CHAPTER V

THE CONSTITUTIONAL ELEMENTS

WHEN the territory south of the Ohio was organized by act of Congress on the 26th of May, 1790, the people of Kentucky were already asking for admission to the Union. As early as 1784 they had sought separation from Virginia, had met twice in convention at Danville, and formulated petitions to the Virginia Legislature asking for separation. A third convention unanimously voted independence. The cession of western lands by Virginia solved the problem of the independence of Kentucky, and removed the last obstacle in the way of the organization of a State government. On the 1st of June, 1792, the State was received into the Union "as a new and entire member of the United States of America." Another convention had assembled at Danville on the 2d of April, 1792, and in seventeen days had made a constitution.* It was not submitted to

The Kentucky convention of 1792 had forty-five members. George Nicholas is said to have been the principal author of the constitution. He, John Campbell, and Matthew Walton became members of Congress. Isaac Shelby became the first Governor of the State. The vote on the pro-slavery clause in the constitution stood twenty-six for, sixteen against. Among the sixteen

the people for ratification. The population of the State came chiefly from Virginia, and the new constitution closely resembled that of the parent State. It continued in force seven years. Its defects were chiefly in the organization of the legislative and judiciary, and in the provisions for the apportionment of representation. On the 22d of July, 1799, a constitutional convention met at Frankford and continued in session until the 7th of August, at which time it promulgated a new constitution, to take effect on the 1st of January, 1800. This second constitution of the commonwealth, remedying the defects of the first, continued in force fifty years.*

were six ministers-John Bailey, Benedict Swope, Charles Kavenaugh, George Smith, James Crawford, James G. Garrow. Robert Breckinridge was a member of this convention. Five served as Presidential Electors-Benjamin Logan (1793), Shelby (1797, 1801, 1805), Hubbard Taylor (1805, 1809, 1813, 1817, 1821, 1825), Matthew Walton (1809), Richard Taylor (1813, 1817, 1821, 1825). For a list of the members of this convention I am indebted to Hon. R. T. Durrett, of Louisville, and to Mr. W. D. Hixson, Librarian, Maysville, Kentucky.

* The Kentucky convention of 1798-99 consisted of fifty-seven members. A. S. Bullitt (president), John Adair, Richard Taylor, Thomas Clay, Samuel Taylor, William Steele, and Caleb Wallace were members of the convention of 1792. William Logan, Henry Crist, Thomas Sandford, and John Rowan became members of Congress, and John Adair, John Breckinridge, and Buckner Thruston, United States Senators (1801-11). Harry Junes became United States District Judge. Breckinridge, one of Jefferson's intimate friends, became Attorney-General of the United States under him. Felix Grundy became Chief Justice of the State; later, having removed to Tennessee, member of Congress (1811-14), United States Senator (1829–38), Attorney-General under Van Buren (1838-40), and again Senator (1840)—the year of his death. William Irvine became a Presidential Elector in 1805

The State of Franklin

At the time when North Carolina ceded her western lands to the United States a portion of them, known as Washington County, was already occupied and called East Tennessee. The North Carolina Assembly showed little disposition to part with this territory, and repealed its act of cession in the year in which it was passed. Meanwhile the people of Tennessee had assembled in convention at Jonesboro and attempted to organize an independent State government. The repeal of the North Carolina act caused a second convention at Jonesboro, which voted independence and gave to the State the name Franklin, or Frankland; both titles being used. The Jonesboro convention assembled in December, 1784, had agreed on a constitution, and had submitted it for popular approval. It provided that before the year closed the people should choose a second convention for the sole purpose of ratifying the constitution, or amending it as public opinion might demand. This ratifying convention met at Greenville on the 14th of November of the following year. The opinions respecting the constitution laid before the convention were so various that it was found quite impossible to harmonize them. After much debate a committee was appointed. to prepare and submit a form of government. It based its work on the constitution of South Carolina, though deriving help from other Southern

and 1809. The list of members was sent me by Hon. R. T. Durrett, Louisville, and by Mr. W. D. Hixson, Librarian, Maysville, Kentucky.

constitutions. Thus its work was in a measure composite. The convention, organized as a committee of the whole, immediately rejected the report of the committee, whereupon, with equal haste, the constitution of North Carolina was read, approved, and adopted. To this decision there was strong dissent, especially from the members of the late committee, whose objections and those of other members of the convention were formally set forth in the journal. A State government was, however, organized, and official notice was sent to the Governor of North Carolina, informing him that the inhabitants of Franklin had declared themselves a free and independent State. The rejection of the composite plan reported by the committee led to the formation of a North Carolina party in Franklin, and for a time great disorder prevailed. As early as 1785 a delegate was sent to Congress to present to that body a memorial for the admission of Franklin as a State of the Union. It was not until 1790 that Congress accepted Tennessee as a cession from the State of North Carolina. For nearly six years Franklin existed as a quasi State, although it was not recognized by Congress or by the other States.

The organization of the territory south of the river Ohio in 1790 made it possible for Tennessee, like Kentucky, to proceed normally in its course for admission, and six years later, on the 11th of January, a convention assembled at Knoxville, continuing in session until the 6th of Feb

Eminent Personages in the Conventions

uary, when it promulgated a constitution.* This was followed by the admission of the State on the 1st of June. The constitution thus approved continued in force until 1834.

These conventions enrolled many eminent men. If the federal convention be included, five men afterwards Presidents of the United States assisted in the work. Washington and Madison, and Gerry, the fourth Vice-President, belonged to the federal convention; John Adams to the Massachusetts convention of 1779. Jefferson was chosen a delegate to the Virginia convention of 1776, but was represented by an alternate. As the author of the Declaration of Independence he was, in a sense, a member of all the conventions, for it became the common bill of rights. Andrew Jackson was a member of the Tennessee convention of 1796. Jay, Ellsworth, and Rutledge became, in turn, Chief Justice of the United States: the first was a member of the New York convention of 1777, the second and third, of the federal convention. Seven

* See Journal of this convention, Knoxville, 1796; reprint, Nashville, 1832. It consisted of fifty-five members. William Blount, the president, had signed the Constitution of the United States as one of the delegates from North Carolina; John Adair became Governor of the State (1820-24). Eight of the delegates became members of Congress, and of these four were United States Senators-William Cocke (1796-97, 1799-1805), Andrew Jackson (1797-98, 1823-25), William Blount (1796-97), Joseph Anderson (1797-1815). Tradition says that the State was named Tennessee on motion of Andrew Jackson. W. C. C. Claiborne was a delegate. The original draft of the constitution is said to have been made by Charles McClung. See also Caldwell's Studies in the Constitutional History of Tennessee, Cincinnati, 1895, Chap. v.