Tennessee is one of the states that link the North and the South of the United States. Life in West and Middle Tennessee resembles life in the Deep South. East Tennessee is similar to parts of the North. Even during the American Civil War (1861-1865), Tennessee loyalties were divided between the North and the South. Tennessee was the last Confederate state to leave the Union, and the first to return.
Nashville is the capital and largest city of Tennessee and the center of the state’s largest metropolitan area. Memphis is the state’s second largest city. It is the center of Tennessee’ s second largest metropolitan area.
Tennessee stretches from North Carolina, one of the easternmost states, to Arkansas, one of the westernmost states in the South. At its eastern boundaries, Tennessee starts high in the Blue Ridge Mountains. The land becomes lower toward the west until it reaches the banks of the Mississippi River.
A pioneer wearing a coonskin cap and carrying a rifle is a symbol of Tennessee’s great past. But a better symbol of the present and future is the nuclear physicist working in an Oak Ridge laboratory or the technician who controls the robots on the assembly line of a motor vehicle manufacturing plant. Most people in the state are employed by business offices, stores, and factories.
Trade, restaurants, and hotels and other service industries play a leading role in Tennessee’s economy. The state is a popular tourist destination, and spending by visitors contributes to the economy. Manufacturing is an important source of income and jobs. Tennessee’s fertile soil and abundant mineral deposits make it an important agricultural and mining state.
Indigenous (native) peoples once roamed Tennessee’s mountains and forests. Early explorers passed through the region, and people from Europe fought to decide who would own it. Pioneers crossed the mountains to settle in the wilderness. The pioneers brought with them the spirit of independence and daring that has become a part of Tennessee’s history. In 1796, Tennessee became the 16th state in the Union. Such Tennesseans as John Sevier in the American Revolution (1775-1783), Andrew Jackson in the War of 1812, and Alvin C. York in World War I (1914-1918) established a Tennessee military tradition of honor and bravery.
More battles of the American Civil War were fought in Tennessee than in any other state except Virginia. Three men who were later elected president of the United States—Andrew Jackson, James K. Polk, and Andrew Johnson—all distinguished themselves in Tennessee. In 1920, the state became the final state needed to ratify the 19th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, giving women the right to vote.
The name Tennessee comes from Tanasie, the name of a Cherokee village in the region. Tennessee is usually called the Volunteer State because of its great military traditions.
People
Population.
The 2020 United States census reported that Tennessee had 6,910,840 people. The population had increased 9 percent over the 2010 census figure of 6,346,105. According to the 2020 census, Tennessee ranks 16th in population among the 50 states.
Nashville is the state’s largest city, followed by Memphis, Knoxville, Chattanooga, Clarksville, and Murfreesboro. Each of these cities has over 100,000 people. Nine other cities in Tennessee have populations of 50,000 or more. About a third of Tennesseans live in rural areas.
About 80 percent of the state’s people live in the state’s 10 metropolitan areas (see Metropolitan area). About 55 percent of Tennessee’s people live in the Knoxville, Memphis, and Nashville-Davidson—Murfreesboro—Franklin metropolitan areas.
About 16 out of every 100 Tennesseans are African Americans, a lower percentage than in most southern states. About 35 percent of the African Americans in Tennessee live in Memphis. Tennessee’s other large population groups include people of English, German, Irish, and Scotch-Irish descent.
Schools.
Education in Tennessee began with privately owned schools, usually controlled by churches. Samuel Doak, a Presbyterian minister, started the first school in about 1780. Public schools for children of the poor were established during the early 1800’s. In 1873, free education was made available to all children. 
The governor appoints a commissioner of education to a four-year term. The commissioner heads the state Department of Education and makes recommendations to the State Board of Education. The board is composed of 10 members appointed by the governor and confirmed by the General Assembly. Nine of the members represent the state’s nine congressional districts and are appointed to five-year terms. The remaining member is a student, who is appointed to a one-year term.
Children in Tennessee must attend school between the ages of 6 and 17. For the number of students and teachers in Tennessee, see Education (table: U.S. students, teachers, and school expenditures).
Libraries.
Tennessee’s public libraries are organized into regions, each of which has a regional library center. In addition, most of the state’s public and private schools have library media centers. The largest library collections are at Vanderbilt University in Nashville and the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, as well as the metropolitan public libraries in Knoxville, Nashville, and Memphis. Most libraries in Tennessee provide Internet access and online information services in addition to books and magazines.
Museums.
The Tennessee State Museum in Nashville has exhibits on the history of Tennessee. The Adventure Science Center in Nashville has a planetarium and interactive exhibits to help learn about science. The Museum of Appalachia in Norris features exhibits on early American life. The Knoxville Museum of Art and the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art both have large collections of artwork. The National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis is in the motel where civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr., was shot and killed in 1968. The Pink Palace Museum in Memphis has exhibits on the history of the mid-South. Other museums include the American Museum of Science and Energy in Oak Ridge, the Casey Jones Home & Railroad Museum in Jackson, and the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville. The Mississippi River Museum at Mud Island River Park in Memphis features a riverboat steam engine and a paddle wheel.
Visitor’s guide
Tennessee’s rugged mountains, thick forests, and beautiful lakes and rivers are ideal for outdoor sports, camping, and sightseeing. The majestic beauty of Great Smoky Mountains National Park attracts millions of visitors a year. Students of American history delight in the state’s many sites of historic interest. Music lovers travel to Tennessee in order to hear outstanding performances by bluegrass, blues, and country artists. The Memphis in May International Festival is one of the largest annual events in the United States. This monthlong celebration honors a different nation each year. The unique cultural heritage of Memphis is also featured during this popular celebration. 
Land and climate
Land regions.
Tennessee has six main land regions. These are, from east to west: (1) the Blue Ridge; (2) the Appalachian Ridge and Valley Region; (3) the Appalachian Plateau; (4) the Highland Rim; (5) the Nashville Basin; and (6) the Gulf Coastal Plain.
The Blue Ridge
region skirts the entire eastern edge of Tennessee. The region’s elevation averages 5,000 feet (1,500 meters), the highest in the state. Clingmans Dome, the state’s tallest peak, rises to 6,643 feet (2,025 meters). Several mountain ranges make up the region. They include the Chilhowee, Great Smoky, and Snowbird mountains. Valleys and sheltered hollows called coves lie within the mountains. The region has a great deal of timber and some minerals.
The Appalachian Ridge and Valley Region
stretches westward from the mountainous Blue Ridge for about 55 miles (89 kilometers). This region has fertile farm country in valleys that lie between parallel wooded ridges. The broad valleys and low narrow ridges in the eastern part of the region make up an area called the Great Valley.
The Appalachian Plateau,
or Cumberland Plateau, lies west of the Ridge and Valley Region. There, the land rises in rocky cliffs that range from 1,500 to 1,800 feet (457 to 549 meters) high. The plateau region consists of flat-topped mountains and V-shaped valleys. Tennessee’s coal comes from this region. The area also has deposits of petroleum and natural gas. From Lookout Mountain, in the southern part of the region, visitors can see seven states.
The Highland Rim
is an elevated plain that surrounds the Nashville Basin. Steep slopes reach from the Rim to the Basin below. Underground streams and caves lie beneath the surface of the region. The area of the Highland Rim north of the Nashville Basin is sometimes called the Pennyroyal Region.
The Nashville Basin
lies within the Highland Rim. Most of the Basin drains toward the northwest. The Basin has rich farming areas where cattle graze in fertile pastures, and farms produce bumper crops. In addition, the region has phosphate deposits.
The Gulf Coastal Plain
is part of an important land region that begins at the Gulf of Mexico and extends northward as far as southern Illinois. In Tennessee, the Plain has three parts. A hilly strip of land about 10 miles (16 kilometers) wide runs along the west bank of the Tennessee River. The second part is a wide area of low rolling hills and wide stream valleys called bottoms. At Memphis, this area ends in steep bluffs that overlook the Mississippi River. The Mississippi Alluvial Plain, the third part of the region, lies along the western edge of the state north of Memphis. This flat strip along the Mississippi River averages less than 300 feet (91 meters) above sea level. It is the lowest part of the state and is sometimes called The Delta. Farmers raise soybeans and other crops on the Alluvial Plain.
Rivers and lakes.
Three large river systems—the Mississippi, Cumberland, and Tennessee—drain the state. The Mississippi drains most of West Tennessee. Its largest tributaries in Tennessee include the Forked Deer, Hatchie, Loosahatchie, Obion, and Wolf rivers. The Cumberland and Tennessee drain most of the rest of the state. They rise in the Appalachian Plateau and join the Ohio River. Branches of the Tennessee include the Big Sandy, Buffalo, Clinch, Duck, Elk, French Broad, Hiwassee, Holston, Little Tennessee, Powell, and Sequatchie rivers. Tributaries of the Cumberland in Tennessee include the Caney Fork, Harpeth, and Stones rivers.
Since 1933, the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers have built many dams along the Cumberland and Tennessee rivers and their tributaries. Artificial lakes formed by these dams have more than doubled the inland water area of Tennessee. The largest of these artificial lakes is Kentucky Lake. Others include Boone, Cherokee, Chickamauga, Douglas, Fort Loudoun, Fort Patrick Henry, Norris, Pickwick, Tellico, Watauga, and Watts Bar reservoirs. These lakes are often called the Great Lakes of the South.
Plant and animal life.
Forests cover more than half the state. Tennessee’s most important trees include the hickory, red and white oaks, shortleaf pine, and yellow-poplar. Other common trees include ash, cherry, elm, maple, sycamore, and walnut. Azaleas, mountain laurel, rhododendron, and other shrubs cover the mountain slopes. The iris and passion-flower grow throughout the state. Common wildflowers include the dragonroot, hop clover, spring-beauty, and yellow jasmine.
Tennessee’s mountains, forests, and waters abound with wild game. Hunters seek deer, ducks, wild turkeys, and other game. Black bears and wild hogs roam remote parts of the mountains. Beavers, muskrats, rabbits, raccoons, skunks, and squirrels live in the fields and forests. Common songbirds include the mockingbird, robin, and wood thrush. Bass, crappie, trout, and walleyed pike are found in the lakes and streams.
Climate.
Most of Tennessee has a humid, subtropical climate. Temperatures rarely go above 100 °F (38 °C) or below 10 °F (–12 °C). The lowlands and plains in West Tennessee generally are warmer than the mountainous eastern regions. Average temperatures in the west range from 38 °F (3 °C) in January to 80 °F (27 °C) in July. The east averages 36 °F (3 °C) in January and 76 °F (24 °C) in July. 
Tennessee’s lowest recorded temperature, –32 °F (–36 °C), occurred on Dec. 30, 1917, at Mountain City in the northeast. Its highest recorded temperature, 113 °F (45 °C), occurred on July 29 and Aug. 9, 1930, at Perryville in the west.
Eastern Tennessee averages about 12 inches (30 centimeters) of snow a year, while the west averages 4 to 6 inches (10 to 15 centimeters). Most of the state averages about 50 inches (127 centimeters) of precipitation (rain, melted snow, and other forms of moisture) a year.
Economy
Tennessee has a diverse economy. A variety of service industries, from health care to retail stores, employ most of the state’s workers. But manufacturing is also important in Tennessee. Chemicals, processed foods and beverages, and transportation equipment are among the state’s leading products.
Natural resources.
Tennessee’s fertile soil, temperate climate, vast water supply, and abundant minerals make the state rich in natural resources.
Soil.
The most fertile and productive soils lie in the Appalachian Ridge and Valley Region, the Nashville Basin, and the Gulf Coastal Plain. A limestone-based soil blankets the mountain coves in the Blue Ridge region. A clay loam formed from weathered limestone covers the valley floors in the Ridge and Valley Region. The Appalachian Plateau and much of the Highland Rim have poor soils. The best agricultural area of the Highland Rim is the Pennyroyal Region along the Tennessee-Kentucky border. A loam soil, formed from rich soluble limestone, covers the Nashville Basin. The Gulf Coastal Plain has light soils that produce well. Fertile sand, silt, and clay soils cover the Mississippi Alluvial Plain.
Minerals.
Tennessee mines produce a wide variety of materials. East Tennessee has large deposits of marble, pyrite, and zinc. Middle Tennessee contains rich stores of fluorite, limestone, phosphate rock, and zinc. The Appalachian Plateau has major deposits of coal and small amounts of petroleum and natural gas. Ball clay (a fine-grained clay used to make ceramics), lignite, and sand and gravel lie in West Tennessee.
Service industries
account for the majority of both Tennessee’s employment and its gross domestic product—the total value of all goods and services produced in the state in a year. Many service industries operate in the Memphis area. Memphis, one of the nation’s leading distribution centers, is Tennessee’s leading area for wholesale trade. It has direct connections to many of the country’s largest cities by means of highways, railroads, and the Mississippi River. AutoZone, Inc., a leading auto parts retailer, is based in Memphis. FedEx Corporation, one of the world’s largest delivery services, has its headquarters in the city. Many airlines and trucking firms also operate in Memphis.
Service industries also operate in Knoxville, Nashville, and other metropolitan areas in addition to Memphis. Nashville, the state capital, is the center of government activities. The Tennessee Valley Authority, a federal government corporation, is the nation’s largest public electric power company. Its headquarters are in Knoxville. Memphis and Nashville are the state’s leading banking centers. Johnson City, Knoxville, Memphis, and Nashville are important regional health centers with medical schools and large hospitals. Many hotels, restaurants, and retail trade establishments operate in Knoxville, Memphis, and Nashville. 
Manufacturing.
Processed foods and beverages are among Tennessee’s leading manufactured products. Grain products, including bread, breakfast cereals, and flour, are a leading processed food group. Beverages produced in the state include beer, soft drinks, and whiskey. Coffee and Moore counties have large whiskey distilleries. Tennessee’s other important food products include bakery goods, candy, dairy products, and meats.
Transportation equipment also ranks among Tennessee’s leading manufactured products. Plants in Chattanooga, Smyrna, and Spring Hill produce cars and trucks. Many manufacturers of automobile parts operate near these plants. Aircraft equipment is produced in the Nashville area, and boats are built in eastern Tennessee.
Chemicals and computer and electronic products are also important. Plants in Tennessee produce industrial chemicals, pharmaceuticals (medicinal drugs), plastics resins, and soaps. Eastman Chemical Company, a leading maker of chemical products, is headquartered in Kingsport. Leading electronics products include audio and visual equipment, computers and computer equipment, scientific instruments, and semiconductors.
Other leading products include machinery and metal products. The most important type of machinery made in the state is heating and refrigeration equipment. Aluminum is a leading part of the primary metals sector.
Agriculture.
Farmland covers about 40 percent of Tennessee’s land area. Beef cattle and broilers (young, tender chickens) are leading sources of farm income in Tennessee. Many beef cattle are raised in the central and south-central parts of the state. Broilers are primarily raised in central and southern Tennessee. Dairy cows, raised primarily in the central and eastern parts of the state, are also an important source of farm income. Tennessee has many hog and horse farms. Hogs are mainly raised in central and western Tennessee. The famous Tennessee walking horse breed was developed in Middle Tennessee.
Corn, cotton, and soybeans are Tennessee’s leading field crops. These three crops all grow in the western part of the state. Tennessee is one of the leading tobacco producers. Farmers in north-central Tennessee grow tobacco. Hay, used chiefly for livestock feed, is grown in the central and eastern parts of the state.
Greenhouse and nursery products are an important part of Tennessee agriculture. Many of the fruit trees planted in the southeastern United States come from nurseries in Tennessee. Fruits and vegetables provide a small part of Tennessee’s farm income. Pumpkins, snap beans and tomatoes are important vegetables grown in the state. Apples and peaches are leading fruits.
Mining.
Crushed stone is Tennessee’s most valuable mined product. Limestone deposits are the source of almost all of the state’s crushed stone. The largest limestone deposits lie in the eastern half of the state.
Other products mined in Tennessee include clays, gemstones, lime, portland cement, sand and gravel, and zinc. Tennessee leads the nation in the mining of ball clay.
Electric power and utilities.
The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) generates almost all the state’s electric power. The TVA produces more power than any other system in the country and distributes it to local electric power systems (see Tennessee Valley Authority). Nuclear power plants and plants that burn coal account for most of Tennessee’s electric power. Hydroelectric plants and plants that burn natural gas provide most of the rest of the power. 
Transportation.
Tennessee faced problems in building its transportation systems. Many bridges and tunnels had to be built through hilly and mountainous areas. The hilly terrain raised the costs of railroad and highway construction. From about 1800 to 1860, private companies built turnpikes and collected tolls to maintain them. In 1913, the legislature authorized counties to issue bonds for highway construction. Today, Tennessee has an extensive system of highways and roads.
Tennessee’s busiest airports are at Memphis and Nashville. Memphis International Airport serves as a hub for passenger airlines. Knoxville and Chattanooga also have important air terminals. Major rail lines provide freight services. Barges float along the Cumberland, Mississippi, and Tennessee rivers. Memphis ranks as one of the busiest ports on the Mississippi River. The Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway connects the Tennessee River to the Gulf of Mexico and so links Tennessee cities with ports on the gulf.
Communication.
Tennessee’s newspapers with the largest circulations include the Chattanooga Times Free Press, The Commercial Appeal of Memphis, the News Sentinel of Knoxville, and The Tennessean of Nashville.
Tennessee’s first radio station, WNAV, began broadcasting at Knoxville in 1922. The first television station, WMCT-TV (now WMC-TV), started operations at Memphis in 1948. Today, Tennessee has numerous radio and television stations. Cable television systems and Internet providers serve communities statewide.
Government
Constitution.
Tennessee’s Constitution was adopted in 1870. The state had two earlier constitutions. The first was adopted in 1796, the year Tennessee achieved statehood, and the second was adopted in 1834.
Either the state legislature or a constitutional convention can propose amendments to the Constitution. In the legislature, a proposed amendment first needs the approval of a majority of both houses. Then, during the next regular legislative session, it must be approved by two-thirds of the members of each house. Finally, a majority of people voting in an election for governor must approve the amendment.
Constitutional conventions cannot be held more often than once every six years. They may be called by a majority of the legislators with the approval of a majority of voters. Amendments proposed by a constitutional convention must be approved by a majority of voters.
Executive.
Tennessee’s governor holds office for a four-year term and may serve any number of terms, but not more than two in a row. The speaker of the state Senate has the title of lieutenant governor.
The governor appoints the heads of most of the chief administrative departments. But the governor does not have the power to appoint the state’s four top administrative officers. The legislature chooses the secretary of state, who serves a four-year term, and both the state treasurer and the state comptroller of the treasury, who serve for two years. The state Supreme Court selects the attorney general to serve an eight-year term.
Legislature,
called the General Assembly, consists of a 33-member Senate and a 99-member House of Representatives. Senators serve four-year terms, and House members serve two-year terms. They are elected from legislative districts. 
The General Assembly meets in odd-numbered years starting on the second Tuesday in January for an organizational session lasting no longer than 15 days. The regular session begins on the Tuesday following the end of the organizational session. Regular sessions are limited to 90 legislative days. Special sessions may be called by the governor or two-thirds of the members of each house.
Courts.
The highest court is the state Supreme Court. It has a chief justice and four associate justices, elected by the voters for eight-year terms. The Court of Appeals has 12 judges. It hears civil cases that have been transferred from lower courts. The Court of Appeals may serve as a complete body or in as many as three separate divisions. The Court of Criminal Appeals also has 12 judges. It hears appeals from criminal trial courts.
Tennessee has 31 judicial districts. Each district has circuit courts and chancery courts. Some districts also have criminal courts. Circuit courts have jurisdiction (authority) over any matters where jurisdiction is not given to another court. Other trial courts are general sessions courts, probate courts, juvenile and family courts, and city or municipal courts. All judges in Tennessee are elected to eight-year terms.
Local government.
County commissions govern almost all of Tennessee’s 95 counties. Each commission consists of from 9 to 25 county commissioners. Either a county executive or the chairman of the commission presides over commission meetings. The commission must meet at least four times a year to perform such duties as setting the property tax rate, approving the county’s budget, and authorizing bond issues. All counties have such officials as a sheriff, assessor of property, trustee, register of deeds, and county clerk.
Any of Tennessee’s approximately 350 incorporated cities and towns may, by popular vote, adopt home rule. That is, a city may vote to frame and operate its own charter instead of remaining under the control of the state legislature. But only 14 cities have adopted home rule since a constitutional amendment made it available in 1953. Many cities have a mayor-council government. Other cities use either the council-manager or commissioner system. Three cities in Tennessee, including Nashville, have combined their city and county governments into a single unit.
Revenue.
Taxes account for about half of the state government’s general revenue (income). Federal grants and other U.S. government programs make up most of the rest. A general sales tax is the state’s largest source of tax revenue. Other sources include taxes on alcoholic beverages, corporate and individual income, motor fuels, motor vehicle licenses, and tobacco products. A lottery helps finance public schools.
Politics.
Tennessee was a Democratic stronghold for most of its history, though parts of East Tennessee were Republican. During the 1960’s, however, Republicans made strong gains in the state legislature. In 1966, Howard H. Baker, Jr., became the first Republican elected to the U.S. Senate from Tennessee since the 1860’s. In 1970, Winfield Dunn became the first Republican in 50 years to be elected governor of Tennessee. By the end of the 1970’s, Tennessee had become a two-party state. In the 2010’s, the Republicans began to dominate state politics.
Democrats carried Tennessee in most presidential elections in the late 1800’s and the first half of the 1900’s. But Republicans have won the state in most presidential elections after 1948.
History
Early days.
Indigenous (native) people probably lived in what is now Tennessee at least 8,000 years ago. The earliest known groups of Indigenous people settled the area about 1,000 years ago. They built mounds to support their temples and chiefs’ houses. See Mound builders.
When the first Europeans arrived in the area, the Cherokee people lived in what is now Middle Tennessee. Beginning in the late 1770’s, the Chickamauga, a branch of the Cherokee, lived near the present site of Chattanooga, in East Tennessee. The Chickasaw occupied West Tennessee.
Exploration.
In 1540, a party of Spanish explorers led by Hernando de Soto raided some Indigenous villages in the valley of the Tennessee River. Moving westward, De Soto became the first European to reach the Mississippi River. He came upon it in 1541.
No other explorers entered the region until 1673, when James Needham and Gabriel Arthur of England explored the Tennessee River Valley. That same year, Louis Jolliet of Canada and Father Jacques Marquette of France sailed down the Mississippi River. In 1682, René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, claimed the entire Mississippi Valley for France. He built Fort Prud’homme on the Chickasaw Bluffs, near what is now Memphis. But the post was so isolated that the French soon had to abandon it. In 1714, Charles Charleville set up a French trading post at French Lick, near what is now Nashville.
France, Spain, and Britain all claimed the Tennessee region and competed for the trade and the friendship of Indigenous groups. The dispute eventually became a contest between the British and the French. In 1754, the French and Indian War broke out between British and French settlers. The French were outnumbered by about 20 to 1 but won decisive victories during the early years of the war. But after nine years of fighting, the British won out. In 1763, by the Treaty of Paris, the French surrendered to the British all claim to lands east of the Mississippi.
Early settlement.
By 1769, permanent settlers lived in the eastern Tennessee region. New settlers began to come into the area from Virginia and North Carolina.
The Tennessee region belonged to the British colony of North Carolina. But vast, rugged mountains separated settlers in Tennessee from the protection of the mother colony. In 1772, a group of settlers established law and order in the wilderness by forming their own government, the Watauga Association. They drew up one of the first written constitutions in North America. See Watauga Association.
A group called the Transylvania Company bought a large area of present-day Tennessee and Kentucky from the Cherokee in 1775. Pioneer Daniel Boone, working for the company, blazed a trail from the Holston River in eastern Tennessee across the mountains at Cumberland Gap to open this land to settlement. Boone’s trail, the Wilderness Road, became the main route to the new settlements.
Territorial years.
In 1779, two groups of pioneers, led by James Robertson and John Donelson, pushed far into the wilds and settled around the Big Salt Lick on the Cumberland River. They built Fort Nashborough (later Nashville), which formed the center of the Middle Tennessee settlements. These pioneers drew up an agreement called the Cumberland Compact. It established representative government for all settlers and created a court system to enforce its provisions.
In 1780, during the Revolutionary War in America, John Sevier led a group of pioneers from the Tennessee region across the Great Smoky Mountains into South Carolina. These men helped American forces defeat the British at the Battle of Kings Mountain on October 7.
Meanwhile, the settlers and Indigenous groups were trying to drive each other out of the Tennessee region. The settlers appealed for help to North Carolina. But help did not come. In 1784, three counties in East Tennessee revolted against North Carolina and formed the independent State of Franklin. They made John Sevier, the hero of Kings Mountain, their governor. North Carolina regained control of the area in 1788 (see Franklin, State of). In 1789, North Carolina gave the Tennessee region to the United States. The federal government made it into a new territory, and called it The Territory of the United States South of the River Ohio. William Blount became its first and only governor.
The Chickasaw owned nearly all West Tennessee until 1818, when they ceded their land to the federal government. But the Cherokee still held a large area in Middle Tennessee, and a smaller tract south of the Little Tennessee and Sequatchie rivers in the east.
Statehood.
On Feb. 6, 1796, Tennessee adopted a constitution in preparation for statehood. It became the 16th state in the Union on June 1. Tennesseans elected John Sevier as their first governor. The new state had a population of about 77,000 and was the first state to be created out of government territory. 
Enslaved Black workers toiled on many West and Middle Tennessee farms before the American Civil War. But few farmers in the eastern part of the state owned enslaved people. Free Black people could vote in Tennessee until a new constitution, adopted in 1835, took that right away from them.
Building the state.
Three men who were later elected president of the United States played key roles in the development of Tennessee. They were Andrew Jackson, James K. Polk, and Andrew Johnson.
Andrew Jackson helped draw up Tennessee’s first constitution in 1796. He served as the state’s first United States representative and later as a U.S. senator from Tennessee. He also served as a justice of the Tennessee Supreme Court. During the War of 1812, Jackson led his Tennessee troops to victory against the Muscogee, or Creek, peoples. He became a national hero by leading U.S. forces in an overwhelming defeat of the British Army at the Battle of New Orleans. Tennessee supported Jackson when he ran unsuccessfully for the presidency in 1824 and when he was elected in 1828.
As president, Jackson urged that the Cherokee be moved to western lands. Congress approved the Indian Removal Act of 1830. The act called for the removal of all tribes east of the Mississippi River and their relocation on land west of the river. Thousands of Cherokee died during the forced migration that took place in the winter of 1838-1839, after Jackson had left office.
James K. Polk was a close friend and supporter of Andrew Jackson. Polk served Tennessee for two years in the state legislature, for 14 years in the U.S. House of Representatives, and for a two-year term as governor. Polk was elected president in 1844 on a platform of expansionism. During his presidency, he led the country to victory in the Mexican War and nearly doubled the territory of the United States.
As a state senator, Andrew Johnson tried to reduce the voting power of the powerful slave owners. Johnson served as a U.S. representative, as governor of Tennessee, and as a U.S. senator. Although he did not oppose slavery, he believed strongly in the Union. Johnson pleaded with the people of Tennessee to remain in the Union.
Many Tennesseans were in favor of staying in the Union. But when Confederate troops fired on Fort Sumter and war appeared inevitable, feelings in favor of seceding grew stronger. On June 8, 1861, about two months after the American Civil War broke out, over two-thirds of the people voted to join the Confederacy. Tennessee was the last state to secede. Andrew Johnson was the only senator who did not secede with his state.
The American Civil War.
The people of Tennessee were divided in their sympathies between the North and the South. Most Union sympathy came from the eastern part of the state. Confederate forces moved into that region and held it captive for a good part of the war.
In 1862, the war spread across the state’s middle and western regions. Union forces under General Ulysses S. Grant invaded Tennessee in February of that year and quickly captured Fort Henry and Fort Donelson, strong points on the Tennessee and Cumberland rivers. Grant then proceeded along the Tennessee River to Pittsburg Landing. There, one of the bloodiest battles of the war took place. It was called the Battle of Shiloh, after a church that stood on the battlefield. Despite enormous losses, Union troops won an important victory at Shiloh. Federal control of Middle and West Tennessee was established in 1862. President Lincoln appointed Andrew Johnson the military governor of Tennessee. Johnson required Tennesseans to accept emancipation (freedom of enslaved people). As a result, enslaved people in Tennessee gained their freedom earlier than in most other Confederate states.
Union forces captured Chattanooga in September 1863, but Confederate troops soon regained the area outside the city. In November, Grant attacked the Confederate positions. In the first day of fighting, Union General Joseph Hooker drove the Confederate forces from Lookout Mountain in the “Battle Above the Clouds.” The Union troops won control of Chattanooga after two more days of fighting.
In 1864, General William T. Sherman’s troops marched from Chattanooga into Georgia and captured Atlanta. In Tennessee, Confederate forces under General John B. Hood tried to draw Sherman back by attacking Franklin and Nashville. But General George H. Thomas defeated Hood’s army at Nashville.
The Union Party, consisting of Republicans and War Democrats, nominated Andrew Johnson to run for vice president under President Lincoln in the 1864 election. They won the election. But on April 14, 1865, President Lincoln was assassinated. Andrew Johnson was inaugurated as president on April 15, 1865. He declared the rebellion in Tennessee at an end on June 13. But a strong group in Congress tried to block Tennessee’s readmission to the Union. On July 24, 1866, after considerable debate, Tennessee became the first Confederate state to be readmitted.
Reconstruction.
The years following the American Civil War also were difficult ones for the people of Tennessee. The war had left much of the state in ruin and had left thousands of people homeless.
A group of Union sympathizers, called Radicals, gained control of the Tennessee government after the war. This group included the governor and most of the state legislature. They gave Black men the right to vote, but they took voting privileges away from a number of Confederate sympathizers. Most of these Radicals were voted out of office in 1869. Tennessee adopted a new Constitution in 1870. This Constitution reduced the power of the governor, set limits on legislative salaries, and extended the right to vote to all male citizens 21 or older.
Plantations in Middle and West Tennessee were divided into smaller farms that were operated by tenants. Many of the tenant farmers had previously been enslaved. During the years after the war, the manufacturing and mining industries began to grow. But the state’s economy continued to depend mainly on agriculture.
Disease swept across the state during the 1870’s. One of the worst yellow fever epidemics in U.S. history hit Memphis in 1878, killing about 5,200 of its 19,600 residents. Many people fled the city. Memphis faced severe financial difficulties because of its population loss and other factors. It declared bankruptcy and lost its city charter in 1879. It did not regain the charter until 1893.
Poor management of state funds in Tennessee banks left the state deeply in debt after the American Civil War. In 1890, the Tennessee Banking Association began a campaign to reform the banking system. In 1913, a state banking department was set up to protect the public against bank mismanagement, fraud, and harmful speculation.
The early 1900’s
brought much change to the state. New and better highways and railroads spread across the state. People began to move away from the farms and into the cities. By the mid-1930’s, manufacturing was beginning to overtake farming as Tennessee’s leading industry.
In 1920, the state legislature narrowly approved the 19th Amendment, which gives women the right to vote. Tennessee became the 36th—and final—state needed to ratify the amendment.
In 1925, John T. Scopes, a high school teacher in Dayton, Tennessee, was charged with teaching British naturalist Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution, contrary to state law. The state brought Scopes to trial. The noted orator and American statesman William Jennings Bryan aided the prosecution. Clarence Darrow, the most famous American lawyer of the time, defended Scopes. The trial aroused enormous controversy. Scopes lost and was fined $100, but the conviction was reversed because of a minor legal error. Over 40 years later, Tennessee repealed the law under which Scopes had been convicted.
In 1933, the federal government established the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) to conserve and develop the resources of the Tennessee River Valley. 
The mid-1900’s.
In 1942, the federal government began to build an atomic energy plant in Oak Ridge. Scientists there worked on the development of the atomic bomb during World War II (1939-1945).
After the war, Tennessee continued to shift from an agricultural to an industrial economy. The TVA built more dams and steam plants to control floods, provide plentiful water supplies, and furnish cheap electric power. These facilities and the state’s large labor force attracted new industries. Recreational areas built near scenic sites drew many tourists. A multimillion-dollar music industry grew up in Nashville, which became the nation’s second largest recording center. The industry had its beginning in the “Grand Ole Opry,” a radio program featuring country and western music.
Tennessee’s political life changed after the war, as many veterans became active in politics. This helped cause a revolt in the 1948 state elections against control by Memphis political boss E. H. Crump. In the elections, Crump began to lose power for the first time in over 20 years as Estes Kefauver won a seat in the U.S. Senate. Kefauver, who represented Tennessee in the U.S. House of Representatives, had run an anti-Crump campaign.
A constitutional convention was held in 1953, the state’s first since 1870. Voters approved all eight of the convention’s proposed amendments, which included extending the governor’s term from two to four years. Also during the 1950’s, the Republican Party began to grow in the state. In 1966, Republicans won their first statewide office in Tennessee since 1920 with the election of Howard H. Baker, Jr., to the Senate. In 1970, the voters elected their first Republican governor in 50 years, Winfield Dunn.
Political control in Tennessee shifted from rural to urban areas. The shift resulted from an increase in city populations and from a ruling by the Supreme Court of the United States. In 1962, the Supreme Court ruled in Baker v. Carr, a Tennessee case, that federal courts have legal power over state legislative apportionment. In 1964, a federal court ordered Tennessee to redraw its legislative districts. The state did so in 1965, giving equal representation according to population.
Much social change in the state concerned desegregation. Tennessee’s Constitution made it illegal for Black children and white children to attend the same schools. But in 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that compulsory segregation in public schools was illegal. Desegregation of state-supported schools began in 1956 in Clinton. State officials sent the National Guard to enforce the order.
On April 4, 1968, civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr., was murdered in Memphis. He had gone there to lead protests for striking garbage workers. James Earl Ray, an escaped convict, pleaded guilty to the crime and was sentenced to 99 years in prison.
The late 1900’s.
In 1974, the state legislature passed a sunshine law that allows the public to attend local and state government meetings. In 1978, voters approved an amendment to the state Constitution that limits spending by the state government. Another amendment adopted in 1978 made governors eligible for reelection.
In 1982, a world’s fair held in Knoxville helped promote tourism in Tennessee. Knoxville renovated 70 acres (28 hectares) of its downtown area for the event.
Despite economic progress since the mid-1900’s, the living standard of many Tennesseans remained low. To increase its job opportunities, Tennessee worked to attract new industry. In 1983, Nissan opened a new truck assembly plant at Smyrna. In 1985, the Tennessee River was connected to the Gulf of Mexico by the $2-billion Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway project. The new water passage soon began to stimulate economic growth. In 1990, General Motors opened a new automobile plant in Spring Hill.
The early 2000’s.
Foreign investments significantly improved Tennessee’s economy in the late 1900’s and early 2000’s. Manufacturers based in Asia and Europe operated facilities employing more than 100,000 workers in the state. The workers manufactured automobiles, machinery, and numerous other products. International employment trends also affected the state in other ways. In 2004, Tennessee became the first state to enact a law against outsourcing—that is, employers contracting for work to be performed outside the country. The law asked state officials to give preference for state projects to companies with U.S.-based workers.
