Franklin: The Almost 14th State
At the close of the American Revolution, the newly formed U.S. Congress was deep in debt. In 1784, the province of North Carolina voted to cede 29 million acres of land between the Allegheny Mountains and the Mississippi River to Congress to ease its financial troubles. The U.S. government had two years to accept responsibility for the area; however, in the meantime, western settlements on this land feared that they would be left to handle the nearby Cherokee people alone, or even that Congress would sell the territory off to a foreign entity. A few months later, North Carolina rescinded its offer after re-evaluation, reclaiming authority over the land (now eastern Tennessee).
Unhappy with North Carolina’s governance over the area, frontiersmen from the region sought to establish their land as a separate, independent state called “Frankland.” In August of 1784, delegates from the counties in question gathered in Jonesborough, elected leaders for their new state, and drafted a state constitution.
22 июл 2024
