During the American Revolution the hardy mountaineers under John Sevier and Evan Shelby did valiant service against both the royal troops and the Loyalists in South Carolina, chiefly as par tisan rangers under Charles McDowell (1743-1815). Major Patrick Ferguson, with several hundred Loyalists and a small body of regulars, made a demonstration against the western settlements ; but at King's Mountain in South Carolina, he was completely defeated by the Americans.
Af ter the American Revo lution the legislature of North Carolina in 1784 offered to cede her western territory to the general Government, provided the cession be accepted within two years. The Watauga settlers, indignant at this transfer without their consent, and fearing to be left without any form of Government whatever, assembled in convention at Jonesboro on Aug. 23, 1784, and chose delegates to a later convention to form a new State. Meanwhile North Carolina repealed the act of cession and created the western counties into a new judicial district. A second convention, in November, broke up in confusion without accomplishing any thing; but a third adopted a Constitution, which was submitted to the people, and ordered the election of a legislature. This body met early in 1785, elected Sevier governor of the new State of Franklin (at first Frankland), filled a number of offices, and passed several laws in anticipation of an autonomous existence. On account of the scarcity of a circulating medium more than 20 articles were valued and declared legal tender. Among them were fox skins, Is. 6d.; beaver skins, 6s.; bacon, 6d. per lb.; rye whis ky, 2S. 6d. the gallon. Four new counties were created, and taxes were levied. Later in the year another convention, to which the proposed Constitution had been referred, adopted instead the Constitution of North Carolina with a few trifling changes, and William Cocke was chosen to present to Congress a memorial requesting recognition as a State. Congress, however, ignored the request, and the diplomacy of the North Carolina authorities caused a reaction. For a time two sets of officials claimed recog nition, but when the North Carolina legislature a second time passed an act of oblivion and remitted the taxes unpaid since 1784, the tide was turned. No successor to Sevier was elected. He was arrested on a charge of treason, but was allowed to escape, and soon afterwards was again appointed brigadier-general of militia.
Meanwhile, settlers had pushed on farther into the wilderness. On March 17, 1775 Col. Richard Henderson and his associates extinguished the Indian title to an immense tract of land in the valleys of the Cumberland, the Kentucky and the Ohio rivers (see KENTUCKY). In 1778 James Robertson (1742-1814), a
native of Virginia, who had been prominent in the Watauga settlement, set out with a small party to prepare the way for permanent occupation. He arrived at French Lick (so called from a French trading post established there) early in 1779, and in the same year a number of settlers from Virginia and South Caro lina arrived. Another party, led by John Donelson, arrived in 1780, and after the close of the War of Independence the immi grants came in a steady stream. A form of Government similar to the Watauga Association was devised, and blockhouses were built for defence against the Indians. Robertson was sent as a delegate to the North Carolina legislature in 1783, and through his instrumentality the settlements became Davidson county. Nashville, which had been founded as Nashborough in 1780, be came the county seat. Finally, in 1843, it became the State capital. Robertson, the dominant figure in the early years, struggled to counteract the efforts of Spanish intriguers among the Indians, and when diplomacy failed, he led the settlers against the Indian towns.
On Feb. 25, 1790 North Carolina again ceded the territory to the United States Government, stipulating that all the general provisions of the ordinance of 1787 should apply except that forbidding slavery. Congress accepted the cession and, on May 26, 1790, passed an act for the government of the "Territory south of the River Ohio." William Blount was appointed the first governor, and in 1792 Knoxville became the seat of Government. The chief events of Blount's administration were the contests with the Indians, the purchase of their lands, and the struggle against Spanish influence. A census ordered by the Territorial legislature in 1795 showed more than 6o,000 free inhabitants (the number prescribed before the Territory could become a State), and accordingly a convention to draft a State Constitution met in Knoxville on Jan. i 1, 1796. The instrument, which closely fol lowed the Constitution of North Carolina, was proclaimed with out submission to popular vote. John Sevier was elected governor, and William Blount and William Cocke United States senators. In spite of the opposition of the Federalist party, whose leaders foresaw that Tennessee would be Republican, it was admitted to the Union as the 16th State on June 1, 1796.