Tennessee is a Southern state of the United States.
The USS Tennessee was named in honor of this state.
Origin and History of the Name Tennessee
- Captain Juan Pardo, the Spanish explorer, passed through a Native American village named "Tanasqui" after leaving South Carolina in the 1500s, near the river now known as Tanase, the "Little Tennessee".
- The origin of the name Tennessee is usually attributed to the Cherokee word Tanase, a word with no certain meaning (It has been said to mean "meeting place", "winding river" or "River of the great bend"). The word Tanase itself is said to be a Cherokee modification of a Yuchi/Creek word.
- It was also the name of an Overhill tribal town in what is currently Monroe County, TN.
- The earliest known use of the modern spelling was in 1754.
- In 1788 North Carolina named the third County to be established in what now is middle Tennessee "Tennessee County".
- The name was officially applied to the region of transmontane North Carolina formerly known as The Territory of the United States of America South of the River Ohio in 1793
- A constitutional convention was held in Knoxville on January 11th, 1796, forming the state "Tennessee" out of the Southwest Territory.
History as a State
- Tennessee was admitted to the Union in 1796 as the 16th state, and was created by taking the north and south borders of North Carolina and extending them with only one small deviation to the Mississippi River, Tennessee's western boundary. Tennessee seceded from the Union on June 8, 1861. After the American Civil War, Tennessee adopted a new constitution that abolished slavery (February 22, 1865), ratified the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution on July 18, 1866, and was the first state readmitted to the Union (July 24 of the same year).
- major historical events that occurred in state
- Tennessee was the only state that seceded from the Union that did not have a military governor after the American Civil War, mostly due to the influence of President Andrew Johnson, a native of the state, who was Lincoln's vice president and succeeded him as president, due to the assassination.
- In 1897, the state celebrated its centennial of statehood (ignoring the small question of the Civil War, and the fact that it was one year late) with a great exposition.
- During World War II, Oak Ridge was selected as a US Department of Energy national laboratory, one of the principal sites for the Manhattan Project's production and isolation of weapons-grade fissionable material.
Law and Government
Tennessee's governor holds office for a four year term and may serve any number of terms, but not more than two in a row. The speaker of the state Senate has the title of lieutenant governor. See:List of Tennessee Governors.
The General Assembly, ( the state's legislature) consists of the Senate which has 33 members and the House of Representatives with 99 members. Senators serve four year terms, and House members serve two year terms.
The highest court in Tennessee is the state Supreme Court. It has a chief justice and four associate justices. The Court of Appeals has 12 judges. The Court of Criminal Appeals has nine judges.
Tennessee's current state constitution was adopted in 1870. The state had two earlier constitutions. The first was adopted in 1796, the year Tennessee joined the union, and the second was adopted in 1834.
Geography
Missing imageNational-atlas-tennessee.PNG Map of Tennessee
See:List of Tennessee counties
See:List of Tennessee state parks
Tennesee lies adjacent to 8 other states (more than any other U.S. state). It is bordered on the north by Kentucky and Virginia, on the east by North Carolina, on the south by Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi, and on the west by Arkansas and Missouri. The state is bisected by the Tennessee River. The highest point in the state is the peak of Clingmans Dome at 6,643 feet (2,025 meters), which lies on Tennesee's eastern border.
The state of Tennessee is traditionally divided by its people into three grand divisions - East, Middle, and West Tennessee.
Tennessee features six principal geographic regions. Roughly from west to east, these are:
Economy
According to U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, in 2001 Tennessee's Gross State Product was $115,204,000,000, 1.1% of the total Gross National Product.
In 2001, the per capita personal income was $26,808, 36th in the nation, and only 88% of the national per capita personal income of $30,413. Total earnings were $110,654,536,000.(BEARFACTS)
- State income
- Major industries/products
- state taxes
Demographics
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, as of 2003, Tennessee's population was estimated at 5,841,748 people.
The racial makeup of the state is:
The 5 largest ancestry groups in Tennessee are American (17.5%), African American (16.4%), Irish (9.3%), English (9.1%), German (8.3%).
6.6% of Tennessee's population were reported as under 5, 24.6% under 18, and 12.4% were 65 or older. Females made up approximately 51.3% of the population.
Religion
The religious affiliations of the citizens of Tennessee are:
- Protestant – 85%
- Roman Catholic – 5%
- Other Christian – 1%
- Other Religions – 1%
- Non-Religious – 6%
The three largest Protestant denominations in Tennessee are: Baptist (43% of the total state population), Methodist (11%), Churches of Christ (5%).
Important cities and towns
The capital is Nashville. Memphis has the largest population of any city proper in the state, but Nashville has a slightly larger metropolitan area, comprising over 20% of the state's population. Chattanooga and Knoxville, both in the eastern part of the state near the Great Smoky Mountains, have approximately a third of Memphis or Nashville's population. The three towns of Bristol, Kingsport, and Johnson City make up a fifth significant population center, often called the "Tri-Cities", in the far northeast of the state. As of 2000, the population is 5,689,283.
Tennessee cities' claims to fame are:
- Memphis - blues music center, assassination of Martin Luther King, home of Elvis Presley, home of Memphis Grizzlies NBA team, home of University of Memphis (formerly Memphis State University), home to worldwide shipping giant FedEx
- Nashville - World center of country music industry, Southern Baptist Convention headquarters, Home of Vanderbilt University and Tennessee State University among many other small private colleges and universities, home of Tennessee Titans and Nashville Predators professional sports teams
- Knoxville - main campus of University of Tennessee, proximity to the Great Smoky Mountains, site of original capital of Tennessee
- Chattanooga - railroad center, "See Rock City", major Civil War battleground
- Oak Ridge - major scientific/research center, Manhattan Project
- Bristol - site of major NASCAR track
- Lynchburg - home of Jack Daniels distillery
- Smyrna - site of very large Nissan production facility
- Spring Hill - like Smyrna, major automotive manufacturing center, only for Saturn automobiles
- Carthage - home of recent Vice President and Presidential candidate Al Gore
- Lawrenceburg - home of legendary pioneer Davy Crockett
- Clarksville - main campus of Austin Peay State University
- Fort Campbell - home of the United States Army's 101st Airborne Division (though the base headquarters and address lie in Kentucky, the majority of the base is located in Tennessee)
- Cleveland - Church Of God (Cleveland) headquarters
- Murfreesboro - home of Middle Tennessee State University; geographic center of Tennessee; home of famous American Civil War Battle of Stones River (also known as the Battle of Murfreesboro); site of second state capital of Tennessee
- Lebanon - home to Cracker Barrel restaurant chain and site of first location
- Pigeon Forge - home to Dollywood amusement park
- Gatlinburg - widely regarded as home city to Great Smoky Mountains National Park
Education
Colleges and universities
Professional sports teams
Famous Tennesseans
see List of famous Tennesseans
see List of Governors of Tennessee
Miscellaneous information
See: Tennessee State Flag
External links
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