page_title: John Sevier
section_title: Governor of Tennessee
hierarchical_section_title: John Sevier / Governor of Tennessee
caption_attribution_description: English: American frontiersman John Sevier (1745–1815)
context_page_description: John Sevier was an American soldier, frontiersman, and politician, and one of the founding fathers of the State of Tennessee. He played a leading role in Tennessee's pre-statehood period, both militarily and politically, and he was elected the state's first governor in 1796. He served as a colonel of the Washington District Regiment in the Battle of Kings Mountain in 1780, and he commanded the frontier militia in dozens of battles against the Cherokee in the 1780s and 1790s.
  Sevier settled in the Tennessee Valley frontier in the 1770s. In 1776, he was elected one of five magistrates of the Watauga Association and helped defend Fort Watauga against an assault by the Cherokee. At the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War, he was chosen as a member of the Committee of Safety for the association's successor, the Washington District. Following the Battle of Kings Mountain, he led an invasion that destroyed several Cherokee towns in northern Georgia. In the 1780s, he served as the only governor of the State of Franklin, an early attempt at statehood by the trans-Appalachian settlers. He was brigadier general of the Southwest Territory militia during the early 1790s.
context_section_description: In 1796, the Southwest Territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Tennessee.  Sevier missed the state's constitutional convention while serving on the territorial council in Washington, but he was elected the new state's first governor.  Sevier made the acquisition of Indian lands a priority. He consistently urged Congress and the Secretary of War (then responsible for relations with Native American tribes) to negotiate new treaties to that end, to extinguish Indian land claims and promote European-American settlement.
  During his first term as governor, Sevier developed a rivalry with rising politician Andrew Jackson.  In 1796, Jackson campaigned for the position of major-general of the state militia but Sevier threw his support behind George Conway.  Jackson learned that Sevier had referred to him as a "poor pitiful petty fogging lawyer" in private correspondence. In 1797, Jackson, then serving as a U.S. Senator, learned that fraud had taken place in the 1780s at what was then North Carolina's Nashville land office. He notified the governor of North Carolina.  When the governor demanded the office's documents, Sevier blocked their transfer. Jackson concluded that Sevier was somehow involved in the scandal.
  Sevier was a Freemason, and, while in office as Governor, he helped establish the first Masonic lodge in East Tennessee. Tennessee Lodge #2 in Knoxville received its charter from the Grand Lodge of North Carolina on November 30, 1800, and John Sevier was its first Worshipful Master. Tennessee Lodge was the second Masonic lodge within the state of Tennessee, the first being St. Tammany Lodge #1, chartered in Nashville in 1796.
  After Sevier's third (two-year) term as governor, term limits prevented him from seeking a fourth consecutive term. Archibald Roane was elected as his replacement.  Both Sevier and Jackson campaigned for major-general of the militia: the vote ended in a tie, and Roane chose Jackson.  When Sevier announced his candidacy for governor in 1803, Roane and Jackson publicized documents acquired from the Nashville land office scandal and accused Sevier of bribery.  Their efforts to smear Sevier were unsuccessful, however, and the popular Sevier easily defeated Roane in the election.
  Following his inauguration, Sevier encountered Jackson in Knoxville. They had an argument during which Sevier accused Jackson of adultery in his marriage to Rachel Donelson.  An enraged Jackson challenged Sevier to a duel, which he accepted.  The duel was to take place at Southwest Point, but Sevier's wagon stalled at Campbell's Station en route to the duel.  As Jackson returned to Knoxville, he encounted Sevier's entourage.  The two men loudly exchanged insults, and Sevier's horse ran away, carrying his pistols.  Jackson pointed his pistol at Sevier, who hid behind a tree.  Sevier's son pointed his pistol at Jackson, and Jackson's second pointed his pistol at Sevier's son.  Members of both parties managed to resolve the incident before bloodshed took place.
  In 1804, Sevier helped William C. C. Claiborne get appointed governor of the newly acquired Louisiana Territory, a position which Jackson had sought.  Jackson supported Roane in the state's gubernatorial election in 1805, but Sevier won with nearly two-thirds of the vote.  Sevier's last campaign for governor was in 1807, when he defeated William Cocke.
caption: Portrait of Sevier by Washington B. Cooper
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