The short-lived state of Franklin in what is now eastern Tennessee demonstrated the confused nature of politics on the western slopes of the Appalachians in the late 18th century. Men and women from the backwoods of the Carolinas, Virginia, and Pennsylvania came to the region in the tumultuous years following the Revolutionary War (1775-83). To the south, the Chickamauga Indians, led by Dragging Canoe, fought their advance. These Native Americans also came to the Tennessee Valley to start new lives.

North Carolina had ceded the lands to the federal government, but when the state did not receive payments for its war debt, it reclaimed the territory. Despite this claim, in August 1784 delegates from the far-western counties of North Carolina met in Jonesborough to organize the state of Franklin. In March 1785 John Sevier accepted the governorship of the infant state. The loyalty of many of the inhabitants of Franklin rested on the fact that they had settled illegally on land that North Carolina had set aside for the Indians, and the Franklinites launched several raids against the Cherokee. The situation remained complicated: Sevier represented land speculators from the East and eventually sought to maneuver the region back into North Carolina; he was even elected to the North Carolina Senate in 1789. Conflict over land claims also led to some fighting between individuals holding deeds under the state of Franklin and those who had North Carolina deeds. By 1790 the state of Franklin had ceased to function. North Carolina established control over the area until it became part of the new state of Tennessee in 1796. Sevier served as Tennessee's first governor.

Bibliography:

Wilma Dykeman, Tennessee: A Bicentennial History (New York: Norton, 1975)

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