Independent Republic
After the failed statehood attempt (and still at odds with North Carolina over taxation, protection, and other issues), Franklin operated as a de facto independent republic. Up to this point, the government had been assembling at Jonesborough, mere city-blocks from the rival, North Carolina-backed, seat of government. Because of this, Greeneville was declared the new capital. The first legislature met there in December 1785. At Greeneville, the delegates adopted a permanent constitution, known as the "Holston Constitution," (and heavily modeled on that of North Carolina). John Sevier also proposed to commission a Franklin state flag, but it was never designed.
The new legislature made peace treaties with the Indian tribes in the area (with few exceptions, the most notable being the Chickamauga Cherokee). It opened courts, incorporated and annexed five new counties (see map below), and fixed taxes and officers' salaries. Barter became the economic system de jure, with anything in common use among the people allowed in payment to settle debts, including corn, tobacco, apple brandy, and skins. (Sevier was often paid in deer hides). Federal or foreign money was accepted. All citizens were granted a two-year reprieve on paying taxes, but the lack of hard currency and economic infrastructure slowed development and often created confusion.
Read more about this topic: State Of Franklin
Famous quotes containing the words independent and/or republic:
“The real, then, is that which, sooner or later, information and reasoning would finally result in, and which is therefore independent of the vagaries of me and you. Thus, the very origin of the conception of reality shows that this conception essentially involves the notion of a COMMUNITY, without definite limits, and capable of a definite increase of knowledge.”
—Charles Sanders Peirce (1839–1914)
“Royalty is a government in which the attention of the nation is concentrated on one person doing interesting actions. A Republic is a government in which that attention is divided between many, who are all doing uninteresting actions. Accordingly, so long as the human heart is strong and the human reason weak, Royalty will be strong because it appeals to diffused feeling, and Republics weak because they appeal to the understanding.”
—Walter Bagehot (1826–1877)