cal struggle for expanding the right to vote--all found, and find, their ex-
pression in the states.

The changing character of government forms an all-embracing concern
with every aspect of civil and religious behavior, from a limited concern with
maintaining law and order to a concern with providing the social benefits of
the contemporary welfare state, which has been felt in the states even more
than in the federal government. Some states began as commonwealths de-
voted to establishing model societies based on a religiously informed vision
( Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island). At the other end of the spec-
trum, Hawaii is a transformed pagan monarchy. At least three states were in-
dependent for a significant period of time ( Hawaii, Texas, Vermont). Others
were created from nothing by hardly more than a stroke of the pen (the
Dakotas, Idaho, Nevada). Several are permanently bilingual ( California,
Louisiana, New Mexico). Each has its own landscape and geographic con-
figuration, which time and history transformed into a specific geohistorical
location. In short, the diversity of the American people is expressed in no
small measure through their states, the politics and governments of each of
which have their own fascination.

Kentucky Politics and Government is the ninth book in the Politics and
Governments of the American States series of the Center for the Study of
Federalism and the University of Nebraska Press. The aim of the series is to
provide books on the politics and government of the individual states of the
United States that will appeal to three audiences: political scientists, their
students, and the wider public in each state. Each volume in the series exam-
ines the specific character of one of the fifty states, looking at the state as a
polity--its political culture, traditions and practices, constituencies and in-
terest groups, and its constitutional and institutional frameworks.

Each book in the series reviews the political development of the state to
demonstrate how the state's political institutions and characteristics have
evolved from the first settlement to the present, presenting the state in the
context of the nation and section of which it is a part, and reviewing the roles
and relations of the state vis-à-vis its sister states and the federal govern-
ment. The state's constitutional history--its traditions of constitution mak-
ing and constitutional change--are examined and related to the workings of
the state's political institutions and processes. State-local relations, local
government, and community politics are studied. Finally, each volume re-
views the state's policy concerns and their implementation from the bud-
getary process to particular substantive policies. Each book concludes by
summarizing the principal themes and findings to draw conclusions about

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