History of Tennessee United States of America

Our on-site database does not include an historic photo for Tennessee, do you have one you would like to contribute? Contact Us!

Local History Notes:

The Southwestern Territory.

"The Territory of the United States of America South of the River Ohio" was the official title of the tract of land which had been ceded by North Carolina to the United States, and which a few years later became the State of Tennessee. William Blount, the newly appointed Governor, took charge late in 1790. He made a tour of the various counties, as laid out under authority of the State of North Carolina, rechristening them as counties of the Territory, and summoning before him the persons in each county holding commissions from North Carolina, at the respective court-houses, where he formally notified them of the change. He read to them the act of Congress accepting the cessions of the claims of North Carolina; then he read his own commission from President Washington; and informed them of the provision by North Carolina that Congress should assume and execute the government of the new Territory "in a manner similar to that which they support northwest of the River Ohio." Following this he formally read the ordinance for the government of the Northwestern Territory. He commented upon and explained this proclamation, stating that under it the President had appointed the Governor, the Judges, and the Secretary of the new Territory, and that he himself, as Governor, would now appoint the necessary county officers.

Blount Inaugurated as Governor.

The remarkable feature of this address was that he read to the assembled officers in each county, as part of the law apparently binding upon them, Article 6 of the Ordinance of 1787, which provided that there should be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in the Northwestern Territory. It had been expressly stipulated that this particular provision as regards slavery should not apply to the Southwestern Territory, and of course Blount's omission to mention this fact did not in any way alter the case; but it is a singular thing that he should without comment have read, and his listeners without comment have heard, a recital that slavery was abolished in their territory. It emphasizes the fact that at this time there was throughout the West no very strong feeling on the subject of slavery, and what feeling there was, was if anything hostile. The adventurous backwoods farmers who composed the great mass of the population in Tennessee, as elsewhere among and west of the Alleghanies, were not a slave-owning people, in the sense that the planters of the seaboard were. They were preeminently folk who did their work with their own hands. Master and man chopped and ploughed and reaped and builded side by side, and even the leaders of the community, the militia generals, the legislators, and the judges, often did their share of farm work, and prided themselves upon their capacity to do it well. They had none of that feeling which makes slave-owners look upon manual labor as a badge of servitude. They were often lazy and shiftless, but they never deified laziness and shiftlessness or made them into a cult. The one thing they prized beyond all others was their personal freedom, the right of the individual to do whatsoever he saw fit. Indeed they often carried this feeling so far as to make them condone gross excesses, rather than insist upon the exercise of even needful authority. They were by no means entirely logical, but they did see and feel that slavery was abhorrent, and that it was utterly inconsistent with the theories of their own social and governmental life. As yet there was no thought of treating slavery as a sacred institution, the righteousness of which must not be questioned. At the Fourth of July celebrations toasts such as "The total abolition of slavery" were not uncommon. It was this feeling which prevented any manifestation of surprise at Blount's apparent acquiescence in a section of the ordinance for the government of the Territory which prohibited slavery.

Dulness of the Public Conscience about Slavery.

Nevertheless, though slaves were not numerous, they were far from uncommon, and the moral conscience of the community was not really roused upon the subject. It was hardly possible that it should be roused, for no civilized people who owned African slaves had as yet abolished slavery, and it was too much to hope that the path toward abolition would be pointed out by poor frontiersmen engaged in a life and death struggle with hostile savages. The slaveholders were not interfered with until they gradually grew numerous enough and powerful enough to set the tone of thought, and make it impossible to root out slavery save by outside action.

Blount's First Appointments.

Blount recommended the appointment of Sevier and Robertson as brigadier-generals of militia of the Eastern and Western districts of the Territory, and issued a large number of commissions to the justices of the peace, militia officers, sheriffs, and clerks of the county courts in the different counties. In his appointments he shrewdly and properly identified himself with the natural leaders of the frontiersmen. He made Sevier and Robertson his right-hand men, and strove always to act in harmony with them, while for the minor military and civil officers he chose the persons whom the frontiersmen themselves desired. In consequence he speedily became a man of great influence for good. The Secretary of the Territory reported to the Federal Government that the effect of Blount's character on the frontiersmen was far greater than was the case with any other man, and that he was able to get them to adhere to the principles of order and to support the laws by his influence in a way which it was hopeless to expect from their own respect for governmental authority. Blount was felt by the frontiersmen to be thoroughly in sympathy with them, to understand and appreciate them, and to be heartily anxious for their welfare; and yet at the same time his influence could be counted upon on the side of order, while the majority of the frontier officials in any time of commotion were apt to remain silent and inactive, or even to express their sympathy with the disorderly element.

Blount's Tact in Dealing with Difficulties.

No one but a man of great tact and firmness could have preserved as much order among the frontiersmen as Blount preserved. He was always under fire from both sides. The settlers were continually complaining that they were deserted by the Federal authorities, who favored the Indians, and that Blount himself did not take sufficiently active steps to subdue the savages; while on the other hand the National Administration was continually upbraiding him for being too active against the Indians, and for not keeping the frontiersmen sufficiently peaceable. Under much temptations, and in a situation that would have bewildered any one, Blount steadfastly followed his course of, on the one hand, striving his best to protect the people over whom he was placed as governor, and to repel the savages, while, on the other hand, he suppressed so far as lay in his power, any outbreak against the authorities, and tried to inculcate a feeling of loyalty and respect for the National Government. He did much in creating a strong feeling of attachment to the Union among the rough backwoodsmen with whom he had thrown in his lot.

Treaty of Holston with the Cherokees.

Early in 1791 Blount entered into negotiations with the Cherokees, and when the weather grew warm, he summoned them to a treaty. They met on the Holston, all of the noted Cherokee chiefs and hundreds of their warriors being present, and concluded the treaty of Holston, by which, in consideration of numerous gifts and of an annuity of a thousand (afterwards increased to fifteen hundred) dollars, the Cherokees at last definitely abandoned their disputed claims to the various tracts of land which the whites claimed under various former treaties. By this treaty with the Cherokees, and by the treaty with the Creeks entered into at New York the previous summer, the Indian title to most of the present State of Tennessee, was fairly and legally extinguished. However the westernmost part, was still held by the Chickasaws, and certain tracts in the southeast, by the Cherokees; while the Indian hunting grounds in the middle of the territory were thrust in between the groups of settlements on the Cumberland and the Holston.

From: The Winning of the West by Theodore Roosevelt, 1896

Biographies:

Benton McMillin, governor of Tennessee, was born in Monroe county, Ky., Sept. 11, 1845. He was educated at Plymouth academy, Tenn., and at Kentucky university, Lexington, but was not graduated. He studied law under Judge E. L. Gardenhire, and settled in practice at Celina, Tenn., in 1871. He was a representative in the state legislature in 1874, and was commissioned by the governor of Tennessee to treat with the state of Kentucky for territory in 1875. He was a presidential elector on the Tilden and Hendricks ticket in 1876, and was appointed special judge of the circuit court of Tennessee, by Gov. James D. Porter, Jr., in 1877. He was a Democratic representative from the fourth Tennessee district in the 46th-55th congresses, 1879-99, and was elected governor of Tennessee in 1898 and was re-elected in 1900 for the term, 1901-03.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

Benjamin Augustine Enloe, representative, was born near Clarksburg, Carroll county, Tenn., Jan. 18, 1848. He attended the public schools, entered Bethel college, McKenzie, Tenn., in 1867, and afterward became a student in the Cumberland university, Lebanon, Tenn. While attending the latter institution he was elected a member of the general assembly of Tennessee in 1869, and was re-elected under the new constitution in 1870. He was graduated from the law school of Cumberland university in 1873. He was a delegate to the Democratic national convention at Baltimore, Md., in 1872; was a presidential elector in 1876; was appointed a commissioner by Governor Marks in 1878 to negotiate a settlement of the state debt; served on the executive committee for the state at large, 1878-80; was president of the Democratic state convention in 1880; and a delegate to the Democratic national convention at Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1880. He also edited the Jackson Tribune and Sun, 1874-86, and was president of the Tennessee press association, 1883-84. He was a representative from the 8th Tennessee district in the 50th, 51st, 52d and 53d congresses, 1887-95.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

Henry Richard Gibson, representative, was born on Kent Island, Queen Anne county, Md., Dec. 24, 1837; son of Woolman and Catherine (Carter) Gibson. He was graduated from Hobart college, Geneva, N.Y., in 1862. He served in the commissary department of the Federal army, 1863-65, attended the Albany, N.Y., law school, and was admitted to the bar in December, 1865. In 1866 he removed to Knoxville, Tenn., and later in the same year to Jacksboro, Tenn. He was appointed by Governor W. G. Brownlow commissioner of claims in 1868, and in 1869 was elected a delegate to the state constitutional convention. He served in both branches of the state legislature as senator in 1871-72, and as a representative in 1875-76. In 1876 he returned to Knoxville, and in 1879 founded and became editor of the Knoxville Republican. In 1881 he investigated the "Star Route frauds" as agent of the post office department. In 1882 he became editor of the Knoxville Daily Chronicle. In 1883 he wits appointed by President Arthur U.S. pension agent at Knoxville. He served as chancellor of the second chancery division of Tennessee, 1886-94. He was a Republican representative from the second district of Tennessee in the 54th-58th congresses, 1895-1905. He received the honorary degree of LL.D. from Hobart in 1892. He is the author of Suits in Chancery (1891), a standard authority in equity practice.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

Joseph McMinn, governor of Tennessee, was born in Pennsylvania, served in the war of the American Revolution and engaged in farming. He removed to Hawkins county, Tenn., and served in the state legislature, and was speaker of the state senate in 1807. He was governor of the state, 1815-21, and during his administration established a loan office in connection with public lands; advocated the improvement of roads and waterways in the state; suggested the building of a canal to unite the Holston and Tennessee rivers with the Mobile river, and urged upon congress the canal around Muscle shoals, Tennessee river. He was appointed Indian agent in 1821 by President Monroe, and died at the Cherokee agency, Nov. 17, 1824.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

History of Tennessee

Local History Notes:

Biographies:

Local History and Genealogy Links: