Introduction to History of Tennessee
The earliest known inhabitants of Tennessee were prehistoric cave dwellers. They were followed by people known as Mound Builders about 3,000 years ago. In 1540–41, when the Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto passed through Tennessee, the area was occupied mainly by the Cherokees and the Chickasaws.
Important dates in Tennessee1540 Hernando de Soto of Spain led the first European expedition into the Tennessee region.1673 James Needham and Gabriel Arthur of England, and Louis Jolliet of Canada and Father Jacques Marquette of France explored the region.1682 Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, claimed the Mississippi River Valley for France.1714 Charles Charleville set up a French trading post near the present site of Nashville.1763 France surrendered to Britain all claim to lands east of the Mississippi River.1772 The Watauga Association drew up one of the first written constitutions in North America.1784 Three counties established the State of Franklin.1796 Tennessee became the 16th state on June 1.1818 The Chickasaw Indians sold all their land east of the Mississippi River to the U.S. government.1838 The Cherokee were forced out of Tennessee.1861 Tennessee became the last state to secede from the Union, on June 8.1866 Tennessee became the first state to be readmitted to the Union, on July 24.1870 A new constitution gave all male citizens 21 or older the right to vote.1878 One of the worst yellow fever epidemics in U.S. history killed about 5,200 of the 19,600 people in Memphis.1925 John Scopes was convicted of teaching evolution in a Tennessee public school.1933 Congress created the Tennessee Valley Authority.1942 The federal government began building the atomic energy center at Oak Ridge.1962 The U.S. Supreme Court ruled, in a Tennessee case, that federal courts could challenge legislative apportionment.1970 Winfield Dunn became the first Republican in 50 years to be elected governor of Tennessee.1982 A world's fair was held in Knoxville.1996 Tennessee celebrated the bicentennial of its statehood.European Exploration
More than a century elapsed before Europeans again entered Tennessee. In 1673 both the English expedition led by James Needham and Gabriel Arthur and the French expedition of Father Jacques Marquette and Louis Joliet explored the region. In 1682 the French explorer Sieur de La Salle built Fort Prudhomme near the mouth of the Big Hatchie River, north of present-day Memphis.
In the 18th century, English and French traders moved into Tennessee. At that time, the region was claimed by Spain, France, and England. Spanish claims, however, were never strenuously pressed. France was forced to abandon its claims in the Treaty of Paris, which ended the French and Indian War (1763). Under British rule, Tennessee was considered a part of the colony of North Carolina.
Early Settlement
The first permanent white settlement was founded by William Bean on the Watauga River about 1769. By 1771 settlements had been established on the Holston and Nolichucky rivers. Isolated in the wilderness, these pioneers in 1772 drew up a constitution and formed their own local government, the Watauga Association. Some settlements were on Indian land, and there were sporadic Cherokee uprisings.
When the Revolutionary War began in 1775, the Wataugans organized themselves into a military district, Washington District, as protection against the British and their Indian allies. Savage fighting soon broke out between the Indians and the settlers.
After two years of conflict, the Cherokee Nation, by the Treaty of Long Island, ceded large tracts of land to Virginia and North Carolina. Included were portions of Washington District, which had been formally annexed by North Carolina that year. (Washington County, as the area was now called, had the same boundaries as the present state of Tennessee.) Many Cherokees who had opposed signing the treaty continued to raid white settlements.
The influx of settlers continued. In 1779 James Robertson founded Nashborough (Nashville after 1784). In 1784 North Carolina ceded its western lands to the federal government. Many of the settlers opposed this move and formed a separate state called Franklin, with John Sevier as governor. However, Franklin collapsed in 1788, and North Carolina, which had repealed its act of cession, reasserted authority.
Statehood
In 1790 North Carolina again ceded the region to the federal government. Congress organized it as the Territory South of the River Ohio, informally called the Southwest Territory. William Blount was governor. On June 1, 1796, the territory was admitted to the Union as the state of Tennessee. Knoxville was its capital, John Sevier its governor.
About two-fifths of the new state still belonged to the Cherokee and Chickasaw nations. Between 1818 and 1823, the Chickasaws were forced to cede their Tennessee lands and move to the Indian Territory (now Oklahoma). In 1835 the Cherokees also were required to give up their lands, and in 1838 they were forcibly removed to the Indian Territory.
Tennessee developed rapidly during the first half of the 19th century, becoming politically and economically the most important state of the mid-South. During this period, it provided two United States Presidents, Andrew Jackson and James K. Polk. Population increased from 105,602 in 1800 to 1,002,717 in 1850. In 1819 the first steamboat made its way up the Tennessee River to Nashville. This city became important in the river trade, and in 1843 it was made the state capital. In the 1840's and 1850's, construction began on several railroads.
Because of geographical differences, the three sections of Tennessee developed in quite different ways. The flat, fertile river bottoms of West Tennessee and the plateaus and gently rolling foothills of Middle Tennessee were well suited to the growth of large plantations, which were worked by slaves. In mountainous East Tennessee, farms were small and slave labor was rare.
Civil War and Reconstruction
Tennessee did not immediately join the Confederacy at the outbreak of the Civil War in April, 1861, for there was strong pro-Union sentiment in the eastern region. However, a statewide referendum favored secession, and Tennessee left the Union in June. During the war, many East Tennesseans fought on the Union side.
Several major battles took place on Tennessee soil. Early in 1862, Union troops captured Forts Henry and Donelson. They occupied Nashville in February, declared martial law, and established Andrew Johnson, a former Tennessee governor, as military governor. During 1862–64, important battles were fought at Shiloh, Stones River (Murfreesboro), Chickamauga, Missionary Ridge, Lookout Mountain, Franklin, and Nashville. In 1864 Johnson was elected Vice President of the United States. He succeeded to the Presidency when Lincoln was assassinated in 1865.
After the war, Tennessee voluntarily ratified the 14th Amendment and became the first state to be readmitted to the Union (1866). It faced many problems. The war had left widespread property damage. The state was $35,000,000 in debt. Industry was at a standstill; the plantation system had been destroyed. Tenant farming, which replaced the plantation system in many areas, provided only subsistence living for both white and black farmers. Relations between whites and blacks were tense and at times violent. The Ku Klux Klan, founded at Pulaski in 1865, terrorized former slaves and whites who catered to the black vote. For decades, white supremacy remained a critical issue.
Modern Development
Conditions gradually improved. Industry revived and expanded, particularly the grain, textile, lumber, iron, and tobacco industries. The plight of the farmers, however, remained little improved. Although Tennessee, like most Southern states after the Civil War, was overwhelmingly Democratic, bitter quarrels among Democrats resulted in occasional Republican election victories.
Tennessee was staggered by the depression of the 1930's; rural poverty and urban unemployment were widespread. Recovery was aided by state welfare and development programs and the establishment of the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA). ( The large amount of hydroelectric power produced through the TVA was responsible for bringing to the state the federal government's Oak Ridge nuclear energy facility in 1942. Many private industries also opened plants to take advantage of the inexpensive power. After World War II, tourism became an important source of revenue.
During the 1950's and 1960's, Tennessee avoided much of the racial strife that plagued other Southern states. Its schools and public accommodations were generally peacefully desegregated. In 1962, a controversy over alleged malapportionment of the Tennessee legislature (unequal distribution of legislative seats) led to a precedent-setting decision by the U.S. Supreme Court. The Court ruled that federal courts had jurisdiction in apportionment cases (Baker v. Carr). Following federal court rulings, 1962–65, Tennessee passed reapportionment acts that gave greater political representation to its increasing proportion of city dwellers.
In the late 1960's, racial problems, mainly concerning jobs, education, and political power, began to plague the state. In 1968 civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., was assassinated in Memphis, while visiting to support striking black workers. Busing of schoolchildren to achieve greater racial balance produced conflicts in several cities in the early 1970's.
In 1973 the state legislature was again reapportioned for more equitable urban-rural balance. In the 1970's, Tennessee's two largest cities—Nashville, long the home of country music, and Memphis, a center for rhythm and blues music—gained national prominence as giants of the multimillion-dollar recording industry.
In the 1980's, the economy grew, stimulated in part by foreign investments in industries in the state, and unemployment declined. Severe drought conditions in the mid-1980's seriously affected farmers. In the early 1990's, the state's economy grew faster than that of the nation as a result of an expanding automotive industry.
After many U.S. companies were criticized for outsourcing jobs to other countries, Tennessee became the first state to enact a law against it in 2004. The law directs officials to give preference for state projects to companies with workers based in the United States.