Tennessee is a state of the United States of America and is one
of the southern states. The name Tennessee comes from Tanasi,
the name of a Native American settlement on the Little Tennessee
River. One of Tennessee's nicknames is Volunteer State. It dates
from the time of the British-American War, in which numerous
citizens of Tennessee fought as volunteers for their country.
Tennessee is famous for the blues, the birth of rock 'n'
roll (Memphis), country music (Nashville), and whiskey (Jack
Daniel's and George Dickel).
Each region has a distinct musical heritage: blues in the west,
country-west in the middle, and bluegrass in the east.
West
Tennessee borders the Mississippi River and forms the northern limit of
cultural influence in the Lower Mississippi Delta region.
Central
Tennessee, with Nashville and its backdrop of rolling hills, is the
state's most prosperous region.
East Tennessee, with the cities of
Chattanooga and Knoxville, is mountainous and reflects Appalachian
influence.
1 Memphis – largest city in the state of Tennessee
2
Nashville—Capital
3 Knoxville
4 Chattanooga
5 Clarksville
6
Johnson City
Fort Donelson National Battlefield cover are of two Confederate forts Donelson and Heiman that stand overlooking Cumberland river.
Shiloh National Military Park is a former battle site where Union forces fought with the Confederate army on April 6– April 7, 1862.
Casey Jones Village, in Jackson.
Ruby Falls, 1720 South
Scenic Highway Chattanooga, TN 37409. Email:
info1@rubyfalls.com. Price: The tourist attraction "Ruby Falls"
is located in Lookout Mountain near Rock City and Chattanooga
While there are fewer and fewer places to taste truly authentic
"Southern" food outside of a private family's table, the state still has
some truly great local cuisine. Local specialties include Nashville hot
chicken and Memphis-style barbecue, including the famous rib tips.
In Memphis, it would be a crime to miss the rendezvous where the
President and Vice President of the United States gather.
Tennessee whiskey meets the legal requirements for bourbon whiskey, with the additional requirements that it be filtered through maple charcoal after distillation and before aging, and that it be manufactured in the state.
The Great Smoky Mountains National Park is a World Heritage Biosphere
Reserve that attracts millions of visitors from the region and around
the world each year. Covering nearly 1,000 square miles (over 2,000
km2), the park is home to temperate rainforests and some of the rarest
and most unique plants in North America. The park suffers from high
levels of air pollution due to the surrounding cities of Knoxville and
Sevierville and the Tennessee Valley Authority's numerous coal-fired
power plants.
Traffic congestion within the park's Cades Cove
"loop" is quite severe, as many people stop to admire the expansive
valley views and the many deer and bears that roam freely through the
area. If you do plan to go, try to car pool if you can.
Depending
on where you visit, there are plenty of things to do in Tennessee,
including white-water rafting on the Ocoee River, sightseeing in
Gatlinburg, and touring Music City in Nashville. For an outdoor
adventure, rafting on the Ocoee River, the former site of the Olympics,
is a must. You can have an all-day adventure down the Ocoee River and
experience the fun of the outdoors.
During the spring months, the state is
often heavily affected by storms that bring the potential for major
flooding. These floods are never minor, are often widespread, and can
last for days or weeks; in May 2010, the state experienced a "once in a
thousand year flood," resulting in numerous deaths and over $2 billion
in property damage throughout the state.
Anyone traveling to the
region during this season should consider planning ahead. Before
embarking on a trip, obtain information about weather phenomena in the
region. If a flood warning is in effect for the area you plan to travel,
or if there is a threat of flooding, consider postponing your travel
plans or taking an alternate route to your final destination. Areas
devastated by flooding are not safe for non-essential travel and should
be avoided.
Although not near an
official "tornado zone," the state (especially in the central and
western regions) experiences very severe thunderstorms during the spring
and summer months. While these thunderstorms often have the potential to
produce small tornadoes, they are not without the potential to produce
large tornadoes: in April 2009, the city of Murfreesboro was hit by an
intense EF-4 tornado that killed two people and caused $40 million in
property damage.
For this reason, travelers in the area during
this time of year should be aware of changing weather conditions.
For more information on this subject, see our Tornado Safety page.
In terms of race relations, racism is not as prevalent in this state. If you feel you might be targeted by racists, it is wise to avoid poor neighborhoods. Young Tennesseans are generally more progressive and tolerant than their seniors.
Tennessee, like nearly all Southern states, is conservative, but a
bit more progressive than, say, Mississippi.
As in nearly all
Southern states, old-fashioned rules of etiquette and courtesy are
followed. Failure to follow such nuances can be painfully conspicuous.
The term Tenesí was used for the first time in an expedition
commanded by Captain Juan Pardo, a Spanish explorer, when he and his men
passed through an indigenous town called "Tanasqui" in 1567 while
traveling inland from present-day South Carolina. . Europeans later
found a Cherokee village called Tanasi (or Tanase) in present-day Monroe
County. The town was situated along the river of the same name (now
known as the Little Tennessee River).
The meaning and origin of
the name are uncertain. It has been suggested that it would be a
Cherokee modification of an earlier Yuchi/Creek word. It has also been
said to mean 'meeting place' and 'winding river'.
The modern
English term Tennessee is attributed to James Glen, the governor of
South Carolina, who used this name in his official correspondence around
1750. In 1788, North Carolina called Tennessee County the third county
established in what is now It would be the center of the State of
Tennessee. The term Tennessee was eventually adopted at a constitutional
convention convened in 1796 to create a new state.
Tennessee's history begins with the arrival of humans about 12,000
years ago; the Mississippian culture spread along Tennessee's major
rivers around the year 1000. Several Spanish expeditions (such as de
Soto's) passed through Tennessee in the 16th century, and the first
British explorers arrived in 1673, the same year Frenchman Jacques
Marquette first mapped the Tennessee River. The French established
several trading posts, but they were all abandoned by the 1740s. In
1756, the colonists of South Carolina built Fort Loudoun, the first
British settlement in Tennessee.
In 1772, the colonists
established the semi-independent Watauga Republic in eastern Tennessee,
which became part of North Carolina in 1776 as Washington County. In
1784, some counties attempted to gain independence as the State of
Franklin, but this attempt failed. In 1789, North Carolina ratified the
U.S. Constitution and simultaneously gave up its western part to the
federal government. The Southwest Territory was formed on these lands.
In 1795, the residents of Tennessee created their first constitution and
thus turned the territory into a state, which on June 1, 1796, became
the 16th state of the United States. Volunteers from Tennessee
participated in the war with England in 1812, and then in many other
conflicts, which gave the state the nickname "The Volunteer State".
Tennessee was initially dominated by supporters of the
Democratic-Republican Party, and then supporters of President Andrew
Jackson, but the latter's policies led to a split in the party and the
formation of the Whig Party, after which Tennessee found itself in the
camp of Jackson's opponents.
When the Southern states began to
secede from the Union in 1860, Tennessee was initially against
secession, but after the outbreak of the Civil War, sentiment changed;
in June, the General Assembly voted for secession, and Tennessee became
the last state to leave the Union. Residents of eastern Tennessee
opposed secession, which led to the split of the state and an internal
civil war. In 1862, the Federal army managed to capture several large
cities in the state, and in January 1863, it won the Battle of Stone
River, which gave it complete control of the state. In the summer, the
Federal army drove the southern Army of Tennessee out of the state
during the Tullahoma Campaign. After the war, Tennessee became the first
state to return to the Union (July 24, 1866), for this reason it avoided
military occupation. Reconstruction began in the state, but in 1870 the
Democrats returned to power in the state and rolled back many of the
reforms.
It is not known exactly when the first people (Paleo-Indians) entered
the North American continent, but they arrived in Tennessee in the late
Pleistocene, about 13,000 years before the present. They were hunters
and gatherers who lived in small groups of 25-50 people. There were
quite a few of them, so over a hundred sites from this time have been
found in Tennessee, all of them belonging to the Clovis culture. The
population density was especially high in the western Tennessee Valley,
perhaps the most populated place on the entire continent. A monument
from this era is Coats Hines, a site where the remains of a mastodon
were found with signs of damage indicating that it was killed while
hunting. Paleo-Indians lived in Tennessee for almost 3,000 years, until
the time when the megafauna became extinct, which happened about 10,500
years ago. After this, people had to switch to smaller game, mainly
deer, which changed their way of life and marked the beginning of a new
historical period.
The first and longest era in the history of
the inhabitants of Tennessee was the Archaic Period, which lasted for
7,000 years. It began at the boundary of the Pleistocene and Holocene,
approximately 10,000 years before the present. The main feature of the
period was the absence of pottery, with the appearance of which the
Woodland Period began. At that time, people did not know bows and hunted
mainly deer using spears. The first phase of the Archaic Period was the
Early Archaic Period (8000-6000 BC), when megafauna (mammoths and
mastodons) died out, and savannas were replaced by deciduous forests. At
that time, Tennessee was home to two cultural communities, distinguished
by the shape of their spearheads. At the end of the period, it became
warmer and drier, and around 5500 BC. the Middle Archaic Period began.
Man began to widely use shellfish as food, as a result of which large
dumps of shells are found at their sites. At the same time, people began
to consciously bury the dead.
The Late Archaic Period began
around 3000 BC. By 2000, the climate became close to the modern one, the
population began to grow, large seasonal camps appeared, the first
ceramics appeared, still rough and primitive, man first learned to plant
plants. The first cave paintings appeared during this period.
Around 300 BC, the Woodland Period began. In Tennessee, the most famous
sites of that era are Prison Mounds and Old Stone Fort. At this time,
man led the same way of life as before, but used natural resources more
efficiently. People lived more and more sedentary lives, preferring to
settle near large rivers, and at the same time, trade between different
regions began to develop: for example, objects from Georgia and
Louisiana were found in Tennessee. Agriculture began to appear, people
began to grow sunflowers, quinoa, Carolina canary grass and some other
crops, and around 200 AD they mastered corn. Bottle gourds brought from
Mexico were used as dishes. During this period, the production of
ceramics spread. Funeral rituals became more complex and people began to
build mounds and other complex earthen structures. Of particular
interest is the structure at Old Stone Fort, the purpose of which has
not yet been determined.
Around 900 AD, the Mississippian period
(or the Mississippian culture period) began. It is characterized by
highly developed agriculture based on the cultivation of corn, and a
complex religious, social and political organization. Settlements became
more numerous, they became larger, ritual earthen structures became more
complex. People began to produce more ceramics, sometimes of complex
shapes, for example, jugs in the shape of dogs and animals. Man learned
to use native copper, processing it by cold forging and turning it into
plates for ritual jewelry. Corn was the basis of agriculture during this
period, and around 1000, beans began to be grown. From 1200 to 1400, the
Mississippi, Tennessee, and Cumberland River valleys were densely
populated by farmers.
During the Mississippian period, a complex
settlement system was formed: there were large, medium, and small towns,
single farms, and hunting camps. This system is especially
characteristic of the period after 1400. Large towns occupied an area of
2 to 10 acres and were usually surrounded by a palisade. The largest
of them were probably regional cult centers. During this era, the cult
of the dead became more complex, and burial mounds or entire cemeteries
appeared near settlements. Burials in Tennessee resemble those in
neighboring states, so they are usually grouped into the Southeastern
Ceremonial Complex. However, after 1450, residents left West Tennessee
and part of East Tennessee. The first Spanish explorers still found
several settlements of this culture. Due to wars and epidemics, the
Mississippian culture almost disappeared, but on its basis the cultures
of the Chickasaw Indians in the west of the state and the Cherokee in
the east of the state were formed.
The first Europeans to visit the lands of Tennessee were the Spanish
expedition of Hernando de Soto. They passed Georgia, the edge of South
Carolina and in early June 1540 entered Tennessee along the Hiwassee
River valley. From there they reached the Tennessee River above modern
Chattanooga and a little downstream they found an island inhabited by
Cherokee Indians. At one time it was assumed that De Soto was describing
Burns Island, but later archaeologists associated the island mentioned
in the report with Williams Island near Chattanooga. After staying on
the island for three weeks, the Spaniards moved on and reached the
Mississippi River approximately near modern Sunflower Landing,
Mississippi. Subsequently, in 1566 and 1567, the expeditions of Juan
Pardo came to the island and built a fort on it, which became the first
fort built by Europeans in the territory of Tennessee. The fort was
subsequently abandoned and then destroyed by the Indians.
Pardo
and De Soto did not find gold in Tennessee, as a result of which the
Spanish lost interest in the region. However, trade began between the
local Indians and the Spanish of Florida. Only a hundred years later,
Europeans appeared in Tennessee again: Jacques Marquette and Louis
Jolliet reached the Mississippi River from the Great Lakes, went down
the river and reached Tennessee in 1673. On August 4, 1673, Marquette
wrote a letter, indicating the place of writing as "latitude 35", that
is, approximately the site of modern Memphis. For a long time, it was
believed that Marquette was the first European after the Spanish in
Tennessee, but then documents were found according to which the English
appeared in Tennessee in the same year. As early as 1671, the English
expedition of Thomas Batts and Robert Fallam left Fort Henry (modern
Petersburg), crossed the Blue Ridge and reached the New River. In 1673,
Virginian Abraham Wood sent James Needham's expedition west, which
brought an Indian representative to Fort Henry to negotiate trade, but
Needham was subsequently killed by the Indians. One of the expedition
members lived among the Indians for several years and returned to
Virginia only in 1674. From this point on, trade between Tennessee
Cherokee and Virginia began.
In 1682, Robert de la Salle's
expedition went down the Mississippi and built Fort Prudhomme near
Chickasaw Bluff. In 1689, Martin Chartier, married to a Shawnee woman,
reached the Shawnee settlements on the Cumberland River near present-day
Nashville. He stayed there until 1692, and then went to Pennsylvania,
where he founded a trading post. A little later, but before 1696,
another Frenchman, the hunter Jean Cotoun, went up the Tennessee River
and from there to Charleston, where he proposed to the South Carolinians
to actively colonize the lands in the west. In 1700, he led a detachment
of colonists to the Mississippi River, and thus trade was established
between South Carolina and the lands of Tennessee. From Cotoun, the
British learned of the colonization efforts of France, which at that
time was actively creating trading posts on the Mississippi, and one
temporary (1710-1714) trading post appeared on the site of Nashville.
The founder of this post was killed in 1714, when the Chickasaw drove
the Shawnee from the banks of the Tennessee River.
Britain and France were fighting not only for influence over the Cherokee tribe in eastern Tennessee, but also for the Chickasaw tribe in western Tennessee. The pro-British orientation of the Chickasaw seriously threatened the position of France, since the Chickasaw controlled the Mississippi River, an important communication line between New Orleans and Canada. The French managed to form an alliance with the Choctaw Indians, but all attempts to win the Chickasaw over to their side failed. Failing with diplomacy, the French resorted to force: first they encouraged the Choctaw to attack the Chickasaw, then they used their own army: this conflict is known as the Chickasaw Wars. In 1736, during the Second Chickasaw War, the Indians managed to defeat two French armies. In 1739, the Third Chickasaw War began: Bienville with an army of 3,600 men reached the site of modern Memphis and built Fort Assumption there. The Chickasaw managed to defeat the French vanguard, but eventually negotiated: they promised not to attack French ships on the Mississippi, and the French promised not to encourage the Ohio Indians to attack the Chickasaw, but retained the right to support the Choctaw Indians. In the end, the French did not completely defeat the Chickasaw, but the campaign of 1740 was generally successful. Subsequently, the Choctaw raids weakened the Chickasaw so much that they ceased to pose a threat to the French.
In 1746, James Glen, the governor of South Carolina, learned of
French agents among the Cherokee and proposed building a fort to protect
them from the French. The Cherokee agreed and even urged the need for
such a fort, but Glenn failed to get the colonial assembly to take
action. Meanwhile, the French began to penetrate the Ohio Valley, which
led to conflict with the Virginia authorities and the outbreak of the
French and Indian War. Virginia Governor Robert Dinwiddie appealed to
the Catawba and Cherokee Indians for help. This caused concern for
Governor Glenn, who feared that negotiations with the Virginians would
violate the South Carolinian monopoly on trade with the Cherokee. In the
summer of 1754, British authorities ordered Glenn to build a fort in
Cherokee lands at Virginia's expense, but Virginia did not provide
sufficient funds. When Braddock's expedition was being planned, the
Governor of Virginia again counted on the Cherokee to help, but Glen
again objected, and when Braddock was defeated by the Indians, Dinwiddie
explained this by the absence of Cherokee from the expedition. In
December 1755, the Cherokee again and persistently demanded the
construction of a fort, and the South Carolina Assembly agreed, but did
not allocate sufficient funds for this. In the summer of 1756, Glen was
ready to begin construction with private funds, but at that moment he
was removed from office. And only at the end of the year, the new
Governor Littleton sent an expedition beyond the Appalachians, which
began to build a fort on the banks of the Little Tennessee River.
The fort was completed by 1757, but despite this, relations between
the British and the Cherokee began to deteriorate: the Cherokee were
dissatisfied with South Carolina traders and turned to Virginia with an
offer to begin trade, but the Virginia authorities were unable to
fulfill this requirement. In addition, the Virginians promised to send a
garrison for the fort in Cherokee lands, but did not do so. In May 1758,
a clash between Virginia colonists and Cherokee occurred over stolen
horses. Chief Attakullakulla went to Virginia for negotiations, where he
ended up in prison for a number of reasons. He was soon released, but
this event led to unrest among the Cherokee, which by the end of 1759
had escalated into the Anglo-Cherokee War. In February 1760, the
Cherokee attacked Fort Prince George. In April, a detachment of the
British army under the command of Archibald Montgomery was sent to their
lands, but he was unable to break through to the besieged Loudoun. On
August 7, the fort surrendered, and its garrison was killed by the
Indians during their retreat to Virginia. In May-June 1761, General
Grant's detachment raided, destroying several Indian settlements. This
forced the Indians to negotiate, and eventually, on December 17, 1761,
peace was signed, ending the war.
The war reduced the number of
Cherokees from 5,000 to 2,500 people, and at the same time, many
European soldiers were able to see their lands during the fighting and
later returned here as settlers.
The war with France ended in 1763, and under the terms of the Treaty
of Paris, France ceded all lands to the Mississippi River to Britain.
From that point on, the Tennessee territory was gradually settled by
colonists from Virginia, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania. Among them
were the English, French, Irish Scots, and a large number of
Pennsylvania Germans. As early as 1745, James Paton of Augusta County
received a large land grant near the Holston River. He began selling
plots and one of the first settlers was Stephen Holston, after whom the
river was named. In 1753, a grant was received for a plot near the
present-day city of Bristol. In 1756, a grant was received for a plot in
the area of present-day Kingsport. Even earlier, in 1750, colonist
Thomas Walker discovered the Cumberland Gap and named it after the Duke
of Cumberland. The settlers were then hampered by war, and in 1763 the
Royal Proclamation prohibited colonists from settling beyond the
Appalachian Mountains.
Virginian John Stuart was tasked with
dealing with the Indians living south of the Ohio River. In 1768, he
negotiated a boundary with the Cherokee lands from the Reedy River to
Mount Tryon, and that same year concluded the Treaty of Hard Labor with
them, which extended the boundary further north. That same year, the
Treaty of Fort Stanwix was concluded with the Iroquois, who ceded all
lands south of the Ohio River, from which the colonists concluded that
they could settle the territory of Kentucky and Tennessee, but the
Iroquois only nominally owned these lands, so in 1770 Stuart concluded
the Treaty of Lochaber with the Cherokee, not only returning them actual
title to their lands, but also obtaining a number of concessions.
The first explorers of Kentucky and Tennessee were trappers who came
after game began to dwindle east of the Appalachians. In 1760, Daniel
Boone came to Tennessee, and in 1761, twenty trappers led by Elisha
Walden came from Virginia to eastern Tennessee and named one of the
ridges Walden's Ridge. They went to Kentucky, but Walden later returned
to Tennessee. By 1766, the Cumberland River valley and eastern Kentucky
were well explored by trappers. In 1766, a detachment of Pennsylvania
colonists led by James Harrod and Michael Stoner appeared at the
confluence of the Stones River and the Cumberland. Around the same time,
the region was visited by a detachment of Captain James Smith, who
included Uriah Stone: the Stone River was named in his honor. Hearing
Stone's stories, another large party of hunters appeared in June 1769,
reached the New River, and from there dispersed in small groups
throughout the region. The hunters were helped by the fact that there
were no Indian settlements in the region, but the Indians regularly
hunted in these areas and did not want to see whites there; when they
encountered hunters, they sometimes killed them, but more often they
simply took the game. Thus, in 1770, Henry Skaggs's hunting expedition
was robbed. In 1775, under the influence of Skaggs and Boone, an attempt
was made to create the Colony of Transylvania.
The first
permanent structure in Tennessee is considered to be William Bean's
cabin, built in early 1779 on the Boone Creek River at its confluence
with the Watauga. James Phelan Jr. wrote in 1888 that the history of
Tennessee proper begins with the appearance of Bean's cabin.
Around 1770, colonists, primarily from Virginia and North Carolina, began settling the Watauga River Valley. When the boundary between Cherokee and colonial lands was precisely defined in 1772, the Watauga settlers found themselves on Indian land. The laws prohibited them from purchasing land from the Indians, so they leased it for 10 years. Since North Carolina did not govern the western edge, the Watauga Valley colonists entered into an agreement in May 1772 and formed a local government known as the Watauga Association. In 1775, North Carolinians made the Treaty of Sycamore Shoals with the Cherokee, purchasing a large tract of land in Kentucky, after which the Watauga settlers also came to an agreement with the Indians, purchasing the lands they occupied. The British authorities declared both transactions illegal, but the Revolutionary War had just begun, and this declaration had no effect. The residents of the Watauga Valley were completely on the side of the rebellious colonists: they did not like the restrictions of the Royal Proclamation of 1763, they did not like the power of the owners of the Grenville site, and the policy of the British administrators in the Indian lands.
British officials initially did not want the Cherokee to get involved
in the British-American conflict, but the Indians were hard to keep out
of it. Needing help, the Watauga people petitioned the North Carolina
Provincial Congress, offering to formally join North Carolina, which had
already declared independence and become a state. Congress accepted the
offer and admitted the Watauga lands into the state as the "Washington
Precinct." The Watauga people elected delegates to Congress, where they
helped draft the North Carolina Constitution of 1776. The Washington
Precinct was essentially a county, not a precinct, so in November 1777
it was officially renamed Washington County. Its boundaries were
expanded to include all of what would become Tennessee.
A number
of fortifications were built in the Watauga Valley to protect against
the Indians. When the Indians invaded the valley in the summer of 1776,
the colonists abandoned the unfinished Fort Lee and retreated to Fort
Watauga. On July 20, the Cherokee were defeated at the Battle of Island
Flats near Eaton Station, and on July 21, the Indians attacked Fort
Watauga but were repulsed. In September, a detachment of Virginia
militia under the command of Colonel William Christian gathered at Fort
Patrick Henry. The Indians immediately asked for peace, and only Chief
Dragging Canoe refused to negotiate, leading his people west to the
Chickamauga River, where they eventually became the so-called
"Chickamauga Indians." In the summer of 1777, peace negotiations began
in the town of Long Island; under the terms of the concluded treaty, the
Cherokee renounced claims to all lands inhabited by whites. In 1779,
part of Washington County was separated into Sullivan County. In May
1780, the British Army captured Charleston and then invaded North
Carolina. North Carolinians asked for help from the western counties,
and Sullivan County sent 400 men under Colonel Isaac Shelby, while
Washington County sent a force under Charles Robertson. On August 18,
they defeated the Loyalist militia at the Battle of Musgrove Mill. But
General Gates was soon defeated at Camden, and the western militia
retreated to the Watauga Valley. British Major Patrick Ferguson
threatened to destroy all Watauga settlements, which prompted Shelby and
Sevier to decide not to wait for an invasion, but to launch a preemptive
strike. On September 25, 1780, they assembled at Sycamore Shoals,
crossed the mountains, joined with other militiamen, and defeated
Ferguson at the Battle of Kings Mountain on October 7. This battle
forced British General Cornwallis to retreat from North Carolina. He
later returned and the Battle of Guilford Courthouse took place, in
which a small force of western militiamen under Major Charles Robertson
participated. Another 600 men under Shelby and Sevier joined Francis
Marion's guerrillas.
In addition to the settlements in the Watauga Valley, there were also
settlements on the Cumberland River. Traditionally, the first settler on
the site of modern Nashville was French-Canadian Timothy de Montbrun,
who founded a trading post there in 1769. He later became lieutenant
governor of the Illinois Territory. Organized settlement of the river
began in 1779–80 at the initiative of the Transylvania Company. The
northern bank of the Cumberland was given to settlers by the Treaty of
Sycamore Shoals. When Virginia did not recognize the company's rights to
the land, it began to colonize those possessions that fell within the
border of North Carolina. Settlement took two routes: James Robertson
led a group of settlers through the Cumberland Gap and Kentucky lands in
December 1779, and in January 1780 they founded the settlement of
Nashborough. Another group of colonists arrived along the Tennessee
River under the leadership of Watauga resident John Donelson. In total,
about 300 settlers arrived by the spring of 1780. Formally, they found
themselves within the boundaries of Washington County, but since their
lands were located too far from the county authorities, on May 13, the
settlers, like the founders of the Watauga Republic, signed the
Cumberland Compact to establish self-government. It was countersigned by
256 people, which indicates an unusually high level of literacy among
the settlers.
The Indians did not inhabit the Cumberland Valley,
but only visited it for hunting, so they did not immediately discover
the settlers. But from the spring of 1780, attacks became more frequent,
which forced many settlers to leave the valley. James Robertson remained
with some of his supporters, managing to negotiate with the Chickasaw
Indians, and in November 1783, the peace treaty was officially signed in
Nashborough, under the terms of which the Indians renounced their claims
to the Cumberland Valley. On March 15, 1783, the Cumberland Association
petitioned the state government, and on May 17, the governor created
Davidson County in the valley. The county seat became Nashborough, which
was renamed Nashville a year later.
In 1783, the Americans signed a peace treaty with Britain, under the
terms of which they received all the lands west to the Mississippi
River. Already at that time, Congress, under pressure from small states,
began to demand that large states renounce their claims to western
lands. In 1783, Virginia renounced its claims to the lands of the
Northwest, but retained the lands of Kentucky, where the movement for
separation from Virginia began. On June 2, 1784, the North Carolina
Assembly officially renounced the western lands. On August 23, a
convention of representatives from Washington, Sullivan, and Greene
counties met in Jonesboro under the chairmanship of John Sevier. It
decided to create an association to create a new state and negotiate
with Congress for its recognition. The convention drafted a constitution
for the "State of Franklin", based on the North Carolina Constitution of
1776. However, on November 20, 1784, the North Carolina Assembly revoked
the act of abandoning the western lands. The participants of the
convention learned of this only in December, when they met for a second
session.
To soften the reaction of the residents of the West, the
Assembly consolidated four western counties into the Washington
Precinct, so that the militia of the counties was reduced to a brigade,
and John Sevier was appointed commander of this brigade with the rank of
general. Sevier resigned himself to the decision of the Assembly, but
the residents of the state of Franklin demanded independence, so he was
forced to join the majority. In March 1785, the first assembly of the
new state convened, which elected Sevier governor. The authorities of
North Carolina asked for clarification, to which they were told that
Franklin declared itself a free and independent state, but that this
should not in any way infringe on the interests of North Carolina. The
state of Franklin sent a request for recognition to the US Congress,
which refused to fulfill it. At the same time, a conflict began in the
state itself between two parties, the Franklinites and the Toptonites,
for control of the government. In 1787, the US Constitution was adopted,
which stipulated that the state could not be deprived of part of its
territory without its consent, which buried the last hopes of supporters
of independence.
The state had a difficult relationship with the
Cherokee Indians. The settlers managed to conclude favorable agreements
with the Indians, but in 1785 the Confederate government concluded the
Hopewell Treaty with the Indians, according to which part of the
territory of the state of Franklin ended up in Indian territory, and
Congress was obliged to evict the colonists from there. By 1789, the
idea of independence gradually faded away and North Carolina
regained control of this territory. However, the idea itself had
long-term consequences: the possibility of independence for eastern
Tennessee was seriously discussed in 1841-1842 and during the Civil War
and Reconstruction.
In 1786, disillusionment with the Confederation Congress led to the
idea of independence from the eastern colonies becoming popular in the
West. These sentiments were supported by agents of Spain, which feared
for the safety of its possessions in Florida and Louisiana. Spain
prohibited Americans from navigating the Mississippi River, hoping that
this would slow down the settlement of the West. Some residents of
Tennessee thought that if they came to an agreement with Spain, it could
open navigation on the river for them and help them defend themselves
against the Indians. Politicians in the state of Franklin began
negotiations with Spain, probably wanting to put pressure on North
Carolina and force it to give up its claims to Tennessee. In any case,
they openly told the Carolina authorities about Spain's plans and
proposals.
Meanwhile, North Carolina itself had not yet become
part of the United States. It was not until December 22, 1789, that the
Fayetteville Convention ratified the U.S. Constitution (with two western
delegates voting against the ratification), and immediately after that,
on December 22, 1789, an act was passed formally transferring all of
western North Carolina to the federal government. This was done with the
caveat that Congress had no power to abolish slavery in the territory.
In 1790, as soon as North Carolina ceded its western counties to the
federal government, they became federal territory. The lands that had
been set aside for North Carolina veterans of the war remained their
property. Congress decreed that the territory would be governed
according to the principles of the Northwest Ordinance of 1787 (with the
proviso that no steps would be taken to free the slaves), and that one
or more states would be created from the territory. On May 26, President
Washington signed the "Act for Governing the Territory of the United
States South of the Ohio River." This wording subsequently confused many
historians, since it implies that the Territory included the lands of
Kentucky and the lands of the future Alabama and Mississippi. However,
Kentucky was then part of Virginia, and the lands of Alabama and
Mississippi formally belonged to Georgia. Thus, only the territory of
the modern state of Tennessee belonged to the "Southwest Territory."
Under the ordinance of 1787, the territory was initially governed by
appointed officials: a governor, a secretary, and three judges. Madison
nominated Patrick Henry for governor, but the president appointed
William Blount governor and Daniel Smith secretary on August 7, 1790.
Blount also became superintendent of Indian affairs for the region. He
was a major land speculator who used the position for his own personal
gain, but he was an able governor and quickly adapted to frontier
conditions. The governor arrived in the territory in October 1790 and
settled at the confluence of the Holston and Watauga Rivers. He
appointed John Sevier and James Robertson brigadier generals and then
toured the territory appointing officials and prosecutors. In 1791,
Blount moved the capital to White's Fort and renamed the settlement
Knoxville, in honor of his immediate superior, General Henry Knox. On
October 3, 1791, Knoxville was incorporated as a city. In the new
capital, Blount built himself a house (the first frame house in
Tennessee), to which he added an office building.
The September
1791 census showed that Tennessee had a population of 35,691, of which
6,271 were white free males with the right to vote, which gave the
Territory grounds for forming a representative body, but Blount delayed
this event for two years, probably to maintain power and fearing that an
elected assembly would raise land taxes. But by the summer of 1793,
demands for an assembly had increased, and the governor ordered 13
members to be elected to the House of Representatives in December. On
February 24, 1794, the assembly elected members of the Council, or Upper
House, who were confirmed by the president. At its first session, the
assembly chartered the first educational institutions: Greenville
College and Blount College. A territorial treasury was created. At the
same time, the assembly called on Congress for the second time to wage
war on the Creek Indians.
Relations with the Indians at that time
were based on the Hopewell Treaty of 1785, but white settlers were
violating the established boundaries, it was not possible to evict them,
and Henry Knox instructed Blount to negotiate land concessions from the
Indians in exchange for monetary payments. The governor called the
Indians together for negotiations in June 1791, and as a result, the
Treaty of Holston was signed on July 2. But he did not bring peace: in
1790, the Ohio Indians defeated the Harmar expedition, and in May 1791,
the American army was defeated in the battle on the Wabash River, which,
together with the influence of British agents, caused revanchist
sentiments among the Indians and simultaneously deprived Blount of hope
for help from the federal army.
In 1792, Spain promised to supply
the Indians with weapons if they resumed hostilities, and as a result,
bands of Cherokee, Creek, and Shawnee attacked Tennessee settlements but
were repulsed by the militia. Blount again urged Congress to go to war,
but again to no avail: Knox ordered a defensive attitude. In the spring
and summer of 1793, the Chickamauga and Creek raids intensified. Blount
went to Philadelphia and almost persuaded the president and Henry Knox
to begin hostilities, but then news arrived of an attack by Major Byrd's
militia on the Indians, and Knox stopped all talk of an offensive and
ordered Blount to bring Byrd to justice. In September of that year, the
Indians attacked again but were defeated at the Battle of Etowah, which
brought about a lull. At the same time, the French ambassador Edmond
Genet called on the Tennesseans to attack Spanish Louisiana, after which
armed detachments began to gather in Tennessee. Blount was categorically
against this idea, and it was never realized. In 1794, the Tennessee
Assembly again called on Congress to start a war, and its proposal was
adopted by the House of Representatives, but did not pass in the Senate:
the US government was too busy with Anthony Wayne's expedition to Ohio
and was trying to adhere to a policy of pacification in the southwest.
In 1795, Timothy Peckering became Secretary of War, who was even more
opposed to the war. Fortunately for Blount, in 1704, Wayne defeated the
Ohio Indians at the Battle of Fallen Timbers, which impressed the
Indians of the southwest as well.
Governor Blount was able to delay Tennessee's admission to the Union
for two years, but gradually he too began to come around to the idea
that it was desirable to join; the governor realized that only with its
own delegation to the U.S. Congress could the state lobby for its
interests regarding the Indian War. At that time, the procedure for
joining the Union was not formalized and there were no precedents, since
Vermont and Kentucky did not have territorial status before admission.
It was unclear who should take the initiative in this matter, Congress
or the territory. Blount decided that the state should take the first
step, so he convened the Assembly, which resolved to conduct a census to
determine whether the minimum of 60,000 people necessary for admission
was available. At the same time, a survey was conducted during the
census: would residents agree to join the Union if the population was
below the minimum. During the survey, 6,504 people voted for joining and
2,562 against (mostly the western counties voted against). The census
showed that the state had a population of 77,262, of which 10,613 were
slaves, leaving a total of 66,649 free people, including 973 free
blacks.
Blount decided to hold elections for delegates to the
Constitutional Convention on December 18-19, with 5 people from each
county. As a result, 25 delegates gathered in Knoxville on January 11,
1796, and Blount was elected chairman of the congress. Among the
delegates were future President Andrew Jackson, William Claiborne,
Archibald Roane, Joseph McMinn, John Rhea, and William Cocke. A
committee was created under the chairmanship of Daniel Smith to draft
the Constitution, and it was Smith (and not Jackson, contrary to popular
belief) who suggested the name "Tennessee" for the state. There were
many North Carolina and Pennsylvania natives among the deputies, so the
constitution took much from the Pennsylvania constitution, which was
younger, more effective and more liberal. The new constitution
introduced a bicameral assembly, elections to which were held every odd
year. Any man over 22 years old, owning 200 or more acres of land, could
become a member of the legislature. The governor was elected for two
years and no more than three times in a row. The right to vote was
formulated in such a way that virtually any free man, including a black
man, had the right to vote, thus Tennessee essentially introduced
universal suffrage (for men).
In March, elections to the
legislature were held, after which the Southwest Territory formally
ceased to exist. At the end of March, the legislature convened for its
first session, at which the first governor, John Sevier, was
inaugurated. William Blount and William Cocke became the first senators
from Tennessee. Four electors were also chosen for the presidential
election of 1796. The draft constitution was taken to Philadelphia,
where President Washington delivered it to Congress on April 8. He
informed Congress that Tennessee met all the requirements for admission
to the Union. However, it was already known in those days that
Washington would not run for a third term, elections were coming up, and
Tennessee would clearly vote for the Republican candidate. For this
reason, the Federalist Party spoke out against Tennessee's admission:
they stated that the initiative for annexation should come from
Congress, that the census was unofficial, that the state constitution
was contrary to the U.S. Constitution, and that the Southwest Territory
might have to be divided into a number of states. But since the
Republicans had a majority in the House of Representatives, they
recognized Tennessee's annexation by 43 votes to 30. The Federalists had
a majority in the Senate; a commission chaired by Rufus King agreed to
admit Tennessee as a state, but only after a second census (i.e.,
essentially after the 1796 election). The Senate voted for this
decision, but it was not adopted by the House. A compromise was then
proposed: admit Tennessee before the election, but with the condition
that the state would have three electors until the 1800 census. This
compromise was adopted largely through the efforts of Aaron Burr on May
31 and signed by the president on June 1, 1796. The decision passed
largely because the main opponents of annexation, Rufus King and Oliver
Wolcott, had by then left the Senate. On July 30, the state legislature,
at the request of Congress, re-elected both senators and chose Andrew
Jackson as the first member of the House of Representatives from
Tennessee.
In the early years of the state's existence, political life took
place without the influence of parties: in the West, federalists were
generally disliked, and in Tennessee, this attitude was also influenced
by the reluctance of federalists to admit the state to the Union.
Federalists were some government officials who considered it ethical to
show loyalty to the ruling party, but they were disliked in the state
for this. Thus, Tennessee was a completely Republican state. Instead of
parties, factions formed: one represented the interests of East
Tennessee and its leader was John Sevier, and the second represented the
interests of West Tennessee (that is, modern Central Tennessee), and its
leader was William Blount. Blount's faction was better organized, but
Sevier had more personal popularity. Westerners feared the dominance of
the more populated East, and both senators were "Easterners," and only
Jackson was a "Westerner," which emphasized the disparity of power.
William Blount was a senator for a short time: already in 1797, his
participation in a conspiracy to organize an invasion of Spanish
Louisiana and take it away from the Spaniards for transfer to Britain
was revealed. This was due to fears that Napoleon might capture
Louisiana and ban navigation on the Mississippi. Because of this threat,
land prices were falling and Blount himself was on the verge of
bankruptcy. His involvement came to light, and he was expelled from the
Senate and put on trial. However, this did not spoil his career, since
in Tennessee the expulsion was attributed to the machinations of the
federalists. There was an offer to re-elect him back to the Senate, but
Blount refused. The trial was held in December 1798 in his absence. This
was the first trial of a senator in the history of the United States: on
January 11, 1799, the Senate recognized that it had no judicial
authority in this case and dismissed the case. On March 21, 1800, Blount
died suddenly.
September 26, 1797 Andrew Jackson (member of the
U.S. House of Representatives from Tennessee) He was elected senator of
the 1st class (instead of William Coke, which almost led to a duel
between them), and William Claiborne took his place in the House. Joseph
Anderson became a senator of the 2nd class. Sevier was re-elected
governor in August of that year. Jackson served in the Senate for only a
year and resigned in April 1798. This act led to a chaotic succession of
senators over the next two years. Jackson himself returned to Tennessee
and served as chief Justice of the state Supreme Court from 1798 to
1804. Governor Sevier was re-elected in 1799, and Republican Thomas
Jefferson became President of the United States a year later. Blount's
death later that year allowed his closest supporter, Jackson, to become
the state's leading politician. In 1801, Sevier was not re-elected due
to constitutional restrictions, and Archibald Roan took over as
governor. In 1802, the position of major general of the Tennessee
militia, which Jackson had long dreamed of, became vacant. Sevier also
sought this seat, but at the vote in the legislature, the votes for
Jackson and Sevier were evenly divided (17-17). The governor resolved
the dispute in favor of his friend Jackson, and he received the rank of
general. From that moment on, the feud between Jackson and Sevier began,
which escalated as the gubernatorial elections approached in 1803. Both
Sevier and Jackson were running for governor. At one of their personal
meetings, an altercation took place between them: Sevier mentioned
Jackson's wife, for which Jackson challenged him to a duel, which
eventually did not take place.
Sevier won the gubernatorial
election in 1803, and was re-elected in 1805 and 1807, while Jackson
lost some of his influence. In the same year, 1803, President Jefferson
agreed with Napoleon on the purchase of Louisiana. The following year,
Jackson left the Supreme Court and sought the post of territorial
governor of Louisiana, but through Sevier's efforts, Claiborne was
appointed to this post. It was a heavy blow for Jackson, who temporarily
withdrew from politics. In 1805, he solemnly hosted the disgraced
politician Aaron Burr, who attracted him to his plans for the conquest
of Florida. Burr was soon put on trial for this project, which greatly
damaged Jackson's reputation. Now he has made enemies in the person of
President Jefferson and Vice President Madison. Meanwhile, Tennessee
continued to be populated, and its western half overtook the eastern
half in population. This had an impact on the 1809 elections: Willie
Blount, a candidate from the Western Party and a close friend of
Jackson, was elected governor. Jackson's faction now controlled the
state government, but Jackson's reputation was still tainted.
During those years, relations with Britain became complicated and calls
for war began; on this wave, George Campbell entered the US Senate,
where he served until 1814, and then served as Secretary of the Treasury
and Ambassador to Russia. That same year, Blount was re-elected as
governor. In December, the New Madrid earthquake occurred in western
Kentucky, changing the course of the Mississippi River and leading to
the formation of Reelfoot Lake. In politics at that time, Tennessee
congressmen persistently demanded that President Madison declare war,
and it was declared on June 18, 1812. This event gave Andrew Jackson a
chance to return to politics.
The war was popular in Tennessee, whose residents hoped that West
Florida would be recaptured from the British and they would receive a
short route to the ocean through the port of Mobile. Jackson raised a
force of 2,500 volunteers and promised the president that he would
deliver them to the Canadian border, but the federal government had not
yet forgiven Jackson and did not respond to his offer. In October 1812,
Madison ordered Blount to raise 1,500 volunteers to reinforce
Wilkinson's army in New Orleans, and although Jackson hated Wilkinson,
he agreed to participate. Having raised 2,070 men, he crossed to
Natchez, only to learn that the government's plans had changed and his
men were no longer needed. Meanwhile, the people of East Tennessee
formed a small force of their own and, on their own initiative, raided
the Seminole lands of Florida.
In August 1813, due to the growing
threat from the Creek Indians, the governor raised 3,500 volunteers. The
Tennesseans responded enthusiastically to the call, which is why
Tennessee was later nicknamed the "Volunteer State." Two armies were
formed: one in western Tennessee under Jackson, and the other in eastern
Tennessee. During the Creek War that began, Jackson's army won several
victories, including at Tallahatchie, where Davy Crockett participated,
but the success was not developed due to the lagging behind of the
second army and unrest in the troops. Then his troops' terms of service
expired. It was not until the spring of 1814 that Jackson resumed the
offensive and defeated the Indians at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend. This
battle led to the end of the Creek War, and Jackson became a major
general, which eventually helped him become president.
After the war, Jackson negotiated the Treaty of Fort Jackson with the
Creeks, ceding vast territories in Georgia and Alabama to the United
States. However, the Cherokee and Chickasaw Indians also laid claim to
the land, so Secretary of War William Crawford ceded some of the land to
them, angering Jackson. In 1816, a presidential election was held, which
was won by James Monroe, who in 1818 appointed Jackson and Shelby to a
delegation to negotiate with the Chickasaw Indians. Jackson and Shelby
were friends, but disagreements over the negotiations caused a rift in
their relationship. On October 19, 1819, the Treaty of Tuscaloosa was
signed, ceding to the United States all land north of the southern
border of Tennessee between the Mississippi and Tennessee Rivers. Some
of the land became part of Kentucky and some became part of Tennessee;
this territory became known as "West Tennessee." Hardin County was
created on it, which included the territory of modern Hardin, Fayette,
Hardeman, McNary, and Shelby counties.
On October 23, 1919, the
state legislature passed a law allowing settlement of West Tennessee,
surveying, and sale of land. The area began to be quickly populated,
mainly by residents of eastern Tennessee, but also by immigrants from
other western states. Davy Crockett settled on the Aubin River: he later
was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives several times, and in
1835 he left for Texas and died in the battle for the Alamo mission. By
1830, 99,000 people lived in the region. John Overton, a close friend of
Jackson, bought the land and founded the city of Memphis on it in 1819.
After the war with England, Governor Blount resigned and Joseph
McMinn, a representative from East Tennessee, was elected in his place
in 1815. He was subsequently re-elected in 1817 and 1819. Under him,
John Eaton was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1817, serving in the Senate
until 1829, when he became Secretary of War in Jackson's cabinet. In
1821, McMinn completed his third term and was replaced by William
Carroll, a Pennsylvanian and one of Jackson's former officers who had
won fame at the Battle of New Orleans. Jackson recognized his bravery,
but supported his rival in the election, and his supporters were largely
opposed to Carroll, while his opponents (including Davy Crockett) sided
with the governor. Under Carroll, the state gradually emerged from the
banking crisis of 1819–20; The governor closely monitored the activities
of the banks and managed to put the state's finances in order. He was
also known for launching the first steamboat in Tennessee, the General
Jackson, on the Cumberland River.
As early as 1821, Carroll
proposed calling a convention to revise the Constitution, but the
proposal was rejected. At that time, Jackson's supporters were looking
for a prestigious post for him, and there were plans to nominate him as
a candidate for governor of Tennessee in 1823, but there were concerns
that he would lose to Carroll and thus lose his chance for the
presidency. Then it was decided to elect him to the Senate. In 1823, the
legislature met in Murfreesboro, where Jackson was elected senator on
October 1 and took part in the session of the 18th Congress in December
of that year. Here Carroll was not a threat to him, and Jackson did not
interfere with him.
In 1827, Carroll completed his third term and
Virginian Sam Houston, also a participant in the Creek War and a friend
of Jackson, was elected governor. During his reign, the 1828
presidential election was held, in which Andrew Jackson won and became
president. This was an important event for Tennessee and its governor,
since Jackson tended to support his supporters in everything. Houston
won the gubernatorial election in the spring of 1829, but due to family
problems, he resigned, handed over the post to the Speaker of the Senate
William Hall and hid in the lands of the Cherokee Indians. He later
became the first governor of Texas. Houston's retirement from politics
gave Carroll the opportunity to be elected governor in the fall of 1829,
and then re-elected in 1831 and 1833 (he went down in state history as
the governor who served in this post longer than any other). In 1829,
Carroll achieved a resolution to build the first prison in the state and
he also initiated a law prohibiting all other types of punishment
(stocks, shackles, flogging, etc.). The prison was built in a year and
opened on January 1, 1831, near Nashville.
By the early 1830's the Cherokee Indians still occupied the
southeastern corner of the state. The Tennesseans were determined to
remove them beyond the Mississippi, as were President Jackson and the
Tennesseans he brought into the government. Georgia extended its
jurisdiction over the Cherokee lands in 1828, Alabama did the same in
1829, Mississippi did the same in 1830, and Tennessee debated the matter
in 1829, 1831, and 1832, but without any practical result. In 1833 the
legislature passed an act extending state jurisdiction over the Cherokee
lands; it was considered unconstitutional by many, but in 1835 the
Jackson administration concluded the Treaty of New Icot with the
Cherokee for removal across the Mississippi (with compensation of $5
million), which ended the debate about its constitutionality.
Chief John Ross protested this treaty and went to Washington, where he
was supported by many politicians - Henry Clay, Daniel Webster, Henry
Wise and the Tennessean Crockett. But Jackson was adamant. A regular
army under the command of Winfield Scott was brought into the Cherokee
lands. On December 4, 1838, the last Indians left for the west. Only a
few Cherokee remained in the state and accepted US citizenship. In
total, 13,149 Cherokee Indians were removed from the eastern states.
As a result of the removal, the lands east of the Tennessee River
and south of the Hiwassee River became part of Tennessee. Bradley and
Polk Counties were created on this territory, and some land was added to
Monroe and Hamilton Counties. Ross Landing was renamed Chattanooga, and
in December 1839 the city of Chattanooga was officially established.
The spread of democratic ideas during the Jackson years made revision
of the Tennessee Constitution inevitable, although earlier proposals for
revision had been rejected by the legislature several times. Revision
was supported mainly by residents of remote outskirts and mountainous
areas, while the population of the rich river valleys was usually
against it. On May 19, 1834, 60 delegates to the constitutional
convention met in Nashville: 18 from the East, 30 from the Center, and
12 from the West. The delegates included former Governor Willie Blount
and future Governor Newton Cannon. The convention immediately split into
progressives demanding changes and conservatives insisting on cautious
and small changes. The convention changed the system of elections to the
Assembly, reformed taxation and introduced elections of officials. The
convention received many petitions asking for the emancipation of
slaves, but decided that the Assembly had no right to do so against the
will of their owners. Unlike the constitution of 1796, the new
constitution was put to a referendum and approved by 42,666 votes, with
17,691 votes against. On March 27, Governor Carroll declared the
constitution in effect.
The convention also decided to decide on
the state capital by 1843. During the territorial era, the capital was
in Knoxville, in 1806 it moved to Kingston, then to Murfreesboro. Now
the convention gave the state 9 years to make a decision. Subsequently,
after much debate, Nashville became the capital.
President Jackson was extremely popular in Tennessee. However, in a relatively short period of time, the state turned from his main supporter into his main opponent. Initially, Tennessee had a group of former supporters of William Blount, whose successor was Jackson - John Overton, Hugh White, Governor McMinn, Senator Eaton and later James Polk. But there was also an opposition: Senator Williams, Newton Cannon, Davy Crockett and a number of other politicians. In 1828, Jackson won the presidential election, but at the same time made enemies in the state. The choice of Martin Van Buren as Jackson's successor caused especially many objections; many Tennesseans preferred to see Hugh White as president. In 1834, the conflict between John Bell and James Polk made Bell an enemy of Jackson, and it was he who became the father of the Whig Party in Tennessee. Not wanting to vote for Van Buren, he began to support the candidacy of Hugh White. White was a supporter of Jackson and did not seek the presidency, but in the fall of 1834, the president too harshly demanded that he not participate in the elections, which produced the opposite effect: the offended White immediately went into opposition. In 1835, the gubernatorial elections were held in the state, which were won by Newton Cannon, a long-time opponent of Jackson. His opponent was Carroll, this time a supporter of Jackson and Van Buren. Now the opposition controlled the entire state legislature. White's supporters tried to show that they were against Van Buren, but for Jackson's principles, but outside the state they were already called "Whigs". As a result, in the presidential elections of 1836, White received only 10% of the votes, but won in Tennessee (58%) and Georgia (51%), and received over 40% of the votes in Mississippi, North Carolina, Alabama, Virginia and Missouri. This was a heavy blow to Jackson, and Tennessee became a two-party state for 20 years.
The crisis of 1819 forced many Tennesseans to migrate west in search
of available land. In 1821, Mexico gained independence, which led to the
establishment of an American colony in Mexican Texas under the
leadership of Stephen Austin. By 1831, one-tenth of all the inhabitants
of the colony were from Tennessee. They were loyal to the Mexican
government and, in large numbers, not only did not take part in the
Fredon Rebellion of 1827, but even participated in its suppression.
However, the Mexican government began to restrict migration, and
friction with the Texans led to an armed clash in October 1835 and the
beginning of the Texas Revolution. Tennessee residents immediately began
collecting money for the rebels, and hundreds of Tennesseans went to
fight in Texas, including Davy Crockett. Sam Houston helped create the
Texas Constitution and became commander-in-chief of the republican army.
Crockett and a detachment of Tennesseans participated in the defense of
the Alamo mission and died during the assault on March 6.
Tennesseans petitioned the president to recognize Texas, Bell and Hugh
White demanded the same, but Jackson decided to remain neutral. On the
other hand, he did not interfere with those who went to Texas to
participate in the war for independence. Formal recognition followed
only in 1837.
The late 1830s were a difficult time for Jacksonian Democrats in
Tennessee, with almost all of them except Polk losing influence, and
Jackson himself, in a state of dismay, retiring to his estate at the
Hermitage. All Democrat efforts were now directed toward wresting the
governorship from the Whigs. In April 1839, Polk began a tenacious
campaign and eventually defeated Cannon, although by such a small margin
that it took a long time to determine the winner. It was a war for
survival for the state Democrats, but they survived and retained
influence, and Polk became the leading politician of the party. That
same year, he was nominated as a vice-presidential candidate in the 1840
election (although he was not elected). The Democrats captured both
houses of the legislature and some seats in Congress. But two Whig
senators remained in Congress: Hugh White and Ephraim Foster. At great
cost, the Democrats managed to force both to resign: White left office
on January 13, 1840.
In the presidential election of 1840, the
Whigs nominated William Harrison, while the Tennessee Whigs preferred
Winfield Scott or Henry Clay, but ultimately agreed with Harrison. The
most bitter campaign in the history of the state followed, and Harrison
won the election in Tennessee and the country as a whole, which was the
first defeat in the history of the Democratic Party. It was argued that
if Polk had been the vice-presidential candidate, the party would have
had a better chance of winning. Polk himself was preparing to run for
re-election as governor in 1841, but the Whigs nominated James Jones,
who won. The Whigs also captured the House of Representatives, although
they were unable to subdue the Senate. Everyone knew that Polk would
want revenge in 1843, and they were preparing for it: another bitter
campaign followed, and Polk lost again, and the Whigs now captured both
houses of the legislature. Polk's defeat was the greatest setback of his
career, and Jones's victory was called one of the most striking
successes of the Whig Party.
That same year, after much debate,
Nashville was elected the state capital and the Capitol was laid out.
At the 1843 Democratic Convention, Polk was nominated as a
presidential candidate against Henry Clay. Polk ran for president in
1844 with a program to annex Texas, and although Tennesseans were
generally in favor of annexation, the state's Whigs condemned these
plans. Polk lost in Tennessee, but won the entire country and became the
new president of the United States. Soon after, on June 8, 1845, Andrew
Jackson died, and mourning was declared throughout the state. In the
fall, gubernatorial elections were held: the Democratic candidate Aaron
Brown won, leading the campaign under the slogan of annexing Texas. At
the same time, the struggle for the annexation of Texas was underway:
the resolution on annexation was signed by the president on March 1,
although the Tennessee delegation in Congress voted against it. In
December 1845, Texas became the 28th state of the United States. In May
1846, war was declared on Mexico, which was met with general enthusiasm
in Tennessee.
On May 16, the War Department instructed Brown to
recruit 2,800 men for the American army, but ten times as many responded
to the governor's call. The counties of Central Tennessee formed the 1st
Tennessee Infantry Regiment, the counties of the West formed the 2nd
Tennessee Infantry Regiment, and the eastern counties provided a
detachment of dragoons. The 1st was included in Keetman's brigade, and
the 2nd in Pillow's brigade. In 1847, both regiments were in Winfield
Scott's army and participated in Scott's advance on Mexico City, but
their enlistment expired in the summer and they did not participate in
the assault on Mexico City. Tennessee held a gubernatorial election that
year and Whig Neil Brown became the new governor. The war ended in 1848,
and Polk resigned as president in 1849, dying shortly after. His death
ended one of the most turbulent decades in the state's political
history.
By 1853, the Whigs were firmly in control of the state, but divisions
were growing among them over slavery, the Compromise of 1850, the
election of James Jones to the Senate, and the 1852 presidential
election. The gubernatorial election was held on August 4, and the
Democratic candidate Andrew Johnson won. Despite this, the Whigs still
controlled half of their congressmen and half of the state legislature.
John Bell was re-elected to another Senate term that year. Emotions had
died down somewhat, but flared up again in the spring of 1854 over the
passage of the federal Kansas-Nebraska Act. Tennessee Senators Bell and
Jones were divided on the issue, as were Tennesseans in the House of
Representatives. These events weakened the Whig Party, and at the same
time new parties emerged, in particular, the Nativist Party, to which
some of the Whigs had gone, and the Republican Party, which was
unpopular in Tennessee. As a result, the gubernatorial elections of 1855
were no longer between the Democrats and the Whigs, but between the
Democrats and the Nativists. Johnson won and was elected for a second
term.
In those years, Tennesseean William Walker became famous,
who seized power in Nicaragua, was recognized by the United States,
visited Tennessee on an official visit, but was overthrown in 1857, and
subsequently attempted to seize Honduras, but was captured and shot in
September 1860.
The main event during Johnson's second term was
the presidential elections of 1856. The nativists nominated Millard
Fillmore and Tennessee's Andrew Donelson (a relative of Andrew Jackson),
the Republicans nominated John Fremont, and the Democrats nominated
James Buchanan. Whig Senator Jones supported Buchanan and predicted that
the election of Republican Fremont would lead to the collapse of the
Union. In the end, the Democrats won in Tennessee (for the first time
since 1832) and in the country as a whole. The failure of the nativists
led to the rapid decline of the party. They tried to promote their
candidate in the gubernatorial election in Tennessee in 1857, but
Democrat Isham Harris won, and nativism disappeared from the agenda,
replaced by discussions about slavery. Former Governor Johnson went to
the U.S. Senate. Harris won again in the 1859 election, but by a smaller
margin. In 1859, the conflict between the Democrats and the Republicans
intensified, mainly because of John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry. This
raid alienated even those Tennesseans who were in opposition to the
Democratic Party from the Republicans. Secessionist ideas gradually
began to spread, to which even Governor Harris was inclined. When
preparations for the 1860 elections began, the Tennessee Democrats
nominated Johnson as a candidate, and the opposition, which formed the
Unionist Party, nominated John Bell. At the national convention, Bell
beat Sam Houston and became the Unionist candidate, Lincoln beat Seward
and became the Republican candidate, and at the Democratic Party
convention, some supported Stephen Douglas, and some supported
Breckinridge. In the voting in Tennessee, Breckinridge won in the
Central counties, Bell and Douglas dominated in the Western counties,
and Bell won statewide. But Lincoln won nationally, leading to the
secession of South Carolina in December 1860. Several more southern
states soon left the Union. Tennessee was not ready for secession, and
its politicians considered reconciling the conflicting parties: Senator
Johnson and Governor Harris proposed their own versions of a compromise,
but they were not considered, although a compromise by Kentuckian
Crittenden, close in spirit to Harris's proposal, was discussed. In
February, a referendum was held in Tennessee, which rejected the
proposal to call a convention to decide the question of secession, while
residents of the western state were largely in favor of convening it.
The bombardment of Fort Sumter in April 1861 increased secessionist
sentiment, but when Lincoln declared war on the South and called on
Tennessee to provide a military contingent, Governor Harris replied that
he would not provide a single man, but was ready to raise 50,000 men to
protect the southern states. The state legislature met in special
session and on May 6 drafted a "Declaration of Independence" which was
submitted to a referendum on June 8. In the referendum, the center and
west of the state voted for secession, while the east voted against.
By July 2, the Army of Tennessee was formed with 22 infantry
regiments under the command of Gideon Pillow, but on July 4, Leonidas
Polk assumed command. On July 22, the Confederate Congress approved
Tennessee's application to join the Confederacy. Langdon Haynes and
Gustavus Henry were elected to the Confederate Senate. Harris was
re-elected governor later that year. In September, Tennessee became part
of the Second Military Department under Albert Sidney Johnston. By the
end of the year, Johnston had 40,000 men and needed to hold the
Cumberland River line.
In the spring of 1862, General Grant's
army began an offensive into Tennessee. On February 6, the Confederates
abandoned Fort Henry and retreated to Fort Donelson, which was
surrounded by Union forces. On February 16, its garrison surrendered.
Only Forrest's cavalry was able to escape from the besieged fort. The
entire Tennessee defense line collapsed, and the Southerners abandoned
Nashville, where Buell's federal army entered on February 24. Johnston
led the army to Mississippi, where his army increased to 40,000 men, and
he decided to attack Grant. On April 6, the Battle of Shiloh took place,
in which Johnston was killed, and the army of the South (the Army of
Mississippi) retreated. Command passed to Braxton Bragg, who decided to
attack Kentucky. In August, the Kentucky Campaign began; the armies of
Bragg and Smith entered Kentucky and the Battle of Perreville took
place, after which Bragg decided to retreat to Central Tennessee. On
November 20, his army was renamed the Tennessee Army. On December 31,
Bragg attacked Rosecrans's army at Stone River, but failed to defeat it.
In the summer of 1863, Rosecrans launched an offensive and drove Bragg
into Chattanooga and then into Georgia during the Tullahoma Campaign. In
September, Rosecrans entered Georgia but was defeated by the
Confederates at the Battle of Chickamauga. The Confederates retreated to
Chattanooga, where they were besieged by Bragg's army. While Bragg was
besieging Chattanooga, General Longstreet launched the Knoxville
Campaign and besieged Knoxville, but the fighting went poorly for the
Confederates. Meanwhile, in late November, Grant attacked and defeated
the Army of Tennessee at the Battle of Chattanooga. After the defeat,
Bragg was removed from command and the army was led by Joseph Johnston.
The Southerners retreated from Tennessee to Georgia, where in the spring
of 1864, Federal General Sherman launched an offensive on Atlanta. In
July, John Bell Hood assumed command of the Army of Tennessee, who,
after the capitulation of Atlanta, decided to raid Sherman's rear, known
as the Franklin-Nashville Campaign. On November 30, 1864, the Battle of
Franklin took place, after which the Northerners retreated to Nashville.
On December 16, Hood was defeated at the Battle of Nashville, and the
Army of Tennessee practically ceased to exist. The Battle of Nashville
was the last major battle of the war in Tennessee, and the small Battle
of Anthony's Hill on December 25 was the last combat clash of the war on
the territory of the state.
In total, about 100,000 Tennesseans
fought in the ranks of the Southern army and 32,000 in the Northern
armies during the war. In addition to this number, approximately 20,000
blacks were recruited into the federal army.
Since the spring of 1862, the state of Tennessee had been under
federal military administration, headed by Governor Andrew Johnson. In
January 1865, the state's unionists gathered for a convention that
adopted amendments to the state constitution: slavery was banned, the
ordinance of secession and membership in the Confederacy were repealed,
all decisions taken by the state government after May 6, 1861, were
declared invalid, all Johnson's administrative appointments were
approved, and gubernatorial elections were scheduled for March 4. The
only candidate for the election was the Unionist William Gannaway
Brownlow. The amendments were adopted on February 22 (the turnout was
small, only 25,293 people voted). Johnson resigned as military governor
and went to Washington, where he became vice president under Abraham
Lincoln.
The state of Tennessee was so devastated by the war that
the road from Memphis to Chattanooga was compared to the road from
Moscow in the days of Napoleon's retreat. The devastated economy and
social life required careful measures to restore, but the wrong person
turned out to be in power in the state. Brownlow became governor on
March 5. His biographer wrote that "it was strange and rather dangerous
to give a man like Brownlow power over a million people." He immediately
demanded stricter criminal laws, the deprivation of all former
confederates of the right to vote, called for the ratification of the
13th Amendment and the election of delegates to the U.S. Congress as
soon as possible. The amendment was ratified by the legislature
unanimously, and laws on sedition were introduced at the same time. But
the Conservative opposition also began to form: in early 1866, Brownlow
and his supporters barely managed to pass a new, more stringent election
law.
On July 19, 1864, the state Legislature ratified the 14th
Amendment, and 3 days later, the U.S. Congress recognized the Tennessee
government, admitted congressmen from Tennessee to Congress, and
restored the state's former position in the Union. The Congressional
resolution was signed by the President on July 23. The new senators from
Tennessee are Joseph Fowler and David Patterson. In early 1867,
Tennessee radicals began fighting for Brownlow's re-election, and on
February 26, in order to gain additional votes, they passed a law on the
right to vote for blacks. Brownlow was given the right to personally
command the National Guard of the state and the right to invalidate
elections in any district of the state. On election day, Brownlow
received 74,034 votes in favor and 22,550 votes against, and all radical
candidates went to the U.S. Congress. In the fall of 1867, when Congress
was considering impeachment of President Johnson, the Tennessee
congressmen unanimously voted for impeachment.
Conservative discontent resulted in the formation of numerous secret
societies, the most famous of which was the Ku Klux Klan, which
originated in the Tennessee town of Pulaski. By 1867, it had evolved
from a private club into a large political organization. It was active
for two years and contributed to the Tennessee Republicans winning the
1868 presidential election by a small margin. On February 25, 1865,
Brownlow resigned as governor and ran for the U.S. Senate (Patterson's
seat), and since the Ku Klux Klan had effectively achieved its goal, it
was presumably dissolved in Tennessee. Senate Speaker DeWitt Senter took
over as governor. He slightly relaxed the laws introduced by Brownlow.
In the summer of 1869, Senter won the election, but the conservatives
seized control of the legislature. This meant the end of radical power
and the end of reconstruction policy in Tennessee. Senter himself felt
that radicalism had no future in Tennessee and went over to the
conservatives.
The new legislature immediately repealed the most
odious laws passed during the Brownlow era. The radicals resisted,
hoping to persuade the federal authorities to recognize Senter's
election as illegal, asking Congress to return Tennessee to the regime
of military reconstruction, but these attempts led to nothing.
On January 10, 1870, the Tennessee Constitutional Convention met,
with four former Confederate generals as delegates. John Brown was
elected president of the convention. The convention drafted a new
Tennessee constitution, which lasted until 1953. The ratification was
scheduled for March 26. The radicals tried to disrupt it and insisted on
the introduction of a federal army into the state, but President Grant
refused to interfere, as a result of which the Tennessee constitution
was ratified on the appointed day (98 128 — 33 872 ). In November,
gubernatorial elections were held under the new Constitution, which were
won by the Democrats, and John Brown, who performed well at the
convention, was elected governor (78 979 — 41 500 ). Democrats won 20 of
the 22 seats in the state Senate, 60 of the 75 seats in the House of
Representatives, and 6 of the 8 seats in the U.S. Congress. In 1872,
Brown was re-elected to a second term (97 000 — 84 089 ). In 1875,
Andrew Johnson was nominated to the Senate to replace Brownlow, but died
in the summer of the same year. Presidential and gubernatorial elections
were held in 1876. Governor Porter was re-elected in the gubernatorial
election, and Democrat Samuel Tilden won the presidential election in
the state, but Rutherford Hayes became president, who appointed
Tennessee Senator David Key to the post of Postmaster General.
In
1878, Governor Porter decided not to seek re-election. He was succeeded
by Democratic candidate Albert Marks, a former Confederate Army private
who lost his leg at the Battle of Stones River. The issue of the state's
foreign debt was the main topic of the election race. These disputes
threatened the unity of the Democratic Party, but a split was avoided by
nominating William Bate, a popular politician and former general of the
Confederate Army, as governor in 1882. His popularity helped him to be
re-elected in 1884. When his term came to an end, a man capable of
uniting the conflicting factions in the party was needed again, and
Robert Taylor became him. The Republicans, fearing Telor, nominated his
brother, Alfred Taylor, as a candidate. Democrats and Republicans chose
scarlet and white roses as their symbols, which is why the 1886
elections were called the "War of the Roses." Robert defeated his
brother by a small margin (126 151 — 109 837 ).
In the 1870s and
1880s, many Blacks actively participated in political processes, usually
voting for Republicans. Sampson Keeble, a black man, entered the State
House of Representatives in 1872, and William Yerdley was a candidate
for governor in 1876. In the 1880s, several more blacks entered the
state legislature. None, however, made it to the U.S. Congress.
In those years, the difficult situation of agriculture led to the
formation of another political party, the Farmers' Alliance, whose
Tennessee branch was headed by John Buchanan. As a result, candidates
from three parties participated in the gubernatorial elections of 1890.
Buchanan won them, and the members of the alliance began to dominate the
legislature. However, the new governor lacked personal charisma, he did
not run for a second term as a candidate from the party, but
participated in the elections as an independent candidate. However,
Democrat Peter Terney won. He also managed to win the 1894 elections,
but his victory led to a conflict in the party, and in order to preserve
the unity of the party, Robert Taylor had to be nominated for governor
again.
The last decades of the century went down in the history
of the United States as the "Gilded Age"; it was an era of materialism,
pragmatism and corruption, but in the same years many social reforms
took place. In Tennessee, the school system was improved, colleges and
universities were improved, Vanderbilt University and the University of
Tennessee at Chattanooga were opened. In 1897, the International
Industrial Exhibition was held in Nashville.
When the war with Spain broke out in 1898, the state of Tennessee fielded four infantry regiments. The 1st Tennessee, commanded by William Smith, fought in the Philippines, where Smith died. The 2nd Tennessee under the command of Keller Anderson, the 3rd Tennessee under the command of Colonel Fife, and the 4th Tennessee under the command of George Brown were sent to Cuba, but hardly participated in the fighting. Many participants in the war became famous later: Cordell Hull, future Governor Ben Hooper and future Senator Lawrence Tyson. The battleship USS Nashville, commanded by Tennessean Maynard, is considered the ship that fired the first shot in that war.
At the beginning of the century, Tennessee remained a largely agricultural state. Flour milling accounted for 20% of all industry, with Nashville as its center. Lumber production was second in importance, with Memphis becoming the world's largest market for lumber. Iron and steel production was third, employing about 2,000 people. Tennessee had 16 large foundries, which took advantage of its good coal and iron ore reserves. In total, at the beginning of the century, industrial capitalization reached $71,182,966, and the total amount of taxes on workers reached $14,727,506.
In the 1902 gubernatorial election, Democrat James Fraser won,
calling for better funding for schools in the state. During these years,
the prohibition movement, women's rights, and workers' rights were
growing in Tennessee. The fight against alcohol led the legislature to
ban the sale of alcohol in cities with a population of less than 5,000
in January 1903. Fraser was re-elected in 1904. In March 1905, Senator
William Bate died; Governor Fraser took his place, which resulted in a
bitter struggle for the vacant governorship, which undermined the unity
of the Democratic Party. Malcolm Patterson became governor, and he
carried out several progressive reforms in the state. Alcohol was banned
in all but the four largest cities. In the 1908 election, Patterson
faced a strong challenge from Senator Edward Carmack, who died
unexpectedly in a duel. His supporters formed a faction known as the
Independents. They united with the Republicans (a process known as
"fusion") and succeeded in getting Republican Ben Hooper elected
governor in 1910. He received 133,074 votes to his competitor's 121,694.
He became the fourth Republican governor in the state's history.
In 1912, the gubernatorial election coincided with the presidential
election. Tennessee Progressives nominated their candidate for governor,
but the Republicans chose to re-elect Hooper. Democrat Woodrow Wilson
won the presidential election, giving Tennessee Democrats hope for
victory, but contrary to expectations, Hooper was re-elected with
124,641 votes to his rival Benton McMillan's 116,610. By 1914, the
controversy over alcohol prohibition had lost its intensity, weakening
the alliance between Republicans and Independents, and this did not
allow Hooper to be re-elected for another term. Democrat Thomas Rye
became governor, as a result of which Tennessee effectively returned to
a two-party system. The new governor immediately demanded strict
enforcement of the alcohol laws, but also paid attention to education,
public health, and animal welfare. The legislature abolished the death
penalty for all crimes except rape. In 1916, Rai was easily re-elected.
He proposed calling a convention to amend the Constitution, but the
proposal was rejected.
By 1917, the United States was neutral in World War I, but the people
of Tennessee were already preparing to enter the conflict: the state
national guard was brought back from Mexico and additional recruitment
was conducted. On April 6, 1917, Congress decided to enter the war, and
Tennessee congressmen unanimously supported this decision. The people of
Tennessee agreed to pay higher taxes and save on food. Tennessee Germans
were under suspicion, which led to the renaming of a number of
settlements and the abolition of teaching German in a number of
colleges. A gunpowder factory was built near Nashville, which became the
largest military industry enterprise in the state. Professor Harcourt
Morgan supervised the state's food industry, who managed to solve the
problem of supplying flour and sugar to the army without imposing
restrictions on their consumption in the state. In April 1917, the
regiments of the Tennessee National Guard were accepted into federal
service. On April 13, the 1st and 3rd Infantry Regiments were received
in Nashville, and in September they were joined by the 1st Field
Artillery Regiment under Colonel Luke Lee and the 2nd Infantry Regiment
under Lieutenant Colonel James Gleason, bringing the total number of
Tennessee units to 7,065. These regiments were combined with regiments
from other states to form the 30th Infantry Division, which was sent to
France and arrived on the Western Front on August 17, 1918. It took part
in the Ypres-Lys Offensive and the Battle of the Somme. Among the naval
officers, the most famous Tennessean was Admiral Albert Gleaves, who was
responsible for the transportation of American troops to Europe.
The most famous Tennessean of the war was Corporal Alvin York, who
served in the 328th Infantry Regiment. During the Meuse-Argonne
Offensive, he killed 20 German soldiers in a single combat, captured 131
privates and one officer. He was promoted to sergeant, received the
Distinguished Service Cross, and the Medal of Honor. In the United
States, he is traditionally considered the most famous private of the
war.
A total of 61,069 people were drafted into the army during
the war, of which 43,730 were white and 17,339 were black. Of these,
3,836 died and another 6,190 were other types of losses. In 1918, the
Spanish flu epidemic broke out in Tennessee, which killed 5,848 people
in Chattanooga alone and more than 1,300 in Nashville. A total of 7,721
deaths were recorded in Tennessee. The DuPont arms factory near
Nashville was particularly hard hit.
In early 1919, Albert Roberts became the governor of Tennessee, under
whom the Prohibition Law (the 18th Amendment) was discussed. The
amendment was adopted by an overwhelming majority of votes, and
Tennessee became the 23rd state to adopt Prohibition. It went into
effect on January 16, 1920. In 1919, an amendment to the state
constitution was adopted, giving women the right to vote in municipal
and presidential elections. In the summer of 1920, the legislature began
discussing the 19th Amendment. The Senate adopted it by a vote of 25 to
4, but the House of Representatives ended in a deadlock (48-48). As a
result, Representative Harry Byrne changed his vote in favor of
ratification (it is believed that under the influence of a letter from
his mother) and the amendment was adopted. Republican Warren Harding won
the 1920 presidential election, and Roberts lost to Republican Alfred
Taylor in the gubernatorial election. 1920 was a rare year when
Tennesseans voted Republican. However, Taylor lost the next election,
and Democrat Austin Peay became governor.
In the 1920s, disputes
in Tennessee intensified between Christian fundamentalists, who insisted
on a literal interpretation of the Bible, and modernists, who allowed a
free interpretation. Gradually, these disputes boiled down to a
discussion of human origins. Tennesseans were well acquainted with
Darwin's book "The Origin of Species", often discussed it in the press,
and the topic came to the forefront of public debate. During the 1925
legislative session, on the initiative of Representative John Butler, a
law known as the Butler Act was passed, which prohibited the teaching of
Darwinism in state schools. Governor Peay received many letters asking
him to repeal the law, but he was a strong supporter of the measure.
That same year, the trial of teacher John Scopes, known as the "Monkey
Trial," took place in Dayton. Many prominent lawyers participated in the
trial and it attracted national attention. Scopes was eventually found
guilty and sentenced to a fine of $100. Religious controversies
continued in the state, and Tennessee experienced a period of religious
activism comparable to the Revivalist era.
The stock market crash of 1929 led to the Great Depression, which
greatly compromised President Hoover and the Republican Party. Governor
Horton easily defeated Republican Arthur Bruce in the gubernatorial
election. But the crisis continued, banks in Tennessee went bankrupt,
and in 1931 the governor was even accused of involvement in these ruins.
In this situation, Horton did not run for re-election in 1932, and Harry
McAllister became governor, who seemed to know some ways to save the
state's economy. Democrat Franklin Roosevelt won the presidential
election that year, and immediately began to implement the New Deal
program, part of which was aimed at saving the Tennessee economy.
In those years, long droughts dealt a heavy blow to Tennessee
agriculture. In addition, there was an excess of cotton, which could not
be bought. The ruin of farmers also affected industry. Many factories
stopped production, including the Ford Motor Company in Memphis. The
state's debt grew, and problems with servicing them began. Roosevelt
turned his attention to the state in his first year as president and
proposed a program to develop the Tennessee River Valley, for which he
proposed creating a special commission known as the Tennessee Valley
Authority (TVA). Tennessee and the surrounding states supported the
initiative, and the Republicans accused Roosevelt of copying the Soviet
planning system. Flood prevention systems appeared in the valley,
hydroelectric power stations and dams were built. The first was the
Wilson Dam, then about 20 more similar structures were built. As a
result, electricity production increased tenfold by 1945 and doubled by
1952. Cheap electricity led to rapid industrial development, and the
valley's population, previously unaware of electricity, began to
actively use electrical goods. In addition, forests expanded, land use
was optimized, and the number of industrial workers doubled by 1953. The
program gradually transformed Tennessee into a major industrial state
and changed the lives of thousands of Tennesseans for the better.
When the war with Japan began in December 1941, Governor Cooper
immediately formed the Tennessee Defense Council, to whose management he
attracted General Little Brown and two others. A recruiting station was
opened near Chattanooga at Fort Oglethorpe, which was later moved to
Camp Forrest. It was immediately necessary to introduce restrictions on
the consumption of certain goods, primarily on automobile tires, and
then on coffee and sugar, for which coupons were introduced. Due to the
reduction in gasoline consumption, residents of the state began to use
public transport more actively, and the production of civilian cars was
suspended. The military industry began to be created even before the
war: thus, in 1940, a gunpowder plant of the DuPont company was opened,
producing gunpowder for France. In the same year, an aircraft plant of
the Vultee Aircraft company was opened in Nashville, which produced
aircraft for Great Britain, and later produced P-38 fighters for the US
Army. After the United States entered the war, several more factories
opened, the most famous of which was the Oak Ridge Atomic Bomb Plant,
opened in 1942.
Many training centers were opened in Tennessee,
including the Smyrna Aviation Center, which trained pilots for the B-24
bomber. During the war, 308,199 people joined the army - almost 10% of
the state's population. Of these, 5,731 people died on the war fronts.
Six Tennesseans were awarded the Medal of Honor. The shortage of men led
to the recruitment of women to work in industry, and by 1944 their
number reached 21,000 people. This was a temporary measure, but
nevertheless, the number of women employed in industry increased
significantly by the early 1950s. The number of blacks employed in
industry also increased. During the war decade, their number in Memphis
grew from 121,550 to 150,000, and in Nashville from 7,000 to 59,000. The
Roosevelt administration took steps to combat discrimination against
women and blacks, although it did not eliminate it completely. At the
same time, rural residents began migrating to the cities, so that
between 1940 and 1960, the state's rural population was reduced by half.
By 1950, Tennessee's population had reached 3,292,178. West
Tennessee's population grew fastest, thanks to the city of Memphis. The
number of industrial workers approached the number of agricultural
workers: in 1950, out of 1,135,646 workers, 247,372 were employed in
agriculture and 239,427 in industry. Agricultural production was
declining due to federal regulation: in 1958, the state produced 419,000
bales of cotton, compared to 510,000 bales in 1925. In those years, many
blacks migrated to the northern states, so that 3/4 of all Tennessean
immigrants to Chicago and Cleveland were black, but this outflow was
compensated by migration from the south, mainly from Mississippi and
Arkansas. These changes created many problems, particularly in terms of
race relations. In May 1854, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that
segregation in schools was illegal in Brown v. Board of Education.
Blacks demanded desegregation in other areas of life as well, and many
sit-in strikes took place across the state. Another problem was the
increase in homeless children, so the state had to take steps to create
parks, swimming pools, and other ways to keep children occupied. And
yet, correctional facilities remained overloaded. Problems were also
created by the oversaturation of cities with traffic. An attempt was
made to build bypass roads, but they did not produce the desired effect,
especially in Memphis.
In the 1948 elections, war veteran Gordon
Browning became governor of the state, but he faced strong opposition,
and in the 1952 elections he was defeated by another Democrat and war
veteran, Frank Clement. Despite this success for the Democrats,
Republican Dwight Eisenhower won the presidential election in Tennessee
that year. In 1953, Tennessee held a constitutional convention that
extended the governor's term to four years. Clement was re-elected to a
new term and became the last governor to serve a two-year term and the
first to serve a four-year term. In 1958, he was replaced by Democrat
Buford Ellington, who was austere and did not introduce new taxes, so
his term was relatively quiet.
During the 1960 presidential election, Governor Ellington was the
chairman of the Democratic Party convention and supported Lyndon
Johnson. In November of that year, Kennedy became president, although
Tennessee voted for Republican Nixon. After that, the Republicans in the
state gradually gained strength, taking advantage of the irritation that
liberal reforms caused among the population. In 1962, Frank Clement
again became governor, but his popularity gradually declined. In
November 1863, Kennedy was assassinated and replaced by Lyndon Johnson,
who was elected president in 1964. It was a bad year for the
Republicans: Tennessee voted for Democrat Johnson in the presidential
election and reelected Democrat Albert Gore Sr. as senator. The governor
and both senators were now Democrats. This happened because in the
1960s, blacks began to have a greater influence on the outcome of
elections.
The Republicans' success began in 1966, when the first
Republican won the Senate: Howard Baker. As the civil rights movement
spread, Democrats won more and more black votes, and Republicans won
more and more white votes. Some southern states prevented blacks from
voting, but Tennessee did not. In 1968, the presidential election was
approaching, Lyndon Johnson had come under fire for the Vietnam War and
lost his chances for reelection, Martin Luther King had been
assassinated in April, and New York Senator Robert Kennedy in June.
Republican Nixon won the November election, receiving 43% of the vote
nationally and 38% in Tennessee. The Republicans were gaining ground in
Tennessee. Public opinion was beginning to shift in their favor. Senator
Gore was losing popularity, and former Governor Clement had died in a
car accident in 1969. Eventually, Republican Winfield Dunn won the 1970
gubernatorial election.
By 1970, Tennessee society had grown tired of the Democrats’ liberal
agenda, so Dunn, a populist and conservative, was universally liked. For
the first time since the peculiar conditions of 1871, the governor and
both senators were Republicans. But Democrats still dominated the state
House and municipalities. Dunn tried to establish good relations with
them. During his term as governor, he tried to cut government spending,
sought to increase the number of daycare centers, proposed raising the
salaries of state employees, and improved the system of assistance to
the mentally ill. His proposals on daycare centers were rejected due to
financial problems. Under Dunn, Tennessee legislators ratified the 26th
Amendment, which lowered the minimum voting age to 18. Senator Baker was
the main supporter of this decision, which gave him the support of young
people. In 1971 and 1972, the state and the country prepared for the
presidential elections. Despite the Watergate scandal, Nixon won
Tennessee and the country, and Senator Baker was re-elected.
In
April 1973, Federal Express opened in Memphis, providing mail and
freight services. Over time, it became the largest transportation
company in the world, operating in 212 countries and with a fleet of 596
aircraft. It became the largest private company in Tennessee, providing
26,000 jobs in Memphis alone, and the Memphis airport became one of the
busiest airports in the United States.
In the fall of 1973,
President Nixon came to Tennessee for the Republican Governors'
Convention, but by the summer of 1974, the Watergate scandal had reached
such proportions that he was forced to resign. This was a heavy blow to
Tennessee Republicans, who now found it difficult to hold on to their
positions in the state. In the November 1974 gubernatorial election,
Democrat Ray Blanton defeated Republican candidate Alexander Lamar by a
landslide. For the first time in the state's history, a black man
(Harold Ford) entered the U.S. Congress. In 1976, Democrat Jimmy Carter
won the presidential election, and at the same time, Albert Gore Jr.
entered politics, becoming a congressman from Tennessee. The Democrats
now controlled both Congress and the state of Tennessee and became
all-powerful. Baker, however, managed to hold on to his seat in the
Senate. Blanton, meanwhile, traveled widely, campaigning for foreign
investment, defending women's rights, and created the first U.S.
Department of Tourism. In 1978, he secured a constitutional amendment
giving him the right to run for a second term. That same year, Alexander
Lamar, a protégé of Senator Baker, won the gubernatorial election, and
the Democrats again lost their monopoly on power in the state.
In 1980, amid the crisis associated with the Iranian Revolution, the
presidential race began, in which Senator Baker initially participated,
but he soon withdrew his candidacy. In the November elections, Ronald
Reagan became president, the Republicans returned to power, and Senator
Baker became the leader of the party majority. In Tennessee, the
governor and one senator were now Republicans, so the governor had to
negotiate with the Democratic majority. He raised the salaries of state
employees and raised the minimum drinking age for a year, to 19.
Reagan's support helped him easily win re-election for a second term in
1982. That same year, Republican Don Sundquist entered the U.S. House of
Representatives. The political situation was calm until the fall of
1984, when Reagan was re-elected as president and Al Gore entered the
Senate, leaving Governor Lamar the only Republican in the highest
office. In the 1986 elections, former Governor Dunn was the Republican
candidate, but Democrat Ned McWherter won. Now the Democrats completely
controlled Tennessee.
In the following years, the balance of
power did not change: in 1988, a Republican again became president, and
in 1990, Governor McWherter and Senator Gore were also re-elected for
new terms.
In the 1980s, the state had favorable conditions for
industrial development (good communications, water and energy resources,
etc.). In 1980, the Japanese company Nissan decided that Tennessee was
the best place to locate their plant, and in 1983 they began producing
trucks near Smyrna. The state provided the company with favorable tax
conditions and thus received 2,000 jobs with high wages. At that time,
about a dozen Japanese companies worked in Tennessee, but Nissan was the
largest of them (it received a 6th of all Japanese investments in the
United States). In 1985, General Motors created the Saturn company,
which produced cars based on Japanese models, and also located its plant
in Tennessee, in Spring Hill. Over the course of a decade, the auto
industry became the leading sector of the state's economy.
In 1992, Bill Clinton became president of the United States, and Al Gore became vice president and left the Senate. His place in the Senate was taken by Democrat Harlan Matthews. Meanwhile, the situation began to change in Shelby County, the most populous county in the state, which had traditionally been a Democratic stronghold. It experienced an influx of immigrants, most of whom were Republican supporters. In 1994, Republicans occupied all the highest administrative posts in the county, which became their most impressive victory on a national scale. This affected the outcome of the November elections: Republican candidates won the governorship and both senators: Don Sundquist defeated Phil Bredsen by a large margin, and Fred Thompson and Bill Frist became senators. The elections in Tennessee were part of a national Republican victory: now the number of Republican governors increased from 20 to 30, senators from 44 to 53, and members of the House of Representatives from 178 to 230.
In the 2000 presidential election, the Democratic Party nominated Al
Gore as its presidential candidate. However, Tennessee was becoming more
and more conservative, and Gore was moving further and further to the
left, and he eventually lost the election in Tennessee, his own state,
and George W. Bush received 51% of the votes of Tennesseans. In the 2002
gubernatorial election, Tennessee was won by Democrat Phil Bredisen, who
promised to improve the state's governance, schools, and health care.
Under his leadership, the state experienced economic growth associated
with the development of high-tech manufacturing (such as products from
Dell or the Hospital Corporation of America). Downtown Nashville and the
Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum were rehabilitated.
In
2004, Tennessee had a population of 5,910,809 and provided 11 delegates
to the Electoral College. The Republicans won the presidential election
that year again, and Bush received 56.81% of the vote in the state.
In 2010, the state held a gubernatorial election, in which
Republican Bill Haslam received 65% of the vote and defeated Democrat
and former Governor McWherter. He opposed the Affordable Care Act
program initiated by the president, but was unable to prevent the state
from joining the program.
In April 2011, Tennessee was hit hard
by Mass Tornadoes. That year, 1,700 tornadoes were observed in the
United States, of which about half a dozen were EF5. On April 27, the
Hecklenberg-Phil-Campbell tornado, an EF5, the strongest since 1955,
passed from Alabama through Tennessee.
In 2008, the German
company Volkswagen began looking for a place to build its plant in the
United States, studied 300 locations and chose Chattanooga. $1 billion
was invested in the construction, and in April 2011, the Volkswagen
Chattanooga Assembly Plant opened, producing Volkswagen Passat cars. The
plant created 2,400 jobs and indirectly led to the creation of another
12,000 jobs throughout the state.
Barack Obama won the 2012 US
presidential election, but Tennessee voted for the Republicans, so Mitt
Romney received all 11 electoral votes from Tennessee. Republican Bob
Corker was re-elected to the Senate.
The results of the 2016
presidential election were predictable: Donald Trump won by a large
margin, gaining 60.7% of the vote and receiving all 11 Tennessean votes.
In 2019, Republican Bill Lee became the 50th governor of Tennessee.
During his governorship, Tennessee became the first in the US in terms
of economic growth and experienced unprecedented tax cuts. This has led
to an influx of investment from major companies such as Ford, SK
Innovation, In-N-Out Burger, and General Motors. GM's largest plant in
the state is Spring Hill Manufacturing, where it invested $2 billion in
2020 to produce the Cadillac Lyriq.
The state experienced a major
tornado on March 3, 2020, the first case of COVID was reported on March
5, and the governor and President Trump visited the tornado-ravaged
region on March 6. The governor declared a state of emergency on March
12. The state experienced another tornado on April 13, which hit
Hamilton and Bradley counties. Several restrictions were lifted on April
30 and May 1, and social gatherings were allowed on May 20, provided
social distancing was observed. Vaccinations began in early January
2021, with more than 221,000 Tennesseans receiving the vaccine in the
first month.
In the 2020 presidential election, Trump won with
the same number of votes (60.7%), and Republican William Hagerty was
elected to the US Senate.
Tennessee is bounded on the north by the states of Kentucky and Virginia, on the east by North Carolina, on the south by Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi, and on the west by Arkansas and Missouri. This makes Tennessee (together with Missouri, which also borders eight states) the US state with the largest number of neighboring states. The Tennessee River flows through the state.
Most of the state has a humid subtropical climate, with the exception
of some of the higher elevations in the Appalachians, which are
characterized as having a temperate mountain climate or a humid
continental climate due to cooler temperatures. The Gulf of Mexico is
the dominant factor in Tennessee's climate, as with southerly winds it
is responsible for most of the state's annual precipitation. In general,
the state has hot summers and mild, cool winters with generous rainfall
throughout the year. On average, the state sees 50 inches (130 cm) of
annual precipitation. Snowfall ranges from 5 inches (13 cm) in western
Tennessee to more than 16 inches (41 cm) in the highest mountains in
eastern Tennessee.
Summer in the state is generally hot and
humid, with most of the territory averaging a high of around 90 °F (32
°C) during the summer months. Winters are usually mild, although the
increase in cold is more noticeable at higher elevations. In general,
for areas outside of the highest mountains, average minimum temperatures
hover around freezing for most of the state. The highest temperature
recorded is 113 °F (45 °C) in Perryville on August 9, 1930, while the
lowest temperature recorded is -32 °F (-36 °C) in the mountains on
December 30, 1930. 1917.
While the state is located far enough
from the coast to avoid any direct impact from a hurricane, the state's
location makes it likely to be affected by the remnants of tropical
cyclones that weaken the land and can cause significant rainfall, such
as Tropical Storm Chris of 1982. The average number of thunderstorms per
year is 50, some of which can be especially severe, with heavy hail and
damaging winds. Tornadoes can be quite common, especially in central and
western Tennessee, where they sometimes cause fatalities. Winter storms
are an occasional problem, although ice storms are more likely. Fog is
quite common throughout the country, especially in much of the Great
Smoky Mountains.
Tennessee was the center of the black civil rights movement in the
1960s, which culminated in the 1968 assassination of Martin Luther King
in Memphis. Tennessee's political landscape changed earlier than in
other southern states. The Tennessee Valley Authority made earlier
industrialization and thus a more modern social order possible than, for
example, in Mississippi or Alabama. The conservative democrats of the
southern states already lost their position of power here during the
time of the civil rights movement. The establishment of the Republicans
began with the presidential election in 1952. Since then, the Democrats
have only won in 1964, 1976 and with Bill Clinton in 1992 and 1996. Al
Gore's home state, which today is significantly influenced by the Bible
Belt, is considered to be predominantly conservative. It can therefore
now be referred to as the Red State. Tennessee has eleven electors in
the Electoral College. In 1980 there were ten.
The state is
represented in the US Senate by two Republicans, Marsha Blackburn and
Bill Hagerty. The Tennessee delegation to the House of Representatives
at the 117th Congress consists of seven Republicans and two Democrats.
Republican Bill Lee has been governor since January 2019, replacing
fellow party member Bill Haslam.
Already in 2001, marijuana cultivation had displaced tobacco in
Tennessee's economy.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Economic
Analysis, in 2003 Tennessee's GDP reached $199,786,000,000, representing
1.8% of the national total.
In 2003 the per capita income reached
$28,641, ranking as the 36th state according to per capita income.
Tennessee ranks at 91% of the national median income per capita.
The state sales tax reaches 7%, while counties add 2.25%, for a total of
9.25%. Some cities add other taxes. Tennessee has one of the lowest
sales taxes in the United States.
Beale Street in Memphis is considered by many to be the birthplace of
blues music, with musicians like W-C Handy beginning their career
playing in clubs in the area in early 1909. In 1995, Mexican-American
singer Selena recorded one of his songs for her latest English album,
called I Could Fall in Love, on Franklin.
Memphis was also the
birthplace of Sun Records, where musicians such as Elvis Presley, Johnny
Cash, Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis, Roy Orbison, Miley Cyrus and
Charlie Rich began their careers and where rock and roll took shape in
the early 1900s. 1950s.
The 1927 recording sessions in Bristol
marked the beginning of country music, and the rise of the Grand Ole
Opry, which in the 1930s helped make Nashville the center of the country
music recording industry.
Most Tennesseans speak in the dialect of the Southern United States.
This dialect changes slightly as it travels across the region, and is
especially noticeable in rural areas.
Generally speaking,
Southerners speak more slowly and politely than Northerners. Visitors,
especially those from large cities visiting Tennessee's small mountain
towns, will need to get used to the different pace of speech. Speaking
quickly and bluntly can be perceived as inconsiderate and may elicit a
negative response. Some Tennesseans, especially those who live in rural
or mountainous areas, may be difficult to understand if they are not
accustomed to the colloquialisms, smoothness, and speaking accents of
the southern and Appalachian regions of the United States.
Tennessee has three major league sports teams. The Nashville
Tennessee Titans have played in the National Football League since 1997,
winning a conference championship in 1999 but losing in Super Bowl
XXXIV. Meanwhile, the Memphis Grizzlies have played in the National
Basketball Association since 2001, reaching the conference finals in
2012/13. Finally, the Nashville Predators have played in the National
Hockey League since 1998, and in 2016/2017 they also achieved a
conference championship to play for the Stanley Cup.
The
Tennessee Volunteers are a college sports team in the Southeastern
Conference of the National Collegiate Athletic Association, based in
Knoxville. In American football they have achieved 13 conference
championships and 25 bowls, highlighting four Sugar Bowls, three Cotton
Bowls, one Orange Bowl and one Fiesta Bowl. Meanwhile, in men's
basketball they have won four conference championships.
The ovals
at Bristol Motor Speedway, Nashville Superspeedway and Nashville
Speedway USA have hosted NASCAR and IndyCar Series races. Meanwhile, the
Memphis Open has been held since 1958 as part of the PGA Tour. The
Memphis Tournament is a tennis tournament on the ATP Tour since 1976 and
the WTA Tour since 2002.