Tennessee
Tennessee is a
U.S. state located in the
Southern United States. In 1796, it became the sixteenth state to join the union.
Tennessee is known as the "Volunteer State", a nickname it earned during the
War of 1812, in which volunteer soldiers from Tennessee played a prominent role, especially during the
Battle of New Orleans.
[Brief History of Tennessee in the War of 1812 from the Tennessee State Library and Archives. Retrieved April 30, 2006.]Tennessee lies adjacent to 8 other 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—which makes Tennessee tied with Missouri as the states with the most states touching them in the U.S. 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 m), 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 geographically and constitutionally divided into three
Grand Divisions:
East Tennessee,
Middle Tennessee, and
West Tennessee.
Tennessee features six principal geographic regions: the
Blue Ridge, the
Appalachian Ridge and Valley Region, the
Cumberland Plateau, the
Highland Rim, the
Nashville Basin, and the
Gulf Coastal Plain.
East Tennessee
The
Blue Ridge area lies on the eastern edge of Tennessee, on the border of North Carolina. This region of Tennessee is characterized by high mountains, including the
Great Smoky Mountains, the Chilhowee Mountains, and the Snowbird Mountains. The average elevation of the Blue Ridge area is 5,000 feet (1,500 m) above sea level. Clingman's Dome is located in this region.
Stretching west from the Blue Ridge for approximately 55
miles (88 km) is the headwaters of the Tennessee River and formation of the
Tennessee Valley. This area of Tennessee is covered by fertile
valleys separated by wooded ridges. The western section of the Tennessee valley, where the depressions become broader and the ridges become lower, is called the Great Valley.
Middle Tennessee
To the west of East Tennessee lies the
Cumberland Plateau. This area is covered with flat-topped mountains separated by sharp valleys. The elevation of the Cumberland Plateau ranges from 1,500 to 1,800 feet (450 to 550 m) above sea level.
The northern section (in Kentucky) of the Highland Rim is sometimes called the
Pennyroyal Plateau. To the west of the Cumberland Plateau is the
Highland Rim, an elevated plain that surrounds the
Nashville Basin. The Nashville Basin is characterized by rich, fertile farm country.
West Tennessee
West of the Highland Rim and Nashville Basin is the
Gulf Coastal Plain, which includes the
Mississippi embayment. The Gulf Coastal Plain is, in terms of area, the predominant land region in Tennessee. It is part of the large geographic land area that begins at the
Gulf of Mexico and extends north into southern
Illinois. In Tennessee, the Gulf Coastal Plain is divided into three sections that extend from the Tennessee River in the east to the
Mississippi River in the west. The easternmost section consists of hilly land that runs along the western bank of the Tennessee River. This section of the Gulf Coastal Plain is about 10 miles (16 km) wide. To the west of this narrow strip of land is a wide area of rolling hills and streams that stretches all the way to Memphis. This area is called the Tennessee Bottoms or bottom land. In Memphis, the Tennessee Bottoms end in steep bluffs overlooking the Mississippi River. To the west of the Tennessee Bottoms is the
Mississippi Alluvial Plain, less than 300 feet (90 m) above sea level. This area of lowlands, flood plains, and swamp land is sometimes referred to as
The Delta region.
Public lands
Areas under the control and management of the
National Park Service include:
*
Andrew Johnson National Historic Site in
Greeneville*
Appalachian National Scenic Trail*
Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area*
Fort Donelson National Battlefield and
Fort Donelson National Cemetery near
Dover*
Great Smoky Mountains National Park*
Natchez Trace Parkway*
Obed Wild and Scenic River near
Wartburg*
Overmountain Victory National Historic Trail*
Shiloh National Cemetery and
Shiloh National Military Park near
Shiloh*
Stones River National Battlefield and
Stones River National Cemetery near
Murfreesboro*
Trail of Tears National Historic TrailTwenty-three state parks, covering some 132,000
acres (534
km²) as well as parts of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and
Cherokee National Forest, and
Cumberland Gap National Historical Park are in Tennessee. Sportsmen and visitors are attracted to
Reelfoot Lake, originally formed by an
earthquake; stumps and other remains of a once dense forest, together with the lotus bed covering the shallow waters, give the lake an eerie beauty.
See also: List of Tennessee counties, List of Tennessee state parksThe 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. Possibly because of European diseases devastating the Native tribes, which would have left a population vacuum, and also from expanding European settlement in the north, the
Cherokee 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.
1Tennessee was admitted to the Union in 1796 as the 16th state; it 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. The word Tennessee comes from the Cherokee Indian language. Some believe the word to be generic and is a transliteration of the Cherokee word "
tanasi" meaning village. However, there is a historic marker in East Tennessee attributing the word "tanasi" to the capital city of the Cherokee nation.
Many major battles of the
American Civil War were fought in Tennessee—most of them Union victories. It was the last border state to secede from the Union when it joined the
Confederate States of America on
June 8,
1861.
Ulysses S. Grant and the
U.S. Navy captured control of the Cumberland and Tennessee rivers in February 1862, and they held off the Confederate counterattack at
Shiloh in April. Capture of Memphis and Nashville gave the Union control of the western and middle sections; this control was confirmed at the battle of Murfreesboro in early January 1863. But the Confederates held East Tennessee despite the strength of Unionist sentiment there, with the exception of extremely pro-Confederate
Sullivan County. The Confederates besieged Chattanooga in early fall 1863, but were driven off by Grant in November. Many of the Confederate defeats can be attributed to the poor strategic vision of General
Braxton Bragg, who led the
Army of Tennessee from
Shiloh to Confederate defeat at Chattanooga. The last major battles came when the Confederates invaded in November 1864 and were checked at Franklin, then totally destroyed by
George Thomas at Nashville, in December. Meanwhile
Andrew Johnson, a civilian appointed by
President Abraham Lincoln, was the military governor, and
slavery was abolished.
After the war, Tennessee adopted
a new constitution that abolished slavery effective
February 22,
1865 and ratified the
Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution on
July 18,
1866. Tennessee was the first state readmitted to the Union on
July 24,
1866. 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
Great 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 in 1933. It quickly became the nation's largest public utility.
During
World War II,
Oak Ridge was selected as a
United States 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.
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 from 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.
| Tennessee Population Density Map |
The racial makeup of the state (as of 2000) is:
*80.2% White
*16.4% Black
*0.3% Native American
*1.0% Asian
*1.1% Two or more races
2.2% of the population is Hispanic, of any race.
In 2000, the five most common self-reported ethnic groups in the state were: American (17.3%), African American (16.4%), Irish (9.3%), English (9.1%), and German (8.3%).[1]
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.ReligionThe 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)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.
Major outputs for the state include textiles, cotton, cattle, and electrical power.
The Tennessee income tax does not apply to salaries and wages, but most income from stocks, bonds and notes receivable is taxable. All taxable dividends and interest which exceed the $1,250 single exemption or the $2,500 joint exemption are taxable at the rate of 6%. Generally, the state's sales and use tax rate is 7%. Food is taxed at 6%, but candy, dietary supplements and prepared food are taxed at the increased 7% rate. Local sales taxes are collected, and those rates vary from 1.5% to 2.75% (bringing the total to between 8.5% and 9.75% sales tax, one of the highest in the nation). Intangible personal property is assessed on the shares of stock of stockholders of any loan company, investment company, insurance company or for-profit cemetery companies. The assessment ratio is 40% of the value multiplied by the tax rate for the jurisdiction. Tennessee imposes an inheritance tax on decedents' estates that exceed maximum single exemption limits.
Tennessee is a right to work state.Interstate highwaysInterstate 40 crosses nearly the entire state in an east-west orientation. Its branch interstate highways include I-240 in Memphis; I-440 and I-840 in Nashville; and I-140 and I-640 in Knoxville. I-26, although technically an east-west interstate, runs from the North Carolina border below Johnson City to its terminus at Kingsport. I-24 is the other east-west interstates crossing Tennessee.
In a north-south orientation are highways I-55, I-65, I-75, and I-81. Interstate 65 crosses the state through Nashville, while Interstate 75 serves Knoxville and Interstate 55 serves Memphis. Interstate 81 enters the state at Bristol and terminates at its junction with I-40 near Jefferson City. I-155 is a branch highway from I-55.AirportsMajor airports within the state include Nashville International Airport (BNA), Memphis International Airport (MEM), McGhee Tyson Airport (TYS) in Knoxville, Chattanooga Metropolitan Airport (CHA), and Tri-City Regional Airport (TRI).Tennessee's governor holds office for a four year term and may serve a maximum of two terms. The governor 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.PoliticsTennessee 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.
During the 2000 Presidential Election, Tennessee did not vote for Al Gore, who is a former U.S. Senator from Tennessee. The people instead voted for Republican George W. Bush.
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 TennesseeThe 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 the population of Memphis or Nashville. The city of Clarksville is the fifth significant population center, some 45 miles (70 km) northwest of Nashville. The Johnson City-Kingsport-Bristol metropolitan area (known as Northeast Tennessee and "Tri-Cities") is the state's fourth largest metropolitan area and is located in the extreme northeastern part of the state.
{|valign="top"|Major cities
* Chattanooga
* Knoxville
* Memphis
* Nashville | Secondary cities
* Bristol
* Clarksville
* Cleveland
* Cookeville
* Franklin
* Jackson
* Johnson City
* Kingsport
* Murfreesboro
* Oak Ridge |
Colleges and universities
|
The Memphis Grizzlies in action. |
Name origin
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 traveling 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".[
2][
3]
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 created "Tennessee County", the third county to be established in what is now Middle Tennessee. (Tennessee County was the predecessor to current-day
Montgomery 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.
Trivia
*The State of Tennessee has seven State Songs [
4].
*On
August 18,
1920, Tennessee became the thirty-sixth and clinching state to ratify the
19th Amendment to the
U.S. Constitution, which allowed 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.
*Crossville, Tennessee is the location of the
United States Chess Federation.
*
List of people from Tennessee*
List of Governors of Tennessee*
Tennessee State Flag*
Seal of Tennessee*
Music of Tennessee*
Scouting in Tennessee*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
* Norton, Herman.
Religion in Tennessee, 1777-1945. University of Tennessee Press, 1981.
* Lamon, Lester C.
Blacks in Tennessee, 1791-1970. University of Tennessee Press, 1980.
* Van West, Carroll, ed.
The Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture. 1998.
* Van West, Carroll.
Tennessee history: the land, the people, and the culture University of Tennessee Press, 1998.
* 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.
* Cimprich, John.
Slavery's End in Tennessee, 1861-1865 University of Alabama, 1985.
* Honey, Michael K.
Southern Labor and Black Civil Rights: Organizing Memphis Workers. University of Illinois Press, 1993.
*
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 Book - All things Tennessee
*
Timeline of Modern Tennessee Politics*
Tennessee State Facts
