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252. Tennessee 1819 State Senate, Williamson County
253. Tennessee 1819 U.S. House of Representatives, District 1
254. Tennessee 1819 U.S. House of Representatives, District 2
255. Tennessee 1819 U.S. House of Representatives, District 3
256. Tennessee 1819 U.S. House of Representatives, District 4
257. Tennessee 1819 U.S. House of Representatives, District 5
258. Tennessee 1819 U.S. House of Representatives, District 6
259. Tennessee 1819 U.S. Senate
260. Tennessee 1820 Electoral College, District 5
261. Tennessee 1820 Electoral College, District 6
262. Tennessee 1820 Electoral College, District 8
263. Tennessee 1820 House of Representatives, Dickson and Hickman Counties, Special
264. Tennessee 1820 House of Representatives, Greene County, Special
265. Tennessee 1820 State Senate, Cocke and Jefferson Counties, Special
266. Tennessee 1820 State Senate, Davidson County, Special
267. Tennessee 1820 State Senate, Dickson, Hickman, Robertson, and Wayne Counties, Special
268. Tennessee 1820 State Senate, Humphries, Montgomery, and Stewart Counties, Special
269. Tennessee 1820 State Senate, Williamson County, Special
270. Tennessee 1821 Governor
271. Tennessee 1821 House of Representatives, Anderson County
272. Tennessee 1821 House of Representatives, Blount and Monroe Counties
273. Tennessee 1821 House of Representatives, Cocke County
274. Tennessee 1821 House of Representatives, Davidson County
275. Tennessee 1821 House of Representatives, Greene County
276. Tennessee 1821 House of Representatives, Hawkins County
277. Tennessee 1821 House of Representatives, Jefferson County
278. Tennessee 1821 House of Representatives, Knox County
279. Tennessee 1821 House of Representatives, Lincoln County
280. Tennessee 1821 House of Representatives, Montgomery County
281. Tennessee 1821 House of Representatives, Morgan and Roane Counties
282. Tennessee 1821 Public Printer
283. Tennessee 1821 Solicitor General, District 12
284. Tennessee 1821 Solicitor General, District 7
285. Tennessee 1821 State Senate, Anderson, Bledsoe, Hamilton, McMinn, Morgan, Rhea and Roane Counties
286. Tennessee 1821 State Senate, Blount, Cocke, Monroe and Sevier Counties
287. Tennessee 1821 State Senate, Greene and Jefferson Counties
288. Tennessee 1821 State Senate, Hawkins County
289. Tennessee 1821 State Senate, Knox County
290. Tennessee 1821 State Senate, Montgomery and Robertson Counties
291. Tennessee 1821 U.S. House of Representatives, District 1
292. Tennessee 1821 U.S. House of Representatives, District 2
293. Tennessee 1821 U.S. House of Representatives, District 3
294. Tennessee 1821 U.S. House of Representatives, District 4
295. Tennessee 1821 U.S. House of Representatives, District 5
296. Tennessee 1821 U.S. House of Representatives, District 6
297. Tennessee 1821 U.S. Senate, Special
298. Tennessee 1822 House of Representatives, Greene County, Special
299. Tennessee 1823 Clerk of the House of Representatives
300. Tennessee 1823 Clerk of the House of Representatives, Ballot 2
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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