Description:
Amid the economic turmoil, Native American warfare, and political unrest following the Revolutionary War, the leadership of the Tennessee Valley declared their region independent from North Carolina and formed the state of Franklin. In The Lost State of Franklin: America's First Secession, Kevin T. Barksdale chronicles the rise and fall of the ill-fated Franklin statehood movement. Barksdale describes the dramatic four years in which the Franklinites crafted a backcountry bureaucracy, expanded their regional market economy, and nearly eradicated the southwestern frontier's Native American population, all with the goal of becoming America's fourteenth state. Although the Franklin statehood movement collapsed in 1788, East Tennesseans still regard Franklin as a symbol of their rugged individualism, regional identity, and civic dignity.
Brief description: Kevin T. Barksdale is professor of American history at Marshall University. A specialist in Appalachian history and culture, he is the author of The Lost State of Franklin: America's First Secession.
Review Quotes:
In this welcome contribution to the problems of governance in the early republic, Kevin Barksdale presents a history of the failed State of Franklin. Franklin's rise and fall remains an important counterpoint to much of American history because it is a story of failed possibilities.
-- "Tennessee Historical Quarterly"