previous next

Frankland, state of.

In 1784, North Carolina ceded her western lands to the United States. The people of east Tennessee, piqued at being thus disposed of, and feeling the burdens of State taxation, alleging that no provision was made for their defence or the administration of justice, assembled in convention at Jonesboro, to take measures for organizing a new and independent State. The North Carolina Assembly, willing to compromise, repealed the act of cession the same year, made the Tennessee counties a separate military district, with John Sevier as brigadier-general, and also a separate judicial district, with proper officers. But ambitious men urged the people forward, and at a second convention, at the same place, Dec. 14, 1784, they resolved to form an independent State, under the name of Frankland. A provisional government was formed; Sevier was chosen governor (March, 1785); the machinery of an independent State was put in motion, and the governor of North Carolina (Martin) was informed that the counties of Sullivan, Washington, and Greene were no longer a part of the State of North Carolina. Martin issued a proclamation, exhorting all engaged in the movement to return to their duty; and the Assembly passed an act of oblivion as to all who should submit. But the provisional constitution of Frankland, based upon that of North Carolina, was adopted (November, 1785) as a permanent one, and the new State entered upon an independent career. Very soon rivalries and jealousies appeared. Parties arose and divided the people, and at length a third party, favoring adherence to North Carolina, led by Colonel Tipton, showed much and increasing strength. The new State sent William Cocke as a delegate to the Congress, but he was not received, while the North Carolina party sent a delegate to the legislature of that State. Party spirit ran high. Frankland had two sets of officers, and civil war was threatened. Collisions became frequent. The inhabitants of southwestern Virginia sympathized with the revolutionists, and were inclined to secede from their own State. Finally an armed collision between men under Tipton and Sevier took place. The latter were defeated, and finally arrested, and taken to prison in irons. Frankland had received its death-blow. The Assembly of North Carolina passed an act of oblivion, and offered pardon for all offenders in Frankland in 1788, and the trouble ceased. Virginia, alarmed by the movement, hastened to pass a law subjecting to the penalties of treason any person who should attempt to erect a new State in any part of her territory without previous permission obtained of her Assembly.

Franklin, Benjamin

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.

An XML version of this text is available for download, with the additional restriction that you offer Perseus any modifications you make. Perseus provides credit for all accepted changes, storing new additions in a versioning system.

hide People (automatically extracted)
Sort people alphabetically, as they appear on the page, by frequency
Click on a person to search for him/her in this document.
John Sevier (3)
John Tipton (2)
Luther Martin (2)
Benjamin Franklin (1)
William Cocke (1)
Judah P. Benjamin (1)
hide Dates (automatically extracted)
Sort dates alphabetically, as they appear on the page, by frequency
Click on a date to search for it in this document.
1788 AD (1)
November, 1785 AD (1)
March, 1785 AD (1)
December 14th, 1784 AD (1)
1784 AD (1)
hide Display Preferences
Greek Display:
Arabic Display:
View by Default:
Browse Bar: