Here’s what’s happening this week in the Chattanooga area.
Tennessee toast
Tennessee Statehood Day is June 1, marking the day 229 years ago that the Volunteer State was established. When the British lost the American Revolution, the state of North Carolina claimed all the land between the Appalachian Mountains and the Mississippi River. Almost immediately, settlers began to move in, breaking treaties with the Native Americans. To hand over the responsibility for the influx of settlers and pay off its Revolutionary War debts, North Carolina decided to give the land west of the mountains to the federal government. The settlers’ first attempt at creating a state was Franklin, which had a constitution, legislature and a governor, John Sevier, and existed unofficially for four years (1785-1788). Because there was no established path to statehood, the federal government gave the land back to North Carolina. When the Franklin effort failed, the land that includes Tennessee became part of a large territory called the Territory South of the River Ohio, later shortened to the Southwest Territory. President George Washington put William Blount in charge, and settlers tried again to form a state. This time the federal government had a new constitution with clear steps on how to become a state. Tennessee was admitted to the union on June 1, 1796. Sevier was the first governor, and Knoxville was the first capital city.
CALENDAR