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Tennessee
State
Map
CountryUnited States
Admitted to the UnionJune 1, 1796 (16th)
CapitalNashville
Largest cityMemphis
Government
 • GovernorPhil Bredesen
 • Upper house{{{Upperhouse}}}
 • Lower house{{{Lowerhouse}}}
U.S. senators{{{Senators}}}
Population
 • Total
5,689,283
 • Density138.0/sq mi (53.29/km2)
Language
 • Official languageEnglish
Latitude35°N to 36°41'N
Longitude81°37'W to 90°28'W

Tennessee is a Southern state of the United States.

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 was the last Confederate state to secede from the Union when it did so 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.
    • Tennessee celebrated its bicentennial in 1996 after a yearlong statewide celebration entitled "Tennessee 200" by opening a new state park (Bicentennial Mall) at the foot of Capitol Hill in Nashville.

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 33-member Senate and the 99-member House of Representatives. 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

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 trisected 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. The Tennessee River is generally considered the dividing line between Middle and West Tennessee. The Cumberland Plateau is generally considered the dividing line between East and Middle 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:

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

 United States

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