Monette, John W. History of the Discovery and Settlement of the Valley of the Mississippi, by the Three Great European Powers, Spain, France and Great Britain, and the Subsequent Occupation, Settlement, and Extension of Civil Government by the United States, Until the Year 1846, in two volumes, Volume II . New York: Harper and Brothers, Publishers, 1846. [format: book], [genre: history]. Permission: Schingoethe Center for Native American Cultures, Aurora University
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1789, after the election of the first Congress under the new Federal Constitution. Of course no action on the part of Congress could be obtained until after the assembling of the new Congress, under the administration of General Washington.

It was on this account that the final separation of Kentucky was deferred for two years more. It was at this critical period, when disappointment, delay, and uncertainty seemed to brood over the political prospects of Kentucky, and when her numerous talented statesmen, who were ambitious of taking their rank in the new order of things, were impatient of political distinction, that the intrigue of the Spanish minister and the Governor-general of Louisiana was set on foot for encouraging disaffection in the western people, preparatory to a separation and alliance with Louisiana under the dominion of Spain.

[A.D. 1791.] At length, after an angry and spirited controversy between the district of Kentucky and the parent state, the Legislature of Virginia passed an act which, in the nature of a solemn compact between the State of Virginia and Kentucky, provided that the district of Kentucky should become "separate from, and independent of, the State of Virginia, from and after the first day of June, 1792."

The question as to the admission of Kentucky had been presented before Congress by President Washington, with a strong recommendation in favor of the independence of the new state. The president had taken a lively interest in the welfare of this rising state, and lost no time in taking measures for securing to the western people the free navigation of the Mississippi.

On the 4th of February an act of Congress was approved which provided for the admission of Kentucky into the Federal Union as an independent state. This act authorized the election, in December following, of a convention authorized to form and adopt a State Constitution, to be submitted for the approbation of Congress. The convention elected under this authority convened at Danville on the first Monday in April following. They proceeded to the task assigned them, and after a session of nearly three weeks they had completed their labors, and on the 19th day of April, 1792, the Constitution was adopted and received the signatures of the members. ¹⁸³ It was soon promulgated, and was well received by the people.