Many may not be aware, as I wasn’t, that North Carolina used to possess a greater piece of land than it does today. The Tar Heel State’s land claims stretched all the way west to the Mississippi River in a relatively straight line.
Some time of North Carolina’s claiming this western land went by and it seems as if the State was feeling generous, as it willingly attempted to cede western land to the young Articles of Confederation, but the state later reconsidered this decision and repealed the cession attempt.
Settlers in North Carolina’s western lands entirely embraced the idea of ceding from North Carolina to form their own state, mainly due to their great distance from the rest of North Carolina. The settlers would have to make the dangerous trek over the Blue Ridge Mountains and across vast swaths of land to reach the capital.
Those settlers, unsatisfied by the repeal of the cession of their land, declared independence from North Carolina and formed the unofficial and unrecognized state of Franklin.
Franklin acted independently and disputed over their land with North Carolina for several years. The unofficial state even went far enough to elect a governor, and soon after, the governor pledged allegiance to North Carolina, dissolving Franklin’s existence. I will talk more about Franklin in a future series!
Only one year after the dissolution of Franklin, North Carolina decided to cede its western lands again, but this time the North Carolinian government didn’t back out and the Federal Government formally claimed the land.
This territory was later organized into “the Territory South of the River Ohio,” but, certainly not due to the length of this excellent name, it was more commonly known as the Southwest Territory. Then in 1796, The Southwest Territory was admitted into the Union as the state of Tennessee.
What is your opinion on North Carolina’s shape? Should Tennessee have been named West Carolina? Let me know what you think!
Onward American 