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| Statehood Day Email Newsletter
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It's about the process under which Tennessee became a state.
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| State Not Complete in 1796
Tennessee officially became a state on June 1, 1796. Today, when people read this in the history books, it seems inevitable.
However, you could make an argument that Tennessee wasn’t ready to be a state.
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This is the most accurate map of what Tennessee actually looked like when it became a state in 1796. As you can see, about four-fifths of present-day Tennessee was actually Native American land.
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You see, in 1796, about four-fifths of present-day Tennessee was still owned by Native American tribes. The Cherokee Nation still owned and controlled the Cumberland Plateau, all of present-day East Tennessee south and east of present-day Kingston, and all parts of Middle Tennessee that were drained by the Tennessee River. The Chickasaw Nation owned all of present-day West Tennessee.
As far as settlers were concerned, Tennessee consisted of two separate pieces of land, divided by the “vast wilderness” (which is what it was called at the time) of the Cumberland Plateau.
Here are some tidbits about life in Tennessee from the Knoxville Gazette of that era:
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The replica of Fort Southwest Point in Kingston is in the process of becoming a state historic park
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• Under the terms of the Treaty of the Holston of 1791, settlers were supposed to be able to use a road that crossed the Cumberland Plateau. But between 1791 and 1796, there were many acts of violence along the road. In fact, the road was so dangerous that most people only traveled it with military escort. Every few months, those escorts left Fort Southwest Point (in present-day Roane County) heading west and Fort Blount (present-day Jackson County) heading east.
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Thomas Spencer's murder was reported in the April 10, 1794, Knoxville Gazette
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• The news was full of stories of violence between settlers and members of the Chickamaugans--a group of war-like Cherokees and Creeks that had been formed by Chief Dragging Canoe years before. In April 1794, the Knoxville Gazette reported that Thomas “Big Foot” Spencer had been killed on the road between Fort Southwest Point and Fort Blount. The January 1795 Gazette reported three deaths on the Harpeth River, near Nashville. The next month brought news of the killing of George Man of Sevier County. In March 1795, the Gazette reported two deaths at Joslin’s Station near Nashville. A May 1795 issue reported several acts of violence, including the death of a soldier at Fort Blount.
• The Gazette published several items reminding readers of why Native Americans were fighting in the first place. On January 8, 1795, Southwest Territory governor William Blount issued a proclamation ordering all settlers who had illegally moved into the area known as Powell’s Valley to leave immediately and “in case of a refusal to obey this command, they will answer the same at their peril".
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Nickajack Cave, in Marion County, used to be behind the Chickamaugan village of Nickajack
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• The most important event that occurred during the Southwest Territory era was the Nickajack Expedition. In September 1794, a volunteer militia from Nashville and Knoxville made a surprise attack on the Chickamaugan villages of Nickajack and Running Water, along the Tennessee River. They killed about 100 people, many of whom were warriors.
• The Gazette contained stories about East Tennessee towns that were being organized for the first time. The Sullivan County town of Blountville was established in July 1795. Three months later, the Blount County town of Maryville was announced.
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In Tennessee's early days, mapmakers weren't sure where Tennessee's boundaries were. (Shutterstock map)
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Two main points seem evident from these early issues of the Knoxville Gazette. One is that it is misleading to use a current map while learning about Tennessee becoming a state. Settlers controlled so little of present-day Tennessee that the modern map is not accurate.
The other point that needs to be emphasized is why Tennessee’s early inhabitants were anxious to become a state in the first place. When Tennessee became a state, its residents were hopeful that the federal government would do more to help them in their fight against the Chickamaugans.
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Tennessee was named for Tanase, a Cherokee village. Here, Charlie Rhodarmer points to the location of where Tanase used to be.
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Tennessee DID become a state, using the steps spelled out by the new U.S. Constitution and by Congress.
In the fall of 1795, the government of the Southwest Territory took a census and found it had a population of more than 50,000 free inhabitants. A referendum showed that about three-fourths of eligible voters favored statehood. Territorial governor William Blount called a convention which met in the spring of 1796. That convention of 55 delegates drew up a state constitution.
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Copies of the Tennessee constitution were being sold at bookstores in Philadelphia in April 1796 -- two months before Tennessee officially became a state!
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Tennessee’s new constitution was similar to the one that the nation had just adopted. It called for three functions of government: an executive branch led by a governor; a legislative branch consisting of a house and a senate; and a court system largely controlled by the legislative branch. It was, in the opinion of Thomas Jefferson, the “least imperfect and most republican of the state constitutions".
These delegates chose the name of the new “free and independent state”-- a phrase from the new state constitution. The name came from Tanase, a Cherokee village in present-day Monroe County.
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[Philadelphia] Independent Gazetteer; June 5, 1796
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The U.S. Congress, meeting in Philadelphia at the time, approved statehood on June 1, 1796. A few days later, the (Philadelphia) Independent Gazetteer contained only one sentence that mentioned the 16th state:
“Also, that the President of the United States had informed them that he had approved and signed a bill originating in their house, for admitting the state of Tennessee into the Union.”
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Pennsyvlania Herald; May 11, 1796
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By that time, John Sevier–one of the heroes of the Battle of Kings Mountain–had been elected Tennessee’s first governor. William Blount and William Cocke were elected to be Tennessee’s first U.S. Senators.
And who was Tennessee’s first member in the U.S. House of Representatives? It was a tall, lanky man from Nashville who was still little known in some parts of the new state.
His name was Andrew Jackson.
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Eric Hughey gives a tour of Fort Loudoun at a TN History for Kids event in January 2020
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Tennessee History for Kids, a 501(c)3 organization
PO Box 281 | Franklin TN 37065 | www.tnhistoryforkids.org |
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