The Wataugans: Tennessee's First Frontier

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Synopsis

When North Carolina ceded her western lands (now Tennessee) to the Congress of the Confederation in 1784, the people west of the mountains were left without a government, especially since Congress were in no hurry to accept the cession. To provide order, justice, and security, local leaders formed the State of Franklin and attempted to become an equal member of the United States. North Carolina changed her mind about the land cession shortly after it was made, but by this point the State of Franklin already existed. For over four years the Franklinites would assert their independence by selling public lands, establishing courts, waging war, engaging in international diplomacy, and eventually devolving into civil war between the Franklinites and the Carolina loyalists. Although Franklin failed as a new state movement, it, and other (sometimes more successful) attempts to form new states on the American frontier, was one of the driving forces behind the creation of the United States Constitution and the formation of a strong federal republic.