Backcountry Notes

Replica of log cabin which served as the capitol of the State of Franklin. Click on image for larger view. Image source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/auvet/491853081/In many ways the Backcountry settlers in what is now eastern Tennessee had always been a breed apart from the North Carolinians who, technically, controlled that land in colonial and early American times.  Northeast Tennessee was settled primarily by Scotch-Irish and other like-minded migrants coming through the Valley of Virginia by way of the Great Wagon Road. North Carolina awarded bounty lands to its Revolutionary War veterans in the area of Middle Tennessee, encouraging migration by way of the Wilderness Road through Kentucky.  For many years, the settlements of East and Middle Tennessee were separate ventures.

Click on image for larger view. For image source and licensing information, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:8FranklinCounties.pngRelations with Raleigh became increasingly strained after the Revolutionary War ended and North Carolina legislators adopted what was widely perceived as a self-serving "land grab" law. See North Carolina History Project, State of Franklin.  In 1784 the folk of northeast Tennessee decided to go their own way and form the State of Franklin.  See Learn NC, The State of Franklin. 

The Franklinites adopted a constitution and established a capitol at Greeneville, Tennessee. John Sevier, one of the leaders of the Overmountain Men militia which won the Battle of King's Mountain, was elected governor.  Matters quickly spun out of control, a few shots were fired, and Sevier was arrested and forced to post bond.  By 1789, the State of Franklin had passed into history.  See The Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture, State of Franklin.  John Sevier survived the fray and in 1796 was elected the first governor of the State of Tennessee.

For a much more detailed history of the Franklin secession, see Ramsey's Annals of Tennessee (1853), Chapter IV -- The State of Franklin. See also Ramsey's Map of Cumberland and Franklin.

For many Northeast Tennesseans, the State of Franklin affair represented (and still symbolizes in some opinions) the apparently inevitable conflict between liberty and corrupt government.  The State of Franklin certainly was in keeping with the character of the Backcountry settlers who had come to this rugged area to secure land and liberty and were determined to preserve their rights to both.

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