East Tennessee
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East Tennessee is a name given to approximately the eastern third of the state of Tennessee. Unlike the names given to regions or portions of many of the American states, the term East Tennessee can be precisely defined. It is the portion of the state located within the Eastern Time Zone and four counties in the Central Time Zone, namely Bledsoe, Cumberland, Marion, and Sequatchie Counties. East Tennessee is noted for its mountains, particularly the Great Smoky Mountains portion of the Blue Ridge Mountains, but in fact has many and varied landforms.
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Cities
The major cities of East Tennessee are Knoxville and Chattanooga. Other important cities include the "Tri-Cities" of Kingsport, Johnson City, and Bristol, located in the extreme northeastern most part of the state, an area previously and traditionally referred to as Upper East Tennessee, although today the term Northeast Tennessee is preferred. Many coin blanks that are later sent to the government for minting are made in the town of Greeneville.
Higher Education
East Tennessee is noted for the presence of many institutions of higher learning, perhaps most notably the Knoxville and Chattanooga campuses of the University of Tennessee and East Tennessee State University in Johnson City.
Industry
Knoxville and Chattanooga also contain major operations of the Tennessee Valley Authority. The U.S. nuclear weapons program was largely developed during World War II at Oak Ridge. Kingsport is the home of Tennessee's largest single industial employer in Eastman Chemical Company, formerly the chemical division of Kodak, and the Aluminum Company of America, now Alcoa, initially attracted to the area by its potential for low-cost hydroelectric development, still maintains a major operation in its namesake town of Alcoa, just south of Knoxville.
Politics
East Tennessee is the only part of the state--and one of the few in the South--which has consistently voted Republican since Reconstruction. The region was the only area of the state that didn't practice slavery on a wide scale. It was the only region to oppose secession before the Civil War, and as a result became an early base for the then-new Republican Party. This allegiance has continued to this day. The state's 1st and 2nd Congressional Districts, based in the Tri-Cities and Knoxville respectively, are considered to be so heavily Republican that Republican nomination is tantamount to a general election victory. When Tennessee seceded from the Union in 1861, the 1st and 2nd Districts' congressmen were the only ones not to resign from the House. Similarly the only senator from a seceding state who did not resign was Andrew Johnson, by background from Greeneville. The 2nd District has been held by Republicans continuously since 1857; the 1st has been held by Republicans for all but four years since 1861. Democrats do slightly better in the 3rd District, based in Chattanooga, but that district has not supported a Democrat for president since 1956.
Despite the regional Republican majority, there are significant Democratic enclaves in Hamilton, Knox and Washington counties—home to Chattanooga, Knoxville and Johnson City respectively, and also home to the three largest colleges in the region (two UT campuses and ETSU).
Geography
Unlike the geographic designations of regions of most U.S. states, the term East Tennessee has legal as well as socioeconomic meaning. East Tennessee, along with Middle Tennessee and West Tennessee, comprises one of the state's three Grand Divisions. According to the Tennessee State Constitution, no more than two of the state Tennessee Supreme Court's five justices can come from any one Grand Division. A similar rule applies to certain other commissions and boards as well, to prevent them from showing a geographic bias.
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