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202. Tennessee 1817 Public Printer
203. Tennessee 1817 State Senate, Anderson, Bledsoe, Rhea, and Roane Counties
204. Tennessee 1817 State Senate, Bedford and Rutherford Counties
205. Tennessee 1817 State Senate, Blount and Sevier Counties
206. Tennessee 1817 State Senate, Campbell, Claibourne, and Grainger Counties
207. Tennessee 1817 State Senate, Cocke and Jefferson Counties
208. Tennessee 1817 State Senate, Davidson County
209. Tennessee 1817 State Senate, Greene County
210. Tennessee 1817 State Senate, Hawkins and Sullivan County
211. Tennessee 1817 State Senate, Knox County
212. Tennessee 1817 State Senate, Williamson County
213. Tennessee 1817 State Supreme Court Judge
214. Tennessee 1817 State Supreme Court Judge
215. Tennessee 1817 Surveyor General, District 5
216. Tennessee 1817 U.S. House of Representatives, District 1
217. Tennessee 1817 U.S. House of Representatives, District 2
218. Tennessee 1817 U.S. House of Representatives, District 3
219. Tennessee 1817 U.S. House of Representatives, District 4
220. Tennessee 1817 U.S. House of Representatives, District 5
221. Tennessee 1817 U.S. House of Representatives, District 6
222. Tennessee 1817 U.S. Senate
223. Tennessee 1819 Governor
224. Tennessee 1819 House of Representatives, Anderson County
225. Tennessee 1819 House of Representatives, Blount County
226. Tennessee 1819 House of Representatives, Campbell County
227. Tennessee 1819 House of Representatives, Cocke County
228. Tennessee 1819 House of Representatives, Davidson County
229. Tennessee 1819 House of Representatives, Grainger County
230. Tennessee 1819 House of Representatives, Greene County
231. Tennessee 1819 House of Representatives, Hawkins County
232. Tennessee 1819 House of Representatives, Humphreys County
233. Tennessee 1819 House of Representatives, Jefferson County
234. Tennessee 1819 House of Representatives, Knox County
235. Tennessee 1819 House of Representatives, Montgomery County
236. Tennessee 1819 House of Representatives, Morgan County
237. Tennessee 1819 House of Representatives, Rhea County
238. Tennessee 1819 House of Representatives, Sevier County
239. Tennessee 1819 House of Representatives, Washington County
240. Tennessee 1819 House of Representatives, Williamson County
241. Tennessee 1819 State Senate, Anderson, Morgan, and Rhea Counties
242. Tennessee 1819 State Senate, Blount and Sevier Counties
243. Tennessee 1819 State Senate, Campbell and Grainger Counties
244. Tennessee 1819 State Senate, Carter and Washington Counties
245. Tennessee 1819 State Senate, Cocke and Jefferson Counties
246. Tennessee 1819 State Senate, Davidson County
247. Tennessee 1819 State Senate, Franklin and Warren Counties
248. Tennessee 1819 State Senate, Greene County
249. Tennessee 1819 State Senate, Hawkins County
250. Tennessee 1819 State Senate, Humphreys, Montgomery, and Stewart Counties
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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