sugar and coffee, powder and lead, to do him almost a year; and if the old lady went along on the pony, she could buy as much calico and as many " store things " as all three could pack home. In the early days of that portion of the West which is now East Tennessee, the lack of specie and the prejudice against paper money were such that taxes were often paid in skins; and when the State of Franklin was organized in i/85, the Legislature passed a law making the salaries of all executive, legis lative, and judicial officers payable in skins. The reader, doubtless, is familiar with the rise and fall of the State of Franklin. The territory now embraced in the State of Tennessee once belonged to North Carolina. The inhabitants in the eastern part of this then almost trackless wilderness fell out with the North Carolinians, absolved themselves from all allegiance to the mother State, and established a separate government of their own choice, styling it the State of Franklin. Among the first acts of the Legislature of this new commonwealth was one to the effect that the collection of taxes in specie was oppressive to the good people of the commonwealth for want of a circulating medium, and it was accordingly enacted (I quote verbatim} as follows: — Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Franklin, and it is hereby enacted by the authority of the same, that from the first day of January, A.D. 1789, the salaries of the civil offi cers of the Commonwealth shall be as follows, to wit : — His Excellency the Governor, per annum, one thousand deer-skins. His Honor the Chief-Justice, five hundred do. do. The Attorney-General, five hundred do. do. The Secretary to his Excellency the Governor, five hundred raccoon do. The Treasurer of the State, four hundred and fifty otter do. Each County Clerk, three hundred beaver do. Clerk of the House of Commons, two hundred raccoon do.
Members of Assembly per diem, three do. do. Justice fee for signing a warrant, one musfcrat do. The Constable for serving a warrant, one mink do. Enacted into a law this 18th day of October. 1788, under the Great Seal of the Slate. Witness, His Excellency , Governor, Captain-General. Commander-inChief, and Admiral in and over said State.
It is obvious that the framers of this law meant business, and appreciated the exigen cies of the dear people, and favored the protection of home industry, for at that time the country abounded in wild animals of precious skins and furs, and the principal occupation was to hunt them. It is more over obvious that the passage of this law was a coup d'etat on the part of the members of that General Assembly, which forever en deared them in the hearts of their constitu ents, and doubtless secured their re-election to the next session. Such a stroke for re election would have delighted the chief ambition of the average legislator of our own times. There is one feature of this law which deserves special remark. The governor, it will be observed, subscribes himself not only commander-in-chief, but also admiral. Now, when it is remembered that this new State was situated almost in the heart of the conti nent, and had not a solitary mile of sea-coast nor a single navigable stream within its boundaries, in fact was hardly less than a thousand miles from salt water, it is hard to conjecture what use this inland, coon-skin commonwealth had for a navy! But the Franklinists soon abandoned their secession movement, bridged " the bloody chasm," and resumed allegiance to the State of North Carolina on condition of general amnesty, and without the pains and penalties of reconstruction. Their State lines were blotted from the maps, but their buckskin laws form a pictorial page in the volume of our history illustrative of the practical good sense and independence of character of the
