Hiwassee College (non-sect., 1849), at Sweetwater; Bethel College
(Presbyterian, 1850), at McKenzie; Carson and Newman College
(Baptist, 1851), at Jefferson City; Walden University (Methodist,
1866), at Nashville; Fisk University (Congregational, 1866), at
Nashville; University of Chattanooga (Methodist, 1867), at Chattanooga;
University of the South (Protestant Episcopal, 1868),
at Sewanee; King College (Presbyterian, 1869), at Bristol; Christian
Brothers College (Roman Catholic, 1871), at Memphis; Knoxville
College (United Presbyterian, 1875), at Knoxville; Milligan College
(Christian, 1882), at Milligan; South-western Presbyterian College
(1885), at Clarkville; and Lincoln Memorial University (non-sect.,
1895), at Cumberland Gap.
Finance.—The state revenue is derived from a general property tax, a poll tax, an income tax, a tax on transfers of realty, an ad valorem tax on the average capital invested by merchants in their business, a privilege tax on merchants and many other occupations and businesses; a tax on litigation, levied on the unsuccessful party, a collateral inheritance tax, and fines and forfeitures. State, county and municipal taxes are assessed by a county assessor, who is elected for a term of four years, and one or more deputies whom the assessor is authorized to appoint. The law requires that all property shall be assessed at its full cash value, but personal property to the value of $1000 is exempt from taxation. Real estate is assessed biennially; personal property, privileges and polls annually. Assessments are examined and revised both by a county board of equalization and a state board of equalization. The county board consists of five members elected annually by the county court; justices of the peace are ineligible to election on this board, as are also all persons who have served on it within five years. The state board consists of the secretary of state, treasurer and comptroller. The clerk of the county court collects all taxes of persons, companies or corporations subject to a privilege tax; the county trustee the taxes of other persons. Three revenue commissioners, one of whom is an expert accountant, are elected biennially by each county court to examine the books and reports of the collectors, and three state revenue agents are appointed biennially by the comptroller to examine the records of all officials charged with the collection or disbursement of state or county revenue. The state revenue for the two years ending the 19th of December 1906 amounted to $3,804,740, and the cost of conducting the state government for these two years was $3,568,977. The bonded debt of the state grew from $16,643,666 on the 1st of October 1859 to $37,080,666 on the 1st of October 1869, but by the 19th of December 1906 it had been reduced to $14,236,766.
History.—The present site of Memphis may be the point Where the Spanish explorer, Hernando de Soto, reached the Mississippi river, but this cannot be determined with certainty. Father Marquette in his voyage down the Mississippi camped upon the western border, and La Salle built Fort Prud’homme upon the Chickasaw Bluffs, probably on the site of Memphis, in 1682, but it was abandoned, then rebuilt, and again abandoned. The territory was included in the English grant to Sir Walter Raleigh in 1584 and in the later Stuart grants, including that of Carolina, in 1663. No permanent settlement, however, was made until 1769, though wandering explorers and fur traders visited the eastern portion much earlier. A party of Virginians led by Dr Thomas Walker (1715–1794), in 1750 reached and named the Cumberland river and mountains in honour of the royal duke. In 1756 or 1757, Fort London, named in honour of John Campbell, earl of London, was built on the Little Tennessee river, about 30 m. N. of the present site of Knoxville, as an outpost against the French, who were now active in the whole Mississippi Valley, and was garrisoned by royal troops. The fort was captured, however, by the Cherokee Indians in 1760, and both the garrison and the neighbouring settlers were massacred.
Eastern Tennessee was recognized as a common hunting ground by the Cherokees, Creeks, Miamis and other Indian tribes, and the Iroquois of New York also claimed a considerable portion by right of conquest. In 1768 the Iroquois ceded whatever claim they had to the English, and in 1769 several cabins were built along the Watauga and Holston rivers upon what was thought to be Virginian soil. A settlement near the present Rogersville was made in 1771 and in the next year another sprang up on the Nollichucky. After the failure of the Regulator insurrection in North Carolina in 1771, hundreds of the Regulators made their way into the wilderness. When the settlements were found to be within the limits of North Carolina, that colony made no effort to assert jurisdiction or to protect the settlers from Indian depredations. Therefore in 1772 the residents of the first two settlements met in general convention to establish a form of government since known as the Watauga Association. A general committee of thirteen was elected to exercise legislative powers. This committee elected from its members a committee of five in whom executive and judicial powers were lodged. The smaller committee elected a chairman, who was also chairman of the committee of thirteen. A sheriff, an attorney and a clerk were elected, and regulations for recording deeds and wills were made. Courts were held, but any conflict of jurisdiction with Virginia or North Carolina was avoided. In 1775 the settlement on the Nollichucky was forced to join the association, and in the same year the land was bought from the Indians in the hope of averting war. With the approach of the War of Independence, the dream of becoming a separate colony with a royal governor was abandoned and on petition of the inhabitants the territory was annexed to North Carolina in 1776 as the Washington District, which in 1777 became Washington county, with the Mississippi river as the western boundary. The population increased rapidly and soon several new counties were created.
During the War of Independence the hardy mountaineers under John Sevier and Evan Shelby did valiant service against both the royal troops and the Loyalists in South Carolina, chiefly as partisan rangers under Charles McDowell (1743–1815). Major Patrick Ferguson with several hundred Loyalists and a small body of regulars, made a demonstration against the western settlements, but at King’s Mountain in South Carolina he was completely defeated by the Americans, among whom Colonel Sevier and the troops led by him were conspicuous (see King’s Mountain).
After the War of Independence the legislature of North Carolina in 1784 offered to cede her western territory to the general government, provided the cession should be accepted within two years. The Watauga settlers, indignant at this transfer without their consent, and fearing to be left without any form of government whatever, called a convention which met at Jonesborough on the 23rd of August 1784, and by which delegates to another convention to form a new state were appointed. Meanwhile North Carolina repealed the act of cession and created the western counties into a new judicial district. A second convention, in November, broke up in confusion without accomplishing anything; but a third adopted a constitution, which was submitted to the people, and ordered the election of a legislature. This body met early in 1785, elected Sevier governor of the new state of Franklin (at first Frankland), filled a number of offices, and passed several other acts looking to separate existence. Four new counties were created, and taxes were levied.[1] Later in the year another convention, to which the proposed constitution had been referred, adopted instead the constitution of North Carolina with a few trifling changes, and William Cocke was chosen to present to Congress a memorial requesting recognition as a state. Congress, however, ignored the request, and the diplomacy of the North Carolina authorities caused a reaction. For a time two sets of officials claimed recognition, but when the North Carolina legislature a second time passed an act of oblivion and remitted the taxes unpaid since 1784, the tide was turned. No successor to Sevier was elected, and he was arrested on a charge of treason, but was allowed to escape, and soon afterwards was again appointed brigadier-general of militia.
Meanwhile, settlers had pushed on further into the wilderness. On the 17th of March 1775 Colonel Richard Henderson and his associates extinguished the Indian title to an immense tract of land in the valleys of the Cumberland, the Kentucky and the Ohio rivers (see Kentucky). In 1778, James Robertson (1742–1814), a native of Virginia, who had been prominent in the Watauga settlement, set out with a small party to prepare the way for permanent occupation. He arrived at French
- ↑ On account of the scarcity of a circulating medium more than twenty articles were valued and declared legal tender. Among them were fox skins, 1s. 6d.; beaver skins, 6s.; bacon, 6d. the pound; rye whisky, 2s. 6d. the gallon.
