In the first half of the 19th cent．，Kentucky was primarily a state of small farms rather than large plantations and was not adaptable to extensive use of slave labor．Slavery thus declined after 1830，and for 17years，beginning in 1833，the importation of slaves into the state was forbidden．In 1850，however，the legislature repealed（废止，撤销）this restriction，and Kentucky，where slave trading had begun to develop quietly in the 1840s，was converted into a huge slave market for the lower South．
Antislavery agitation（煽动）had begun in the state in the late 18th cent．within the churches，and abolitionists（废奴主义者）such as James G．Birney and Cassius M．Clay labored vigorously in Kentucky for emancipation（解放）before the Civil War．Soon Kentucky，like other border states，was torn by conflict over the slavery issue．In addition to the radical antislavery element and the aggressive proslavery faction，there was also in the state a conciliatory（调和的）group．
At the outbreak［（战争的）爆发，（疾病的）发作］of the Civil War，Kentucky attempted to remain neutral（中立的）．Gov．Beriah Magoffin refused to sanction（批准，支持）President Lincoln’s call for volunteers，but his warnings to both the Union and the Confederacy not to invade were ignored．Confederate forces invaded（侵略，侵袭）and occupied part of S Kentucky，including Columbus and Bowling Green．The state legislature voted（Sept．，1861）to oust（驱逐）the Confederates and Ulysses S．Grant crossed the Ohio and took Paducah，thus securing the state was secured for the Union．After battles in Mill Springs，Richmond，and Perryville in 1862，there was no major fighting in the state，although the Confederate cavalryman（骑兵，地面机械化部队）John Hunt Morgan occasionally led raids into Kentucky，and guerrilla（［古］游击战）warfare was constant．
For Kentucky it was truly a civil war as neighbors，friends，and even families became bitterly divided in their loyalties．Over 30，000Kentuckians fought for the Confederacy，while about 64，000served in the Union ranks．After the war many in the state opposed federal Reconstruction policies，and Kentucky refused to ratify the Thirteenth and Fourteenth amendments to the U．S．Constitution．
As in the South，an overwhelming majority（压倒的多数）of Kentuckians supported the Democratic party in the period of readjustment after the war，which in many ways was as bitter as the war itself．After the Civil War industrial and commercial recovery was aided by increased railroad construction，but farmers were plagued（折磨，使苦恼）by the liabilities of the one－crop（tobacco）system．After the turn of the century，the depressed price of tobacco gave rise to a feud（不和）between buyers and growers，resulting in the Black Patch War．Night riders terrorized buyers and growers in an effort to stage an effective boycott（联合抵制）against monopolistic practices of buyers．For more than a year general lawlessness prevailed until the state militia（民兵）forced a truce（休战）in 1908．
Coal mining，which began on a large scale in the 1870s，was well established in mountainous E Kentucky by the early 20th cent．The mines boomed（兴隆）during World War I，but after the war，when demand for coal lessened and production fell off，intense labor troubles developed．
During the early 1900s，a group of tobacco companies held a monopoly（垄断）on tobacco buying in Kentucky．A group of farmers began burning barns and fields of those who sold to these companies．The Black Patch War（1904—1909）succeeded in breaking up the monopoly and tobacco auctions（拍卖）were adopted．
People in Kentucky lost work as the demand for coal decreased during the 1920s．The Great Depression（1929—1939）also caused many to lose their jobs．In 1933，the federal government created jobs through the Tennessee Valley Authority（TVA）program．Dams were built along the Tennessee and Cumberland Rivers and throughout the state．Many worked on state highways and others conserving natural resources．
After World War I improvements of the state’s highways were made，and a much－needed reorganization of the state government was carried out in the 1920s and 1930s．Since World War II，construction of turnpikes（收费公路），extensive development of state parks，and a marked rise in tourism have all contributed to the development of the state．Kentucky benefited from the energy crisis of the 1970s，when its large coal supply was in great demand，but recovered slowly from a decline in manufacturing in the same period．
The attempt of the United Mine Workers of America（UMW）to organize the coal industry in Harlan co．in the 1930s resulted in outbreaks of violence．Harlan，and in 1937a U．S．Senate subcommittee began an investigation into allegations（主张，断言）that workers’civil rights were being violated（违犯）．Further violence ensued，and it was not until 1939that the UMW was finally recognized as a bargaining agent for most of the state’s miners．Labor disputes and strikes have persisted in the state；some are still accompanied by violence．
World War II（1939—1945）also created jobs with the U．S．military and supplying weapons and food to U．S．soldiers．During the 1960s，the coal industry grew rising to second place nationally．The TVA began building recreational areas in western Kentucky and a steam－generating plant in Paradise（天堂）．And，Kentucky passed the Kentucky Civil Rights Act，requiring equal employment and housing for all races．
Recently，state leaders have strived to improve Kentucky．Coal production was creating water and air pollution．Laws were passed in 1978to improve the environment．In 1990，the Kentucky Education Reform Act provided money for better education．Today，Kentucky is also trying to attract new businesses to the state while developing its traditional industries．
Governor州长
州长Ernie Fletcher 有着非凡的人生，他当过空军战斗机飞行员、工程师、家庭医生、普通部长、州立法者和美国国会议员。他出生在Mt．Sterling，之后很长一段时间内住在Lexington。他在1974年从肯塔基州大学工程学院获得B．S．学位，后毕业于肯塔基州大学医学院。