Table Of ContentTh e Lost State of Fra nk lin
NEW DIRECTIONS IN SOUTHERN HISTORY
SERIES EDITORS
Peter S. Carmichael, West Virginia University
Michele Gillespie, Wake Forest University
William A. Link, University of Florida
Bluecoats and Tar Heels:
Soldiers and Civilians in Reconstruction North Carolina
Mark L. Bradley
Becoming Bourgeois: Merchant Culture in the South, 1820 –1865
Frank J. Byrne
Lum and Abner: Rural America and the Golden Age of Radio
Randal L. Hall
Entangled by White Supremacy:
Reform in World War I–era South Carolina
Janet G. Hudson
Th e View from the Ground: Experiences of Civil War Soldiers
edited by Aaron Sheehan-Dean
Southern Farmers and Th eir Stories:
Memory and Meaning in Oral History
Melissa Walker
Th e Lost State of Frank lin
America’s First Secession
Kevin T. Bark sda le
The University Press of Kentucky
Copyright © 2009 by Th e University Press of Kentucky
Paperback edition 2010
Scholarly publisher for the Commonwealth,
serving Bellarmine University, Berea College, Centre
College of Kentucky, Eastern Kentucky University,
Th e Filson Historical Society, Georgetown College,
Kentucky Historical Society, Kentucky State University,
Morehead State University, Murray State University,
Northern Kentucky University, Transylvania University,
University of Kentucky, University of Louisville,
and Western Kentucky University.
All rights reserved.
Editorial and Sales Offi ces: Th e University Press of Kentucky
663 South Limestone Street, Lexington, Kentucky 40508-4008
www.kentuckypress.com
Th e Library of Congress has cataloged the hardcover edition as follows:
Barksdale, Kevin T., 1973 –
Th e lost state of Franklin : America’s fi rst secession / Kevin T. Barksdale.
p. cm. — (New directions in southern history)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-8131-2521-3 (hardcover : alk. paper)
1. Franklin (State)—History. 2. Tennessee River Valley—History.
3. Social confl ict—Tennessee River Valley—History. 4. Tennessee River
Valley—Social conditions. 5. Tennessee River Valley—Politics and
government. 6. Secession—Tennessee River Valley—History.
7. Secession—United States—Case studies. I. Title.
F436.B268 2008
976.8'03—dc22
2008036154
Paper ISBN 978-0-8131-2987-7
Th is book is printed on acid-free recycled paper meeting
the requirements of the American National Standard
for Permanence in Paper for Printed Library Materials.
Manufactured in the United States of America.
Member of the Association of
American University Presses
For Joseph Th ompson Barksdale Sr.
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Contents
Preface ix
Introduction: Footstool of Liberty’s Th rone
Hero-Making versus Historiography 3
1. Land of the Franks
Th e Backcountry Economy of Upper East Tennessee 18
2. Acts of Designing Men
Community, Confl ict, and Control 36
3. Agreeable to a Republican Government
Th e Rise of Backcountry Partisanship, 1784 –1785 53
4. Strange Spectacle of Two Empires
Statesmanship, Speculation, and the
Dimming Fortunes of Separatism 72
5. Where the Fire of Peace Is Always Kept Burning
Land, Diplomacy, and the Tragedy of the
Tennessee Valley’s Principal People 91
6. Death in All Its Various and Frightful Shapes
Th e Last Days of the State of Franklin 118
7. Vassals del Rey de España
Th e Franklin-Spanish Conspiracy, 1786–1789 145
8. Rocked to Death in the Cradle of Secession
Th e Antebellum Evolution of Franklin, 1783–1861 162
viii Contents
Epilogue: Finding Frankland
Th e Legacy of Separatism in the Twentieth Century 184
Notes 192
Bibliography 256
Index 273
Preface
I first became aware of the state of Franklin nearly a decade ago, while
pursuing my master’s degree at Western Carolina University in Cullowhee,
North Carolina. Cryptic passing references often appeared in books, arti-
cles, and lectures, but the Franklin statehood movement remained obscured
by the maddening complexity and confusion surrounding the event. Very
few historians actually identified the underlying causes, participants, or
results of the separatist movement, and it was nearly impossible to locate
even a precise geographical definition of the boundaries of the “lost” state.
Perhaps it was this cloud of obscurity that inspired my own fascination with
the subject, but I gradually became more and more intrigued by the state of
Franklin and the Franklinites. What was this long forgotten statehood
movement? Why did it fail? Who were the leaders of the movement? These
essential questions continued to spark my historical fascination and ulti-
mately propelled this project forward.
By the time I arrived at West Virginia University in the fall of 2000 to
pursue my doctoral degree, I had committed myself to writing my disserta-
tion on the state of Franklin. As I began to study the history of America’s
early national period, I became transfixed by the political disquietude and
socioeconomic turmoil precipitated by the American Revolution. The
Revolutionary War unleashed a wave of bubbling social tensions previously
submerged under the weight of British colonial rule and a decade of revolu-
tion. As politically marginalized and economically exploited groups of “new
Americans” agitated for their share of the fruits of the American Revolu-
tion, postbellum America erupted in spasms of violence and political unrest.
From Daniel Shay’s rebelling Massachusetts yeoman farmers to trans-
Appalachia’s Whiskey Rebels, expressions of fierce backcountry localism
and agrarian radicalism threatened to plunge America into its own Revolt
of the Vendee.
Against this historical backdrop of political chaos and social unrest, the
backcountry leaders of the Tennessee Valley initiated their effort to estab-
lish America’s fourteenth state. As I gradually sifted through the materials
ix
