End of Territorial Status and Statehood
A 1795 census revealed there were enough people to petition for statehood. A popular referendum indicated a three-to-one majority was in favor of becoming a state. Governor Blount convened a constitutional convention, and delegates drafted a state constitution. Voters elected Sevier as governor. The new legislature selected Blount and William Cocke as U.S. Senators, and Andrew Jackson as the U.S. Representative.
The Southwest Territory had been the first federal territory to petition to join the Union and there had been some confusion in Congress about how to proceed. Nonetheless, Tennessee was admitted to the Union on June 1, 1796 as the 16th US state, and the Southwest Territory ceased to exist.
Read more about this topic: Southwest Territory
Famous quotes containing the words territorial, status and/or statehood:
“All the territorial possessions of all the political establishments in the earth—including America, of course—consist of pilferings from other people’s wash.”
—Mark Twain [Samuel Langhorne Clemens] (1835–1910)
“The influx of women into paid work and her increased power raise a woman’s aspirations and hopes for equal treatment at home. Her lower wage and status at work and the threat of divorce reduce what she presses for and actually expects.”
—Arlie Hochschild (20th century)
“We’re for statehood. We want statehood because statehood means the protection of our farms and our fences; and it means schools for our children; and it means progress for the future.”
—Willis Goldbeck (1900–1979)