USA > Tennessee > The civil and political history of the state of Tennessee from its earliest settlement up to the year 1796 : including the boundaries of the state > Part 47
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Titsworth believed they had desisted from war at the interces- sion of the Spaniards, Mr. Seagrove, and the Choctaws.
In September Col. White had been in the nation to procure the restoration of his niece, Sally Wilson. He was satisfied that the nation generally were more sincere in wishing for peace than they ever had been since the commencement of the Amer- ican war.
On the 11th of October the Governor stated to Mr. Dorris, who applied for a guard to escort him through the wilderness, that peace with the Creeks and Cherokees then existed not only in name and upon paper, but in reality.
On the 18th of October, at a very full meeting of the Cherokee and Creek chiefs, conferences were begun and continued for sev- eral days between Gov. Blount and them. A universal peace was agreed upon in the most solemn manner, and a dereliction of all claims to lands thereto ceded by any of the four southern tribes. They agreed, upon the last day of April, 1796, for run- ning the line. Scolacutta held a belt of beads to the Creeks to take hold of, which they did. He strongly recommended to the Creeks to persevere in peace. "All people," said he, "are mak- ing peace. The northern people are forced to it, from whom you used to receive the bloody tobacco and to smoke it." He presented them with beads to distribute in the towns as they went home, and tobacco; and desired them, when smoking, to think of the good talks held at that place. He also presented them a pipe to take home; when smoking with it he desired them to think of peace with the Chickasaws. The Tuckabatchie king said that it was with his young warriors at home to make peace with the Chickasaws. All that he could promise was that an answer should be given to the proposal for peace with the Chickasaws. He had only taken them by the hand, not by the arm. He had been like a tree about to fall, and Gov. Blount seemed determined to raise him up; and that at an early day an answer should be given in respect of peace with the Chickasaws. Kattagiska, a Cherokee chief, said that he was of the same blood with the Chickasaws. He wished the Creeks to be reconciled to them.
The conferences began on the 18th of October, 1795, and ended on the 20th. Many applications were made by the In- dians for their children to be educated at the expense of the
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United States. Gov. Blount recommended to the government to educate them on the frontiers, to bring them up in friendly habits with the youth of the country; by which means prejudices would be eradicated, and they might receive in time of peace lessons of charity and benevolence from the clergy intrusted with their education-a better way of diffusing the blessings of the gospel, he observed, than that of destroying them by war, which in times of hostility the clergy had sometimes copiously recommended. And with respect to the further protection of the frontiers, he recommended the establishment of forts, at proper intervals, upon the north banks of the Tennessee. In his letter to Gen. Lee, the Secretary of War, he said that peace al- ready existed, and for the preservation of it he advised posts of regular troops upon the frontiers, and proposed a plan for the civilization of the Indians. "The enumeration already made, he observed, "shows that the territorial government will shortly be at an end. Perhaps," said he, "it will not last longer than the last day of January." He recommended the then present Indian Agents as men of worth and merit, Gen. Robertson being one of them as Agent for the Chickasaws. Hearing in November that the six howitzers which had been brought to Nashville by Mr. Foster were sent down the river to the Chickasaws, notwithstanding his orders on the 10th of Oc- tober to detain them, he was greatly dissatisfied for fear of the umbrage it might give to the Creeks, and he immediately re- quested of Gen. Robertson to inform him whether he (Gen. Robertson) had given orders to that effect, observing at the same time that he had heard that Col. Henly had given them. The Secretary of War had stated that these howitzers were never intended for the Chickasaws, and were originally provided by Gen. Knox for the defense of Mero District. The Governor informed the Secretary of War that probably the howitzers had been sent down by the Agent of the War Department ( Col. Henly ), and believed that he was acquainted with the Govern- or's orders to Mr. Robertson to detain them at Nashville.
With respect to the internal affairs of the Territory, Gen. Robertson, on the 13th of May, 1795, finding that the public safety no longer required the arduous military labors which he had so long sustained, and seeing withal that the Nickajack ex- pedition, though it actually put an end to the war of the Cher-
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okees, was snarled at by the Secretary, requested that the Gov- ernor might consider his office of Brigadier-general resigned from and after the 15th of August ensuing.
. The Governor by his proclamation called upon the members of the Assembly to meet together on the last Monday of June, 1795. The object in view was that they might deliberate on the question whether the Territory should be formed into a State, and to take measures to bring it about. In their address to him they approved of his object in convening them, and were con- vinced that the great body of their constituents were sensible of the many defects in their then present mode of government, and of the great and permanent advantages to be derived from a change and speedy representation in Congress. The General Assembly, they said, during its then present session, would en- deavor to devise such means as might have a tendency to effect the desirable object. They rejoiced that the calamities of In- dian warfare had then in a great measure ceased to exist, and so long as a remembrance of past sufferings should continue they declared that they should entertain a grateful sense of the Governor's unwearied struggles to promote a general peace with the Indian tribes, the good effects of which they now expe- rienced. They passed a law for enumerating the inhabitants, to see whether they amounted to sixty thousand or not, and made the new county of Blount. They appointed commission- ers to confer with those from South Carolina upon the practi- cability of a road from Buncombe County, in North Carolina, into the Territory, and upon the means to be adopted for pro- curing the same to be cut and opened.
On the 28th of November the Governor certified that the enu- meration of the inhabitants, taken under the act of the 11th of July, 1795, amounted to seventy-seven thousand two hundred and sixty-two persons. He issued his proclamation for elections to be held on the 1Sth and 19th of December, for choosing five persons in each county to represent them in a convention, to meet at Knoxville on the 11th of January, 1796, for the pur- pose of forming a constitution or permanent system of govern- ment.
On the 11th of January, 1796, the convention began its ses- sion at Knoxville; and these, on the 6th of February, 1796, in the name of the people of the Territory of the United States
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South-west of the River Ohio, having a right of admission into the general government as a member State thereof, consistently with the Constitution of the United States and the act of the cession of the State of North Carolina, recognizing the ordi- nance for the government of the Territory of the United States North-west of the River Ohio, did ordain and establish a Con- stitution or form of government, and did mutually agree with each other to form themselves into a free and independent State, by the name of the State of Tennessee.
On the 9th of February Gov. Blount forwarded to Mr. Pick- ering, as Secretary of State, a copy of the Constitution formed for the permanent government of the State of Tennessee. The General Assembly was appointed to commence on the last Monday in March, 1796. The copy of the Constitution was sent by Mr. McMinn, and he was instructed to stay long enough at Philadelphia to ascertain whether the members of Congress from this State would be received; and he instructed Mr. White, the territorial Representative in Congress, to have an act passed as soon as possible for the admission of this State into the Union, which act accordingly passed on the 6th of June, 1796.
Writs of election issued from the convention on the 6th of February, 1796, for the election of Senators and Representa- tives to represent their counties in the General Assembly, the session whereof was to commence on the last Monday of March; and also for the election of a Governor of the State of Ten- nessee.
The members of the Assembly were elected pursuant to the mode which the Constitution prescribed, and the people elected John Sevier Governor. At the appointed time the Assembly met at Knoxville, and the State of Tennessee there assumed the rank and exercised the authorities of a free and independ- ent State.
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APPENDIX.
REPORT
Of Messrs. Walker and Smith to the Legislature of Virginia, on the Boundary Line between the States of Virginia and North Carolina.
To the Honorable the Speaker, and Gentlemen of the House of Delegates.
Ix obedience to an Act of Assembly entitled "An Act for Extending the Boundary Line between Virginia and North Carolina," we, the subscribers, proceeded to run said line. The gentlemen from North Carolina did not meet so soon as had been agreed, and after they came many accidents hap- pened which protracted the business.
The place where Messrs. Fry and Jefferson ended their line on Steep Rock Creek could not be found, owing, we suppose, to so much of the timber thereabouts being since dead. We proceeded to observations in order to fix upon the spot on Steep Rock Creek where we should begin. On Monday, September 6, 1779, having agreed with the Carolina gentlemen in observa- tions, the following memoranda were entered on their journal, as well as ours, as proper preliminaries agreed upon, necessary in finding the line, viz .: That the sun's meridian altitude was this day fifty-nine degrees fifty-two minutes; that the place of observation was one minute and twenty-five sce- onds north of the proper latitude, or one mile two hundred and one poles and a half; that at Steep Rock we were in superficial measure three hun- dred and twenty-nine miles west of Currituck Inlet; that a degree of longi- tude in this latitude was forty-eight and twenty-three one hundredths geo- graphical miles, or of statute miles fifty-five and one thousand eighty-three yards; that Currituck Inlet was in seventy-five degrees thirty minutes west longitude, this being the average of three different accounts, and of course, that the longitude we were then in was eighty-one degrees twelve minutes west of London; we measured off the one mile, and two hundred and one and a half poles, on a due south course, and the beginning of the line was thus fixed to the satisfaction of all. We should not have troubled you with these particulars, but for some subsequent events which make us think it our duty. After running the line as far as Carter's Valley, forty-five miles west of Steep Rock Creek, the Carolina gentlemen conceived that the line was farther south than it ought to be, and on trial it was found that the va- riation of the needle had altered a little, which must have happened very lately, and was owing, we believe, to our being just then near some iron ore; because, on observing the sun's meridian altitude, the line was not too far south, as the Carolina gentlemen by their observation made out, otherwise they proposed that the surveyors on both sides should observe and try to fix the latitude. This was agreed to by one of us, influenced by a knowledge of the small change of the variation, and was not dissented to by the other,
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HAYWOOD'S HISTORY OF TENNESSEE.
as most of the observations on the part of Virginia had been made by him, but quite contrary to our expectations, they agreed that we were more than two miles too far south of the proper latitude, which distance was measured off directly south, and the line run eastward from that place superintended by two of the Carolina gentlemen and one of us, while from the same place it was continued eastwardly superintended by the others, for the sake of ex- pediting the business. The instruments proper for ascertaining the latitude were mostly taken back on the eastern part of the line, in order that those who superintended it might be farther satisfied; but after going back more than twenty miles, and observing every day on this line, his judgment was unalterably fixed that the line was wrong, although the Carolina gentlemen would not seem to be of this opinion; and he returned and overtook his colleague on the western part of the line, on Black Water Creek, or there- abouts, to whom he imparted his sentiments, proposing that he also should observe for some days, which he did. The result was that we concluded our first line right, and we brought it up accordingly from Carter's Valley, where it had been left, and continued with it to the westward.
It was once after this proposed by us, and agreed to by the Carolina gen- tlemen, that as we differed so much in observation, we would each run his own line, encamp as near together as we could, and let future observers hereafter to be appointed determine which was right, which might be done at a small expense. But this they afterward declined, although they carried the line as far as Cumberland Mountain; protesting against our line. This protest we received in a letter after we crossed Cumberland Mountain. We continued, however, as far as Deer Fork, being one hundred twenty-three and three-fourth miles from Steep Rock Creek, marking a poplar and two hackberry trees with the initials of our names, and with November 22, 1779, and had serious thoughts of going no farther; but when we considered that perhaps three-fourths of the whole expense was already incurred, that a number of people were settling to the westward, who imagined they were in North Carolina, while we thought they were on lands reserved for our officers and soldiers; these and some others of the like considerations made us think it more conducive to the good of the State in general that we should keep on than that we should return. But as the season was far advanced, and the country before us, as far as it was known, was very mountainous and barren, not yielding a sufficient quantity of cane for our pack-horses, which had for some time been their principal support; these among other reasons made us judge it best to leave off running the line here, and go far- ther to the westward into a better country, where, by reason of many people being about to settle, it might be of importance to run the line speedily. The map will show our route to a place on the Cumberland River, where we built canoes to carry our baggage and rest the pack-horses, which were too much reduced to do service that way, and to add to the number of our ditti- culties and misfortunes we were frozen up more than forty days in a river never known to have been frozen before. We went by water from this place until we got into the proper latitude (as we judge one hundred and nine miles west of the Deer Fork), and began the line against two beech trees, marked with our names, and February 25, 1780, on the west bank of the
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APPENDIX.
Cumberland River, a creek coming in about a mile above us on the west side, and another somewhat smaller about half a mile below us on the east side. From this place we extended the line across the heads of Green River and Red River, through a country called the barrens, from there being little or no timber on it in many places; crossed the Cumberland again at one hun- dred and thirty-one miles, where there is a cliff on the north-east side, and a bottom about three-quarters of a mile broad on the other side; and at the end of one hundred and forty miles one quarter and eighty poles from the two beech trees, on the 23d day of March, found ourselves on the bank of the Tennessee River, and of course had run the line as far as we were au- thorized to do. Notwithstanding the difficulties and hardships we had to contend with, one of us kept through the woods with the surveyors, while the other went down by water, by which means a tolerable map of the Cumberland River is taken; a fine river navigable at least seven hundred miles from the mouth. When we had returned homeward about one hun- dred and sixty miles, we met with orders from his Excellency, the Govern- or, to do another piece of service, which we suppose he has made you ac- quainted with. We have also since seen Col. Henderson, one of the North Carolina Commissioners, who, with another one of his colleagues, had been examining our line, and he has repeatedly given us much reason to believe that their State will establish the line as we run it. THOMAS WALKER, DANIEL SMITH.
AN ORDINANCE
For the Government of the Territory of the United States North-west of the River Ohio.
Be it ordained by the United States in Congress assembled that the said Terri- tory, for the purpose of temporary government, be one district, subject, how- ever, to be tlivided into two districts, as future circumstances may, in the opinion of Congress, make it expedient.
Be it orduined by the authority aforesaid that the estates, both of resident and non-resident proprietors, dying intestate, shall descend to and be dis- tributed among their children, and the descendants of a deceased child in equal parts; the descendants of a deceased child or grandchild to take the share of their deceased parent in equal parts among them; and where there shall be no children or descendants, then in equal parts next of kin, in equal degree; and among collaterals, the children of a deceased brother or sister of the intestate shall have in equal parts among them their deceased parent's share; and there shall in no case be a distinction between kindred of the whole and half blood, saving in all cases to the widow of the intestate her third part of the real estate for life, and one-third part of the personal es- tate; and this law, relative descents and dowers, shall remain in full force until altered by the Legislature of the district. And until the Governor and judges shall adopt laws as hereinafter mentioned, estates in the said Terri- tory may be devised or bequeathed by wills in writing, signed and sealed by him or her in whom the estate may be (being of full age), and attested by
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three witnesses; and real estates may be conveyed by lease and release, or bargain and sale, signed, sealed, and delivered by the person (being of full age) in whom the estate may be, and attested by two witnesses; provided, such wills be duly proved, and such conveyances be acknowledged, or the execution thereof duly proved and be recorded within one year, after proper magistrates, courts, and registers shall be appointed for that purpose, and personal property may be transferred by delivery; saving, however, to the French and Canadian inhabitants, and other settlers of the Kaskaskias, St. Vincents, and the neighboring villages, who have heretofore professed them- selves citizens of Virginia, their laws and customs now in force among them, relative to the descent and conveyance of property.
Be it ordained by the authority aforesaid that there shall be appointed from time to time, by Congress, a Governor, whose commission shall continue in force for the term of three years, unless sooner revoked by Congress. He shall reside in the district, and have a freehold estate therein in one thou- sand acres of land, while in the exercise of his office.
There shall be appointed from time to time, by Congress, a Secretary, whose commission shall continue in force for four years, unless sooner revoked. He shall reside in the district, and have a freehold estate therein in five hun- dred acres of land, while in the exercise of his office. It shall be his duty to keep and preserve the acts and laws passed by the Legislature, and the pub- lic records of the district, and the proceedings of the Governor in his execu- tive department; and transmit authentic copies of such acts and proceedings every six months to the Secretary of Congress. There shall also be appoint- ed a court, to consist of three judges, any two of whom to form a court, who shall have a common law jurisdiction, and reside in the district, and have each therein a freehold estate in five hundred acres of land, while in the exercise of their offices; and their commissions shall continue in force during good behavior.
The Governor and judges, or a majority of them, shall adopt and publish in the district such laws of the original States, criminal and civil, as may be necessary and best suited to the circumstances of the district, and report them to Congress from time to time; which laws shall be in force in the district until the organization of the General Assembly therein, unless disapproved of by Congress, but afterward the Legislature shall have authority to alter them as they shall think fit.
The Governor, for the time being, shall be commander in chief of the mi- litia, appoint and commission all officers in the same below the rank of gen- eral officers; all general officers shall be appointed and commissioned by Congress.
Previous to the organization of the General Assembly the Governor shall appoint such magistrates and other civil officers in each county or township as he shall find necessary for the preservation of the peace and good order in the same. After the General Assembly shall be organized, the powers and duties of magistrates and other civil officers shall be regulated and de- fined by the said Assembly; but all magistrates and other civil officers not herein otherwise directed shall, during the continuance of this temporary government, be appointed by the Governor.
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APPENDIX.
For the prevention of crimes and injuries, the laws to be adopted or made shall have force in all parts of the district, and for the execution of process, criminal and civil, the Governor shall make proper divisions thereof. And he shall proceed from time to time, as circumstances may require, to lay out parts of the district, in which the Indian titles shall have been extinguished, into counties and townships, subject, however, to such alterations as may thereafter be made by the Legislature.
So soon as there shall be five thousand free male inhabitants of full age in the district, upon giving proof thereof to the Governor, they shall receive authority, with time and place, to elect Representatives from their counties or townships, to represent them in the General Assembly; provided, that for every five hundred free male inhabitants there shall be one Representative and so on progressively with the number of free male inhabitants shall the right of representation increase until the number of representatives shall amount to twenty-five, after which the number and proportion of represent- atives shall be regulated by the Legislature: provided, that no person be eligible or qualified to act as a representative unless he shall have been a citizen of one of the United States three years, and be a resident in the dis- trict, or unless he shall have resided in the district three years; and in either case shall likewise hold in his own right, in fee simple, two hundred acres of land within the same: provided, also, that a freehold in fifty acres of land in the district, having been a citizen of one of the States, and being resident in the district, or the like freehold, and two years' residence in the district shall be necessary to qualify a man as an elector of a Representative.
The Representatives thus elected shall serve for the term of two years; and in case of the death of a Representative, or removal from office, the Govern- or shall issue a writ to the county or township, for which he was a member, to elect another in his stead to serve for the residue of the term.
The General Assembly, or Legislature, shall consist of the Governor, Leg- islative Council, and a House of Representatives. The Legislative Council shall consist of five members, to continue in office five years, unless sooner removed by Congress, any three of whom to be a quorum. And the mem- bers of the council shall be nominated and appointed in the following man- ner, to wit: As soon as Representatives shall be elected the Governor shall appoint a time and place for them to meet together; and when met, they shall nominate ten persons, residents in the district, and each possessed of a freehold in five hundred acres of land, and return their names to Congress, five of whom Congress shall appoint and commission to serve as aforesaid: and whenever a vacancy shall happen in the council, by death or removal from office, the House of Representatives shall nominate two persons, qual- ified as aforesaid, for each vacancy, and return their names to Congress, one of whom Congress shall appoint and commission for the residue of the term. And every five years, four months at least before the expiration of the time of service for the members of the council, the House shall nominate ten per- sons, qualified as aforesaid, and return their names to Congress, five of whom Congress shall appoint and commission to serve as members of the council five years, unless sooner removed. And the Governor, Legislative Council, and House of Representatives shall have authority to make laws, in all cases,
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