256 The Winning of the West 



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In November, 1785, the convention to provide a 

 permanent constitution for the State met at Greene- 

 ville. There was already much discontent with the 

 Franklin Government. The differences between its 

 adherents and those of the old North Carolina Gov 

 ernment were accentuated by bitter faction fights 

 among the rivals for popular leadership, backed by 

 their families and followers. Bad feeling showed 

 itself at this convention, the rivalry between Sevier 

 and Tipton being pronounced. Tipton was one of 

 the mountain leaders, second in influence only to 

 Sevier, and his bitter personal enemy. At the con 

 vention a brand new constitution was submitted by 

 a delegate named Samuel Houston. The adoption 

 of the new constitution was urged by a strong minor 

 ity. The most influential man of the minority party 

 was Tipton. 



This written constitution, with its bill of rights 

 prefixed, was a curious document. It provided that 

 the new State should be called the Commonwealth 

 of Frankland. Full religious liberty was estab 

 lished, so far as rites of worship went; but no one 

 was to hold office unless he was a Christian who be 

 lieved in the Bible, in Heaven, in Hell, and in the 

 Trinity. There were other classes prohibited from 

 holding office, immoral men and sabbath breakers, 

 for instance, and clergymen, doctors, and lawyers. 

 The exclusion of lawyers from law-making bodies 

 was one of the darling plans of the ordinary sincere 

 rural demagogue of the day. At that time lawyers, 

 as a class, furnished the most prominent and influ- 



