The State of Franklin
Designs of a more dangerous nature and deeper die seem to glare in the
western revolt.... I have thought proper to issue this manifesto, hereby
warning all persons concerned in the said revolt ... that the honour of
this State has been particularly wounded, by seizing that by violence
which, in time, no doubt, would have been obtained by consent, when the
terms of separation would have been explained or stipulated, to the
mutual satisfaction of the mother and new State.... Let your proposals
be consistent with the honour of the State to accede to, which, by your
allegiance as good citizens, you cannot violate and I make no doubt but
her generosity, in time, will meet your wishes.
--Governor Alexander Martin: Manifesto against the State of Franklin,
April 25, 1785.
To the shrewd diplomacy of Joseph Martin, who held the Cherokees in
check during the period of the King's Mountain campaign, the settlers in
the valleys of the Watauga and the Holston owed their temporary immunity
from Indian attack. But no sooner did Sevier and his over-mountain men
return from the battle-field of King's Mountain than they were called
upon to join in an expedition against the Cherokees, who had again gone
on the war-path at the instigation of the British. After Sevier with his
command had defeated a small party of Indians at Boyd's Creek in
December, the entire force of seven hundred riflemen, under the command
of Colonel Arthur Campbell, with Major Joseph Martin as subordinate,
penetrated to the heart of the Indian country, burned Echota, Chilhowee,
Settiquo, Hiawassee, and seven other principal villages, and destroyed
an immense amount of property and supplies. In March, suspecting that
the arch-conspirators against the white settlers were the Cherokees at
the head waters of the Little Tennessee, Sevier led one hundred and
fifty horsemen through the devious mountain defiles and struck the
Indians a swift and unexpected blow at Tuckasegee, near the present
Webster, North Carolina. In this extraordinarily daring raid, one of his
most brilliant feats of arms, Sevier lost only one man killed and one
wounded; while upon the enemy he inflicted the loss of thirty killed,
took many more prisoners, burned six Indian towns, and captured many
horses and supplies. Once his deadly work was done, Sevier with his bold
cavaliers silently plunged again into the forest whence he had so
suddenly emerged, and returned in triumph to the settlements.
Disheartened though the Indians were to see the smoke of their burning
towns, they sullenly remained averse to peace; and they did not keep the
treaty made at Long Island in July, 1781. The Indians suffered from very
real grievances at the hands of the lawless white settlers who persisted
in encroaching upon the Indian lands. When the Indian ravages were
resumed, Sevier and Anderson, the latter from Sullivan County, led a
punitive expedition of two hundred riflemen against the Creeks and the
Chickamaugas; and employing the customary tactics of laying waste the
Indian towns, administered stern and salutary chastisement to the
copper-colored marauders.
During this same period the settlers on the Cumberland were displaying a
grim fortitude and stoical endurance in the face of Indian attack
forever memorable in the history of the Old Southwest. On the night of
January 15, 1781, the settlers at Freeland's Station, after a desperate
resistance, succeeded in beating off the savages who attacked in force.
At Nashborough on April 2d, twenty of the settlers were lured from the
stockade by the artful wiles of the savages; and it was only after
serious loss that they finally won their way back to the protection of
the fort. Indeed, their return was due to the fierce dogs of the
settlers, which were released at the most critical moment, and attacked
the astounded Indians with such ferocity that the diversion thus created
enabled the settlers to escape from the deadly trap. During the next two
years the history of the Cumberland settlements is but the gruesome
recital of murder after murder of the whites, a few at a time, by the
lurking Indian foe. Robertson's dominant influence alone prevented the
abandonment of the sorely harassed little stations. The arrival of the
North Carolina commissioners for the purpose of laying off bounty lands
and settlers' preemptions, and the treaty of peace concluded at the
French Lick on November 5 and 6, 1783, gave permanence and stability to
the Cumberland settlements. The lasting friendship of the Chickasaws was
won; but the Creeks for some time continued to harass the Tennessee
pioneers. The frontiersmen's most formidable foe, the Cherokees,
stoically, heroically fighting the whites in the field, and smallpox,
syphilis, and drunkenness at home, at last abandoned the unequal battle.
The treaty at Hopewell on November 28, 1785, marks the end of an
era--the Spartan yet hopeless resistance of the intrepid red men to the
relentless and frequently unwarranted expropriation by the whites of the
ancient and immemorial domain of the savage.
The skill in self-government of the isolated people beyond the
mountains, and the ability they had already demonstrated in the
organization of "associations," received a strong stimulus on June 2,
1784, when the legislature of North Carolina ceded to the Congress of
the United States the title which that state possessed to the land west
of the Alleghanies. Among the terms of the Cession Act were these
conditions: that the ceded territory should be formed into a separate
state or states; and that if Congress should not accept the lands thus
ceded and give due notice within two years, the act should be of no
force and the lands should revert to North Carolina. [203] No sooner did
this news reach the Western settlers than they began to mature plans for
the organization of a government during the intervening twelve months.
Their exposed condition on the frontiers, still harassed by the Indians,
and North Carolina's delay in sending goods promised the Indians by a
former treaty, both promoted Indian hostility; and these facts, combined
with their remote location beyond the mountains, rendering them almost
inaccessible to communication with North Carolina--all rendered the
decision of the settlers almost inevitable. Moreover, the allurements of
high office and the dazzling dreams of ambition were additional motives
sufficiently human in themselves to give driving power to the movement
toward independence.
At a convention assembled at Jonesborough on August 23, 1784, delegates
from the counties of Washington, Sullivan, and Greene characteristically
decided to organize an "Association." They solemnly declared by
resolution: "We have a just and undeniable right to petition to Congress
to accept the session made by North Carolina, and for that body to
countenance us for forming ourselves into a separate government, and to
frame either a permanent or temporary constitution, agreeably to a
resolve of Congress...." Meanwhile, Governor Martin, largely as the
result of the prudent advice of North Carolina's representative in
Congress, Dr. Hugh Williamson, was brought to the conclusion that North
Carolina, in the passage of the cession act, had acted precipitately.
This important step had been taken without the full consideration of the
people of the state. Among the various arguments advanced by Williamson
was the impressive contention that, in accordance with the procedure in
the case of other states, the whole expense of the huge Indian
expeditions in 1776 and the heavy militia aids to South Carolina and
Georgia should be credited to North Carolina as partial fulfilment of
her continental obligations before the cession should be irrevocably
made to the Federal government. Williamson's arguments proved
convincing; and it was thus primarily for economic reasons of
far-reaching national importance that the assembly of North Carolina
(October 22 to November 25, 1784) repealed the cession act made the
preceding spring. [204]
Before the news of the repeal of the cession act could reach the western
waters, a second convention met at Jonesborough on December 17th.
Sentiment at this time was much divided, for a number of the people,
expecting the repeal of the cession act, genuinely desired a continued
allegiance to North Carolina. Of these may well have been John Sevier,
who afterward declared to Joseph Martin that he had been "Draged into
the Franklin measures by a large number of the people of this country."
[205] The principal act of this convention was the adoption of a
temporary constitution for six months and the provision for a convention
to be held within one year, at the expiration of which time this
constitution should be altered, or adopted as the permanent constitution
of the new state. [206] The scholars on the western waters, desiring to
commemorate their aspirations for freedom, chose as the name of the
projected new state: "Frankland"--the Land of the Free. The name finally
chosen, however, perhaps for reasons of policy, was "Franklin," in honor
of Benjamin Franklin. Meanwhile, in order to meet the pressing needs for
a stable government along the Tennessee frontier, the North Carolina
assembly, which repealed the cession act, created out of the four
western counties the District of Washington, with John Haywood as
presiding judge and David Campbell as associate, and conferred upon John
Sevier the rank of brigadier-general of the new district. The first week
in December Governor Martin sent to Sevier his military commission; and
replying to Joseph Martin's query (December 31, 1784, prompted by
Governor Martin) as to whether, in view of the repeal of the cession
act, he intended to persist in revolt or await developments, Sevier gave
it out broadcast that "we shall pursue no furtheir measures as to a new
State."
Owing to the remoteness of the Tennessee settlements and the difficulty
of appreciating through correspondence the atmosphere of sentiment in
Franklin, Governor Martin realized the necessity of sending a personal
representative to discover the true state of affairs in the disaffected
region beyond the mountains. For the post of ambassador to the new
government, Governor Martin selected a man distinguished for mentality
and diplomatic skill, a pioneer of Tennessee and Kentucky, Judge Richard
Henderson's brother, Colonel Samuel Henderson. Despite Sevier's
disavowal of any further intention to establish a new state, the
governor gave Colonel Henderson elaborate written instructions, the
purport of which was to learn all that he could about the political
complexion of the Tennessee frontiersmen, the sense of the people, and
the agitation for a separate commonwealth. Moreover, in the hope of
placating the leading chieftains of the Cherokees, who had bitterly
protested against the continued aggressions and encroachments upon their
lands by the lawless borderers, he instructed Colonel Henderson also to
learn the temper and dispositions of the Indians, and to investigate the
case of Colonel James Hubbardt who was charged with the murder of
Untoola of Settiquo, a chief of the Cherokees.
When Colonel Henderson arrived at Jonesborough, he found the third
Franklin legislature in session, and to this body he presented Governor
Martin's letter of February 27, 1785. In response to the governor's
request for an "account of the late proceedings of the people in the
western country," an extended reply was drafted by the new legislature;
and this letter, conveyed to Governor Martin by Colonel Henderson, in
setting forth in detail the reasons for the secession, made the
following significant statement: "We humbly thank North Carolina for
every sentiment of regard she has for us, but are sorry to observe, that
as it is founded upon principles of interest, as is aparent from the
tenor of your letter, we are doubtful, when the cause ceases which is
the basis of that affection, we shall lose your esteem." At the same
time (March 22nd), Sevier, who had just been chosen Governor of the
State of Franklin, transmitted to Governor Martin by Colonel Henderson a
long letter, not hitherto published in any history of the period, in
which he outspokenly says:
It gives me great pain to think there should arise any Disputes between
us and North Carolina, & I flatter myself when North Carolina states the
matter in a fair light she will be fully convinced that necessity and
self-preservation have Compelled Us to the measures we Have taken, and
could the people have discovered that No. Carolina would Have protected
and Govern'd them, They would have remained where they were; but they
perceived a neglect and Coolness, and the Language of Many of your most
leading members Convinced them they were Altogether Disregarded. [207]
Following the issuance of vigorous manifestos by Martin (April 25th) and
Sevier (May 15th), [208] the burden of the problem fell upon Richard
Caswell, who in June succeeded Martin as Governor of North Carolina.
Meantime the legislature of the over-mountain men had given the name of
Franklin to the new state, although for some time it continued to be
called by many Frankland, and its adherents Franks. The legislature had
also established an academy named after Governor Martin, and had
appointed (March 12th) William Cocke as a delegate to the Continental
Congress, urging its acceptance of the cession. In the Memorial from the
Franklin legislature to the Continental Congress, dealing in some detail
with North Carolina's failure to send the Cherokees some goods promised
them for lands acquired by treaty, it is alleged:
She [North Carolina] immediately stoped the goods she had promised to
give the Indians for the said land which so exasperated them that they
begun to commit hostalities on our frontiers in this situation we were
induced to a declaration of Independence not doubting we should be
excused by Congress ... as North Carolina seemed quite regardless of our
interest and the Indians daily murdering our friends and relations
without distinction of age or sex. [209]
Sympathizing with the precarious situation of the settlers, as well as
desiring the cession, Congress urged North Carolina to amend the
repealing act and execute a conveyance of the western territory to the
Union.
A
DECLARATION of RIGHTS
ALSO, THE
CONSTITUTION
OR
FORM of GOVERNMENT
Agreed to, and resolved upon, by the Representatives of the Freemen of
the
STATE of FRANKLAND,
Elected and chosen for that particular purpose, in Convention assembled
at Greeneville, the 14th of November, 1785.
PHILADELPHIA:
Printed by Francis Bailey, at Yorick's Head.
M.DCC.LXXXVI.
Among the noteworthy features of the Franklin movement was the
constitution prepared by a committee, headed by the Reverend Samuel
Houston of Washington County, and presented at the meeting of the
Franklin legislature, Greeneville, November 14, 1785. This eccentric
constitution was based in considerable part upon the North Carolina
model; but it was "rejected in the lump" and the constitution of North
Carolina, almost unchanged, was adopted. Under this Houston
constitution, the name "Frankland" was chosen for the new state. The
legislature was to consist of but a single house. In a section excluding
from the legislature "ministers of the gospel, attorneys at law, and
doctors of physics," those were declared ineligible for office who were
of immoral character or guilty of "such flagrant enormities as
drunkenness, gaming, profane swearing, lewdness, Sabbath-breaking and
such like," or who should deny the existence of God, of heaven, and of
hell, the inspiration of the Scriptures, or the existence of the
Trinity. Full religious liberty and the rights of conscience were
assured--but strict orthodoxy was a condition for eligibility to office.
No one should be chosen to office who was "not a scholar to do the
business." This remarkable document, which provided for many other
curious innovations in government, was the work of pioneer
doctrinaires--Houston, Campbell, Cocke, and Tipton--and deserves study
as a bizarre reflection of the spirit and genius of the western
frontiersmen. [210]
The liberal policy of Martin, followed by the no less conciliatory
attitude of his successor, Caswell, for the time proved wholly abortive.
However, Martin's appointment of Evan Shelby in Sevier's place as
brigadier, and of Jonathan Tipton as colonel of his county, produced
disaffection among the Franks; and the influence of Joseph Martin
against the new government was a powerful obstacle to its success. At
first the two sets of military, civil, and judicial officers were able
to work amicably together; and a working-basis drawn up by Shelby and
Sevier, although afterward repudiated by the Franklin legislature,
smoothed over some of the rapidly accumulating difficulties. The
persistent and quiet assertion of authority by North Carolina, without
any overt act of violence against the officers of Franklin state,
revealed great diplomatic skill in Governors Martin and Caswell. It was
doubtless the considerate policy of the latter, coupled with the
defection from Sevier's cause of men of the stamp of Houston and Tipton,
after the blundering and cavalier rejection of their singular
constitution, which undermined the foundations of Franklin. Sevier
himself later wrote with considerable bitterness: "I have been
faithfull, and my own breast acquits myself that I have acted no part
but what has been Consistent with honor and justice, tempered with
Clemency and mercy. How far our pretended patriots have supported me as
their pretended chiefe magistrate, I leave the world at large to Judge."
Arthur Campbell's plans for the formation of a greater Franklin, through
the union of the people on the western waters of Virginia with those of
North Carolina, came to nought when Virginia in the autumn of 1785 with
stern decisiveness passed an act making it high treason to erect an
independent government within her limits unless authorized by the
assembly. Sevier, however, became more fixed in his determination to
establish a free state, writing to Governor Caswell: "We shall continue
to act independent and would rather suffer death, in all its various and
frightful shapes, than conform to anything that is disgraceful." North
Carolina, now proceeding with vigor (November, 1786), fully reassumed
its sovereignty and jurisdiction over the mountain counties, but passed
an act of pardon and oblivion, and in many ways adopted moderate and
conciliatory measures.
Driven to extremities, Cocke and Sevier in turn appealed for aid and
advice to Benjamin Franklin, in whose honor the new state had been
named. In response to Cocke, Franklin wrote (August 12, 1786): "I think
you are perfectly right in resolving to submit them [the Points in
Dispute] to the Decision of Congress and to abide by their
Determination." [211] Franklin's views change in the interim; for when,
almost a year later, Sevier asks him for counsel, Franklin has come to
the conclusion that the wisest move for Sevier was not to appeal to
Congress, but to endeavor to effect some satisfactory compromise with
North Carolina (June 30, 1787):
There are only two Things that Humanity induces me to wish you may
succeed in: The Accomodating your Misunderstanding with the Government
of North Carolina, by amicable Means; and the Avoiding an Indian war, by
preventing Encroaching on their Lands.... The Inconvenience to your
People attending so remote a Seat of Government, and the difficulty to
that Government in ruling well so remote a People, would I think be
powerful Inducements with it, to accede to any fair & reasonable
Proposition it may receive from you towards an Accommodation. [212]
Despite Sevier's frenzied efforts to achieve independence--his treaty
with the Indians, his sensational plan to incorporate the Cherokees into
the new state, his constancy to an ideal of revolt against others in
face of the reality of revolt against himself, his struggle, equivocal
and half-hearted, with the North Carolina authorities under
Tipton--despite all these heroic efforts, the star of Franklin swiftly
declined. The vigorous measures pursued by General Joseph Martin, and
his effective influence focussed upon a movement already honey-combed
with disaffection, finally turned the scale. To the Franklin leaders he
sent the urgent message: "Nothing will do but a submission to the laws
of North Carolina." Early in April, 1788, Martin wrote to Governor
Randolph of Virginia: "I returned last evening from Green Co. Washington
destrict, North Carolina, after a tower through that Co'ntry, and am
happy to inform your Excellency that the late unhappy dispute between
the State of North Carolina, and the pretended State of Franklin is
subsided." Ever brave, constant, and loyal to the interest of the
pioneers, Sevier had originally been drawn into the movement against his
best judgment. Caught in the unique trap, created by the passage of the
cession act and the sudden volte-face of its repeal, he struggled
desperately to extricate himself. Alone of all the leaders, the governor
of ill-starred Franklin remained recalcitrant.