2O4 The Winning of the West 



ston. In 1796 the required limit of population had 

 been reached, and Tennessee with over seventy-six 

 thousand inhabitants was formally admitted as a 

 State of the Federal Union; Sevier was elected 

 Governor, Blount was made one of the Senators, 

 and Andrew Jackson was chosen Representative in 

 Congress. In their State Constitution the hard- 

 working backwoods farmers showed a conservative 

 spirit which would seem strange to the radical De- 

 mocracy of new Western States to-day. An elective 

 Governor and two legislative houses were pro- 

 vided; and the representation was proportioned, not 

 to the population at large, but to the citizen who paid 

 taxes; for persons with some little property were 

 still considered to be the rightful depositaries of po-^ 

 litical power. The Constitution established freedom 

 of the press, and complete religious liberty a lib- 

 erty then denied in the parent State of North Caro- 

 lina; but it contained some unwise and unjust pro- 

 visions. The Judges were appointed by the Legis- 

 lature, and were completely subservient to it; and, 

 through the influence of the land speculators all 

 lands except town lots were taxed alike, so that the 

 men who had obtained possession of the best tracts 

 shifted to dther shoulders much of their own proper 

 burden. 88 



88 "Constitutional History of Tennessee," by Joshua W. 

 Caldwell, p. 101, another of Robert Clarke's publications; an 

 admirable study of institutional development in Tennessee. 



