Happy 195th birthday Mississippi - WLOX.com - The News for South Mississippi

Happy 195th birthday Mississippi

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BILOXI, MS (WLOX) -

The year was 1817.  Elected delegates in the Mississippi territory wrote a constitution and applied to Congress for statehood. On Dec. 10, 1817, the western portion of Mississippi Territory became the State of Mississippi, the 20th state of the Union. Natchez was declared the first state capital; the capital was moved to Jackson in 1822.

Today, former Lt. Gov. Amy Tuck is speaking Monday at celebration marking Mississippi's 195th anniversary as a state.  Tuck was lieutenant governor from early 2000 to early 2008. She's now vice president for campus services at her alma mater, Mississippi State University.

The Statehood Day event begins at noon in the House chamber of the Old Capitol Museum in downtown Jackson.

The Mississippi Territory was organized in 1798 and encompassed both modern-day Mississippi and modern-day Alabama.  It became the second state to secede from the Union on Jan. 9, 1861, three months before the Civil War started.

Mississippi had about 70,000 when it became America's 20th state.  Today, the state population is more than 2.8 million.

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