LOUISIANA AND AARON BURR 



CHAPTER I 



TENNESSEE BECOMES A STATE, 1791-1796 



'"PHE Territory of the United States of America 

 1 South of the River Ohio" was the official title 

 of the tract of land which had been ceded by North 

 Carolina to the United States, and which soon after 

 became the State of Tennessee. William Blount, the 

 newly appointed Governor, took charge late in 1790. 

 He made a tour of the various counties, as laid out 

 under authority of the State of North Carolina, 

 rechristening them as counties of the Territory, 

 and summoning before him the persons in each 

 county holding commissions from North Carolina, 

 at the respective court-houses, where he formally 

 notified them of the change. He read to them the 

 act of Congress accepting the cessions of the claims 

 of North Carolina; then he read his own commis- 

 sion from President Washington; and informed 

 them of the provision by North Carolina that Con- 

 gress should assume and execute the government 

 of the new Territory "in a manner similar to that 

 which they support northwest of the River Ohio." 

 Following this he formally read the ordinance for 



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