Tennessee Historical Events

Date

Event

about 9500 bc	Paleo-Indian hunter-gatherers range over Tennessee.
about 6000 bc	Archaic culture introduces woven baskets.
about 500 bc	Woodland culture introduces mound building.
ad 1540	Spanish explorers, led by Hernando de Soto, enter the Tennessee region.
1682	René-Robert Cavelier, sieur de La Salle, claims the Mississippi drainage region, including Tennessee, for France.
1768-1769	The first white permanent settlement in Tennessee is established in the Watauga region.
1772	Tennessee settlers form the Watauga Association and draft the first written constitution west of the Appalachian Mountains.
1780	The Cumberland settlement is established at present-day Nashville, and the Cumberland Compact is adopted.
1780	Tennessee's frontier troops repel the British at Kings Mountain.
1784	The short-lived State of Franklin is formed by settlers in eastern Tennessee.
1790	The Southwest Territory, consisting of the Tennessee region, is organized by Congress. William Blount is named governor.
1796	Tennessee is admitted to the Union as the 16th state (June 1).
1796	John Sevier becomes the first governor of Tennessee, and Andrew Jackson the first congressman.
1812	Tennessee becomes the 'Volunteer State' because of the large number of men volunteering for service in the War of 1812.
1829	Andrew Jackson becomes the first United States president from the area west of the Appalachians.
1838	The Cherokee Nation is expelled from its remaining lands in Tennessee and forcibly driven by federal troops to the Arkansas Territory.
1845	James K. Polk becomes the second president from Tennessee.
1861	Tennessee secedes from the Union to join the Confederacy.
1861-1865	Tennessee becomes a battlefield as Union troops pour into the South. More battles are fought in Tennessee than in any other state except Virginia.
1865	Andrew Johnson, from Greeneville, succeeds Abraham Lincoln in the presidency after Lincoln is assassinated.
1866	Tennessee is readmitted to the Union.
1872	Sampson W. Keeble becomes the state's first black legislator.
1891-1892	Disputes over convict leasing bring on the Miners' War.
1918	Alvin York of Fentress County becomes a national hero in World War I.
1925	The Scopes 'Monkey Trial' is conducted at Dayton.
1933	The Tennessee Valley Authority is created.
1962	In the landmark case of Baker v. Carr, the state legislature is ordered to reapportion membership.
1966	Dr. Dorothy Brown of Nashville becomes the first black woman to win a seat in the Tennessee state senate.
1974	Alex Haley of Henning publishes Roots.
1992	Senator Al Gore becomes the first U.S. vice president from Tennessee in more than 100 years.
1994	Tennesseans elect a Republican governor and two Republican U.S. senators. Defections among Democrats in the legislature soon give Republicans control of the state senate.