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2. Tennessee 1824 President of the United States
3. Tennessee 1825 U.S. House of Representatives, District 2
4. Tennessee 1817 House of Representatives, Cocke County
5. Tennessee 1807 Governor
6. Tennessee 1821 House of Representatives, Knox County
7. Tennessee 1817 Surveyor General, District 5
8. Tennessee 1809 Doorkeeper
9. Tennessee 1809 State Senate, Winchester District
10. Tennessee 1809 House of Representatives, Knox County
11. Tennessee 1820 Electoral College, District 8
12. Tennessee 1803 State Senate, Anderson, Knox and Roane Counties
13. Tennessee 1823 House of Representatives, Blount and Monroe Counties
14. Tennessee 1821 House of Representatives, Lincoln County
15. Tennessee 1811 State Senate, Davidson County
16. Tennessee 1820 State Senate, Dickson, Hickman, Robertson, and Wayne Counties, Special
17. Tennessee 1815 House of Representatives, Campbell County
18. Tennessee 1823 State Senate, Knox County
19. Tennessee 1811 State Senate, Grainger County
20. Tennessee 1823 House of Representatives, Sullivan County
21. Tennessee 1815 U.S. House of Representatives, District 1
22. Tennessee 1823 State Senate, Blount, Cocke, Monroe, and Sevier Counties
23. Tennessee 1808 Electoral College, District 4
24. Tennessee 1805 U.S. House of Representatives, District 2
25. Tennessee 1825 U.S. House of Representatives, District 9
26. Tennessee 1805 U.S. House of Representatives, District 1
27. Tennessee 1803 U.S. Senate, Ballot 2
28. Tennessee 1824 Electoral College, District 6
29. Tennessee 1824 Electoral College, District 11
30. Tennessee 1825 U.S. House of Representatives, District 4
31. Tennessee 1819 State Senate, Cocke and Jefferson Counties
32. Tennessee 1819 House of Representatives, Williamson County
33. Tennessee 1815 U.S. House of Representatives, District 3
34. Tennessee 1796 State Senate, Blount County
35. Tennessee 1825 U.S. House of Representatives, District 8
36. Tennessee 1824 Electoral College, District 7
37. Tennessee 1815 U.S. House of Representatives, District 6
38. Tennessee 1823 House of Representatives, Davidson County
39. Tennessee 1807 Clerk of the House of Representatives, Ballot 2
40. Tennessee 1817 House of Representatives, Campbell County
41. Tennessee 1817 House of Representatives, Greene County
42. Tennessee 1809 House of Representatives, Smith County
43. Tennessee 1823 House of Representatives, Rutherford County
44. Tennessee 1805 State Senate, Cocke and Jefferson Counties
45. Tennessee 1805 House of Representatives, Cocke and Jefferson Counties
46. Tennessee 1807 Secretary of State
47. Tennessee 1817 Governor
48. Tennessee 1825 U.S. House of Representatives, District 7
49. Tennessee 1824 Electoral College, District 9
50. Tennessee 1803 Governor
51. Tennessee 1823 U.S. House of Representatives, District 7
52. Tennessee 1817 House of Representatives, Blount County
53. Tennessee 1817 State Senate, Cocke and Jefferson Counties
54. Tennessee 1807 Speaker of the House
55. Tennessee 1820 House of Representatives, Dickson and Hickman Counties, Special
56. Tennessee 1811 Secretary of State
57. Tennessee 1813 State Senate, Jackson, Overton, and White Counties
58. Tennessee 1819 House of Representatives, Humphreys County
59. Tennessee 1807 U.S. House of Representatives, Mero District
60. Tennessee 1815 U.S. Senate
61. Tennessee 1823 House of Representatives, Sevier County
62. Tennessee 1813 Governor
63. Tennessee 1796 House of Representatives, Blount County
64. Tennessee 1817 House of Representatives, Knox County
65. Tennessee 1823 State Senate, Maury County
66. Tennessee 1797 U.S. House of Representatives
67. Tennessee 1820 State Senate, Davidson County, Special
68. Tennessee 1823 Surveyor General, District 7
69. Tennessee 1815 House of Representatives, Jefferson County
70. Tennessee 1817 State Senate, Davidson County
71. Tennessee 1795 Constitutional Convention, Davidson County
72. Tennessee 1803 U.S. Senate, Special
73. Tennessee 1823 State Senate, Davidson, Dickson, and Williamson Counties
74. Tennessee 1803 U.S. House of Representatives
75. Tennessee 1798 U.S. Senate
76. Tennessee 1821 House of Representatives, Davidson County
77. Tennessee 1808 Electoral College, District 1
78. Tennessee 1819 State Senate, Anderson, Morgan, and Rhea Counties
79. Tennessee 1809 Assistant Clerk of the House of Representatives, Special, Ballot 2
80. Tennessee 1819 State Senate, Humphreys, Montgomery, and Stewart Counties
81. Tennessee 1817 State Supreme Court Judge
82. Tennessee 1804 Electoral College, District 3
83. Tennessee 1815 House of Representatives, White County
84. Tennessee 1815 House of Representatives, Humphreys County
85. Tennessee 1796 State Senate, Sevier County
86. Tennessee 1817 State Senate, Greene County
87. Tennessee 1809 Governor
88. Tennessee 1815 U.S. Senate, Special
89. Tennessee 1815 State Senate, Cocke and Jefferson Counties
90. Tennessee 1817 State Senate, Hawkins and Sullivan County
91. Tennessee 1801 Governor
92. Tennessee 1817 State Senate, Campbell, Claibourne, and Grainger Counties
93. Tennessee 1820 Electoral College, District 6
94. Tennessee 1813 House of Representatives, Claiborne County
95. Tennessee 1823 State Senate, Greene County
96. Tennessee 1821 Solicitor General, District 12
97. Tennessee 1823 House of Representatives, Robertson County
98. Tennessee 1815 State Senate, Humphreys County
99. Tennessee 1819 House of Representatives, Montgomery County
100. Tennessee 1823 House of Representatives, Giles County
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The state of Tennessee originally was the western district of North Carolina. It formally separated from the mother state in 1790, at which time it became the federal Territory South of the River Ohio. In 1795 territorial Governor William Blount called for a constitutional convention, and on February 6, 1796, the convention unanimously approved a document and submitted it to the government in Philadelphia. The House of Representatives subsequently supported Tennessee's bid for statehood, but Senate Federalists disliked the constitution for a number of reasons. A conference committee managed to resolve major differences, however, and Congress formally recognized the state of Tennessee in May 1796.
The 1796 constitution comprised eleven articles, the eleventh being a declaration of rights that included free navigation of the Mississippi River. Both the executive and the judiciary were firmly under the control of the bicameral General Assembly. In terms of democratic practices, the constitution gave the right to vote to all freemen over twenty-one and did not impose any explicit racial restrictions, which meant that Tennessee's miniscule but growing free black population had the franchise as well. The constitution also provided for a written ballot and apportioned representation on the basis of taxable inhabitants. Elections for both governor and the General Assembly were held once every two years.
Tennessee was universally Jeffersonian by 1796, but that fact masks significant political complexity. During Tennessee's territorial phase, a small clique of surveyors and speculators had controlled government institutions. They used land accumulation to establish themselves, and they maintained political control because no formal mechanism existed for ordinary settlers to undermine their authority. At the turn of the nineteenth century, however, a burst of militia elections gave ordinary Tennesseans access to positions of community importance. These elections also established a precedent for political opposition. Soon the elite had to construct broad constituencies in an increasingly vibrant popular democracy.
This shifting political culture coincided with remarkable economic and demographic development, particularly in the region surrounding Nashville. Between 1796 and 1801 the population there grew 200 percent, and by 1815 many of the 292,590 residents were committed to cotton and tobacco cultivation. Commercial agriculture in turn created a mercantile class that integrated "Middle" Tennessee into a global economy. Yet competition associated with this economy created unforeseen popular divisions. Even as planting and merchant interests looked to the government to expedite commercial growth, ordinary farmers believed that limited land accessibility and excessive debt threatened their stability. They therefore used the political sphere to contest more expansive definitions of progress. These debates helped establish "party" interests out of the universal Jeffersonian political culture, and such divisions were solidified through the panic of 1819.
Middle Tennessee's development stood in sharp contrast to that of the eastern district, which was bounded by the Appalachian Mountains in the east and Cumberland Plateau in the west, and where the soil was generally too poor for significant commercial farming. The region's more self-contained existence made for less dynamic economic development between 1787 and 1825, an issue noted by early nineteenth-century leaders of both regions.
Bibliography
- Abernethy, Thomas Perkins.
From Frontier to Plantation in Tennessee: A Study in Frontier Democracy. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1932. - Cumfer, Cynthia.
Separate Peoples, One Land: The Minds of Cherokees, Blacks and Whites on the Tennessee Frontier. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2007. - Finger, John R.
Tennessee Frontiers: Three Regions in Transition. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2001. - Ray, Kristofer.
Middle Tennessee, 1775–1825: Progress and Popular Democracy on the Southwestern Frontier. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 2007. - Remini, Robert.
Andrew Jackson and the Course of American Empire, 1767–1821. New York: Harper & Row, 1977. - The Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture
- Tennessee Documentary History 1796-1850