Tennessee State Constitution. (Tennessee State Museum.)
Tennessee just celebrated its 230th birthday earlier this month, but there’s more to the story. What had been the federal Southwest Territory, bordering on both Native American land and the Spanish Empire, became the State of Tennessee as the result of an extraordinary three-week convention in downtown Knoxville in early 1796 with 55 flawed but very interesting gentlemen. They came from several different states, and a couple of them from Ireland; several were Revolutionary War veterans, some of whom had known George Washington, Patrick Henry, and Daniel Boone. We’ll talk about the document they produced, and what made it different from other state constitutions, especially concerning property-ownership qualifications for citizenship, the separation of church and state, and the right of free Black men to vote—as well as anxiety about European control of the Mississippi River. And why the fact that they founded a state without Congressional approval was both a problem and a distinction still referred to as “the Tennessee Plan.” Free program. Food and drinks available for purchase.
