Tennessee
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Template:US state Tennessee is a Southern state of the United States, and the sixteenth state to join the union. With a population of 5.7 million, Tennessee is the 16th largest U.S. state by population. Tennessee is known as the "Volunteer State", a nickname that originated during the War of 1812, in which volunteer soldiers from Tennessee played a prominent role.
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Origin and history of the name Tennessee
The earliest variant of the name that became Tennessee was recorded by Captain Juan Pardo, the Spanish explorer, when he and his men passed through a Native American village named "Tanasqui" in 1567 while travelling inland from South Carolina. European settlers later encountered a Cherokee town named Tanasi (or "Tanase") in present-day Monroe County, Tennessee. The town was located on a river of the same name (now known as the Little Tennessee River). It is not known whether this was the same town as the one encountered by Juan Pardo.
The meaning and origin of the word are uncertain. Some accounts suggest it is a Cherokee modification of an earlier Yuchi word. It has been said to mean "meeting place", "winding river", or "river of the great bend".[1][2]
The modern spelling, Tennessee, is attributed to James Glen, the Governor of South Carolina, who used this spelling in his official correspondence during the 1750s. In 1788, North Carolina named the third county to be established in what is now Middle Tennessee "Tennessee County". When a constitutional convention met in 1796 to organize a new state out of the Southwest Territory, it adopted "Tennessee" as the name of the state.
History
The area now known as Tennessee was first settled by Paleo-Indians nearly 11,000 years ago. The names of the cultural groups that inhabited the area between first settlement and the time of European contact are unknown, but several distinct cultural phases have been named by archaeologists, including Archaic, Woodland, and Mississippian whose chiefdoms were the cultural predecessors of the Muscogee people who inhabited the Tennessee River Valley prior to Cherokee migration into the river's headwaters.
When Spanish explorers first visited the area, led by Hernando de Soto in 1539–43, it was inhabited by tribes of Muscogee and Yuchi people. For unknown reasons, possibly due to expanding European settlement in the north, the Cherokee, an Iroquoian tribe, moved south from the area now called Virginia. As European colonists spread into the area, the native populations were forcibly displaced to the south and west, including all Muscogee and Yuchi peoples, including the Chickasaw and Choctaw. From 1838 to 1839, nearly 17,000 Cherokees were forced to march from Eastern Tennessee to Indian Territory west of Arkansas. This came to be known as the Trail of Tears, as an estimated 4,000 Cherokees died along the way.1
Tennessee was admitted to the Union in 1796 as the 16th state, and was created by taking the north and south borders of North Carolina and extending them with only one small deviation to the Mississippi River, Tennessee's western boundary. Tennessee was the last Confederate state to secede from the Union when it did so on June 8, 1861. After the American Civil War, Tennessee adopted a new constitution that abolished slavery (February 22, 1865), ratified the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution on July 18, 1866, and was the first state readmitted to the Union (July 24 of the same year). Because it ratified the Fourteenth Amendment, Tennessee was the only state that seceded from the Union that did not have a military governor during Reconstruction.
The Nashville Republican Banner on January 4, 1868, published an editorial calling for a counter-revolutionary movement to unseat Republican rule and restore the racial subjugation of the region's blacks. "In this State," the paper argued, "reconstruction has perfected itself and done its worst. It has organized a government which is as complete a close corporation as may be found, it has placed the black man over the white as the agent and prime-move of domination; it has constructed a system of machinery by which all free guarantees, privileges and opportunities are removed from the people.... The impossibility of casting a free vote in Tennessee short of a revolutionary movement ... is an undoubted fact." The Banner in conclusion urged readers to ignore the presidential election and instead put energies into building "a local movement here at home" that would end Republican rule. [cited in Harcourt 2005]
In 1897, the state celebrated its centennial of statehood (albeit one year late) with a great exposition.
The need to create work for the unemployed during the Depression, the desire for rural electrification, and the desire to control the annual spring floods on the Tennessee River drove the creation of the Tennessee Valley Authority, the nation's largest public utility, in 1933.
During World War II, Oak Ridge was selected as a U.S. Department of Energy national laboratory, one of the principal sites for the Manhattan Project's production and isolation of weapons-grade fissile material.
Tennessee celebrated its bicentennial in 1996 after a yearlong statewide celebration entitled "Tennessee 200" by opening a new state park (Bicentennial Mall) at the foot of Capitol Hill in Nashville.
Law and Government
Image:Tennessee.jpg The state of Tennessee is constitutionally divided into three culturally distinct Grand Divisions: East, Middle, and West Tennessee. The Tennessee River is generally considered the dividing line between Middle and West Tennessee. The Cumberland Plateau is generally considered the dividing line between East and Middle Tennessee.
Tennessee's governor holds office for a four year term and may serve a maximum of two terms. He is the only official who is elected statewide, making him one of the more powerful chief executives in the nation. The state does not elect the lieutenant-governor directly, contrary to most other states.
The Tennessee General Assembly, the state legislature, consists of the 33-member Senate and the 99-member House of Representatives. Senators serve four year terms, and House members serve two year terms. Each chamber chooses its own speaker. The speaker of the state Senate also holds the title of lieutenant-governor. Most executive officials are elected by the legislature.
The highest court in Tennessee is the state Supreme Court. It has a chief justice and four associate justices. No more than two justices can be from the same Grand Division. The Court of Appeals has 12 judges. The Court of Criminal Appeals has nine judges.
Tennessee's current state constitution was adopted in 1870. The state had two earlier constitutions. The first was adopted in 1796, the year Tennessee joined the union, and the second was adopted in 1834.
Tennessee politics, like that of most U.S. States, revolves around the Democratic and Republican Parties. Democrats are very strong in metropolitan Memphis, Nashville, and Chattanooga. The Democratic Party is also relatively strong in most of Middle Tennessee and West Tennessee north of Memphis.
The Republicans have the most strength in East Tennessee, one of the few areas of the South with a Republican voting history that predates the 1960s. Much of this region has not elected a Democrat to Congress since the Civil War. In contrast, the Democrats dominated politics in the rest of the state until the 1960s. The Republicans also have much strength in Memphis and Nashville's suburbs.
Federally, Tennessee sends nine members to the House of Representatives. Currently, the delegation consists of five Democrats and four Republicans.
See also: List of Tennessee Governors, U.S. Congressional Delegations from Tennessee
Geography
Template:Ussm Tennessee lies adjacent to 8 other states (matched only by Missouri which also borders 8 states): Kentucky and Virginia to the north, North Carolina on the east, on the south by Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi, and on the west by Arkansas and Missouri. The state is trisected by the Tennessee River. The highest point in the state is the peak of Clingmans Dome at 6,643 feet (2,025 meters), which lies on Tennessee's eastern border. The geographical center of the state is located several miles east of Murfreesboro on Old Lascassas Pike and is marked by a roadside monument.
The state of Tennessee is traditionally divided by its people into the same Grand Divisions as the Constitution of the state.
Tennessee features six principal geographic regions. Roughly from west to east, these are:
- Gulf Coastal Plain - including the Mississippi embayment
- Nashville Basin
- Highland Rim - this is continuous with the region in Kentucky termed the Pennyroyal Plateau
- Cumberland Plateau - also called the Appalachian Plateau
- Ridge-and-valley Appalachians
- Blue Ridge Mountains - including the Great Smoky Mountains
See also: List of Tennessee counties, List of Tennessee state parks
Economy
Image:Wiki tennessee.jpg According to U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, in 2003 Tennessee's Gross State Product was $199,786,000,000, 1.8% of the total Gross Domestic Product.
In 2003, the per capita personal income was $28,641, 36th in the nation, and only 91% of the national per capita personal income of $31,472. Total earnings were $167,414,793,000. (BEARFACTS)
Major industries/products...
State sales tax is 7.0% (6% on nonprepared food), while the counties charge an additional 2.25% for a total of 9.25% across Tennessee. Some cities charge additional 0.50% sales tax, leading to a total of 9.75%: some of the highest sales taxes in the United States. Tennessee does not, however, tax wage and salary income (although it does tax unearned income).
Tennessee is a right to work state.
Demographics
| Historical populations | |
|---|---|
| Census year | Population |
| 1790 | 35,691 |
| 1800 | 105,602 |
| 1810 | 261,727 |
| 1820 | 422,823 |
| 1830 | 681,904 |
| 1840 | 829,210 |
| 1850 | 1,002,717 |
| 1860 | 1,109,801 |
| 1870 | 1,258,520 |
| 1880 | 1,542,359 |
| 1890 | 1,767,518 |
| 1900 | 2,020,616 |
| 1910 | 2,184,789 |
| 1920 | 2,337,885 |
| 1930 | 2,616,556 |
| 1940 | 2,915,841 |
| 1950 | 3,291,718 |
| 1960 | 3,567,089 |
| 1970 | 3,923,687 |
| 1980 | 4,591,120 |
| 1990 | 4,877,185 |
| 2000 | 5,689,283 |
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, as of 2005, Tennessee has an estimated population of 5,962,959, which is an increase of 69,661, or 1.2%, from the prior year and an increase of 273,697, or 4.8%, since the year 2000. This includes a natural increase since the last census of 117,203 people (that is 414,305 births minus 297,102 deaths) and an increase due to net migration of 159,680 people into the state. Immigration from outside the United States resulted in a net increase of 49,973 people, and migration within the country produced a net increase of 109,707 people.
| Image:Tennessee population map.png
The racial makeup of the state (as of 2000) is:
In the 2000 Census, when Tennesseans were asked to name their "ancestry or ethnic origin" the five most common responses were: American (17.3%), African American (13.0%), Irish (9.3%), English (9.1%), and German (8.3%).[3] |
African-Americans once made up one-quarter of the state's population and are 16.4 percent today. The state's African-American population is concentrated mainly in Western and Middle Tennessee and the cities of Memphis, Nashville, Clarksville, Chattanooga, and Knoxville.
6.6% of Tennessee's population were reported as under 5 years of age, 24.6% under 18, and 12.4% were 65 or older. Females made up approximately 51.3% of the population.
Religion
The religious affiliations of the people of Tennessee are:
- Christian – 82%
- Baptist – 39%
- Methodist – 10%
- Church of Christ – 6%
- Presbyterian – 3%
- Roman Catholic – 6%
- Other Christian – 18%
- Other Religions – 3%
- Non-Religious – 9%
Source: American Religious Identification Survey (2001)
Important cities and towns
Template:See also Image:Nashvilleskyline.jpg Image:Memphis skyline from the air.jpg
The current capital is Nashville, though Knoxville, Kingston, and Murfreesboro have all served as state capitals. Memphis has the largest population of any city in the state, but Nashville has a larger metropolitan area. Chattanooga and Knoxville, both in the eastern part of the state near the Great Smoky Mountains, each has approximately a third of Memphis or Nashville's population. The city of Clarksville is the fifth significant population center, some 45 miles northwest of Nashville. The Johnson City metropolitan area (known as Tri-Cities) is the state's fourth largest metropolitan area and is located in the extreme northeastern part of the state. As of 2000, the population of the state is 5,689,283.
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Major cities |
Secondary cities |
Education
Image:UT-McClungPlaza.jpg Image:Buckman.jpg Image:Vandy-kirkland.jpg
Colleges and universities
Professional sports teams
Miscellaneous information
- The State of Tennessee has seven State Songs [4].
- The Tennessee Valley Authority is based in Knoxville.
- On August 18, 1920, Tennessee become the thirty-sixth and clinching state to ratify the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, allowing women the right to vote.
- USS Tennessee: Four ships of the United States Navy (and two ships of the Confederate States Navy) have been named in honor of Tennessee.
See also
- List of bands from Tennessee
- List of people from Tennessee
- List of Governors of Tennessee
- Tennessee State Flag
- Seal of Tennessee
- Music of Tennessee
References
- Bontemps, Arna. William C. Handy: Father of the Blues: An Autobiography. Macmillan Company: New York, 1941.
- Brownlow, W. G. Sketches of the Rise, Progress, and Decline of Secession: With a Narrative of Personal Adventures among the Rebels (1862)
- Satz, Ronald. Tennessee's Indian Peoples. Knoxville, TN: University of Tennessee Press, 1979. ISBN 0870492853
- Schaefer, Richard T. "Sociology Matters". New York, NY: McGraw-Hill, 2006. ISBN 0072997753
Further reading
Surveys
- Ronald E Corlew. Tennessee, a Short History University of Tennessee Press 1990
- Wilma Dykeman. Tennessee: a bicentennial history W W Norton, 1975.
- Norton Herman. Religion in Tennessee, 1777-1945. University of Tennessee Press, 1981.
- Lester C. Lamon. Blacks in Tennessee, 1791-1970. University of Tennessee Press. 1980.
- Jim Stokely, and Jeff Johnson, An Encyclopedia of East Tennessee (1981)
- Carroll Van West, ed. The Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture (1998)
- Carroll Van West Tennessee history: the land, the people, and the culture University of Tennessee Press 1998
- Terry Weeks, and Bob Womack. Tennessee: the history of an American state Montgomery, Ala.: Clairmont Press 1996 - middle school textbook
- Charles Wolfe, Tennessee Strings: The Story of Country Music in Tennessee. University of Tennessee Press, 1977.
Pre 1900
- Abernathy Thomas Perkins. From Frontier to Plantation in Tennessee: A Study in Frontier Democracy. University of North Carolina Press, 1967.
- Fred Arthur Bailey; Class and Tennessee's Confederate Generation University of North Carolina Press, 1987
- Bergeron Paul H. Antebellum Politics in Tennessee. University of Kentucky Press, 1982.
- Cartwright, Joseph H. The Triumph of Jim Crow: Tennessee’s Race Relations in the 1880s. University of Tennessee Press 1976.
- John Cimprich; Slavery's End in Tennessee, 1861-1865 University of Alabama, 1985
- Thomas L. Connelly, Civil War Tennessee: Battles and Leaders ( 1979)
- Hart, Roger L. Redeemers, Bourbons, and Populists: Tennessee 1870-1886. Louisiana State University Press, 1975.
- Mooney, Chase C. Slavery in Tennessee Indiana University Press. 1957.
- James Welch Patton; Unionism and Reconstruction in Tennessee, 1860-1869 (1966)
Since 1900
- Biles, Roger. Memphis During the Great Depression. University of Tennessee Press. (1986)
- Don H. Doyle, Nashville in the New South, 1880-1930 (1985)
- Don H. Doyle, Nashville since the 1920s. University of Tennessee Press, 1985.
- Honey, Michael K. Southern Labor and Black Civil Rights: Organizing Memphis Workers. University of Illinois Press. 1993.
- Jeanette Keith and Jack Temple Kirby; Country People in the New South: Tennessee's Upper Cumberland. University of North Carolina Press.
- Miller, William D. Memphis During the Progressive Era, 1900-1917 . Memphis State University Press. 1957.
- Daniel Meritt Robison . Bob Taylor and the Agrarian Revolt in Tennessee. University of North Carolina Press, 1935.
- Philip Selznick; TVA and the Grass Roots: A Study in the Sociology of Formal Organization University of California Press, 1949
- Tucker, David M. Memphis Since Crump: Bossism, Blacks and Civic Reformers, 1948-1968. University of Tennessee Press. 1980.
- Christopher Waldrep; Night Riders: Defending Community in the Black Patch, 1890-1915 Duke University Press. 1993
External links
- Tennessee Encyclopedia Online
- State Government Website
- Tennessee Literary Figures from the Southern Literary Review
- Oak Ridge National Laboratory
- U.S. Census Bureau
- GenealogyBuff.com - Tennessee Library of Files
- Tennessee Blue BookAll things Tennessee
- Timeline of Modern Tennessee Politics
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