentucky was never an official component of the Confederacy. [[Kentucky in the American Civil War|Kentucky was one of]] the Southern [[Border states (American Civil War)|border states]] during the war, and it remained neutral within the [[Union (American Civil War)|Union]].<ref>{{cite web | title=Border States in the Civil War | date=February 15, 2002 | publisher=CivilWarHome.com | url=http://www.civilwarhome.com/borderstates.htm | access-date=November 29, 2006 | archive-date=December 8, 2006 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061208033207/http://www.civilwarhome.com/borderstates.htm }}</ref> Despite this, representatives from 68 of 110 counties met at [[Russellville, Kentucky|Russellville]] calling themselves the "Convention of the People of Kentucky" and passed an [[Ordinance of Secession]] on November 20, 1861.<ref>{{cite web | title=Ordinances of Secession | publisher=Historical Text Archive | url=http://historicaltextarchive.com/sections.php?action=read&artid=170 | access-date=November 29, 2006 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101123052735/http://historicaltextarchive.com/sections.php?action=read&artid=170 | archive-date=November 23, 2010 | url-status=dead | df=mdy-all }}</ref> They established a [[Confederate government of Kentucky]] with its capital in [[Bowling Green, Kentucky|Bowling Green]], and Kentucky was officially admitted into the Confederacy on December 10, 1861, as the 13th Confederate state with full recognition in Richmond.<ref>{{cite web | title=Civil War Sites – Bowling Green, KY | publisher=WMTH Corporation | url=http://www.trailsrus.com/monuments/reg3/bowling_green.html | access-date=November 29, 2006 | archive-date=October 9, 2007 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071009101515/http://www.trailsrus.com/monuments/reg3/bowling_green.html | url-status=live }}</ref> The Confederate shadow government was never popularly elected statewide, though 116 delegates were sent representing 68 Kentucky counties which at the time made up a little over half the territory of the Commonwealth to the Russellville Convention in 1861, and were occupied and governed by the Confederacy at some point in the duration of the war, and Kentucky had full representation within the Confederate Government. Although Confederate forces briefly controlled Frankfort, they were expelled by Union forces before a Confederate government could be installed in the state capital. After the expulsion of Confederate forces after the Battle of Perryville, this government operated in-exile. Though it existed throughout the war, Kentucky's provisional government only had governing authority in areas of Kentucky under direct Confederate control and had very little effect on the events in the Commonwealth or in the war once they were driven out of the state.

Kentucky remained officially "neutral" throughout the war{{citation needed|date=May 2023}} due to the [[Southern Unionists]] sympathies of a majority of the Commonwealth's citizens who were split between the struggle of Kentucky's sister Southern States fully in the [[Confederate States of America]] and a continued loyalty to the Unionist cause that was prevalent in other areas of the South such as in East Tennessee, West Virginia, Western North Carolina, and others. Despite this, some 21st-century Kentuckians observe [[Confederate Memorial Day]] on [[Confederate States of America|Confederate]] leader [[Jefferson Davis]]' birthday, June 3, and participate in Confederate battle re-enactments.<ref>{{cite web | title=KRS 2.110 Public Holidays | publisher=[[Kentucky General Assembly]] | url=http://www.lrc.ky.gov/KRS/002-00/110.PDF | access-date=November 29, 2006 | archive-date=September 27, 2006 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060927011246/http://www.lrc.ky.gov/KRS/002-00/110.PDF | url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>Tony Hiss, ''Confederates in the Attic''</ref> Both Davis and U.S. president [[Abraham Lincoln]] were born in Kentucky. [[John C. Breckinridge]], the 14th and youngest-ever Vice President was born in Lexington, Kentucky at Cabell's Dale Farm. Breckenridge was expelled from the U. S. Senate for his support of the Confederacy.

Henry W. Grady, editor of the Atlanta Constitution, coined the term ''New South'' in 1874, urging transformation from an agrarian economy to a modern industrial one.