Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 18.djvu/598

STATES. Empire State. New York, from its size, wealth, and number of its inhabitants.

Empire State of the South. Georgia, from its enterprise.

Evergreen State. Washington.

Excelsior State. New York, from the motto on its seal (adopted 1778).

Freestone State. Connecticut, from its freestone quarries.

Golden State. California, from its gold-mines.

Gopher State. Minnesota, from the animal.

Granite State. New Hampshire, from its granite hills.

Green Mountain State. Vermont, from the Green Mountains.

Hawkeye State. Iowa. The name arose about 1839, apparently in allusion to J. G. Edwards, familiarly known as ‘Old Hawkeye,’ editor of the Burlington Patriot, the name of which paper was changed September 5, 1839, to the Hawkeye and Patriot.

Hoosier. Indiana. In use as early as 1833, but its origin is obscure.

Jayhawker State. Kansas. The word, of obscure derivation, appears to have originated with a party on its way to California in 1849, but no instance of its use is recorded prior to 1858, when it was used in Kansas, where it was derisively applied to James Montgomery and his men, who, in retaliation for the atrocities committed on Free-State settlers by the ‘border ruffians,’ raided the pro-slavery settlers and their abettors from Missouri. Later it was applied to marauders on both sides during the Civil War, and finally was applied to the people of Kansas.

Keystone State. Pennsylvania, probably because it was the central State of the Union at the time of the formation of the Constitution.

Lake State, Michigan.

Land of Steady Habits. Connecticut. See .

Little Rhody. Rhode Island, from its diminutive size.

Lone Star State. Texas, from the single star in the flag of the Texas Republic (1836-1845).

Lumber State. Maine.

Mormon State. Utah.

Mother of Presidents. Virginia, because the birthplace of seven Presidents.

Mother of States. Virginia, because the first settled of the States.

New England of the West. Minnesota.

Nutmeg State. Connecticut, in allusion to the alleged manufacture of wooden nutmegs in that State.

Old Colony. That part of Massachusetts which from 1620 to 1692 was the Plymouth Colony.

Old Line State. Maryland, probably from the ‘Maryland Line’ which won distinction in the Revolutionary War.

Old North State. North Carolina.

Palmetto State. South Carolina, from the device on its seal.

Panhandle State. West Virginia, from the irregular section of the State projecting northward between Pennsylvania and Ohio.

Pelican State. Louisiana, from the device on its seal.

Peninsula State. Florida, from its location.

Pine Tree State. Maine, from the device on its seal, adopted in 1820.

Prairie State. Illinois, from its prairies.

Sage-Brush State. Nevada, from the plant.

Silver State. Nevada, from its silver-mines.

Sucker State. Illinois, because in the early days the men went up the Illinois River to the mines and returned at the season when the sucker migrated. The term was first used about 1833.

Sunflower State. Kansas.

Turpentine State. North Carolina, from the turpentine produced in it.

Web-Foot State. Oregon, from the quantity of rain which falls there.

Wolverine State. Michigan, from the animal.  STATE'S EVIDENCE (or, in England, or ). A popular phrase used to denote the testimony given by an accomplice in the commission of a crime against the other accomplices on their trial, under an agreement or understanding with the prosecuting officer that the witness shall not be brought to trial for his part in the crime, in consideration of his aid to the State. Such an agreement or understanding on the part of the prosecution is not valid and enforceable as a matter of law, but in practice such agreements are usually adhered to by the prosecutor as a matter of good faith and are countenanced by courts as a justifiable and proper means of securing convictions for crime. In several States there are statutes providing that there shall be no conviction for crime upon the uncorroborated testimony of an accomplice. In applying this statute, whether a witness is an accomplice whose testimony requires corroboration is a question for the jury, unless the facts are undisputed or the question rests upon some rule of law, where it must be passed upon by the court. See ;  STATES-GENERAL (Fr. états généraux). The name given to the convocation of the representative body of the three orders of the French kingdom, representing the nobility, clergy, and bourgeoisie or tiers état (Third Estate). As far back as the time of Charlemagne, there were assemblies of clergy and nobles held twice a year to deliberate on matters of public importance, and in these assemblies the extensive body of laws bearing the name of the Capitularies of Charlemagne was enacted. These national convocations seem to have ceased to be held at the time of the final disruption of the Carlovingian realm, about seventy years after Charlemagne's death. From that time forward there is no trace of any national assembly in France till 1302, when the états généraux, including the three orders of clergy, nobles, and citizens, were convoked by Philip the Fair, with the view of giving greater weight to the course adopted by the King in his quarrel with Pope Boniface VIII. In 1308 Philip obtained from the states-general a condemnation of the Knights Templars. During the period of the Hundred Years' War (1337-1453) the states-general were frequently convoked, and the exigencies of the Court enabled them to play an important rôle in connection with the revenue and taxation. But they were not a law-making body, although they enabled the voice of the nation to assert itself against abuses of the royal power. As the royal authority became more and more absolute, and a standing army made the sovereign less dependent upon financial grants made by his subjects, the summoning of the states-general gradually ceased to