Tennessee History

HISTORY OF TENNESSEE

The rise of Tennessee

*The Tennessee Constitution of 1796 was one of the most democratic in the nation: all free adult males could vote (as long as they owned some land), taxes were based on property, so large land-owners paid more than small ones, and even the governor and legislators had low property qualifications for holding office. During presidential elections, the state was divided into electoral districts, the winner of each of which got one electoral vote (as opposed to winner-take-all or to just having the legislature decide).

*The Governor of Tennessee was elected for a two-year term, and could be re-elected for up to three consecutive terms in total, although, in truth, his powers were very limited. After a break of one term, he could run again, if he wished. The legislature (both House and Senate) was elected every two years, but only met every other year (in odd-numbered years), and only briefly. This was not uncommon, and even to-day, a few states only call their legislatures every other year (Texas does so, and Kentucky only changed in 2000; Tennessee changed things in 1959).

*Tennessee’s entry into the Union was opposed by many Federalists, who assumed Tennessee would support Jefferson’s Republicans in the next elections. Also, since it was the first state to be formed from a US Territory, no-one quite knew how it worked—some said Congress had to invite the state to join, others said as soon as it hit a population of 60,000, it happened immediately. In truth, it was never quite resolved, and every new state would join the union slightly differently. In compromise, Tennessee was limited to one representative (rather than two), until a new census could be taken. Perhaps the Federalists were right—Tennessee did vote for Jefferson and Burr in 1800.

*1800 was also the year of the second US census, the first to include Tennessee. From 35,700 people in 1791 and 77,300 in 1795, the state had grown to 106,000 residents—which entitled Tennessee to not one or two, but three representatives (and 5 votes in the Electoral College).

*In 1810, the state population was 262,000, of which 160,000 were in Middle Tennessee, the first time the majority had lived there. 35,000 of those in Middle Tennessee were slaves, compared to 9,300 in East Tennessee. This gave us 6 Representatives (and 8 Electoral Votes), although this still left us as one of the smaller states—New York, the largest, had 27 Representatives, and Virginia and Pennsylvania, 23 each.

*By 1820, Tennessee had 423,000 people and (9 Representatives): 285,000 in Middle Tennessee, 136,000 in Middle Tennessee, and 2,000 in West Tennessee. Middle Tennessee had, for the moment, two thirds of the state’s population, and it would remain the most populous section for the remainder of the 19th Century.

*According to Andrew Jackson’s proposal at the constitutional convention, Knoxville did not remain the state’s permanent capital. Not only did this keep one region from being too powerful, it kept the supposed corruption of power and politics from polluting one area too long—at least that was the theory. In fact, the capital’s location did reveal where the power base in the state lay. In 1812, the capital was moved to Nashville, but in 1817 it was moved back to Knoxville. In 1819 it left East Tennessee forever, moving to Murfreesboro, the geographic centre of the state, but in 1826 it was moved to Nashville, where it has remained since, although it was not made the official permanent capital until 1843—until then it was always possible it would move again.

*This competition between East and Middle Tennessee was, in many ways, symbolised by the rivalry between John Sevier and William Blount, and later Sevier and Andrew Jackson.

*When Tennessee became a state, Sevier was its unquestioned hero. He was the Hero of King’s Mountain, a great Indian fighter, having led me in the Cherokee Wars of 1776 and the early 1790s, as well as in the more sporadic fighting of the 1780s, and the former governor of the State of Franklin, as well as a wealthy landowner and a gentleman who could befriend the common people while still leaving them in awe of him. He was elected with ease in 1796, and served out his three terms until 1801.

*Blount and Sevier had been friends, or at least business partners, but as the two former governors of the state, they also became natural rivals. Sevier came to represent East Tennessee, while Blount stood for the middle of the state. Blount had been a pretty good governor, although some accused him of giving preferential treatment to his friends, and he certainly delayed the election of a legislature longer than he should have, largely so he could run things himself (and often in the interest of his land investments).

*While one of Tennessee’s first Senators, Blount continued his speculation in the west, concocting a new scheme to enlarge the Union, or possible create yet a new nation beyond its borders. In late 1796 and early 1797, Blount and a friend worked out a plan to attempt to capture Spanish Florida and Louisiana. Not only would this enlarge the Union, but it would hopefully reduce the frequency and danger of Indian attacks, many of which were encouraged and supplied by the Spanish.

*The problem was that they meant to use British money and military assistance, at a time when the Revolutionary War was still in the minds of many Americans, and the British still had not vacated their American forts as they were supposed to. There was also some possibility that the new land would not be added to the United States, but would be made into a new empire, with Blount and his friends at its head. This was not an uncommon sort of plan in those days.

*It was an interesting plan, but Blount got careless. While in Tennessee in April 1797, he sent letters to more friends whom he hoped to get involved, with the directions to read the letters three times, memorise them, and then burn them, since their contents were potentially treasonous, or at least deeply suspicious. One of his friends, however, did not do this, and eventually passed the letter on to a friend in Knoxville, who sent it to the Adams administration in Philadelphia.

*The letter was eventually passed on to the Senate, and it was read aloud in the chamber, to Blount’s surprise and horror. The Senate voted to expel him, and the House tried to impeach him—making him the first Senator ever to be impeached—but nothing came of it, because the Senate determined that since he had already been expelled they could not bring the charge to trial. The sergeant-at-arms of the Senate was sent to Knoxville to arrest Blount, who entertained him and sent him away.

*Tennessee considered sending Blount back to Congress, but he declined the offer. He was elected to the Tennessee State Senate, and there he was named the Speaker of the Senate. He did not get to enjoy it long, however, as he died in 1800, just a few weeks before his 51st birthday.

*With Blount gone, there was a power vacuum in the state, but this was quickly filled by Andrew Jackson.

*Andrew Jackson was a complicated figure, one of the most complicated ever to become President. James Parton, one of his earliest (and best) biographers said, “Andrew Jackson, I am given to understand, was a patriot and a traitor. He was one of the greatest of generals, and wholly ignorant of the art of war. A writer brilliant, elegant, eloquent, and without being able to compose a correct sentence, or spell words of four syllables. The first of statesmen, he never devised, he never framed a measure. He was the most candid of men, and was capable of the profoundest dissimulation. A most law-defying, law-obeying citizen. A stickler for discipline, he never hesitated to disobey his superior. A democratic aristocrat. An urbane savage. An atrocious saint.”

*Jackson was born in the Waxhaws near the North/South Carolina border (so that both states sometimes claim him as a native son) in 1767. His father had died when he was young, and he joined the US Army during the Revolution, and served as a courier. He and his brother were captured by the British, and a British officer ordered him to polish his boots; he refused, and the officer slashed him with his sword, and he always hated the British for that. Not much later his brother died of smallpox, and his mother died while serving as a nurse in the prison ships of Charleston.

*Although Jackson had little if any formal education, he briefly became a teacher, then went on to study law in North Carolina and Tennessee, where he arrived in Jonesborough in 1788 riding one horse with a racehorse trailing along behind. Although of poor birth and no education, Jackson claimed to be a gentleman, which meant defending his honour in duels. The first of these came within a year of his arrival in Jonesborough, when Waightstill Avery, a great North Carolina lawyer ridiculed his legal knowledge, and Jackson challenged him to a duel.

*Explain dueling, seconds, &c.

*The Jackson-Avery duel ended in both men discharging their guns in the air, but Jackson’s future duels would not end so peacefully.

*Jackson moved to the Mero District about 1790. There he met the daughter of John Donelson, Rachel. She was technically married to a man named Lewis Robards, but he had proven to be an abusive husband, and they had separated. Eventually Robards left for Kentucky, and word came back that he had secured a divorce. Andrew and Rachel married in 1791 and lived happily together until Robards returned and revealed that he had never filed for divorce after all. Andrew and Rachel had been living in sin for almost three years! A divorce was arranged in late 1793, and Jackson married his wife again in January 1794, just to be sure. At the time no-one was much distressed, but this would come back to haunt the Jacksons.

*About this time, Blount made Jackson attorney-general of the Mero District. A few years later he served on the Tennessee constitutional convention, and went to Philadelphia as Tennessee’s first Congressman. This was boring, however, and he almost immediately returned to campaign for his election to Major-General of the Tennessee militia.

*Jackson had to compete for the position with a man chosen by Sevier, who naturally had all the governor’s support. Jackson lost, openly criticised Sevier at the time, and resented Sevier for it forever afterwards. However, Jackson was chosen to fill William Cocke’s old seat in the US Senate (Cocke would return two years later to fill the seat filled by Joseph Anderson (Anderson County) who replaced Blount when he was expelled).

*Jackson found the Senate boring, too, and resigned (being replaced by Daniel Smith), and upon coming home to Tennessee was made a justice of the superior court, in which he rode to the different counties and heard important cases.

*In 1802 (or so the story goes, although some feel it is not well enough documented to call proper history), Jackson was sitting in Jonesborough, when he heard of the case of Russell Bean, first white child born in Tennessee, but now all grown up (being about 33 years of age).

*Russell had taken a flatboat to New Orleans, sold his furs and things, sold the boat for firewood, and walked home. In the intervening time, more than nine months, Mrs Bean had given birth to a child. Russell immediately cut its ears off, so he could tell it apart from his own. By some accounts the child died.

*A warrant was issued for Bean’s arrest, but he threatened to shoot any man who tried to take him (and he was an expert gunsmith, and presumably a crack shot). The sheriff told the court this, and Jackson told him to summon a posse. The sheriff tried, but no-one would come. Jackson told him to summon the whole town, if necessary, so the sheriff summoned Jackson. Jackson called a recess of the court grabbed a loaded pistol or two, went to Bean, and said "surrender, you infernal villain, this very instant, or I'll blow you through." Bean surrendered, explaining that he saw “shoot” in Jackson’s eyes. Bean was convicted and branded on the hand. Some versions say he bit off the brand and spat it on the courthouse floor.

*About this same time, Jackson again sought to be elected Major-General of Tennessee’s militia, but this time things were different. Having served the legal maximum of three terms, Sevier was out of the governor’s office, and replaced by Archibald Roane, who was a friend of Jackson. About this time, Jackson also released some information about fraudulent land deals in which Sevier was probably involved several years before. With this information, Roane used his influence to help Jackson’s election, just as Sevier had used him to oppose it six years before. Eventually, word of the corrupt deals got into the Knoxville Gazette, along with a statement by Jackson calling Sevier a “base coward and a poltroon,” and Sevier came to hate Jackson dearly.

*In 1803, Sevier was easily re-elected. At the same time, Jackson (who was still a superior court judge, in addition to being Major-General), was in town to hold court. In October, Jackson and Sevier encountered one another on the corner of Gay Street and Main Street. Sevier was carrying his sabre that day, and upon seeing Jackson, drew his sword and began ridiculing Jackson and his pretensions. Jackson tried to defend himself from Sevier (perhaps the only time in his life he is known to have been humble) by stammering over his services to the state. Sevier returned his, saying "I know of no service you have rendered the country, except taking a trip to Natchez with another man's wife!" Jackson responded, “Great God, do you mention her sacred name?” Jackson (who had a sword cane) rushed at Sevier to strike him, while Sevier defended himself with his sabre. The crowd produced weapons, and at least one man fired randomly and hit another bystander, but the two were separated.

*The next day Jackson wrote a challenge to Sevier, who accepted. Sevier chose his son James as his second, and Jackson brought a Dr Thomas van Dyke. As dueling was illegal in Tennessee, they had to go into Indian Country, and they met up on the road near Kingston.

*As the challenged party, Sevier had provided the pistols, which were on his horse. As Jackson began to shout at him, their horses ran away, carrying the pistols with them. Jackson then drew a sword and ran at Sevier, who hid behind a tree. James Sevier was obliged to aim his pistol at Jackson to keep him away, whild Dr van Dyke ended up taking aim at both the Seviers. Shouts, insults, et cetera were exchanged, but eventually the seconds calmed down their principals, and the encounter was over. The two men would never forgive each other, though. This may all have been for the best for Jackson, though—Tennessee would never have elected him to anything if he had killed Nollichucky Jack.

*Jackson retired from the superior court shortly after that, and built the Hermitage near Nashville, and took to farming, land speculation, and work with the militia. He also had a prize racehorse named Truxton, and he loved to bet on the races.

*Once after a race when some paper money changed hands, Jackson became convinced that he might have been cheated. Certain enemies helped play up his suspicions, because the man he accused was Charles Dickinson, regarded as possibly the best shot in Tennessee. They exchanged increasingly nasty notes, until Dickinson wrote one calling Jackson a "worthless scoundrel, ... a poltroon and a coward." Jackson challenged him.

*Jackson stood stock still at the duel, wearing an over-sized coat to deceive his opponent. He took the shot to his chest and staggered, but stood his ground. Dickinson was forced by the code of the duel to stand his, too, and Jackson took his time to make a cleanly aimed shot. He fired, but his gun went to half-cock, which should have ended the round. He cocked it again, and fired, cutting an artery in Dickinson, who died a few hours later. Jackson was also badly hurt, but did not let anyone know until he and his second (a doctor) had gotten twenty miles away. He was sick for weeks, and carried the ball inches away from his heart for the rest of his life.

*Jackson’s duels eventually hurt his reputation in the state, especially the last of them, which was more like a barroom brawl than an interview between gentlemen. Not long before, Jackson had acted as a second for William Carroll, a young friend, in a duel against Jesse Benton. As Jackson was much older than the others, Jesse’s brother Thomas Hart Benton, who had once been Jackson’s friend, had written a letter reprimanding Jackson for getting involved in other people’s business.

*On 4 September 1813, it was discovered that the Benton Brothers were in Nashville on business. Jackson and friends including John Coffee (Coffee County) were made aware of this, and they made a point of walking by the Bentons’ hotel carrying pistols and a horsewhip. Jackson stormed into the hall by the back porch and yelled, “Now defend yourself, you damned rascal!”

*People starting fighting and shooting left and right. Jackson pulled a pistol from his coat and aimed it at Thomas Hart Benton, who pulled out his own. Jesse was hidden behind Jackson, and all three men fired at once. Jackson’s pistol burnt Thomas’ coat, but Jackson was shot in the left arm, and collapsed.

*Coffee and two other friends of Jackson charged at Thomas with clubs and knives, and he was cut five times. Two of them backed Jesse up against a wall and tried to stab him while he tried to deflect the knives with his bare hands. A friend came to help him, and Jesse pulled a gun and tried to shoot one of his attackers, but the gun misfired. While Thomas tried to defend himself, he stepped backwards out of the porch and fell down the back stairs, and the fight more or less ended.

*Jackson had to be carried back to another hotel where he soaked two mattresses through with blood. He nearly died, while Thomas and Jesse Benton marched around outside calling names and making fun. They then took the sword that Jackson had dropped and broke it in the public square.

*Many years later, when Thomas Hart Benton was a senator, he and President Jackson were again good friends. At this point, the bullet with which he had shot Jackson had worked its way to the surface of Jackson’s arm, and it was cut out. He offered to give it back to Benton, but was assured that after 20 years, Jackson had a right to keep it.

*Just as had been the case before Tennessee became a state, the two most problematic subjects for the state were land claims and Indians.

*When Tennessee became a state, nothing was said about unclaimed land in the state, except that some had to go to North Carolina’s veterans. Three years later, Tennessee declared that anything that was unclaimed what the state’s to sell. North Carolina, hoping to make the most of the Military Reserves, was pushing all veterans and their heirs to claim their land, and eventually passed a law bequeathing any unclaimed bounty land to the University of North Carolina, which immediately began surveying huge tracts in Tennessee.

*Afraid that North Carolina would get all the best land, Tennessee tried to reach an agreement with that state, but Congress intervened, demanding a piece, too. They created the Land Compact in 1806, which gave Congress control over much of Middle Tennessee and all of West Tennessee (barring military reserves), but allowed Tennessee to sell anything that once been part of the Cherokee Reservation (a dwindling area). 100,000 acres of the land in the Cherokee Reservation and 640 acres of land in every six-mile square were to be set aside for schools. The land in the Cherokee Reservation eventually helped fund Cumberland College (now the Peabody School in Vanderbilt) and East Tennessee College (UT), but the acreage meant for local schools was never actually set aside.

*Despite Congress’ right to sell land in its own areas, it never really did so. Tennessee obstructed it repeatedly, and slowly gained rights to sell parts of the Congressional reserve on Tennessee’s terms, and for Tennessee’s profit. By 1846, the US Government finally turned all its lands in Tennessee over to the state. North Carolina’s cession of 1789 had turned out well for North Carolina (which got to dispose of a great deal of the land, and to endow UNC with quite a bit of it) and for Tennessee, but Congress was disappointed from start to finish.

*Selling the Cherokee Reservation was a good source of income for Tennessee, because the Reservation kept shrinking. See page 77 for a map, which depicts the steady process by which treaty lines were drawn in theory by not actually surveyed for years afterwards (the Holston Treaty, drawn up in 1791, was not actually surveyed until 1797, when President Adams sent federal troops to push white settlers onto the right side of it, unsuccessfully), during which time squatters had crossed them by accident (or by calculation), and eventually new lines were drawn to incorporate these settlers, lines which were then ignored by a new cohort of squatters. By 1806, Tennessee had taken control of all the land within her borders except Chickasaw West Tennessee and the ever-shrinking Cherokee Reservation in the Southeast.

*Although by the early 19th Century the Cherokee had largely ceased to resist the tide of white settlers, the Creek (and other Indians), under increased pressure, and consistently encouraged by the British and Spanish, simply grew more aggressive.

*In 1803, the United States had finally bought Louisiana, including New Orleans from France (who had gotten it back from Spain not long before), but when the United States declared war on Great Britain in 1812, Governor Wilkinson of Louisiana and President Madison feared an invasion, and asked Governor Willie Blount for troops to help defend New Orleans.

*Blount called for volunteers, and got many more than he expected (in part because they expected to attack the Indians and get more land), earning Tennessee a new nickname. The state legislature also authorised more troops and money.

*In the fall of 1812, Major-General Jackson and his troops set of for Natchez, but in January he was told (at the request of President Madison, who did not like or trust Jackson) to dismiss his troops. Since they were closer to New Orleans than to Nashville, they would probably have gone on to Louisiana, so that Wilkinson (who didn’t like Jackson either) would have gotten the troops without their difficult general.

*Jackson did not dismiss the men, or abandon, them, but marched with them back to Tennessee. He was so tough on the march that he earned the nickname Old Hickory, and won his men’s respect.

*Back home, Old Hickory and his men thought they had missed out on the war. Other generals took their men on distant expeditions, but these either never ran into the enemy, or, in one case, were even captured by them.

*The Creeks had already been engaged in a civil war between the traditionalist Red Sticks and other Creek who wanted to adopt white ways, both for their inherent benefits and in hopes that, by fitting in, they might be left alone.

*In August, 1813, a faction of the Creeks called the Red Sticks attacked Fort Mims, Alabama. There they killed between 250 and 500 white settlers and terrified the South.

*Jackson and his men marched into Alabama, fighting the Creek at Talladega and Tallasahatchee before finally defeating them at Horseshoe Bend in March 1814. The Creek nation was largely wiped out, and were forced to surrender most of Alabama and Georgia.

*Jackson returned to Nashville as a hero, and was made a Major-General in the US Army. He again went south to defend the coast, eventually going to New Orleans, which means it’s time for the #1 song of 1959.

*Jackson set up defensive works five miles south of New Orleans, made up largely of earthworks and cotton bales. His opposite, Major General Sir Edward Packenham, exchanged some artillery fire with him, then withdrew to wait for all of his forces, totaling 11,000-14,500 troops, to arrive. On 8 January, he led three direct assaults on the American position, defended by about 5,000 Tennesseans, local people, and pirates from the crews of Jean Lafitte, a pirate and smuggler who claimed never to have attacked an American vessel confining his raids to the Spanish and other pirates.

*The British fought valiantly, but uselessly, assaulting a fortified position over a long narrow stretch of open ground, and finding, upon reaching the enemy redoubt, that it was too high to scale without ladders (which had never been brought to the front). Overall, Packenham made a series of terrible and stupid mistakes, and he knew better. However, he was killed in the last charge. He told his subordinates to keep charging, but they withdrew.

*It was a tremendous American victory: well over 2,000 British troops were killed, wounded, or taken prisoner, while only 71 Americans were killed or injured.

*Technically the war was over by then, but Jackson could not have known, and went home a hero. He also got to enjoy it without opposition; John Sevier, his ancient nemesis, had died at the age of 70 while surveying the new border with the Creek in Alabama. He was buried in Alabama, and only later brought back to Knoxville where he lies today.

*Over the next few years, Jackson and his friends expanded Tennessee and the nation. They concluded several treaties with the Indians of Tennessee that expanded the land open for white settlement (see page 77), culminating (with the help of Kentucky’s Governor Isaac Shelby) in the Jackson Purchase Treaty or Chickasaw Purchase of 1818, which secured all of West Tennessee (and a small part of Kentucky).

*During the later 1810s, Jackson was sent to fight the Seminole in Georgia and on the Florida border. Given ambiguous orders that President Monroe would be able to deny later if need be, Jackson invaded Florida, punished the Creek, hanged two Englishmen who had supposedly been helping them, captured a couple of forts, including Pensacola, and generally caused an international incident.

*Spain demanded restitution. Congress considered censuring Jackson, but, in the end, bought Florida for $5,000,000 after making it clear to Spain that Jackson could do this any time he needed to.

*Jackson retired in 1821, but soon returned to politics, and eventually the presidency.

*In 1824, Jackson was a popular candidate, exciting everyone with his wild nature and his rags-to-riches story, and he won more of the popular vote than anyone else. No-one had a majority of the electoral vote, however, so it went to the House of Representatives, where Henry Clay used his influence as Speaker to throw the election to John Quincy Adams, who soon made him Secretary of State.

*Jackson condemned this corrupt bargain, and ran again in 1828, winning the election with a well-organised party and a great uprising of popular support and completely changing American politics forever. He was the first president from the west, the first elected by the common man, as more and more states began to adopt universal manhood suffrage. Indeed, he was the first president to not be either from Virginia or named Adams. The Age of Jackson had begun, and Tennessee had supplied the man at the centre of it.