USA > Tennessee > Williamson County > History of Tennessee, from the earliest time to the present; together with an historical and a biographical sketch of Maury, Williamson, Rutherford, Wilson, Bedford and Marshall counties, besides a valuable fund of notes, reminiscences, observations, etc., etc. Vol. 1 > Part 26
USA > Tennessee > Maury County > History of Tennessee, from the earliest time to the present; together with an historical and a biographical sketch of Maury, Williamson, Rutherford, Wilson, Bedford and Marshall counties, besides a valuable fund of notes, reminiscences, observations, etc., etc. Vol. 1 > Part 26
USA > Tennessee > Rutherford County > History of Tennessee, from the earliest time to the present; together with an historical and a biographical sketch of Maury, Williamson, Rutherford, Wilson, Bedford and Marshall counties, besides a valuable fund of notes, reminiscences, observations, etc., etc. Vol. 1 > Part 26
USA > Tennessee > Wilson County > History of Tennessee, from the earliest time to the present; together with an historical and a biographical sketch of Maury, Williamson, Rutherford, Wilson, Bedford and Marshall counties, besides a valuable fund of notes, reminiscences, observations, etc., etc. Vol. 1 > Part 26
USA > Tennessee > Bedford County > History of Tennessee, from the earliest time to the present; together with an historical and a biographical sketch of Maury, Williamson, Rutherford, Wilson, Bedford and Marshall counties, besides a valuable fund of notes, reminiscences, observations, etc., etc. Vol. 1 > Part 26
USA > Tennessee > Marshall County > History of Tennessee, from the earliest time to the present; together with an historical and a biographical sketch of Maury, Williamson, Rutherford, Wilson, Bedford and Marshall counties, besides a valuable fund of notes, reminiscences, observations, etc., etc. Vol. 1 > Part 26
USA > Tennessee > History of Tennessee from the earliest time to the present , together with an historical and a biographical sketch of from twenty-five to thirty counties of east Tennessee, besides a valuable fund of notes, original observations, reminiscences, etc., etc. V. 1 > Part 26
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that purpose, or be an aider and abettor in fighting a duel, shall be de- prived of the right to hold any office of honor or profit in this State." The new constitution established a supreme court for the State, and pro- vided that this court should consist of three judges, one of whom should reside in each of the three grand divisions of the State, the concurrence of two of whom was necessary in every case to a decision. It also pro- vided for their term of office and salary.
The above are the principal changes made in the old constitution by the convention of 1834. Its labors terminated August 30, after passing an ordinance for an election to be held on the first Thursday and Friday of March, 1835, on the question of adopting the constitution it had pre- pared. A curious provision of this ordinance was as follows: "That no person shall be deemed a qualified voter in said election except such as are included within the provisions of the first section of the fourth arti- cle of the amended constitution," according to which only free white men were allowed to vote. Thus the convention itself assumed the right and exercised the power of adopting for the people a portion of the con- stitution, the whole of which it was preparing to submit to them for their ratification or rejection. This proceeding was doubtless extra-judicial, but was defensible, if at all, on the ground that the free colored men who had hitherto exercised the right of suffrage, would most probably vote against their own disfranchisement, and thus, perhaps, render doubtful the fate of the constitution. The amended constitution was submitted to the people March 5 and 6, and was ratified by them by a vote of 42,666 for the constitution to 17,691 against it. According to the census of 1830 there were then in the State 4,511 free colored per- sons, or about 900 who, under the old constitution, were entitled to vote, which number had probably increased to 1,000 at the time of the adop- tion of the amended constitution.
The session of the convention lasted about three months and its delib- erations were characterized by great earnestness, patriotism and intelli- gence. The future good of the State was kept constantly in view, and the care and caution and even jealousy with which proposed changes were scrutinized are sufficiently indicated by the method adopted in their discussion -- each section being read, considered and voted upon four times before finally disposed of. But its crowning work was its estimate placed upon the value of education, and provision made for the perpetu- ity of the fund for the support of common schools. This estimate is clearly and forcibly expressed in the following language: "Knowledge, learning and virtue being essential to the preservation of Republican institutions, and the diffusion of the opportunities and advantages of
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education throughout the different portions of the State being highly conducive to the promotion of this end, it shall be the duty of the Gen- eral Assembly in all future periods of this Government to cherish litera- ture and science." The provision made for the perpetuity of the common school fund, and the development of the educational facilities under the new constitution are discussed and set forth in the chapter on education.
In 1853 this constitution was so amended as to provide for the elec- tion of the judges of the supreme court by the qualified voters of the State at large, and of the judges of the inferior courts by the qualified voters of the district to which such judges were assigned. An attorney- general for the State and attorney for the districts and circuits were to be elected in the same manner instead of by the Legislature. Before the conclusion of the civil war, a convention met at Nashville, January 9, 1865, and completed its labors on the 26th of the same month. By this convention the following amendments were framed and submitted to the people
That slavery and involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, are hereby forever abolished and prohibited throughout this State.
The Legislature shall make no law recognizing the right of property in man.
Other amendments were made abrogating certain features of the constitution of 1834, so as to make it consistent with the above amend- ments, and also declaring treasonable, unconstitutional, null and void, the declaration of independence of Tennessee, and the ordinance dis- solving the Federal relations between Tennessee and the United States of America, passed and promulgated May 6, 1861.
The present constitution was prepared by a convention held in Nash- ville January, 1870, and which ended its labors February 23, 1870. The first change made was in Article I, Section 4, which in the constitu- tion of 1834 reads: "No religious test shall ever be required as a qualifi- cation to any office or public trust under this State." In the constitution of 1870 this section reads, "No political or religious test, other than an oath to support the constitution of the United States and of this State, shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under this State." Section 5 of this article, "That elections shall be free and equal," was amended by adding the following words: "And the right of suffrage, as heretofore declared, shall never be denied to any per- son entitled thereto, except upon conviction by a jury of some infamous crime, previously ascertained and declared by law and judgment thereon by a court of competent jurisdiction." Section 6, reading "That the right of trial by jury shall remain inviolate," was amended by adding
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"and no religious or political test shall ever be required as a qualifica- tion for "jurors." Section 8, "That no free man shall be taken or imprisoned or disseized of his freehold, liberties or privileges," etc., was amended by omitting the word "free." Section 18 was amended so as to read: "The Legislature shall pass no law authorizing imprisonment for debt in civil cases."
In the legislative department of the constitution, important changes were made. Counties and incorporated towns were forbidden to lend their credit to, or to become stockholders in, any incorporation, except upon a three-fourths majority of the vote cast at an election upon the question, and the credit of the State was forbidden to be given to any company, incorporation or municipality. No bonds of the State can be issued to any railroad company, which at the time of its application for the same is in default in payment of interest upon the State bonds previously loaned to it, or that previously to such application shall have sold any State bonds loaned to it at less than par. In the executive department the principal change made was in conferring upon the governor the veto power. The qualifications of electors were so changed as to confer the suffrage on every male person of the age of twenty-one years, resident in the State one year and in the county six months who had paid his poll tax. The supreme court was changed so as to consist of five judges instead of three, of whom not more than two may reside in any one of the grand divisions of the State. The judges themselves are required to elect one of their own number chief justice.
One of the miscellaneous provisions of the present constitution is as follows: "The Legislature shall have no power to authorize lotteries for any purpose, and shall pass laws to prohibit the sale of lottery tick- ets within this State." A provision was also inserted under which each head of a family is entitled to a homestead of the value of $1,000, ex- empt from sale for debt, except for public taxes and the purchase price of the homestead, which may be retained by the widow and minor chil- dren so long as occupied by them. The intermarriage of white persons with negroes or mulattoes, or persons of mixed blood descending from a negro to the third generation inclusive, is prohibited under this consti- tution. The vote on the ratification of this new constitution was taken March 26, 1870, and resulted as follows: For the constitution, 98,128: against it, 33,872. In East Tennessee, 15,678; against it, 17,155. Middle Tennessee, 48,503; against it, 7,190. West Tennessee, 33,947; against it, 9,527.
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CHAPTER VIII .*
GROWTHI AND DEVELOPMENT-IMPERFECT AGRICULTURAL METHODS-PRODUC- TIONS FOR MARKET-SUPPLY FOR HOME CONSUMPTION-ADOPTION OF IM- PROVED AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS -- COMPARISON OF THE THREE GRAND DIVISIONS OF THE STATE IN CROPS AND PROGRESS-THE STAPLE PRODUCTS- THE GREAT RANGE OF PRODUCTIONS AND THE REASON-FRUIT, GRAIN, TO- BACCO, COTTON, PEANUTS, HAY, HEMP, FLAX, SORGHUM, LIVE-STOCK AND MISCELLANEOUS PRODUCTS-INTRODUCTION OF THE COTTON-GIN-PURCHASE OF THE PATENT BY THE LEGISLATURE-THE LABOR QUESTION AND THE COST OF PRODUCTION-FERTILIZATION AND STATISTICS.
T TENNESSEE is so happily situated geographically and topographic- ally that her fields yield in greater or less abundance nearly every product of the temperate zones, and it is doubtful if any other State in the Union possesses equal agricultural resources. Yet the condition of agriculture in the State has not been so prosperous as the nature of the soil, the variety of the products and the salubrity of the climate should insure. This is due partly to the agricultural methods, which have been in the main quite primitive, and partly to the fact that in Middle and West Tennessee especially, the attention of farmers has been directed to one or two crops to the almost utter exclusion of all others. It is true that before the war these farmers were the most thriving in the State and that many of their farms were in a high state of cultivation and improve- ment, but this mode of agriculture could succeed and prove profitable only under a well regulated and well disciplined system of slave labor. The great civil convulsion which overturned the social system of the South wrought most disastrous changes among the land owners and farmers, and many years have been required for them to recover from the effects, and to adapt themselves to the new condition of society.
There is a widely marked and striking difference in the three divis- ions of the State in the economical management of the farmers. The most distinguishing characteristic of the average farmer in East Tennes- see is the effort which he makes to supply what may be required for his own consumption. It is not uncommon on a small farm to see a patch of cotton, which the women of the household work up into cloth; a spot given to tobacco for home consumption; a field of sorghum, from which
*Compiled from Killebrew's "Resources of Tennessee." "Revised Hand Book of Tennessee," census and other reports, and collected by the writer from numerous original and reliable sources.
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syrup is made for domestic use; a few acres of wheat are raised for flour; corn and oats or hay to feed the stock, which usually consist of a few sheep, to supply wool for winter clothes; cows, from which a consider- able revenue is derived by the manufacture of butter, and a brood-mare or two, from which the farmer rears his mules and horses for farm use. Besides these an abundance of the staple vegetables and of all kinds of poultry are raised. A few bee-hives and an apple and peach orchard are the necessary adjunct to nine-tenths of the farms in East Tennessee. The most striking fact in the farming operations of that division is that no money crop is raised. Tobacco, cotton, corn and hay are all grown in small quantities, not so much for sale as for use. The amount of money realized by the average farmer of East Tennessee is exceedingly small, and yet the people in no portion of the State live so well or have their tables so bountifully furnished. Many a farmer, who lives like a lord at his table, does not realize $200 in money from his farm in a year, and this comes mainly from the sale of feathers, chickens, eggs, dried fruit and occasionally a few cattle or mules. Indeed, with their strict habits of economy, they have but little use for money. The wool and cotton, by the patient industry of the female members of the family, are wrought into cloth. A few hides from the beeves are tanned and made into shoes. Salt, coffee and sugar comprise almost the sum total of pur- chases, while a few dollars are required to meet the demands of the tax- gatherer.
The use of improved machinery, except in the valley lands, is impos- sible on the farms in East Tennessee; consequently the implements are very inexpensive, and are frequently made at the neighboring blacksmith shop. The valley farms, however, are usually supplied with all the ma- chinery to be found upon the best farms in the other portions of the State. The growing of corn and wheat for a long period in East Tennes- see, without proper rotation, resting or clovering, has greatly impaired the fertility of the soil; yet there is no better land anywhere for clover, and the rich, red ferruginous subsoils, resting in the valleys on the lime- stone rock, are susceptible of being kept up to a high point of fertility if properly managed. Although a small minority of the farmers are content to plant, work and gather their crops just as did their fathers and grandfathers before them, under the lead of a few intelligent farm- ers, and the inspiration of the East Tennessee Farmers' Convention, great changes for the better have been wrought within the past few years. Improved breeds of cattle, sheep and hogs, and better methods of cultiva- tion have been pretty generally introduced. When this spirit of progress and improvement shall have become general, East Tennessee will rival
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any other portion of the Union in the variety and wealth of its agricult- ural products.
Unlike his brother in East Tennessee, the farmer of the middle division, especially in the Central Basin and the richer portions of the Highlands, aims to have in addition to the food crops, a "money crop" , of either tobacco, cotton or peanuts. His anxiety is greater to secure the former than the latter, for his domestic habits are not such as to enable him to dispense with money to the same extent as the farmer of East Tennessee. As a usual rule, except in places remote from town, he does not manufacture his clothes at home, but buys them. He does not pay as much attention to the smaller industries, nor is his every day table supplied with such a variety of food. Milk and butter he usually pro- duces in abundance for home consumption, but unless in the dairy busi- ness he does not aim to produce a surplus for market. While .his orchards may cover more acres, his orchard products are less remunera- tive. Fowls are raised in large quantities, but the money for them belongs to the housewife, and does not enter into his bills receivable. His thoughts center in his money crops, and everything, even the appear- ance of his farm, must yield to the imperative demands of such crops. He feels no disappointment at having no corn or pork to sell. He aims to make a supply. If there is a surplus he rejoices, if not, he remains contented. Heknows and appreciates the value of labor-saving machinery, and his farm is usually well supplied with the best of implements. His work-stock are the best his purse will enable him to buy. He also inherits a love for a good saddle horse. He rejoices in a good cotton- gin, or tobacco screw, gin house or tobacco barn, and will take infinitely more pains to exhibit these than he will his dwelling, although his dwelling may be tasteful and elegant in its surroundings. He is fond too of a good stable, with a bounteous supply of provender, though stables and everything else must yield to the exactions of his "money crop." If a stock raiser, everything is subordinated to that, it being the "money crop." The possession of a heavy purse once a year is the dream of his existence. Energetic, thoughtful, intelligent and pains- taking, he prospered under a different condition of things. He prospers yet, when able to take the front row or to carry on his farm in a system- atic and orderly manner. He is not so careful of his land now as before the war; he does not value it so highly. He can be tempted to rent out fields that in the regular order should be rested. Sometimes his clover seed runs short, and he prefers to let the unsown fields lie fallow rather than to incur further expense. He is not so particular about having his fence corners clean as formerly. He is in a manner disheartened because he
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can rely upon no regular supply of labor. His enthusiasm is greatly chilled by the course of events, and yet he will confess that in a good season with good hands his profits are as great and as satisfactory as ever.
The farms in Middle Tennessee, as a general thing, are much better improved than in the other divisions. The dwelling houses are good. many of them elegant, some of them princely. Stock raising and cotton growing in this central basin are the favorite branches of industry. Fine stock, horses, cattle, hogs and sheep of the most approved breeds are to be found in every county. On the Highlands surrounding the basin, peanuts, tobacco, wheat and fruits are the favorite crops. The average farmer of lower West Tennessee aspires to be a planter. He loves to see many broad acres in cultivation. He is ambitious, industrious, care- less and energetic. He cares for nothing so much as to see his cotton fields flourishing. He does not try to raise his supplies, but stoutly maintains that he can buy them cheaper than he can make them. Debt has no such terrors for him as for the East, Tennessee farmer, He will stake his all upon the prospects for cotton; chicken, eggs, butter, corn, wheat, hay, meat-all these are little things and cotton will buy them. Cotton is the great mogul of all the crops. It controls all and buys all. Land, teams, tools are as nothing, compared with the lordly bales rolled out from the gin house. Gullies may wash, fences may rot, houses may fall to decay, but cotton must be raised. A big crop of cotton will buy fresh fields with virgin soil elsewhere. Taking care of land and resting it may do for the farmer elsewhere, but time is too valuable to be wasted in this way by the average West Tennessee farmer. He can and does spend money for fertilizers, and they are used where the cotton crop will get the full benefit. He will crop out his land, or rent it out, payable in cotton, but rarely in money. He is inclined to be more cosmopolitan than his brothers of the other divisions, yet he cherishes a high regard for his State, but would cherish it still more. if it would produce more cotton.
. In the more northern counties of West Tennessee, however, the average farmer is very much like the Middle Tennessee farmer. He has his money crop, but he takes an interest in working supplies enough for home consumption. He is careful of his soil, and feeds and nurses it with clover. He takes great delight in his corn crop until his tobacco plants begin to press him, then the corn must stand second in his affec- tions. He loves his hay fields, but his tobacco fields better. He is fond of rich soil and studies the aptitudes and capacities of the different vari- eties, and plants his various crops so that each may have the most con-
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genial soil. There is no better farmer in the State than the farmer of northern West Tennessee. He raises a surplus of all food crops, but pays little attention to the smaller industries. He is fond of good stock, especially good hogs, which his magnificent corn crops enable him to rear in great quantities. He keeps up his improvements and has a lively faith in the future of the State.
The many varieties of soil and the difference of elevation give to Ten- nessee a very wide range in its agricultural products. Assuming that an elevation of 333 feet is equivalent, so far as temperature is concerned to one degree of latitude, it will be seen that the highest clime of the Unakas in the East differ from the low lands of the Mississippi by near- ly fifteen degrees of latitude; the one having a semi-tropical climate and the other that of Canada. The soils do not differ less than the climate. Upon them can be grown the sweet potato of the South and the Irish potato of the North, both in remunerative quantities, and of excellent quality. Peaches that attain their luscious sweetness in a sunny climate find in the State a congenial home, where they are brought to their high- est perfection. Apples, upon the elevated lands, bear as profusely and ripen as deliciously as in the great apple growing region of Ohio or Michigan. Grapes of many varieties bear in unsurpassed luxuriance up- on the sunny slopes and rich hills in every part of the State. Plums, apricots, pears, nectarines and cherries flourish and yield in pro- fusion. Even the fig, in sheltered places, may be brought to maturity in the open air. Those more common, but not less useful fruits, the blackberry, raspberry and the dewberry are indigenous throughout the State. In the woods and in the fields, on poor soil and on rich, covering the mountain tops and flourishing in the alluvial bottoms, the blackber- ยท ry bush supplies a rich, healthy and delicious fruit, and in quantities sufficient to supply ten times the present population. So numerous and so excellent are the berries, that pickers are sent out from Cincimiati and from other northern towns to gather and ship the fruit. The rasp- berry and dewberry grow wild, and yield abundantly. The cranberry grows wild in the elevated swampy places of Johnson County, and but for want of facilities for transportation could be made a source of great profit. Of the great staple products, corn should, perhaps, be ranked first, although as a "money crop" it is subordinate to both cotton and tobacco. Tennessee now ranks ninth as a corn growing State. In 1840 she stood first. The average annual production of this cereal is not far from 50,000,000 bushels. The great central basin of Middle Tennessee, the rich valleys of East, and the low lands of West Tennessee raise enor- mnous crops of this grain and the quality is greatly superior to that grown
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in higher or lower latitude. The grain matures earlier than in the North and dries thoroughly, fitting it to make a superior quality of meal, and it is noted for its freedom from rot. The average yield per acre for the State is about twenty-three bushels; but this average is low, due to the pernicious habit in some parts of the State of planting the same land year after year in this exhaustive crop without manure. Among the best farmers, those who practice rotation and clovering, the average yield is not far from forty bushels. The rent paid for some of the bottom lands on the upper Tennessee, is twenty and sometimes thirty bushels of corn per acre, and the yield often reaches seventy-five, and in some rare instances, 100 bushels per acre.
Of the cereals, wheat ranks next in importance to corn. The usual quantity of wheat raised varies from 5,000,000 to 10,000,000 bushels, with a large average yield per acre. About 1,000,000 acres are sown annually. The best wheat growing portions of the State are to be found in the upper counties of the valley of East Tennessee, the counties ly- ing on the north side of the Highland Rim, the northern counties of West Tennessee, and the rolling lands of the central basin. The average yield in these regions is not far from fifteen bushels. Though the yield of wheat is far from being what a thorough preparation of the land and early seeding could make it, yet the excellence of the berry compensates in some degree for the scantiness in the yield. The flour made of Tennes- . see wheat commands in every market a superior price. It has been esti- mated that at least one-half of the flour exported to Brazil and other inter-tropical countries is manufactured from wheat grown south of the Ohio and Susquehanna Rivers. There is a peculiarity in the flour which enables it to resist damp, and it remains fresh and sweet when flour made from wheat grown in high latitudes becomes sour and worth- less. It also has the capacity of absorbing more water, and retaining it in the baking process, giving a greater number of pounds of bread for a given number of pounds of flour. All the nutritive elements are fully developed in the wheat of Tennessee, and, maturing a month earlier than the wheat crop of New York, it commands a ready market at good prices.
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The annual production of oats in Tennessee amounts to about 5,000,- 000 bushels. The best authorities put the yield at sixteen bushels per acre, but the primitive methods employed in separating the straw from the grain leave a large portion of the latter adhering to the straw. Twenty-five bushels per acre can be grown upon any soils in any portion of the State that have not been impoverished by bad tillage. Even upon the thin, barren, flat lands that are found in some portions of Lewis, Lawrence, Coffee and other counties, oats grow with a prodigal luxuri-
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