Statehood Day in Tennessee – June 1, 2024

History of Statehood Day in Tennessee

Governor Blount called for elections in December 1793 as colonists demanded statehood. The 13-member territorial Chamber of Representatives met for the first time in Knoxville in February 1794 to elect 10 members to the legislature’s upper house, the Council. In August 1794, the legislature met in full and convened in its entirety in August 1794. The legislature conducted a census of the area, which revealed a population of over 70,000 people, 10,000 of whom were slaves, as well as a poll that revealed a majority of people in favor of statehood in June 1795.

Delegates were elected to a constitutional convention in December 1795, and they met in Knoxville to draft a state constitution in January 1796. During this convention, Tennessee was chosen as the new state’s name. After the constitution was completed, the state’s new legislature, the Tennessee General Assembly, was elected in February. The assembly gathered in March 1796, and the next day, John Sevier was named the state’s first governor. On June 1, 1796, Tennessee was admitted to the Union as the 16th state and the first to be formed from federal land.

Since then, the state has seen several developments. Tennessee’s constitution was amended in 2002 to include a lottery. In 2006, the state constitution was revised to make same-sex marriage illegal. The United States Supreme Court overturned this amendment in 2015. In December 2008, over 1.1 billion gallons of coal ash slurry were accidentally spilled into the Emory and Clinch Rivers at T.V.A’s Kingston Fossil Plant, resulting in the worst industrial waste disaster in U.S. history. The cleanup cost more than a billion dollars and lasted until 2015.