TENNESSEE 



5754 



TENNESSEE 



by the supreme court; the superintendent of 

 public instruction, commissioners of agriculture, 

 statistics and mines, assayer, entomologist and 

 officials of the penitentiary, appointed by the 

 governor. The governor may not serve more 

 than three consecutive terms. 



The judicial department consists of a supreme 

 court and court of civil appeals, each having 

 five judges elected for eight years, twelve chan- 

 cery courts, nineteen circuit courts and county 

 courts, each having one judge elected for eight 

 years. There are also justices of the peace, and, 

 in certain cities, there are recorder's courts. 



Both the sale and manufacture of liquor is 

 prohibited. Mothers' pension laws and child- 

 labor acts have been passed. 



Settlement and Early Government. Tennes- 

 see was probably first visited by De Soto, 

 Marquette and La Salle in their explorations 

 of the Mississippi Valley. The territory com- 

 prising the present state was included with 

 North Carolina in an English grant to Sir Wal- 

 ter Raleigh. In 1750 colonists from Virginia 

 reached and named the Cumberland River and 

 Mountains. In 1754 and 1757 settlements were 

 made by pioneers from North Carolina, but 

 these were soon destroyed by the Indians. 



The first permanent settlements were made in 

 1769, 1771 and 1772 by the Watauga Associa- 

 tion, a company of colonists from Virginia and 

 North Carolina who settled along the Watauga 

 River. They organized a free and independent 

 commonwealth, said by Theodore Roosevelt 

 to be the first one of this country established 

 by men of American birth. After the political 

 insurrection in North Carolina in 1771, many of 

 the "regulator" party opposed to the royal gov- 

 ernment made their way into the rugged wil- 

 derness of Tennessee, and in 1776 the territory 

 was annexed to North Carolina as the District 

 of Washington, the first spot in America named 

 in honor of George Washington. The hardy 

 mountaineers served in both the British and the 

 Continental armies. 



In 1784 North Carolina ceded the territory of 

 Tennessee to the United States, but the in- 

 habitants revolted and formed the state of 

 Frankland, or Franklin, with Sevier as gov- 

 ernor. Congress ignored the new state, and the 

 jurisdiction of North Carolina was again estab- 

 lished in 1788. Two years later Tennessee was 

 ceded to Congress as the "Territory South of 

 the Ohio." A steady stream of immigrants 

 poured into it, and after a long struggle Indian 

 and Spanish hostilities were suppressed, the 

 final struggle occurring in 1794. 



Statehood. On June 1, 1796, Tennessee was 

 admitted as the sixteenth state of the Union. 

 It was the first state created out of government 

 territory; Kentucky and Vermont, which were 

 previously admitted, were formed from terri- 

 tory belonging to individual states. The Ten- 

 nessee troops under Andrew Jackson played a 

 distinguished part in the War of 1812, and in 

 the Creek and Seminole wars. In the war with 

 Mexico in 1847, Tennessee won the name of 

 "The Volunteer State," when 30,000 men en- 

 listed at the call for 2,800 state troops. 



The western, middle and eastern sections of 

 the state remained divided in sentiment and al- 

 most distinct commonwealths until after the 

 War of Secession. The eastern section was 

 strongly Union in sentiment, and published the 

 first abolition paper in the United States. In 

 the question of secession the Confederate ele- 

 ment finally prevailed, and Tennessee seceded 

 June 8, 1861; it was the last of the states to 

 withdraw from the Union. Next to Virginia, 

 Tennessee was the chief battle ground of the 

 war. There were 454 battles fought in the state, 

 notable among them being the capture of forts 

 Henry and Donelson, and the battles of Shiloh, 

 Murfreesboro, Chattanooga, Lookout Moun- 

 tain, Missionary Ridge, Franklin and Nashville. 

 Tennessee, readmitted to the Union, July 24, 

 1866, was the first of the Confederate states to 

 return to the Federal government. The state 

 escaped the corrupt "carpetbag" government of 

 Northern politicians, but the Ku-Klux Klan 

 originated within its borders. 



Tennessee boasts many distinguished men, in- 

 cluding three Presidents of the United States 

 Jackson, Polk and Johnson many Cabinet offi- 

 cers and Justices of the Supreme Court', and 

 such military heroes as Farragut, Houston and 

 Forrest. 



Other Items of Interest. Reelfoot Lake, 

 eighteen miles long and very shallow, largely 

 covers a drowned forest which was submerged 

 during an earthquake. Through the clear water 

 the dead branches of the trees may be plainly 

 seen. 



In one of Tennessee's caves was found, long 

 ' ago, the skeleton of a mastodon, and the cave 

 is consequently known as Big Bone Cave. 



From the top of Lookout Mountain, just on 

 the boundary line of Tennessee, it is said that 

 seven states may be seen. 



In the early days coin was so scarce that no 

 fewer than twenty articles were declared legal 

 tender and given a definite value. Thus bacon 

 was valued at sixpence a pound, a fox skin at 



