USA > Tennessee > The Annals of Tennessee to the End of the Eighteenth Century: Comprising Its Settlement, as the. > Part 64
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A further privilege was granted to these inhabitants. " Until a Land Office shall be opened, so as to enable the citizens south of French Broad and Holston, between the Rivers Tennessee and Big Pigeon, to obtain titles upon their claims of occupancy and pre-emption, those who hold land, by virtue of such claims, shall be eligible to serve in all capacities where a freehold is, by this Constitution, made a , requisite qualification."
. It is tradition, that the beautiful name given to our State, in the Convention, was suggested by General Jackson. The members from the county of Tennessee consented to the loss of that name, if it should be transferred to the whole State. Its principal river still retained its aboriginal name, and the Convention adopted it, in preference to others that were spoken of. In euphony and smoothness, it compares well with those of her sister coterminous states, Alabama, Missis- sippi, Arkansas, Missouri and Kentucky ; and, at the same time, is more American, less European, than her venerable mother, Carolina, or Virginia and Georgia.
The Convention had approached nearly to the end of its labours, Saturday, February 6, 1796.
" Mr. McClung, Chairman of the Committee"appointed to draw up an estimate of the expenses of the Convention, reported the following esti- mate of the wages of the Convention, clerks and door-keeper, began and held at Knoxville on the 11th day of January, and ending the 6th day of February, 1796, allowing one dollar and fifty cents per day for each member, and one dollar for every thirty miles' travelling to and returning from the same, agreeably to a unanimous resolution of the Convention of the 12th January; two dollars and fifty cents per day to the clerks, and two dollars to the door-keeper."
In addition to the per diem of the members and officers of the Convention, an estimate was made
For seats for the Convention. $10 00 Three and a half yards of oil cloth, 2 62
656 CONSTITUTION OF TENNESSEE FORWARDED
So small was the expenditure of a primitive people for the furniture of the Convention Chamber, and the covering of the President's and Secretary's tables. They were in ex- act correspondence with the room in which the session was held. It was the office of David Henley, Esq., Agent of the Department of War, a small building then in the outer part of Knoxville, and still surrounded by standing trees of the ancient forest. It was afterwards used as a school house. The older citizens can point out to the curious where the old Convention-house stood, but no vestige of it has been pre- served. The vandalism of modern times has razed its foun- dation, and consigned it to oblivion.
The Convention had generously relinquished a large pro- portion of the daily pay of its own members, and they re- commended the application of that amount to the following purposes :
" Resolved, That it is the unanimous wish of the members of this Convention, that the monies appropriated to their use by law, and not by them received, may be appropiated by the General Assembly to the payment of the secretary, clerk, printer and door-keeper, or so much thereof as will be sufficient to pay them for their services; and that the printer be directed to print fifty copies of the Constitution, and ten copies of the Journal for each county, to be delivered to the members of this Convention, and by them to be distributed for the information and bene- fit of the citizens."*
The President of the Convention was instructed " to take the Constitution into his safe keeping, until a Secretary shall be appointed and qualified to office under it, and then to de- liver it to him," and also to " forward, as early as practica- ble, by an express, a copy to the Secretary of State for the United States." The President was further " authorized and directed to issue writs of election to Sheriffs of the several counties, for holding the first election of members of the General Assembly, and a Governor, under the authority of the Constitution of the State of Tennessee, to bear test of this date."
" This small edition was, of course, soon exhausted, and at the time of this wri- ting, a copy can scarcely be found. The writer is indebted, for the copy now before him, to the politeness and research of the Hon. Chancellor Reese, President of the East Tennessee Historical and Antiquarian Society.
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657
' TO SECRETARY OF STATE.
. Agreeably to these instructions of the Convention, the President promptly forwarded, on the 9th of February, a copy of the Constitution to Mr. Pickering, as Secretary of State. It was sent by one of the members from Hawkins county, Joseph McMinn, Esq., who was instructed to remain long enough at the seat of the Federal Government, to ascertain whether the members of Congress from Tennessee would be allowed to take their seats in the National Legislature. Mr. White, the Territorial delegate in that body, was urged by Mr. McMinn, to apply for the admission of the State of Tennessee into the Union.
The Constitution of the State of Tennessee, as formed by the Convention of 1796, need not be here given, as it is to be found at large in several political compilations. It is ad- mitted to be one of the very best-Mr. Jefferson said, "the least imperfect and most republican"- of the systems of go- vernment adopted by any of the American States. For about forty years it was considered so unobjectionable, and so satisfactory to the people of Tennessee, that all efforts to amend it failed to receive their sanction till 1835, when it was changed, and the present Constitution substituted in its stead.
FIRST LEGISLATURE OF TENNESSEE.
Writs of election, bearing date the 6th of February, were issued by the President of the Convention to the Sheriffs of the several counties, requiring them to hold the first election of members of the General Assembly, and Governor of the State of Tennessee, and designating the 28th of March, as the day on which the new Legislature of the new State should assemble. The election was held accordingly, and the members elect were furnished by the returning officers of their respective counties with the necessary credentials. Upon the day appointed, the Legislature met at Knoxville. The following members constituted the
SENATE. James Ford, from the county of Tennessee. James Winchester, 42
6€ Sumner.
658 FIRST LEGISLATURE OF TENEMOSEL.
James White, from the county of Knox.
George Doherty,
3 Jefferson:
Samuel Frazier,
& Greene. ""
John Tipton,
Washington.
George Rutledge,
Sullivan.
John Clack,
₩
Sevier.
Alexander Kelly,
Blount.
Joel Lewis,
Davidson.
Joseph McMinn, K
Hawkins.
Mr. White proposed for Speaker, James Winchester, Esq .. who was unanimously chosen and conducted to the chair.
March 29 .- Francis A. Ramsey was appointed Clerk; Nathaniel Buckingham, Assistant Clerk ; Thomas Bounds, Door-keeper.
THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.
James Houston and Joseph Black, from' the county of Blount.
Robert Weakley and Seth Lewis, from the county of Da -. vidson.
Joseph Conway and John Gass, from the county of Greene. John Cocke and Thomas Henderson, from the county of Hawkins.
Alexander Outlaw and Adam Peck, from the county of Jefferson.
John Menefee and John Crawford, from the county of Knox. John Rhea and David Looney, from the county of Sullivan. Spencer Clack and Samuel Newell, from the county of Sevier.
Stephen Cantrell and William Montgomery, from the county of Sumner.
Thomas Johnston and William Ford, from the county of Tennessee.
John Blair and James Stuart, from the county of Wash- ington.
James Stuart was unanimously chosen Speaker ; Thomas H. Williams, Clerk ; John Sevier, Jun., Assistant Clerk ; John Rhea, Door-keeper.
The organization of the two Houses being thus com-
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659
JOHN SEVIER INAUGURATED GOVERNOR.
pleted, communications were exchanged between them, that each was ready to proceed to business.
The two Houses met in the Representative Chamber, for the purpose of opening and publishing the returns of the elections in the severat counties for Governor. From these, "it appears that citizen John Sevier is duly and constitu- tionally elected Governor of this State, which was accord- ingly announced by the Speaker of the Senate, in presence ef both Houses of the General Assembly."
The same day, a Joint Committee, viz : Lewis, Ford and Kelly, of the Senate, and Outlaw, Blair, Cocke, Johnston, Newell and Fort, of the House, was raised, "to wait on his Excellency John Sevier, and request his attendance in the House of Representatives, to-morrow, at 12 o'clock, to be qualified agreeably to the Constitution of the State of Ten- nessee."
Another Joint Committee was directed also to wait upon Governor Blount, to inform him of the time and place ap- pointed for the qualification of his successor in office, and to request his attendance there. By another Committee an oath of office was prescribed, to be administered to the Go- vernor elect. Some conflict of opinion existed between the two Houses, respecting the qualification of the Governor by the Judges, the Senate insisting that that duty devolved upon their Clerk. Upon a reconsideration, however, the Senate concurred in appointing a Committee "to wait upon the Judges, and request their attendance to qualify the Governor.',
March 30th .- " Both Houses having convened in the Re- presentative Chamber, the several oaths prescribed were duly administered by the Honourable Joseph Anderson."
After his inauguration, Governor Sevier presented the fol- lowing address :
"Gentlemen of the Senate and House of Representatives :- The high and honourable appointment conferred upon me by the free suffrage of my countrymen, fills my breast with gratitude, which, I trust, my future Mfe will manifest. I take this early opportunity to express, through you, my thanks in the strongest terms of acknowledgment. I shall labour to discharge with fidelity the trust reposed in me ; and if such my exer- tione should prove satisfactory, the first wish of my heart will be grati- fied.
660
ELECTION OF SENATORS FROM TENNESSEE.
" Gentlemen-accept of my best wishes for your individual and public happiness ; and, relying upon your wisdom and patriotism, I have no doubt but the result of your deliberations will give permanency and success to our new system of government, so wisely calculated to secure the liberty, and advance the happiness and prosperity of our fellow citi- zens. JOHN SEVIER."
The machinery of the new State was not yet fully in mo- tion. Its Legislature was organized and in session-its Go- vernor had just been inaugurated according to the forms prescribed by the Constitution-but its sovereignty was not represented in the councils of the Union. The duty remained unperformed, of electing Senators for the State of Tennessee to the Congress of the United States. The mode adopted, in 1796, was somewhat different from that which obtains in the present day.
" Mr. Speaker and Gentlemen of the Senate :- This House propose to proceed to the election of the two Senators to represent this State in the Congress of the United States, and that the Senate and House of Representatives do convene in the House of Representatives for that purpose to-morrow, at 10 o'clock, and do propose Mr. William Blount, Mr. William Cocke and Mr. Joseph Anderson, as candidates for the Se- nate."
The Senate replied:
" Mr. Speaker and Gentlemen :- We concur with your message as to the time and place of the election by you proposed, and propose Dr. James White* to be added to the nomination, as a candidate for the Senate.
"The Senate and House of Representatives having convened in the Representative Chamber, William Blount and William Cocke were duly and constitutionally elected."
A Joint Committee was then appointed "to prepare an address to Messrs. William Blount and William Cocke, in- forming them of their being elected to represent this State in the Congress of the United States." Mr. White, Chair- man of that Committee, reported the following address :
Citizen WILLIAM BLOUNT, late Governor of the Territory of the United States of America, south of the River Ohio:
Sir :- Impressed with the grateful remembrance of your conduct du- ring the time you was Governor of the Territory south of the River Ohio, now the State of Tennessee, the General Assembly of the said
* Judge Anderson and Dr. White were subsequently withdrawn by messages duly interchanged between the two Houses.
661
ADDRESS OF THE LEGISLATURE TO THE SENATORS.
State, in the name of the people thereof, over whom you formerly pre- sided, embrace the earliest moment to testify to you their entire appro- bation of your conduct and attention to promote their happiness during your continuance in that office, the exercise of which was rendered more difficult and arduous, by the frequent inroads of the neighbouring na- tions of Indians. We recollect, with pleasure, that under your admin- istration, we, as a people, have experienced growing energy and in- creasing power. That your exertions, in subordination to the Federal Government, have been the cause of the present peace, which for some time past, has existed between us and the adjoining Indian tribes, and which, we hope, will long exist, on the principles you have established.
The Territorial Government now being ended, we will only say, in respect thereof, that if the exercise, alone, of a Government, constituted on the principles it was, could render a people happy under it, we should have been so. We rejoice that while. the Territorial Government has closed with honour to you, it has left us in a state of prosperity and peace.
You are now, sir, called by the unanimous voice of a free people, to represent them in the Senate of the United States of America-the highest proof in their power to offer, of their confidence in your integ- rity and ability to serve them.
JAMES WHITE, Chairman.
To the other Senator elect, the committee presented the following address :
Citizen . William Cocke :- Your fellow-citizens have called you to represent them in the Senate of the United States of America. Im- pressed with recollections of your past conduct, from an early period of the settlement of our common country, they have given you this testi- mony of the confidence they repose in your integrity and abilities to serve them.
JAMES WHITE, Chairman.
To these addresses, citizen Blount and citizen Cocke re- plied. Mr. Blount says :
Mr. Speaker and Gentlemen of the Senate, and Mr. Speaker and Gen- tlemen of the House of Representatives :
The entire approbation of the people, of my conduct in office, by you testified, is the highest reward I could receive. Accept, gentlemen, my thanks for the prompt and warm manner in which you have been pleased to convey it to me.
With you I hope that the peace which exists between the citizens of the United States and the Indian tribes will long continue; as in peace con- sists the happiness and prosperity of both parties ; and thus impressed, it shall be my duty, in whatever situation I may be placed, to use my efforts to its preservation.
I feel, as I ought, the unanimous call of my fellow-citizens, to repre- sent them in the Senate of the United States, and shall devote myself
ALBOTION. OF JUDGES AND OTHER OFFICERA,.
to the promotion of their interests, as far as is consistent with that of the whole body politic, of which they are a part. Accept, gentlemen, my best wishes for your individual happiness.
WM. BLOUNT. .. Mr. Cocke's reply : ..
. Gentlemen :- I accept of the appointment conferred upon me by the General Assembly. It will be my first, my greatest with, to promote the interests of our common country. The honour of serving a free and enlightened people, is truly flattering, and my highest reward will con- sist in my conduct continuing to meet their approbation.
Accept, gentlemen, my respects. WILLIAM COOKE JAMES STUART, S. H. R.
. JAMES WINCHESTER, S. S.,
. William Maclin was elected Secretary of State ; Jeba McNairy, Willie Blount and Archibald Roane were elected Judges of the Superior Courts of Law and Equity.
Landon Carter was elected Treasurer of the Distriots of Washington and Hamilton, and William Black, Treasurer of the District of Mero.
The condition of the citizens of Tennessee inhabiting the section of the State south of French Broad and Holston, was peculiar. It had been settled partly under treaties with the Indians, held under the authority of the State of Franklin. The inhabitants were yet without perfect titles to their lands, and holding them only by the right of occupancy, were ap- prehensive of future disturbance. Governor Sevier early brought the subject before the Legislature by the following message :
Mr. Speaker and Gentlemen of the Legislature :
Permit me to remark to your honourable body, that, as our Senators are about to proceed to the Federal Legislature, it may not be inexpe- dient to remind them of the necessity of taking under consideration, the embarrassed situation, claimants of land are under, to those south of the line concluded on in the treaty of Holston, and now within the In- dian boundary.
In my humble opinion, it is a matter of great public importance, and particularly interesting to the State and to individuals, to either have the
"John McNairy declined this appointment, and Howell Tatum, Faq, of David- son, was commissioned in his place, May 12th, 1797. Willie Blount also declined, and his place was filled by W. C. C. Claiborne, of Sullivan county, commissioned September 28th, 1796. April 9th, 1796 .- John C. Hamilton, Esq., was appoint- ed Attorney for the State, vice Howell Tatum, appointed Judge.
683
INSTRUCTION TO SENATORS.
Indian claims extinguished, or the adventurers compensated for their lands.
I have no doubt but you will take the premises under due delibera- tion, and give your Senators such instructions as you, in your wisdom, may deem necessary and advisable.
JOHN SEVIER.
The subject was at once referred to a Select Committee, who reported the following resolution-
Resolved, That it be an instruction to the Senators and Representa- tives of this State in the Congress of the United States, to state to that body, that it is essential to the preservation of peace, between the In- dian Tribes and the United States, that measures be by them taken to relieve and quiet the grantees of lands under the State of North-Caro- lina, the possession of which is guaranteed to the Indians by treaty, which claim we wish extinguished, and the claimants put in peaceable possession of their lands.
THOMAS JOHNSON, Ch.
The bill to preclude persons of a certain description, from being admit- ted as witnesses, &c., was then taken up, to which Mr. Gass proposed the following amendment : Be it enacted, by the General Assembly of the State of Tennessee-That from and after the passing of this Act, if any person in this State shall publicly deny the being of a God, and a future state of rewards and punishments, or shall publicly deny the divine authority of the Old and New Testaments, on being convicted thereof, by the testimony of two witnesses, shall forfeit and pay the sum of dollars for every such offence, etc.
The foregoing amendment being received, the question was taken on the passage of the amended bill, which was carried. Whereupon the yeas and nays were called for-
Yeas .- Blair, Black, Conway, Clack, Crawford, Gass, Houston, Johnson, Looney, Montgomery, Newell, Outlaw, Peck and Weakley.
Nays .- Cantrell, Cocke, Fort, Henderson, Lewis, Menefee and Rhea. Mr. Lewis entered the following protest-
To this question we enter our dissent, as we conceived the law to be an inferior species of persecution, which is always a violation of the law of nature; and also that it is a violation of our constitution.
SETH LEWIS, JOHN COCKE, WILLIAM FORT, JOHN RHEA, STEPHEN CANTRELL, JOHN MENEFEE, THOMAS HENDERSON.
The bill, with the amendment, was, upon its first reading in the Senate, rejected.
Electors of President and Vice-President of the United States, were elected by joint ballot of the two Houses, and
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664
ROBERTSON AND MONTGOMERY LAID OFF
not by the people, as now provided for in Tennessee and most of the other States. Joseph Greer, Daniel Smith, Hugh Neilson and Joseph Anderson, were elected.
Upon the same day, Hopkins Lacy was elected Attorney- General for Washington District ; John Lowry for Hamil- ton, and Howell Tatum, for Mero District.
The day preceding the adjournment of the Legislature, Go- vernor Sevier, by message, brought to the attention of the Legislature, the condition of the frontier, and recommended friendship with the Indians, as the principal mode of security and defence. He notices the large emigration to the State, and that the soldiers of the late campaigns were still un- paid for their services ; he proposes, with the leave of the Leg- islature, to attend in person at the next session of Congress, to urge upon that body the payment to the troops for their hazardous and toilsome services."
To which a Joint Committee, appointed for that purpose, replied-That while they were sensible of the necessity of preserving the existing peace, and were most solicitous that Congress should not only provide for the defence of the fron- tier, but also make full compensation for the payment of the troops heretofore employed in that service, yet they did not advise the visit of the Governor to Congress, and suggested that the duty he proposed to assume in that behalf, should be devolved on the members of Congress from Tennessee.
At this session, Tennessee county was divided, and the counties of Robertson and Montgomery established out of its territory. The former was so named in honour of Gen- eral James Robertson, the patriarch of Watauga and the founder of the Cumberland settlements. He was a native of North-Carolina, and emigrated to Watauga in 1769. These Annals have abounded with incidents of his life, per- formed in the civil, political and military service of his coun- try, in every period of difficulty, embarrassment and danger. His efforts, in a more private capacity, to benefit his fellow- citizens were disinterested, great and unremitted. ". He treated the Indians, when known enemies, as the enemies of his country ; when known friends of peace, as its friends. His fellow men he treated as such, according to known
665
OUT OF TENNESSEE COUNTY.
merit-for the errors of the misguided, he exercised charity to a proper extent-those hardened in vice, he let the law punish. He practised virtue, and encouraged it in others ; vice he discountenanced, by precept and by example. His house, and all he had, were opened freely to the distressed of every condition. He loved his friends, and he held his enemies at defiance. To his wife he was indebted for a knowledge of the alphabet, and for instruction how to read and write. To his Creator he was indebted for rich mental endowments-to himself, for mental improvement. To his God was he indebted for that firmness and indomitable courage, which the circumstances that surrounded him, called so constantly into exercise,"" Besides the civil and politi- cal positions which General Robertson occupied, as already mentioned, in the Watauga Association, in the Legislature and Convention of North-Carolina, the Territory, and the State of Tennessee, he was Deputy Superintendent on the part f the United States, for the Chickasaw and Choctaw Tribes ; and was several times appointed to treat with the southern Indians, for a relinquishment of their claims to land in the South-west. Previous to and at the time of his death, Gen. Robertson was the United States Agent to the Chickasaw nation. A detail of his acts in behalf of his country, and an enumeration of his sufferings, by personal exposure, in the wilderness, in the field of battle, in the besieged fort and the assaulted station, in losses of relatives and of private pro perty, would fill a volume. He was faithful to his God, his country and his fellow men. The memory of no one is held in greater esteem and veneration, than that of James Robert- son.
. William Johnston, Sen., James Norflet, John Young, John Donelson and Samuel Crocket, were Commisioners to lay off the county seat for Robertson County. The first court was held at the house of Jacob McCarty. The county was attached to Mero District. On the 20th of April, Springfield was established as the seat of justice for Robertson county.
Montgomery embraced the remainder of Tennessee county,
. Blount's Papers.
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666
CARTER COUNTY LAID OFF.
and was called after Col. John Montgomery, a native of Virginia. He emigrated early to the West, and became a member of the North-Carolina Legislature, and also of the Convention of that State, which ratified the Constitution of the United States. Besides the civil appointments which he filled, he was colonel of the militia of his county, and led more than two hundred of his fellow soldiers in the Nicka- jack campaign. He was a patriot and a hero, and lost his life in giving protection to the frontier. Clarkesville, the county seat, was so called in honour of Gen. George Rogers Clarke. George Neville, Sen., Francis Prince, Heyden Wells, Robert Edmonson and Robert Dunning, were appointed by the Legislature, to erect public buildings in Clarkesville.
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