Just about the only thing touching Benjamin Franklin that smacked of failure was the state named after him. From 1784-1788, the state of Franklin, located in what is now northeastern Tennessee, existed – at least in the hearts of its citizens.
If you will recall, France had possession of most of the land from the Appalachian Mountains to the Mississippi River prior to the French and Indian War (1754-1763). After defeating France, Britain acquired this territory, one that would soon stir a pot of issues.
In order to prevent clashes between native tribes inhabiting this chunk of land and American colonists eager to expand their horizons, the British, by dint of the Proclamation of 1763, forbade the colonists from crossing the Appalachian Mountains to settle. This regulation, like many others imposed by the British, was largely ignored. As an obvious consequence, violent confrontations between the settlers and Indians ensued. These frontier skirmishes would continue up to and through the American Revolution, after which this territory once again changed hands, from British to American.
Once in American hands, many states simply extended their borders along their existing lines of latitude. For example, North Carolina now claimed a cross-section of land from the Atlantic to the Mississippi. Its eyes were bigger than its appetite though, for they were not interested in shelling out money (hard to come by after the expenses incurred by the war) to protect its citizens from Indian attacks, or more accurately, from attempts to protect their lands.
Not sure what to do, North Carolina decided in 1784 to give this land to Congress, but then did an about-face and reclaimed it. Not willing to wait around and see what side of the waffle would flip up next, the frontier leaders got together in Jonesborough on August 23, 1784 and declared their independence from North Carolina.
Complete with governor, militia, legislature, and Constitution, the self-proclaimed state of Franklin got itself organized and ready to petition for official statehood. John Sevier, a noted Indian-fighter and hero of the Battle of Kings Mountain during the Revolutionary War, was elected governor. Beginning with three counties, Franklin soon grew to eight, taking in over 10,000 new migrant families. Nevertheless, Franklin received only seven of the required nine votes needed for admission to the United States when it applied in 1785.
Perhaps Franklin would have made it if it had set some boundaries and stuck to them. But Sevier continued to assault Cherokee towns in the hopes of expanding Franklin’s borders. By the ‘Treaty of Coyatee, more of a pretext than a treaty, Franklin seized all Cherokee land north of Little Tennessee River…. The United States Government by the Treaty of Hopewell, in 1785, refused to recognize Franklin’s claims, and placed the Cherokee boundary at the old line.”
Franklinites gave a big frontier finger to this and continued to harass the Cherokee. Talk about biting the hand that one wants to be fed by.
If these antics weren’t enough, Franklin actually considered making an alliance with Spain, located just across the Mississippi. Apparently, North Carolina had had enough and sent in troops. After a minor skirmish in February of 1788, John Sevier was arrested and Franklin called it quits.
Ignoring United States treaties and contemplating alliances with foreign powers seem like pretty good reasons why statehood might be refused. I can’t help but think, though, that it was really Franklin’s official currency that torpedoed its chances – animal skins. “According to one account…the governor…got a salary of 1,000 deer skins; the chief justice 500 deer skins; the governor’s secretary 500 raccoon skins; the treasurer 450 otter skins.” Just when the United States government was having enough trouble under the Articles of Confederation extracting money from the states, the last thing they needed to deal with was wagon-loads full of animal hides stinking up the coffers. Envision, also, the hassle of paying federal taxes. On line B, enter number of animal skins and species. Subtract number of musket-ball holes found in skins and enter on line C. Complete the Hide Worksheet and enter total on line D.
State or no state, Franklin does offer to us an interesting footnote in the westward expansion of the United States.
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Deb Goodrich said:
Excellent! Martin, are you related to Tom Dula, from the mountains of North Carolina and immortalized in song and film?
November 23rd, 2009 at 7:05 am
Gerald D. Swick said:
Nicely written, Martin. Vandalia was another once-upon-a-state story. I’m surprised the salaries were only in animal skins; whiskey was accepted payment for everything from groceries to newspaper subscriptions in those days. But maybe the Franklinites figured giving whiskey to politicians was carrying coal to Newcastle. Thanks for a good laugh within a well-written article.
November 23rd, 2009 at 11:05 am
Martin Dula said:
Hey Deb,
My dad’s people hail from Lenoir, NC. I’m not sure of an exact link with the immortal Tom Dula. My dad could better answer that.
Somewhere along the line (my dad thinks his great-great grandfather was a member of the Home Guard who high-tailed it to Texas after the Civil War) his roots got replanted in Texas.
Thanks for the comment.
November 23rd, 2009 at 12:36 pm
Martin Dula said:
Hey Gerald,
Thanks for the comment. I’m sure that they wouldn’t have turned down any whiskey
Apparently, no Franklin currency has ever been found.
Sources for this were much harder to come by than normal. Apparently, though, there was a book written by Noel B. Gerson called Franklin: America’s Lost State, but I don’t have a copy.
Where was Vandalia?
November 23rd, 2009 at 12:42 pm
Elijah said:
Martin, did you check out Ramsey’s ‘Annals of Tennessee’. Also, there is Samuel Cole Williams ‘History of the Lost State of Franklin’.
I have two family connections to the State of Franklin. Thomas Chapman was the clerk of the first Assembly of Franklin that organized the government and named John Sevier as Governor. Also, John Tipton was a gr grandfather. His role in opposing Sevier destroyed the State of Franklin and returned the area to North Carolina (temporarily). Interestingly enough, the people disliked Gr Grandpa Tipton enough to hang him in effigy on at least one occasion. Seems they were angry at his burning of land and probate records. The lack of land office and proper title to land was one of the main problems faced by the settlers in the region causing them to form the State of Franklin in the first place.
wonderful subject. Thanks for bringing it out.
November 23rd, 2009 at 5:41 pm
Gerald D. Swick said:
I haven’t done much research into the proposed state of Vandalia, Martin, but from what I’ve read I gather it was to be a 14th colony west of the Blue Ridge and extending into and beyond the Ohio Valley. Its captial was to be at Point Pleasant in what is now West Virginia, where the Big Kanawha flows into the Ohio. Benjamin Franklin was involved in organizing the Great Ohio Company, aka the Vandalia Company; other investors/promoters were highly placed or respected Englishmen and English colonists in America like Franklin. It was proposed in 1768 but died when the Revolution of ‘76 broke out.
November 24th, 2009 at 8:52 am
Martin Dula said:
Hey Elijah,
The family connection is really interesting. I’ll have to check out that book. I did find Ramsey’s ‘Annals of Tennessee’ online here: http://www.roanetnhistory.org/ramseysannals.html. Thanks for the heads up.
It is my understanding that North Carolina honored the land contracts etc. that Franklin made. I guess all’s well that ends well.
November 24th, 2009 at 10:35 am
Bill Taylor said:
I’ve also heard/read that talk about establishing the state of Franklin in eastern Tennessee also surfaced during the Civil War, after western Viginia seceded from the Confederacy and joined the Union. As I heard the story, the pro-Union sentiment was so strong in the “Franklin” area that Richmond kept a considerable number of troops there to preserve the ties to the South. There any truth to this?
December 1st, 2009 at 4:58 am
Methulesah Kennedy said:
The State of Franklin is but one of the five forms of government for the pioneers of the Watauga Settlement, so to have a fun journey deeper into this history Google on Watauga Settlement, Sevier, and Col Daniel Kennedy. Kennedy grew up in Winchester (now in West Virginia) as childhood friend of Sevier and Evan Shelby, famous Tennesseans, and followed them to Watauga as a young man in the late 1770’s. He was the “Recording Secretary” who kept the minutes and drew up most of the constitutional papers under all five governments, the last being the State of Tennessee. See also the Over Mountain Men who licked the British at King’s Mountain. Those were the days. Kennedy was my 4 greats grandfather. McClung Collection in Knoxville is a rich resource on Kennedy and Sevier at Watauga, near present day Elizabethton.
December 3rd, 2009 at 4:20 pm