In the General Assembly, State of Franklin, October 15th, 1788.

Whereas, the collection of taxes in specie, for the want of a circulating  p220 medium, has become very oppressive to the good people of this Commonwealth; and

Whereas, it is the duty of the legislature to hear at all times the prayers of their constituents and apply as speedy a remedy as lays in their power,

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Franklin, and it is hereby enacted by the authority of the same, That, from the first day of January, A.D. 1788, the salaries of the civil officers of this Commonwealth be as follows, to wit:

His excellency, the governor, per annum, one thousand deer skins; his honor, the Chief Justice, five hundred do. do.; secretary to his excellency, the governor, five hundred racoon do. do.; the treasurer of the State, four hundred and fifty otter do. do.; each county clerk, three hundred beaver do.; clerk of the house of commons, two hundred beaver do.; members of the assembly, three do.; justices for signing a warrant, one muskrat do.; to the constable for serving a warrant, one mink do.

Enacted into a law this 15th day of October, 1788; under the great seal of the State.

Witness his Excellency, &c.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Governor, captain-general, commander-in‑chief
and admiral in and over the same State.​5

The Senator from Massachusetts [Mr. Webster] at the close of his reply to the Senator from South Carolina, [Mr. Calhoun] 'for his special benefit' in very good temper, and in a most happy manner, referred to the early history of that portion of my State, now called East Tennessee, once known as the State of Franklin. He read us a part of one of her acts of assembly which fixed the salaries of some of her officers, and directed the species of currency in which they were to be paid.

I always feel gratified when I know of hear that my State has done anything that benefits any portion of my fellowmen. 'Blessed be the peacemakers' is the language of Holy Writ. On this occasion the two honorable and distinguished Senators had assumed an attitude so belligerent that I really feared it might end in something worse than words. But no sooner were the labors of my State fifty years ago brought to the notice of this grave body, than we all forgot that any of us had been out of temper, and so soon as we could  p222 recover composure enough to adjourn, we separated like a band of brothers — no two leaving the chamber in better temper with each other than the two honorable Senators.

But sir, the Senator knew nothing under the practice of the state law; therefore we have not the full benefit which we ought to derive from his reminiscences. He could have related the whole incident so much better than I can that I regret he did not mention the subject to me before he addressed the Senate; if he had, I would have given him the additional facts, that the whole might have been detailed to the Senate in his good-tempered and felicitous manner.

It will be remembered that the governor, chief-justice, and some other officers, were to be paid in deer skins; other inferior officers were to be paid in raccoon skins. Now at that day we were all good whigs, although we had some of the notions of the democrats of the present day.

We thought those taxes might safely remain in the hands of the collectors until wanted for disbursement. The taxes were, therefore fairly collected in the skins and peltry pointed out in the law. But the collectors knew, report says, that although raccoon skins were plenty, opossum skins were more so, and that they could be procured for little or nothing. They therefore, procured the requisite number of opossum skins, cut the tails off the raccoon skins, sewed them to the opossum skins, paid them into the general or principal treasury, and sold the raccoon skins to the hatters.

The treasurer had been an unlucky appointment, although a worthy man; he was a foreigner, knew nothing of skins or peltry, and was, therefore, easily deceived by the sub‑treasurers. When this imposition was discovered, the whole system went down, and we never had a greater fancy for leaving the taxes in the hands of the sub‑treasurers or collectors from that day to this.

But sir, those old proceedings more clearly develop the true character of my State than almost anything of the present day.

The territory or tract of country called Franklin, was composed of four counties of North Carolina, and separated from the body of the State by the great ledge of mountains, called at different places by different names, and from what is now called West Tennessee by the Cumberland mountains and a wilderness of •two hundred miles.

The Revolutionary War had terminated with Great Britain in 1783, but it continued with the powerful tribes of Indians who had been in alliance with her. The depredations of these Indians were so serious that aid to arrest their ravages was desired from North Carolina; that state was not in a situation to furnish that protection, and instead thereof, from good motives, no doubt, but without due consideration, passed an act ceding us to the United States. When the news was received, the leading men, who were King's Mountain men — Sevier, the companion of the gallant Campbell and Shelby at their head — took fire; the discontent ended in a declaration  p223 of independence, and the formation of the state called, to perpetuate whig principles, 'Franklin.'

North Carolina discovered her error and before Congress could act on the subject, repealed her act of cession. But it was too late. We had been disposed of without our consent. Though but a handful, with a powerful savage enemy infesting our whole frontier, and without a dollar to begin with, we set up for ourselves. We would not brook the indignity; we had begun the fight for liberty and liberty or death we would have. We continued the controversy until 1789, when an accommodation with our parent; and with our own consent, and upon terms thought just, we, with other portions of territory, were ceded, in 1789, to the United States.

In 1796, we became the State of Tennessee, and how we have since continued, I willingly leave to the judgment of our sister States.

I confess that, instead of feeling humbled, I feel proud that my ancestor was one of that unyielding band; that I now find myself associated here with a Sevier and a Tipton; and although I sometimes think that two generations back those of their name would not have worked so tamely in party gear, yet every once in a while the blood shows itself, and you can see that if their home concerns are not attended to here, according to what is just, they break party bandages and walk abroad in that freedom for which their fathers periled everything.

Copy of a letter from Gov. Sevier to the privy council of the new state of Franklin, dated at Buffalo Creek, January 12, 1789.

It is with the utmost pleasure I inform your honors, that the arms of Franklin gained a complete victory over the combined forces of the Creeks and Cherokees, on the 10th inst. Since my last, I received information that the enemy were collecting in a considerable body near Flint Creek, within •25 miles of my headquarters, with an intention to attack me. To improve this favorable opportunity, I immediately marched my corps towards the spot and arrived, after  p224 enduring much hardship by [reason of] the immense quantities of snow and the piercing cold. On the morning of the 10th inst., we were within •a mile of the enemy. We soon discovered the situation of their encampment by the smoke of their fires, which we found extended along the foot of the Appalachian Mountain. I called a council of war of all the officers, in which it was agreed to attack the enemy without loss of time; and in order to surround them, I ordered Gen. M'Carter,​7 with the bloody rangers and the tomahawk‑men, to take possession of the mountain, the only pass I knew that the Indians could retreat by; while I with the rest of the corps formed a line, nearly extending from the right to the left of their wings.

The arrival of Gen. M'Carter on the mountain, and the signal for the attack, was to be announced by the discharge of a grasshopper, which was accordingly given and the attack began.

Our artillery soon roused the Indians from their huts; and, finding themselves pretty near surrounded on all sides, they only tried to save themselves by flight, from which they were prevented by our rifle­men posted behind the trees. Their case being desperate, they made some resistance, and killed the people who were serving our artillery. Our ammunition being much damaged by the snow on the march, and the enemy's in good order, I found it necessary to abandon that mode of attack, and trust the event to the sword and the tomahawk; accordingly gave orders to that purpose. Col. Loid, with 100 horsemen, charged the Indians with sword in hand, and the rest of the corps followed with their tomahawks. The battle soon became general, by Gen. M'Carter's coming down the mountain to our assistance; death presented itself on all sides in shocking scenes, and in less than half an hour the enemy ceased making resistance, and left us in possession of the bloody field.

The loss of the enemy sustained in this battle is very considerable; we have buried 145 of their dead, and by the blood we have traced for miles all over the woods it is supposed the greatest part of them retreated with wounds. Our loss is very inconsiderable; it consists of five dead, and sixteen wounded; amongst the latter is the brave Gen. M'Carter, who, while taking off the scalp of an Indian, was tomahawked by another whom he afterward killed with his own hand. I am in hopes this brave and good man will survive.

I have marched the army back to my former cantonment, at Buffalo Creek, where I must remain until I receive some supplies for the troops, which I hope will be sent soon. We suffer most for the want of whiskey.​8

Articles of Association

We, the subscribers, inhabiting south of Holston, French Broad and Big Pigeon Rivers, by means of the division and anarchy that has of late prevailed within the chartered limits of North-Carolina, west of the Apalachian Mountains, being at present destitute of regular government and laws, and being fully sensible that the  p227 blessings of nature can only be obtained and rights secured by regular society, and North-Carolina not having extended her government to this quarter, it is rendered absolutely necessary, for the preservation of peace and good order, to enter into the following social compact, as a temporary expedient against greater evils:

Article I. That the Constitution and Laws of North-Carolina shall be adopted, and that every person within the bounds above mentioned, shall be subject to the penalties inflicted by those laws for the violation thereof.

Article II. That the officers appointed under the authority of Franklin, either civil or military, and who have taken the oaths of office, shall continue to exercise the duties of such office, as far as directed and empowered by these Articles, and no further, and shall be accountable to the people or their deputies for their conduct in office.

Article III. That militia companies, as now bounded, shall be considered as districts of the above territory, and each district or militia company shall choose two members to represent them in a General Committee, who shall have power to represent them in a General Committee, to meet on their own adjournments, and the president shall have power to convene the Committee at any time when the exigencies of affairs require their meeting, and shall have power to keep order and to cause rules of decorum to be observed, in as full a manner as the president of any other convention whatever. And in all cases of mal‑administration, or neglect of duty in any officer, the party grieved shall appeal to the Committee, or a majority of them, who shall be competent to form a board of business. And upon such application, the Committee shall cause the parties to come before them, and after examining carefully into the nature of the offence, shall have power to deprive of office, or publicly reprimand the offender, as the demerit of the crime may deserve, or otherwise to acquit the party accused, if found not guilty.

Article IV. Where vacancies happen in the military department, the same shall be filled up by election, as heretofore used, and the officers thus elected shall be the reputed officers of such regiment or company, as the case may be, and shall be accountable to the Committee for their conduct as other officers.

Article V. The civil officers shall have power to take cognizance of breaches of the peace or criminal offences, and where any person is convicted of an offence not capital, the officer before whom such offender is convicted, shall immediately inflict the punishment directed by law for such offence. But where the crime is capital, the officer shall send such criminal, together with the evidences for or against him or them, to the highest justice of the peace for North-Carolina, there to be dealt with according to law; but no civil officer shall decide upon cases of debt, slander, or the right of property.

 p228  Article VI. Militia officers shall have power to collect their regiments or respective companies, emergencies making it necessary, and in case of invasion by the common enemy, shall call out their companies regularly by divisions, and each militia man shall give obedience to the commands of his officer, as is required by law, or otherwise be subject to the penalties affixed by law for such neglect or refusal, at the judgment of a court martial.

Article VII. And, whereas, it is not improbable that many horse thieves and fugitives from justice may come from different parts, expecting an asylum among us, as we are destitute of a regular government and laws by which they may be punished, each and every of us do oblige ourselves to aid and assist the officers of the different state or states, or of the United States, or any description of men sent by them, to apprehend such horse thief or fugitive from justice. And if any of the above characters should now be lurking amongst us, or shall hereafter be discovered to have taken refuge in this quarter, we do severally bind ourselves, by the sacred ties of honour, to give information to that state or government from which they have fled, so that they may be apprehended and brought to justice.

Article VIII. United application shall be made to the next session of the Assembly of North-Carolina to receive us into their protection, and to bestow upon us the blessings of government.

Article IX. The captains of the respective militia companies shall each of them procure a copy of these Articles, and after calling the company together for the purpose, shall read them, or cause them to be read, distinctly to said company; and each militia man or householder, after hearing them read, if he approve of them shall ascribe his name to the articles, as a proof of his willingness to subject himself to them; and said Articles shall be the temporary form of government until we are received into the protection of North-Carolina, and no longer.

"Most members of the Senate will remember that, before the establishment of this government, and before or about this time that the territory which now constitutes the State of Tennessee was ceded to Congress, the inhabitants of the eastern part of that territory established a government for themselves, and called it the State of Franklin. They adopted a very good constitution, calling for the usual branches of legislative, executive and judicial power. They laid and collected taxes, and performed other usual acts of legislation. They had, for the present, it is true, no maritime possession, yet they followed the common forms in constituting high officers; and their governor was not only captain-general and commander-in‑chief; but admiral also, so that the navy might have a commander when there should be a navy.

"Well, sir, the currency in the State of Franklin became very much deranged. Specie was scarce, and equally scarce were the notes of specie-payment banks. But the legislature did not propose any divorce of government and people; they did not seek to establish two currencies, one for men in office and one for the rest of the community. They were content with neighbors' fare. It became necessary to pass, what we should call, now-a‑days, the civil list appropriation bill. They passed such a bill; and when we shall have made a void in the bill now before us by striking out specie payments for government, I recommend to its friends to fill the gap by inserting, if not the same provisions as were in the laws of the State of Franklin, at least something in the same spirit.

"The preamble of that law, sir, begins by reciting, that the collection of taxes in specie had become very oppressive to the good people of the commonwealth for the want of a circulating medium. A parallel case to ours, sir, exactly. It recited further that it is the duty of the legislature to hear, at all times, the prayers of their constituents, and apply as speedy a remedy as lies in their power. These sentiments are very just, and I sincerely wish that there was a thorough disposition here to adopt the like.

"Acting under the influence of those sound opinions, sir, the legislature of Franklin passed a law for the support of the civil list, which, as it is short, I beg permission to read. It is as follows:

(Mr. Webster here read the body of the act as set out in the text.)

"This, sir, is the law, the spirit of which I commend to gentlemen. I will not speak of the appropriateness of these several allowances for the civil list. But the example is good, and I am of the opinion that, until Congress shall perform its duty by seeing that the country enjoys a good currency, the same medium which the people are obliged to use, whether it be skins or rags, is good enough for its own members."