# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Tennessee

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​ TENNESSEE, a South Central state of the United States of North America, lying between latitude 35° and latitude 36° 40′ N. and between longitude 81° 37′ and longitude 90° 28′ W. It is bounded on the N. by Kentucky and Virginia along a line which, because of erroneous surveys, varies considerably, east of the Tennessee river, from the intended boundary—the line of latitude 36° 30′ N.—the variations all being measured to the north of that parallel; on the E. by North Carolina along the line of the crest of the culminating ridge of the Unaka Mountains till within 26 m. of the Georgia frontier, where it turns due south, giving to Tennessee a triangular piece of territory which should have belonged to North Carolina.; on the S. by Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi along the 35th parallel of N. lat.; on the W. by the Mississippi river which separates it from Arkansas and Missouri. The extreme length of the state from E. to W. is 432 m., and the extreme breadth is 109 m. its area being 42,022 sq. m., of which 335 sq. m. is water surface.
Physical Features.—Tennessee is traversed in the east by the Unaka Ridges of the Older Appalachian Mountains and by the Great Appalachian Valley; in the middle by the Cumberland Plateau, the Highland Rim Plateau, and the Nashville Basin of the Appalachian Plateau; and in the west by the Gulf Coastal Plains and a narrow strip of the Mississippi Flood Plain. From a maximum elevation of 6636 ft. at Mount Guyot on the North Carolina border, in Sevier county, the surface descends to 117 ft. or less on the Mississippi Flood Plain in the S.W. corner of the state. The general slope, however, is west by north. About 1700 sq. m. are at least 2000 ft. above the sea, but 28,200 sq. m. are less than 1000 ft. above the sea, and the mean elevation of the state is approximately 900 ft. The Unaka Mountains, which occupy a belt 8 to 10 m. wide along its E. border, are a series of somewhat irregular ridges developed on complexly folded and faulted crystalline rocks. Sixteen peaks exceed 6000 ft. in height. They are Mount Guyot (6636 ft.), Clingman Dome (6619 ft.), Mount Le Conte (6612 ft.), Mount Curtis (6568 ft.), Mount Safford (6535 ft.), Mount Love (6443 ft.), Mount Henry (6373 ft.), Roan Mountain (6313 ft.), Luftee Knob (6232 ft.), Peck Peak (6232 ft.), Raven Knob (6230 ft.), Mount Colins (6188 ft.), Tricorner Knob (6188 ft.), Thermometer Knob (6157 ft.), Oconee Mountain (6135 ft.), and Master Knob (6013 ft.). That part of the Great Appalachian Valley which traverses Tennessee is commonly known as the Valley of East Tennessee. It consists of parallel ridges and valleys developed by erosion on folded sandstones, shales and limestones, the valley quality predominating because the weak limestones were of great thickness. The valley areas vary in height from 600 ft. in the south-west to 1000 ft. in the north-east. In the north-east the ridges are more numerous and higher than in the south-west, where White Oak Ridge and Taylor's Mountain are among the highest, although Missionary and Chickamauga Ridges are better known, because of their association with battles of the Civil War. Along the north-west border of the valley a steep escarpment, known as tie Cumberland Scarp, rises to the Cumberland Plateau. This plateau has a mean elevation of about 2000 ft., is only slightly rolling, and slopes gently toward the north-west. The W. edge of the plateau is much broken by deep indentations of stream valleys, and drops suddenly downward about 1000 ft. to the Highland Rim Plateau, so named from the scarp formed by its western rim about the Nashville and (farther north) Louisville basins. It is generally level except where it is cut by river valleys. The Nashville Basin, with a more rolling surface, lies for the most part 400 to 600 ft. below the Rim; a few hills or ridges, however, rise to the level of the Rim. The Basin is elliptical in form, extending nearly across the state from N.E. to S.W., with an extreme width of about 60 m.; near its centre is the city of Murfreesboro, and Nashville lies in the north-west. Westward from the Lower Tennessee river the surface of the East Gulf Coastal Plain rises rapidly to the summit of a broken cuesta or ridge and then descends gently and terminates abruptly in a bluff overlooking the Mississippi Flood Plain. The E. slope, about one-fourth the length of the W. slope, is steep and rocky, and the W. slope is broken by the valleys of numerous streams. The bluff, 150 to 200 ft. in height, traverses the state in a rather straight course and between it and the meandering Mississippi, except at a few points where the latter touches it, lie low bottom lands varying in width according to the bends of the river and containing numerous swamps and ponds. In the northern portion, principally in Lake county, is Reelfoot Lake, which occupies a depression formed during an earthquake in 1811. It is 18 m. long, has a maximum width of 3 m., and is the only large lake in the state.
The whole of the Appalachian Province of Tennessee and the southern portion of the Cumberland Plateau, the Highland Rim, and the Lowland Basin are drained southward and westward by the Tennessee river and its tributaries. The valley of the Lower Tennessee is drained northward by the same river. The northern portion of the Cumberland Plateau, Highland Rim, and Lowland Basin are drained northward and westward by the Cumberland river and its tributaries. The western slope of the East Gulf Plains is drained directly into the Mississippi by several small streams.
Fauna.—A few black bears inhabit the Unaka Mountain region. Deer are quite numerous in the forests of the east half of the state. The wolf, fox, lynx (“Wildcat”), otter, mink and beaver have become rare. Squirrels, rabbits, wood-chucks, skunks, muskrats and opossums are common. Among game-birds there are a few wild turkeys, wild geese and bob-white (locally “partridge”), and greater numbers of grouse and various ducks; among song-birds the robin, bluebird and mocking-bird are common; and there are also woodpeckers, whippoorwills, blackbirds, hawks, owls, crows and buzzards. There are a few speckled trout in the mountain streams, but the commoner fish are bass, perch, catfish, crappies, pike, drum buffalo, carp, suckers and eels. Rattlesnakes and moccasins, or cottonmouths, both venomous, are occasionally seen.
Flora.—Originally the state was well covered with forests, and about one-half of it is still woodland containing a large variety of trees. On the mountains the trees are chiefly pines, firs, spruce and hemlock. In the swamps of the western part of the state, especially on the Mississippi Flood Plain, the cypress is dominant. In the Lowland Basin small groves of what was once an extensive forest of red cedar remain. Poplar and larch are much more abundant in the western than in the eastern half of the state, and pine is much more abundant in the eastern than in the western half. But in most parts of the state there are mixed forests of white oak, red oak, ash, red gum, black gum, maple, hickory, chestnut, sycamore, magnolia, tulip tree, cherry, pecan, walnut, elm, beech, locust and persimmon. Birch, mulberry, linden, willow, bass-wood, dogwood, the sorrel tree, pawpaw and wild plum are common. There are a few varieties of the rare shittimwood tree (Bumelia lanuginosa). Among, indigenous shrubs and vines are the hazel, blackberry, gooseberry, whortleberry, huckleberry, grape and cranberry. Blue grass is indigenous in the Lowland Basin. Of numerous medicinal herbs ginseng is the most important.
Climate.—Tennessee is noted for its delightful climate. The mean summer temperature ranges according to elevation from 62° F. on the Unaka Mountains to 72° on the Cumberland Plateau, to 75° in the Valley of East Tennessee and on the Highland Rim, to 77° in the Lowland Basin, and to about 78° on the East Gulf Plains. But the mean winter temperature for each of these divisions varies little from 38°, and the mean annual temperature ranges only from 57° in East Tennessee to 58° in Middle Tennessee and to 60° in West Tennessee. The altitude being the same, the mean annual temperature on the south border of the state is about 2° higher than that on the north border. Usually the highest temperatures of the year are in July and the lowest in January. In some regions there is no record of a temperature as high as 100°; in others there is none as low as −10°; and the average absolute range is about 90°. However, during a period of fifty-four years (1854–1908) the records show a range of extremes from -30° at Erasmus, Cumberland county, in February 1899, to 107° at several places in July 1901. Rarely there are killing frosts, especially in the southern and western parts of the state from the third week in April to the middle of October. An average annual precipitation of about 50 in. is quite equally distributed over the state and a little more than one-half of it is well distributed through the spring and summer months. The average annual snowfall is about 8 in., and the snowfalls are usually light and melt within a few days. The average number of clear, fair, or only partly cloudy days during a year in Tennessee is 260. The warm, moisture-bearing winds blow low from the south or south-west with a free sweep across the state in a direction nearly parallel with the trend of the mountains. Above these are upper currents from the north or north-west. The commingling of the two currents gives rise frequently to westerly and occasionally to easterly winds. The average velocity of the winds is comparatively low and violent storms are rare.
Soil.—The Lowland Basin, the less elevated parts of the Valley of East Tennessee, and parts of the outer portion of the Highland Rim have a fertile limestone soil. The deep deposit of silt on the Mississippi Flood Plain is even more fertile. There are narrow strips of rich alluvium along many other rivers. The soils on the
the E. slope of the East Gulf Plains vary greatly according to the rocks from which they are derived. In the Cumberland Plateau, in the inner portion of the Highland Rim, and in the W. slope of the East Gulf Plains there is for the most part a light sandy soil, much of it too poor for cultivation.
Agriculture.—The total area of farms in the state in 1900 was 20,342,058 acres, of which about one-half was classed as “improved.” The average size was 90·6 acres, and the average number of acres of improved land per farm was 45·6. Of the total farm acreage 68·8 per cent. was held or operated by owners or part owners, 9·4 per cent. by cash tenants, 17·4 per cent. by share tenants, and the remainder under miscellaneous tenure. Some 15·1 per cent. of all the farms were operated by coloured farmers, who in 1899 produced 22·2 per cent. of the agricultural products of the state, not fed to live stock. The total value of farms, including buildings, was $265,150,750 (the value of buildings being 23·8 per cent. of the total); in addition implements and machinery valued at $15,232,670 were employed. The principal products and their values in 1909 were: wheat, 8,320,000 bushels ($9,568,000); Indian corn, 78,650,000 bushels ($55,055,000); oats, 4,000,000 bushels ($2,120,000); cotton, 240,000 bales; tobacco, 53,290,000 ℔, ($4,156,620). The average yield per acre in 1909 was, of wheat 10·4 bushels, of Indian corn 22 bushels, of cotton (1908) 218 ℔, of tobacco 730 ℔. Cotton is not raised to any extent except in the rich alluvial land of the Mississippi Valley. Tennessee ranked fifth among the tobacco-growing states in 1899 and fourth in 1909. Considerable areas in the central part of the state are admirably adapted for grazing and the raising of fine horses and cattle. The value of live stock on farms and ranges on the 1st of January 1910 was as follows: horses, $36,288,000; mules, $35,670,000; milch cows, $8,828,000; other cattle, $7,797,000; swine, $8,216,000.
Mining.—Previous to the close of the Civil War (1865) mining had been carried on upon a comparatively small scale, but immediately thereafter attention was attracted to the extensive and valuable deposits of coal and iron ore, and their development was begun on a large scale. The minerals of most commercial importance are coal, iron ores, copper ores, marble and phosphate rock.
About 5000 sq. m., or almost one-eighth of the area of the state, is under laid by the coal measures, which occupy a belt in the Cumberland Plateau from 50 to 70 m. wide extending entirely across the easterly part of the state in a north-easterly, south-westerly direction. The coal is of the soft or “bituminous” kind, generally of excellent quality, and much of it suitable for conversion into gas and coke, of which latter 468,092 long tons were produced in 1905. The mining of coal in the state has developed rapidly in connexion with the notable expansion of the iron and steel industries of the South. In 1908 the product was 6,199,171 tons, valued at $7,118,499.
Iron ore is found and has been mined in many places in the state. The deposits of most commercial importance are the limonites and brown hematites found west of the Cumberland Plateau, and the fossiliferous red hematite which crops out along the eastern base of that plateau. In the early history of Tennessee iron of superior quality was produced, in small charcoal furnaces, from the brown hematite's of the central part of the state. A little later, considerable quantities of this iron were shipped and marketed at Pittsburg. After the close of the Civil War (1865) the iron resources of the state attracted renewed attention, particularly the brown and red hematite's, and large and modern furnaces were erected in the Chattanooga district to reduce these ores. The output of iron ore was 874,542 tons (valued at $1,123,527) in 1902, when Tennessee ranked fifth among the iron ore producing states. Owing to the industrial depression following 1907 the output was only 635,343 tons, valued at $876,007, in 1908.
The only copper mines of industrial importance are the Ducktown mines in the extreme south-eastern corner of the state. Copper has been mined here since 1847, and notwithstanding the difficulties of transportation through a rough mountain region, mines were rapidly developed, and in 1855 over 14,000 tons of ore, worth more than a million dollars, were marketed. These mines were the principal source of the supply of copper for the Confederate States during the Civil War. The opening, in 1869, of a railway passing directly through the mining territory, made it possible to work the mines more profitably, and operations were developed on a large scale. In 1908, 618,806 short tons of ore were mined, producing, from the smelters on the ground, 19,710,103 ℔ of metallic copper. The ore is a sulphide, and in 1898 an extensive plant was erected to manufacture sulphuric acid as a by-product.
In 1892–1893 large deposits of phosphate rock of high quality were discovered in the central-southern part of the state about 60 m. south-west of Nashville, and the rapid development of quarries was begun. The output increased from 19,188 tons in 1894 to 638,612 tons (valued at $3,047,836) in 1907, when Tennessee ranked second among the states of the Union in the production of phosphate rock. The introduction of this new supply had a marked effect on the fertilizer business of the country.
Inexhaustible deposits of marble are found in Eastern Tennessee in an area about 100 m. long by 20 m. wide, the centre of which is Knox county, the deposits extending southward into Georgia. These marbles are of a distinctive character, being usually mottled in bright shades of red, pink, chocolate and grey. They are employed principally for interior decoration, and. were thus largely used in the capitol at Nashville and in the National Capitol at Washington. Systematic quarrying of these marbles was begun as early as 1838, and the output of the quarries has constantly increased since the Civil War.
In 1908 Tennessee produced 179 ozs. of fine gold and 57,696 ozs. of fine silver, a part of each coming, as a by-product, from the copper refineries. Zinc ore is mined on a small scale in the eastern part of the state, the product in 1908 being 341 short tons of metallic zinc valued at $32,054. Among the other minerals found and mined to a limited extent are lead, manganese, barytes, fluorspar, slate, granite and petroleum. The total value of all minerals was $19,277,031 in 1908.
Manufactures.—To an unusual degree the natural resources of the state supply the raw material for its manufactures. The ownership of industrial establishments is largely in the hands of individuals, firms, and comparatively small corporations, rather than of large combinations, the average capital per establishment in 1905 being about $32,000. The amount of capital invested in manufacturing in 1880 was $20,092,845, and the value of the products was $37,074,886. In 1905 capitalization (under the factory system) had increased to $102,439,481, and value of products to $137,960,476. This rapid industrial growth has been due in no small degree to the great natural resources of the state and its excellent transportation facilities, judged by the value of products, regardless of cost of materials used, the flour and grist mill industry ranked first in 1905 ($25,350,758). Second in importance was the timber and lumber industry and lumber products ($21,580,120.)
The state has always held an important place in the iron and steel industry. The capital invested in blast furnaces in 1905 was $5,939,783, they employed 1486 persons, and the value of their products was $3,428,049 The foundries and machine shops of the state had a capital of $5,516,453, they gave employment to over 4000 persons, and the value of their products was $6,946,567. These figures are exclusive of the numerous and large railway repair shops, the value of whose products was $5,839,445.
The manufacture of leather is another important industry. Large tanneries were attracted to the state, soon after the Civil War, by the abundance of tan bark in the forests, and the cheapness of labour. In 1905 $4,013,289 was invested in the manufacture of leather, and the products were valued at $3,583,871.
In 1905 the textile industry had an invested capital of $8,583,133, and a product valued at $6,895,203 The manufacture of cotton goods was the chief sub-division of the industry, employing 153,375 spindles, 3008 looms and 1787 knitting machines.
The printing and publishing industry of the state had an invested capital of $4,408,584 and products valued at $5,063,580. The manufacture of malt and distilled liquors employed (1905) a capital of $3,220,899, and the value of the product was $2,400,256. Among the other important manufacturing industries of the state and the value of their products in 1905 are: men's clothing, $2,961,581; patent medicines, $2,680,610; cotton-seed oil and oil cake, $3,743,927; tobacco, $404,241; artificial ice, $727,263; agricultural implements, $768,895; and coke, $809,801.
Transportation.—The railway mileage of Tennessee increased from 1253 m. in 1860 to 3184 in 1900, and 3480 on the 1st of January 1909. The principal railways operating in the state in 1910 were the Louisville & Nashville, the Nashville, Chattanooga & St Louis, the Cincinnati Southern and the Southern. The navigable waterways include the Mississippi river (which forms the western boundary of the state); the Tennessee river, navigable throughout its length, from Knoxville; and the Cumberland river, navigable throughout its length in the state. Chattanooga, Knoxville, Memphis and Nashville are ports of entry.
Population.—The total population in 1880 was 1,542,359; in 1890, 1,767,518; in 1900, 2,020,616; and in 1910, 2,184,789. Of the total population in 1900, 1,522,600 were native whites, 17,746 were foreign-born, 480,243 were negroes, 108 were Indians, 75 were Chinese and 4 were Japanese. Of the inhabitants born in the United States 38,561 were born in Georgia, 36,052 in Kentucky, 28,405 in North Carolina, 27,709 in Alabama, and 25,953 in Virginia. Of the foreign-born 4569 were Germans, 3372 were Irish and 2207 were English. Of the total population 59,032 were of foreign parentage—i.e. either one or both parents were foreign-born—and 11,164 were of German, 9268 of Irish and 3532 of English parentage on both the father's and the mother's side. Of the total population of the state in 1906, 697,570 were members of religious denominations. There ​were 277,170 Baptists, 241,396 Methodists, 79,337 Presbyterians, 56,315 Disciples of Christ, 17,252 Roman Catholics, 7874 Protestant Episcopalians, 3225 Lutherans, 2875 United Brethren and 2426 Congregationalists. From 1890 to 1900 the urban population (i.e. the population of places having 4000 inhabitants or more) increased from 219,792 to 285,886, or 30.1 per cent., the semi-urban population (i.e. the population of incorporated places, or the approximate equivalent, having less than 4000 inhabitants) increased from 87,351 to 114,837, 10.9 per cent. of the total increase in population; while the rural population (i.e. population outside of incorporated places) increased from 1,460,375 to 1,619,893, 63 per cent. of the total. The principal cities of the state, with population for 1910, are Memphis, 131,105; Nashville, 110,364; Chattanooga, 44,604 and Knoxville, 36,346.
Government.—Tennessee has had three constitutions, but the present one, adopted in 1870, is a reproduction of the second (1834) with only a few changes. Amendments may be proposed not oftener than once in six years by a majority of the members elected to each house of the legislature, but before they can be adopted they must be agreed to first by two-thirds of the members elected to each house of the next succeeding legislature, and later by a majority of all the citizens of the state voting for representatives at the next regular election. The legislature may, also, submit to the people the question of calling a convention to amend or revise the constitution, and such a convention must be called whenever, upon the submission of this proposition, a majority of the votes are cast in favour of it. Every attempt to amend or revise the present constitution has, however, been unsuccessful. The right of suffrage is given to every male citizen of the United States who has attained the age of twenty-one years and has been a resident of the state for one year, provided he has paid his poll tax and has not been convicted of bribery, larceny or other infamous crime. The election of the governor, members of the General Assembly and congressmen is held biennially, in even numbered years, on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November, but the election of judicial and county officers is held on the first Thursday in August.
The governor is the only state executive officer who is elected by the people. He is elected for a term of two years and is not eligible for more than three consecutive terms. He must be at least thirty years of age and have been a citizen of the state for the last seven years before election. Although commander-in-chief of the state forces, he may call the militia into service only when there is a rebellion or an invasion and the General Assembly declares that the public safety requires it. The officers of the penitentiary and of the reformatory for boys are authorized to advise the governor with respect to an application for the pardon of an inmate of their institution, but he is not bound by their advice and there is no real restriction on his power to pardon except that he is not permitted to pardon in cases of impeachment. Among the more important officers appointed by the governor are the superintendent of public instruction, the commissioner of agriculture, statistics and mines, an assayer, state entomologist, and officers of the penitentiary. The governor may veto bills passed by the General Assembly, but to override his veto the vote of only a bare majority of the members elected to each house is required. The governor’s salary is $4000 a year. There is no lieutenant-governor; in case of a vacancy in the office of governor the speaker of the Senate becomes acting governor. The secretary of state, the comptroller, and the treasurer are elected by a joint ballot of the Senate and the House of Representatives each for a term of two years; the attorney-general is appointed by the judges of the supreme court for a term of eight years.
Both senators and representatives are elected for a term of two years by counties or by districts having approximately the same population. The number of representatives is limited by the constitution to 99, and the number of senators to one-third the number of representatives. The qualifications prescribed for senators and representatives are that they shall have been citizens of the state for three years and residents of the county or district they are to represent for one year immediately preceding the election, and that senators shall be at least thirty years of age. The legislature meets biennially, in odd numbered years, on the first Monday in January, and the length of the session is limited by a provision that the members shall be paid four dollars a day, besides an allowance for travelling expenses, not to exceed 75 days; whenever the governor calls an extra session they are not paid for more than 20 days. Bills of whatever character may originate in either house, but no bill can become a law until it has passed both houses by a majority of all the members to which the house is entitled under the constitution, and if the governor vetoes a bill it cannot become a law until it has again passed both houses by such a majority. Only the more customary restrictions are placed upon the legislature by the constitution; such, for example, as that it shall pass no laws impairing the obligation of contracts, no ex post facto laws, no law authorizing imprisonment for debt, no law restraining the freedom of the press or freedom of speech, and that it shall not lend the credit of the state or make the state “owner in whole or in part of any bank or a stockholder with others in any association, company, corporation or municipality.”
The administration of justice is vested in a supreme court, a court of civil appeals, chancery courts, circuit courts, county courts, justice of the peace courts, and, in certain cities and towns, a recorders court. The supreme court consists of five judges elected by the state at large for a term of eight years, one for each of three grand divisions (eastern, middle and western) and two for the state at large. Each judge must be at least thirty-five years of age and have been a resident of the state for five years before his election. The judges designate one of their number to preside as chief justice. The court has appellate jurisdiction only. For the eastern district it sits at Knoxville; for the middle district at Nashville; and for the western district at Jackson. The concurrence of three judges is necessary to a decision. The court of civil appeals, which in 1907 was substituted for the court of chancery appeals, is also composed of five judges not more than two of whom shall reside in the same grand division. They are elected for a term of eight years, and each of them must be at least thirty years of age and have resided in the state for five years before election. This court has jurisdiction of appeals from equity courts in which the amount in controversy does not exceed $1000, except in cases involving the constitutionality of a Tennessee statute, contested election or state revenue, and ejectment suits; it has jurisdiction also of civil cases tried in the circuit and common law courts in which writs of error or appeals in the nature of writs of error are applied for. It may transfer any case to the supreme court or the supreme court may assume jurisdiction of any of its cases by issuing a writ of certiorari, but otherwise its decrees are final. The state is divided into twelve chancery districts in each of which a chancellor is elected for a term of eight years, and at every county-seat in each district a court of chancery is held. The court has exclusive original jurisdiction in equity cases in which the amount in controversy exceeds fifty dollars, concurrent jurisdiction with the county court in such matters as the administration of estates, the appointment and removal of guardians, and concurrent jurisdiction with the circuit courts in proceedings for divorce. The state is also divided into nineteen circuits, in each of which a circuit judge is elected for a term of eight years, and at every county-seat in each circuit a circuit court is held. The original jurisdiction of the circuit courts extends to all cases both civil and criminal not exclusively conferred upon some other court, and they have appellate jurisdiction in all suits and actions begun in the lower courts. In several of the counties the county court is composed of a county judge, elected for a term of eight years, together with the justices of the peace in the county, and in the other counties it consists of the justices of the peace alone. Its judicial business is principally the probate of wills and matters relating to the administration of estates. Each county is divided into civil districts varying in number according to population, and each district elects at least two justices of the peace for a term of six years; each county town or incorporated town also elects one justice of the peace. The jurisdiction of a justice of the peace, usually coextensive with the county, extends to the collection of notes of hand not exceeding $1000; to the settlement of accounts not exceeding $500; to suits for the recovery of property or suits demanding payment for damages, except for libel or slander, not exceeding $500; to equity cases in which the amount in controversy does not exceed $50; and to various other small cases. A recorder has concurrent jurisdiction with a justice of the peace.
Local Government.—The government of each county is vested principally in the county court. This body represents and acts for the county as a corporation; has charge of the erection and repair of county buildings; levies the county taxes, which are limited by law, however, to three mills on the dollar exclusive of those for schools, public highways, interest on the county debt, and other special purposes; divides the county into highway districts, and chooses a highway commissioner for each district for a term of two years; and chooses a superintendent of schools, a surveyor, a public administrator and public guardian, a board for the equalization of taxes, a coroner, a ranger, and a jail physician or health officer each for a term of two years, three commissioners of the poor for a term of three years (one each year), and a keeper and sealer of weights and measures to serve during its pleasure. A county trustee, whose duty it is to collect state and county taxes, and a sheriff are elected by the county for a term of two years; a clerk of the count court and a register are also elected by the county for a term of four years; and the county judge or chairman of the county court, the clerk of the county court, and the county health officer constitute a county board of health. In each civil district ​of a county which contains the count seat there are two constables and in other civil districts of the county one constable elected for a term of two years. The general law for the incorporation of cities and towns vests the government of each municipality accepting its provisions principally in a mayor and two aldermen from each ward. All are elected for a term of two years, but one-half of the aldermen retire annually. The mayor and aldermen may appoint such officers as they consider necessary. The mayor may veto an action of the aldermen, and to override his veto a two-thirds majority is required.
Miscellaneous Laws.—For the protection of the property rights of married women the code of Tennessee provides that the wife's real estate shall be exempt from her husband's debts; that the proceeds of her real or personal property shall not be paid to any other person except by her consent certified upon privy examination of her by the court or a commissioner appointed by the court; and that she may mortgage or convey her real estate without the concurrence of her husband provided she be privately examined regarding the matter by a chancellor, circuit judge, or the clerk of the county court. When a husband dies his widow is entitled to a dower in one-third of his real estate, and, if there be not more than two children, to one-third of his personal estate; if there are more than two children her share of the personal estate is the same as that of each child. If a husband die intestate and leave no other heirs the widow is entitled to all his real estate in fee simple. When a wife dies leaving a husband of whom there has been issue born alive, he has by the courtesy a life interest in all her real estate and all her personal estate; if the wife die intestate and leave no other heirs the husband is entitled to all her real estate in fee simple. The causes for divorce are impotency, bigamy, adultery, desertion for two years, conviction of an infamous crime, the attempt of one of the parties to take the life of the other, the husband's cruel and inhuman treatment of his wife, refusal of the wife to remove with her husband into the state without a reasonable cause, pregnancy of the wife at the time of the marriage by another person without the knowledge of the husband, and habitual drunkenness, provided the habit has been contracted subsequent to the marriage. The plaintiff must be a resident of the state for two years before filing a petition for a divorce. If the husband is the plaintiff his interest in his wife's property is not impaired by the dissolution of the marriage, but the defendant wife forfeits all her interest in his property. Either party may marry again, but a defendant who has been found guilty of adultery is not permitted to marry the co-respondent during the life of the plaintiff. A homestead of a head of a family to the value of $1000 is exempt from forced sale except for the collection of taxes, debts contracted for its purchase or in making improvements upon it, or fines for voting out of the election district, for carrying concealed weapons, or for giving away or selling intoxicating liquors on election days. If the owner is married the homestead cannot be sold without the joint consent of husband and wife, and the wife's consent, as in other conveyances by married women, must be certified before the court or a commissioner appointed by the court. The homestead inures for the benefit of the widow and minor children. Ninety per cent. of the salary, wages or income of each person eighteen years of age or over is also exempt from attachment provided such salary, wages or income does not exceed $40 per month, and in any case $36 per month of the salary, wages or income of a person eighteen years of age or over cannot be attached. The employment of children under 14 years of age in any workshop, factory or mine within the state is forbidden by a law of 1901, and the employment of women or of boys under 16 years of age in any manufacturing establishment is limited to 60 hours a week by a law of 1907. Both the sale and the manufacture of intoxicating drinks are prohibited by law.
Charities, &c.—The charitable and penal institutions of the state consist of the Central Hospital for the Insane near Nashville; the Eastern Hospital for the Insane near Knoxville; the Western Hospital for the Insane near Bolivar; the Tennessee School for the blind at Nashville; the Tennessee Deaf and Dumb School at Knoxville; the Confederate Soldiers' Home near Nashville, on the “Hermitage,” the estate formerly belonging to Andrew Jackson; and the Penitentiary and the Tennessee Industrial School, both at Nashville; and in 1907 the legislature passed an Act for the establishment in Davidson county of the Tennessee Reformatory for boys. Each hospital for the insane is governed by a board of five trustees appointed by the governor, with the consent of the senate, for a term of six years, and for the immediate supervision of each the trustees appoint a superintendent for a term of eight years. The Schools for the Blind and the Deaf and Dumb are each managed by a board of trustees, vacancies in which are filled by the remaining trustees with the concurrence of the legislature. The Confederate Soldiers' Home is managed by a board of fifteen trustees, of whom six are women, each serving until death or resignation, when his or her successor is appointed by the governor upon the recommendation of the corporation known as the Association of Confederate Soldiers. The Penitentiary is governed by a board of three prison commissioners, a superintendent, a warden, an assistant or deputy warden, a matron, a physician, and a chaplain, all appointed by the governor, the commissioners for a term of four years, the other officers for a term of two years. The prisoners are kept at labour principally in the state coal-mines, in manufacturing coke, on farms, or at contract labour within the prison walls; not more than 199 prisoners are to be leased to any one firm or corporation, or to be employed in any one business within the walls. The income to the state from the prison is greater than the disbursements for its maintenance. By good conduct a convict may shorten his term of service one month the first year, two months the second year, three months each year from the third to the tenth inclusive, and four months each subsequent year. The Industrial School, which is for orphan, helpless, wayward and abandoned children, is governed by a board of directors consisting of the governor, comptroller, secretary of state, and treasurer as ex officio members, and seven other members, a portion retiring every two years, and their successors being appointed by the remaining directors with the concurrence of the senate. The act for establishing the Tennessee Reformatory for Boys provides that the institution shall be governed by a board of trustees consisting of the governor and five other members, one retiring each year; that boys under eighteen years of age who are convicted of a penitentiary offence shall be sent to it; that the trustees may transfer incorrigible boys to the penitentiary, put others out in the service of citizens on probation, or recommend them to the governor for pardon. A general control of all public charities and correctional institutions is exercised by an unsalaried Board of State Charities consisting of the governor and six members appointed by him for a term of three years, two retiring every two years. The principal duties of this board are to examine the condition and the management of such institutions and report to the governor; and county and city authorities must submit to it for criticism all plans for new jails, public infirmaries, and hospitals.
Education.—For the administration of the common school system each county having five or more civil districts is divided into five school districts, and in counties having five or less than five civil districts each civil district constitutes a school district. Each school district elects one member of the county board of education, and in counties having less than five school districts one or more members of the county board, the number of which is always five, besides the county superintendent who is ex officio its secretary, are elected by the county at large, and to this county board of education together with district advisory boards is entrusted the management and control of the common schools. By the general education law enacted in 1909, 25 per cent. of the gross state revenue is paid into the general education fund, 61 per cent. of this fund is apportioned among the several counties according to their school population, and 10 per cent. of it constitutes a special fund to be apportioned among eligible counties in proportion to their school population but in inverse ratio to their taxable property; to have the use of any portion of this special fund a county must levy for the maintenance of common schools a tax not less than forty cents on each $100 of taxable property, a tax of $2 on each taxable poll, and such privilege taxes as the state permits it to levy for school purposes. Each county court may provide for one or more county high schools to be maintained in part by additional county taxes and miscellaneous funds, and 8 per cent. of the state school fund is set apart for the encouragement of counties in this matter. In 1908 there was a county high school in each of 23 counties, and in 1910 in each of 50 counties. The high schools are largely under the control of the state board of education, consisting of the governor (president), state superintendent of public instruction (secretary and treasurer), and six other members appointed by the governor. When the general education law was enacted in 1909 Tennessee had no state normal schools, but by the law 13 per cent. of the state educational fund is set apart for the establishment and maintenance of schools solely for the education and professional training of teachers for the elementary schools; one for white teachers in each of three grand divisions of the state, and one agricultural and industrial normal school for the industrial education of negroes and for preparing negro teachers for the common schools, and the management of these schools is vested in the state board of education. At the head of the state educational system is the University of Tennessee, which embraces a college of liberal arts, a graduate department, a college of engineering, a college of agriculture, a school of pharmacy, an industrial department, and a law department at Knoxville, and medical and dental departments at Nashville. The institution is governed by a board of trustees consisting of the governor, the state superintendent of public instruction, the commissioner of agriculture, the president of the university and twelve other members; two from the city of Knoxville and one from each congressional district, two elected each year. Seven per cent. of the general school fund is set apart for its maintenance; it was founded in 1794. For the higher education of teachers Tennessee has the Peabody College for Teachers, at Nashville, founded (1875) and maintained chiefly with proceeds from the George Peabody Fund for the improvement of education in the South. Other institutions of higher learning, not under the control of the state, are: the University of Nashville (non-sect., 1785); Washington and Tusculum College (non-sect., 1794), at Greenville; Maryville College (Presbyterian, 1819), at Maryville; Cumberland University (Presbyterian, 1842), at Lebanon; Burritt College (non-sect., 1848), at Spencer; ​Hiwassee College (non-sect., 1849), at Sweetwater; Bethel College (Presbyterian, 1850), at McKenzie; Carson and Newman College (Baptist, 1851), at Jefferson City; Walden University (Methodist, 1866), at Nashville; Fisk University (Congregational, 1866), at Nashville; University of Chattanooga (Methodist, 1867), at Chattanooga; University of the South (Protestant Episcopal, 1868), at Sewanee; King College (Presbyterian, 1869), at Bristol; Christian Brothers College (Roman Catholic, 1871), at Memphis; Knoxville College (United Presbyterian, 1875), at Knoxville; Milligan College (Christian, 1882), at Milligan; South-western Presbyterian College (1885), at Clarkville; and Lincoln Memorial University (non-sect., 1895), at Cumberland Gap.
Finance.—The state revenue is derived from a general property tax, a poll tax, an income tax, a tax on transfers of realty, an ad valorem tax on the average capital invested by merchants in their business, a privilege tax on merchants and many other occupations and businesses; a tax on litigation, levied on the unsuccessful party, a collateral inheritance tax, and fines and forfeitures. State, county and municipal taxes are assessed by a county assessor, who is elected for a term of four years, and one or more deputies whom the assessor is authorized to appoint. The law requires that all property shall be assessed at its full cash value, but personal property to the value of $1000 is exempt from taxation. Real estate is assessed biennially; personal property, privileges and polls annually. Assessments are examined and revised both by a county board of equalization and a state board of equalization. The county board consists of five members elected annually by the county court; justices of the peace are ineligible to election on this board, as are also all persons who have served on it within five years. The state board consists of the secretary of state, treasurer and comptroller. The clerk of the county court collects all taxes of persons, companies or corporations subject to a privilege tax; the county trustee the taxes of other persons. Three revenue commissioners, one of whom is an expert accountant, are elected biennially by each county court to examine the books and reports of the collectors, and three state revenue agents are appointed biennially by the comptroller to examine the records of all officials charged with the collection or disbursement of state or county revenue. The state revenue for the two years ending the 19th of December 1906 amounted to $3,804,740, and the cost of conducting the state government for these two years was $3,568,977. The bonded debt of the state grew from $16,643,666 on the 1st of October 1859 to $37,080,666 on the 1st of October 1869, but by the 19th of December 1906 it had been reduced to $14,236,766.
History.—The present site of Memphis may be the point Where the Spanish explorer, Hernando de Soto, reached the Mississippi river, but this cannot be determined with certainty. Father Marquette in his voyage down the Mississippi camped upon the western border, and La Salle built Fort Prud’homme upon the Chickasaw Bluffs, probably on the site of Memphis, in 1682, but it was abandoned, then rebuilt, and again abandoned. The territory was included in the English grant to Sir Walter Raleigh in 1584 and in the later Stuart grants, including that of Carolina, in 1663. No permanent settlement, however, was made until 1769, though wandering explorers and fur traders visited the eastern portion much earlier. A party of Virginians led by Dr Thomas Walker (1715–1794), in 1750 reached and named the Cumberland river and mountains in honour of the royal duke. In 1756 or 1757, Fort London, named in honour of John Campbell, earl of London, was built on the Little Tennessee river, about 30 m. N. of the present site of Knoxville, as an outpost against the French, who were now active in the whole Mississippi Valley, and was garrisoned by royal troops. The fort was captured, however, by the Cherokee Indians in 1760, and both the garrison and the neighbouring settlers were massacred.
Eastern Tennessee was recognized as a common hunting ground by the Cherokees, Creeks, Miamis and other Indian tribes, and the Iroquois of New York also claimed a considerable portion by right of conquest. In 1768 the Iroquois ceded whatever claim they had to the English, and in 1769 several cabins were built along the Watauga and Holston rivers upon what was thought to be Virginian soil. A settlement near the present Rogersville was made in 1771 and in the next year another sprang up on the Nollichucky. After the failure of the Regulator insurrection in North Carolina in 1771, hundreds of the Regulators made their way into the wilderness. When the settlements were found to be within the limits of North Carolina, that colony made no effort to assert jurisdiction or to protect the settlers from Indian depredations. Therefore in 1772 the residents of the first two settlements met in general convention to establish a form of government since known as the Watauga Association. A general committee of thirteen was elected to exercise legislative powers. This committee elected from its members a committee of five in whom executive and judicial powers were lodged. The smaller committee elected a chairman, who was also chairman of the committee of thirteen. A sheriff, an attorney and a clerk were elected, and regulations for recording deeds and wills were made. Courts were held, but any conflict of jurisdiction with Virginia or North Carolina was avoided. In 1775 the settlement on the Nollichucky was forced to join the association, and in the same year the land was bought from the Indians in the hope of averting war. With the approach of the War of Independence, the dream of becoming a separate colony with a royal governor was abandoned and on petition of the inhabitants the territory was annexed to North Carolina in 1776 as the Washington District, which in 1777 became Washington county, with the Mississippi river as the western boundary. The population increased rapidly and soon several new counties were created.
During the War of Independence the hardy mountaineers under John Sevier and Evan Shelby did valiant service against both the royal troops and the Loyalists in South Carolina, chiefly as partisan rangers under Charles McDowell (1743–1815). Major Patrick Ferguson with several hundred Loyalists and a small body of regulars, made a demonstration against the western settlements, but at King’s Mountain in South Carolina he was completely defeated by the Americans, among whom Colonel Sevier and the troops led by him were conspicuous (see King’s Mountain).
After the War of Independence the legislature of North Carolina in 1784 offered to cede her western territory to the general government, provided the cession should be accepted within two years. The Watauga settlers, indignant at this transfer without their consent, and fearing to be left without any form of government whatever, called a convention which met at Jonesborough on the 23rd of August 1784, and by which delegates to another convention to form a new state were appointed. Meanwhile North Carolina repealed the act of cession and created the western counties into a new judicial district. A second convention, in November, broke up in confusion without accomplishing anything; but a third adopted a constitution, which was submitted to the people, and ordered the election of a legislature. This body met early in 1785, elected Sevier governor of the new state of Franklin (at first Frankland), filled a number of offices, and passed several other acts looking to separate existence. Four new counties were created, and taxes were levied. Later in the year another convention, to which the proposed constitution had been referred, adopted instead the constitution of North Carolina with a few trifling changes, and William Cocke was chosen to present to Congress a memorial requesting recognition as a state. Congress, however, ignored the request, and the diplomacy of the North Carolina authorities caused a reaction. For a time two sets of officials claimed recognition, but when the North Carolina legislature a second time passed an act of oblivion and remitted the taxes unpaid since 1784, the tide was turned. No successor to Sevier was elected, and he was arrested on a charge of treason, but was allowed to escape, and soon afterwards was again appointed brigadier-general of militia.
Meanwhile, settlers had pushed on further into the wilderness. On the 17th of March 1775 Colonel Richard Henderson and his associates extinguished the Indian title to an immense tract of land in the valleys of the Cumberland, the Kentucky and the Ohio rivers (see Kentucky). In 1778, James Robertson (1742–1814), a native of Virginia, who had been prominent in the Watauga settlement, set out with a small party to prepare the way for permanent occupation. He arrived at French ​Lick (so called from a French trading post established there) early in 1779, and in the same year a number of settlers from Virginia and South Carolina arrived. Another party led by John Donelson arrived in 1780, and after the close of the War of Independence, the immigrants came in a steady stream. A form of government similar to the Watauga Association was devised, and block-houses were built for defence against the Indians. Robertson was sent as a delegate to the North Carolina legislature in 1783 and through his instrumentality the settlements became Davidson county. Nashville, which had been founded as Nashborough in 1780, became the county seat. Finally, in 1843, it became the state capital. Robertson, the dominant figure in the early years, struggled to counteract the efforts of Spanish intriguers among the Indians, and when diplomacy failed led the settlers against the Indian towns.
On the 25th of February 1790 North Carolina again ceded the territory to the general government, stipulating that all the general provisions of the Ordinance of 1787 should apply except that forbidding slavery. Congress accepted the cession and, on the 26th of May 1790, passed an act for the government of the “Territory south of the River Ohio.” William Blount was appointed the first governor, and in 1792 Knoxville became the seat of government. The chief events of Blount's administration were the contests with the Indians, the purchase of their lands, and the struggle against Spanish influence. A census ordered by the Territorial legislature in 1795 showed more than 60,000 free inhabitants (the number prescribed before the Territory could become a state), and accordingly a convention to draft a state constitution met in Knoxville on the 11th of January 1796. The instrument, which closely followed the constitution of North Carolina, was proclaimed without submission to popular vote. John Sevier was elected governor, and William Blount and William Cocke United States senators. In spite of the opposition of the Federalist party, whose leaders foresaw that Tennessee would be Republican, it was admitted to the Union as the sixteenth state on the 1st of June 1796.
With the rapid increase of population, the dread of Indian and Spaniard declined. Churches and schools were built, and soon many of the comforts and some of the luxuries of life made their appearance. The public school system was inaugurated in 1830, but not until 1845 was the principle of taxation for support fully recognized. As in all new states, the question of a circulating medium was acute during the first half of the 19th century, and state banks were organized, which suspended specie payments in times of financial stringency. The Bank of Tennessee, organized in 1838, had behind it the credit of the state, and it was hoped that money for education and for internal improvements might be secured from its profits. The management became a question of party politics, and during the Civil War its funds were used to advance the Confederate cause. The development of the western section along the Mississippi was rapid after the beginning of the century. Memphis, founded in 1819, was thought as late as 1832 to be in Mississippi, and not until 1837 was the southern boundary, which according to the North Carolina cession was 35°, finally established. In common with other river towns, the disorderly element in Memphis was large, and the gamblers, robbers and horse thieves were only suppressed by local vigilance committees. The peculiar topographical conditions made the three sections of the state almost separate commonwealths, and demand for better means of communication was insistent.
The policy of state aid to internal improvements found advocates very early in spite of the Republican affiliations of the state, but a definite programme was not laid out until 1829, when commissioners for internal improvements were appointed and an expenditure of $150,000 was authorized. In 1835 the state agreed to subscribe one-third to the capital stock of companies organized to lay out turnpikes, railways, &c., and four years later the proportion became one-half. Though these agreements were soon repealed, the general policy was continued, and in 1861 more than $17,000,000 of the state debt was due to these subscriptions, from which there was little return.
Though President Andrew Jackson was for many years practically a dictator in Tennessee politics, his arbitrary methods and his intolerance of any sort of independence on the part of his followers led to a revolt in 1836, when the electoral vote of the state was given to Hugh Lawson White, then United States senator from Tennessee, who had been one of Jackson's most devoted adherents. White's followers called themselves Anti-Van Buren Democrats, but the proscription which they suffered drove most of them into the Whig party, which carried the state in presidential elections until 1856, when the vote was cast for James Buchanan, the Democratic candidate. The Whig party was so strong that James K. Polk (Democrat), a resident of the state, lost its electoral vote in 1844. With the disintegration of the Whig party, the state again became nominally Democratic, though Union sentiment was strong, particularly in East Tennessee. There were few large plantations and fewer slaves in that mountainous region, while the middle and western sections were more in harmony with the sentiment in Mississippi and Alabama. In 1850 representatives of nine Southern states met in a convention at Nashville (q.v.) to consider the questions at issue between the North and the South. The vote of the state was given for Bell and Everett in 1860, and the people as a whole were opposed to secession.
The proposition to call a convention to vote on the question of secession was voted down on the 9th of February 1861, but after President Lincoln's call for troops the legislature submitted the question of secession directly to the people, and meanwhile, on the 7th of May 1861, entered into a “Military League” with the Confederacy. An overwhelming vote was cast on the 8th of June in favour of secession, and on the 24th Governor I. G. Harris (1818-1897) issued a proclamation declaring Tennessee out of the Union. Andrew Johnson, then a United States senator from Tennessee, refused to resign his seat, and was supported by a large element in East Tennessee. A Union convention, including representatives from all the eastern and a few of the middle counties, met on the 17th of June 1861 and petitioned Congress to be admitted as a separate state. The request was ignored, but the section was strongly Unionist in sentiment during the war, and has since been strongly Republican.
The state was, next to Virginia, the chief battleground during the Civil War, and one historian has counted 454 battles and skirmishes which took place within its borders. In February 1862, General U.S. Grant and Commodore A. H. Foote captured Fort Henry on the Tennessee river, and Fort Donelson on the Cumberland. The Confederate line of defence was broken and General D. C. Buell occupied Nashville. Grant next ascended the Tennessee river to Pittsburg Landing with the intention of capturing the Memphis & Charleston railway, and on the 6th-7th of April defeated the Confederates in the battle of Shiloh. The capture of Island No. 10 in the Mississippi on the 7th of April opened the river as far south as Memphis, which was captured in June. On the 31st of December and the 2nd of January General William S. Rosecrans (Federal) fought with General Braxton Bragg (Confederate) the bloody but indecisive battle of Stone River (Murfreesboro). In June 1863 Rosecrans forced Bragg to evacuate Chattanooga. Bragg, however, turned upon his pursuer, and on the 19th and 20th of September one of the bloodiest battles of the war was fought at Chickamauga. General Grant now assumed command, and on the 24th and 25th of November defeated Bragg at Chattanooga, thus opening the way into East Tennessee. There General A. E. Burnside at first met with success, but was shut up in Knoxville by General James Longstreet, who was not able, however, to capture the city, and on the approach of General W. T. Sherman retired into Virginia. Almost the whole state was now held by Federal troops, and no considerable military movement occurred until after the fall of Atlanta in September 1864. Then General J. B. Hood moved into Tennessee, expecting Sherman ​to follow him. Sherman, however, sent reinforcements to Thomas and continued his march to the sea. Hood fought with General John M. Schofield at Franklin, and on the 15th–16th of December was utterly defeated by Thomas at Nashville, the Federals thus securing virtually undisputed control of the state.
After the occupation of the state by the Federal armies in 1862 Andrew Johnson was appointed military governor by the president (confirmed March 3, 1862), and held the office until inaugurated vice-president on the 4th of March 1865. Republican electors attempted to cast the vote of the state in 1864, but were not recognized by Congress. Tennessee was the first of the Confederate states to be readmitted to the Union (July 24, 1866), after ratifying the Constitution of the United States with amendments, declaring the ordinance of secession void, voting to abolish slavery, and declaring the war debt void. The state escaped “carpet bag” government, but the native whites in control under the leadership of William G. Brownlow (1805–1877) confined the franchise to those who had always been uncompromisingly Union in sentiment and conferred suffrage upon the negroes (February 25, 1867). The Ku Klux Klan, originating in 1865 as a youthful prank at Pulaski, Tennessee, spread over the state and the entire South, and in 1869 nine counties in the middle and western sections were placed under martial law. At the elections in 1869 the Republican party split into two factions. The conservative candidate was elected by the aid of the Democrats, who also secured a majority of the legislature, which has never been lost since that time. The constitution was revised in 1870. For a considerable time after the war the state seemed to make little material progress, but since 1880 it has made rapid strides. The principal occurrences have been the final compounding of the old state debt at fifty cents on the dollar in 1882, the rapid growth of cities, and the increased importance of mining and manufacturing.
Governors of Tennessee :
| State of Franklin. |||
| John Sevier | | 1785–1788 |
| Territory South of the Ohio |||
| William Blount | | 1790–1796 |
| State of Tennessee. |||
| John Sevier, | Democratic-Republican | 1796–1801 |
| Archibald Roane, | ”” | 1801–1803 |
| John Sevier, | ”” | 1803–1809 |
| Willie Blount, | ”” | 1809–1815 |
| Joseph M‘Minn, | ”” | 1815–1821 |
| William Carroll, | ”” | 1821–1827 |
| Sam Houston, | ”” | 1827–1829 |
| William Hall (acting) | | 1829 |
| William Carroll, | Democrat | 1829–1835 |
| Newton Cannon, | Anti-Jackson Democrat | 1835–1839 |
| James K. Polk, | Democrat | 1839–1841 |
| James C. Jones, | Whig | 1841–1845 |
| Aaron V. Brown, | Democrat | 1845–1847 |
| Neil S. Brown, | Whig | 1847–1849 |
| William Trousdale, | Democrat | 1849–1851 |
| William B. Campbell, | Whig | 1851–1853 |
| Andrew Johnson, | Democrat | 1853–1857 |
| Isham G. Harris, | ” | 1857–1862 |
| Andrew Johnson, | Military | 1862–1865 |
| Interregnum, 4th March–5th April 1865. |||
| William G. Brownlow, | Republican | 1865–1869 |
| De Witt C. Senter, | Conservative Republican | 1869–1871 |
| John C. Brown, | Democrat | 1871–1875 |
| James D. Porter, | ” | 1875–1879 |
| Albert S. Marks, | ” | 1879–1881 |
| Alvin Hawkins, | Republican | 1881–1883 |
| William B. Bate, | Democrat | 1883–1887 |
| Robert L. Taylor, | ” | 1887–1891 |
| John P. Buchanan, | ” | 1891–1893 |
| Peter Turney, | ” | 1893–1897 |
| Robert L. Taylor, | ” | 1897–1899 |
| Benton McMillin, | ” | 1899–1903 |
| James B. Frazier, | ” | 1903–1905 |
| John I. Cox, | ” | 1905–1907 |
| Malcolm R. Patterson, | ” | 1907–1911 |
| B. W. Hooper, | Republican | 1911– |
Bibliography.—For a general physical description of the state see the Reports of the Tennessee Geological Survey (Nashville, 1840) and E. C. Hewett, Geography of Tennessee (no place, 1878). On administration see L. S. Merriam, Higher Education in Tennessee, in Circulars of Information of the United States Bureau of Education, No. 5 (Washington, 1893), and J. W. Caldwell, Studies in the Constitutional History of Tennessee (Cincinnati, 1895; new ed., 1907).
There is no satisfactory complete history of the state. The best is James Phelan's History of Tennessee (Boston, 1888). For the early period see John Haywood, Civil and Political History (Knoxville, 1823, reprinted Nashville, 1891); J. G. M. Ramsey, Annals (Charleston, 1853); A. W. Putnam, History of Middle Tennessee, or Life and Times of General James Robertson (Nashville, 1859); Theodore Roosevelt, Winning of the West (New York, 1889–1896); John Carr, Early Times in Middle Tennessee (Nashville, 1857). For the more recent period see O. P. Temple, East Tennessee and the Civil War (Cincinnati, 1899); James W. Fertig, Secession and Reconstruction of Tennessee (Chicago, 1898); and the Report of Joint-Committee on Reconstruction (U.S. Pub. Docs., Wash., 1866).
* ↑ The populations in other census years were as follows: (1790), 35,691; (1800), 105,602; (1810), 261,727; (1820), 422,823; (1830), 681,904; (1840), 829,210; (1850), 1,002,717; (1860), 1,109,801; (1870), 1,258,520.
* ↑ On account of the scarcity of a circulating medium more than twenty articles were valued and declared legal tender. Among them were fox skins, 1s. 6d.; beaver skins, 6s.; bacon, 6d. the pound; rye whisky, 2s. 6d. the gallon.
* ↑ For account of the settlement of the dispute over the northern boundary, see Kentucky.
* ↑ The state furnished 115,000 soldiers to the Confederate and 31,000 to the Union Army.
* ↑ The Constitutions of 1796, 1834 and 1870 all provided that the governor shall not serve more than six years in succession.
* ↑ Resigned.
* ↑ Forced to leave capital by invasion of Federal troops.
* ↑ Andrew Johnson, the governor, was inaugurated as Vice-President, March 4, 1865, thereby vacating the office.
* ↑ Resigned to enter the U.S. Senate.
* Carl Hentschel Ltd. sc.