Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 13.djvu/681

MISSISSIPPI. the assessment of property for taxation shall not become laws except by a vote of at least three-fifths of the members of each House present and voting. Vetoed bills or parts of appropriation bills may be carried over the Governor's head by a two-thirds vote. General elections of State and county officers are held on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November.

Mississippi sends eight members to the United States House of Representatives. The capital is Jackson.

The Governor and Lieutenant-Governor are elected for four years, and the former cannot be his own successor. The president of the Senate pro tem, and the Speaker of the House are in the line of succession to the Governorship in case of vacancy in that office. The Secretary of State, Treasurer, and Auditor are elected for terms of four years, and the two last named cannot immediately succeed themselves or each other.

The Supreme Court consists of three judges who are appointed by the Governor and the Senate for terms of nine years. Judges of the Circuit Courts and Chancery are similarly appointed for terms of four years. A clerk of the Supreme Court and an Attorney-General are elected for terms of four years. A district attorney for each Circuit Court district is selected as determined by law for a term of four years.

In each county an assessor, surveyor, coroner, sheriff, and treasurer are elected for four years, the two latter not being eligible to succeed themselves or each other. Each county is divided into five districts, in each of which a resident freeholder is selected as a member of the board of supervision of the county. This board has jurisdiction over roads, ferries, and bridges. Justices of the peace and constables are elected in each district for terms of four years.

According to the census of 1900 the population of militia age in the State amounted to 289,599. The aggregate strength of the militia in 1901 was 1373 men.

In 1539 Hernando de Soto, with a band of Spanish adventurers, crossed the northeastern part of what is now the State, and in the early part of 1541 reached the Mississippi River, near the present site of Memphis, Tenn. In 1673 the French explorers Joliet and Marquette, passing down the Mississippi, sailed as far as the mouth of the Arkansas. In 1681-82 La Salle sailed down the river to its mouth, and, taking formal possession for the King of France, Louis XIV., named the country Louisiana after him. The first attempt to found a colony was made in 1699 by Iberville, who brought 200 immigrants from France to Biloxi. on the eastern shore of the Bay of Biloxi. This was the germ of the subsequent settlement of New Orleans (1718). In 1716 Iberville and Bienville, with a large body of immigrants and a military force, ascended the Mississippi to the present site of Natchez, where they founded a settlement named Rosalie, in honor of the Countess of Pontchartrain. Attempts to plant colonies were soon after made at Saint Peter's (on the Yazoo), at Pascagoula, and elsewhere. The small colonies in Mississippi, however, grew but slowly. New Orleans attracting many of the settlers. Under Bienville, who was Governor of Louisiana from 1718 to 1724, friendly relations with the Indians were preserved; but under his successor, Perriez, the hostility of the Natchez Indians was awakened. In 1729 a sudden assault was made on the line of French posts. At Fort Rosalie 200 persons were killed and more than 500 were taken prisoners. In the smaller settlements many of the inhabitants were butchered. Retribution followed swiftly. Aided by the Choctaw tribes, the French succeeded in defeating the Natchez, the greater part of whom fell in battle, while most of the survivors were sold as slaves. When Bienville became Governor again in 1733 he found the colony at war with the Chickasaws, allies of the English, and the conflict continued for several years. There was a peace, followed in 1752 by another Indian war, instigated, it was said, by English adventurers. The French commander sought to retaliate, but without much success. Under French rule the country failed to prosper, and the number of inhabitants at the end of the period was less than one thousand. In 1763 France ceded its possessions east of the Missis s ippi to Great Britain, which received also Florida from Spain. Immigrants flocked thither in considerable numbers from the English colonies on the Atlantic Coast as well as from Scotland.

That part of the territory south of a line drawn through the mouth of the Yazoo River eastward to the Chattahoochee had been erected into the Province of West Florida soon after the establishment of English rule in 1763. In 1781 West Florida was conquered by Spain, and passed under Spanish rule. By the Peace of Paris, in 1783, the thirty-first parallel of latitude was recognized as the southern boundary of the United States, and Spain was therefore considered as an intruder in that part of Mississippi to the north of the line. By the treaty of 1795 between the United States and Spain, Spain ceded her claims to the disputed territory, but continued to occupy it until 1798. In 1798 the Territory of Mississippi was extended to Tennessee, and in 1813 the district south of 31° and east of the Pearl River, taken from Spain, was annexed. At first a Governor and three judges appointed by the President were the chief authorities for the government of the Territory, but in 1800 provision was made for a legislature, the Lower House consisting of nine members representing the three counties into which the Territory was then divided. In 1802 Washington became the capital of the Territory. In the Creek War Mississippi took a conspicuous part, several hundred inhabitants of the Territory being massacred at (q.v.). In the War of 1812 the Territory was well represented at the battle of New Orleans. In March, 1817, Congress passed an enabling act for the admission of Mississippi to the Union, and the State was formally admitted December 10, 1817. The most notable features of the first Constitution of Mississippi were the high property qualifications for holding office, the short tenures of offices, and the large appointing power of the Governor and Legislature. The first Governor was David Holmes, and during his administration the capital was permanently located at Jackson, near the headwaters of the Pearl River.

By the treaties of 1830 and 1832, with the Choctaw and Chickasaw Indians, who inhabited all the northern part of the State, the lands occupied by those tribes were incorporated into the State, subjected to its jurisdiction, and thrown open to