Tennessee

Tennessee is a  located in the. In 1796, it became the sixteenth state to join the. Tennessee is known as the "Volunteer State", a nickname earned during the because of the prominent role played by volunteer soldiers from Tennessee, especially during the. The capital city is, and the largest city is.

Geography
Tennessee lies adjacent to eight other states: and  to the north;  to the east;,  and  on the south; and  and  on the  to the west. Tennessee ties Missouri as the states bordering the most other states. The state is trisected by the. The highest point in the state is the peak of at 6,643 feet (2,025 m), which lies on Tennessee's eastern border, and is the highest point on the. The lowest point is the Mississippi River at the Mississippi state line. The geographical center of the state is located in on Old Lascassas Pike (just down the road from ). It is marked by a roadside monument.

The state of Tennessee is geographically and constitutionally divided into three :, , and.

Tennessee features six principal physiographic regions: the, the Region, the , the , the , and the.

See also: 

East Tennessee
The area lies on the eastern edge of Tennessee, bordering North Carolina. This region of Tennessee is characterized by high mountains, including the, the Chilhowee Mountains, the , and the. The average elevation of the Blue Ridge area is 5,000 feet (1,500 m) above sea level. is located in this region.

Stretching west from the Blue Ridge for approximately 55 s (88 km) is the Ridge and Valley region, in which numerous tributaries join to form the Tennessee River in the. This area of Tennessee is covered by fertile s separated by wooded ridges, such as and. The western section of the Tennessee valley, where the depressions become broader and the ridges become lower, is called the. In this valley are numerous towns and the region's two urban areas,, and.

Middle Tennessee
To the west of East Tennessee lies the. This area is covered with flat-topped mountains separated by sharp valleys. The elevation of the Cumberland Plateau ranges from 1,500 to 1,800 feet (450 to 550 m) above sea level.

West of the Cumberland Plateau is the, an elevated plain that surrounds the. The northern section of the Highland Rim, known for its high tobacco production, is sometimes called the  and is located in primarily in Southwestern Kentucky. The Nashville Basin is characterized by rich, fertile farm country and high natural wildlife diversity.

Middle Tennessee was a common destination of settlers crossing the Appalachians in the late 1700s and early 1800s. An important trading route called the, first used by Native Americans, connected Middle Tennessee to the lower Mississippi River town of. Today the route of the Natchez Trace is a scenic highway called the.

Many biologists study the area's salamander species because the diversity is greater there than anywhere else in the U.S. This is thought to be because of the clean foothill springs that abound in the area.

Some of the last remaining large trees still grow in this region and are being used to help breed  resistant trees.

West Tennessee
West of the Highland Rim and Nashville Basin is the, which includes the. The Gulf Coastal Plain is, in terms of area, the predominant land region in Tennessee. It is part of the large geographic land area that begins at the and extends north into southern. In Tennessee, the Gulf Coastal Plain is divided into three sections that extend from the in the east to the  in the west. The easternmost section, about 10 miles (16 km) in width, consists of hilly land that runs along the western bank of the Tennessee River. To the west of this narrow strip of land is a wide area of rolling hills and streams that stretches all the way to ; this area is called the Tennessee Bottoms or bottom land. In Memphis, the Tennessee Bottoms end in steep bluffs overlooking the Mississippi River. To the west of the Tennessee Bottoms is the, less than 300 feet (90 m) above sea level. This area of lowlands, flood plains, and swamp land is sometimes referred to as region.

Most of West Tennessee remained Indian land until the Chickasaw Cession of 1818, when the ceded their land between the Tennessee River and the Mississippi River. The portion of the Chickasaw Cession that lies in Kentucky is known today as the.

Public lands
Areas under the control and management of the include:
 * in
 * and near
 * near
 * and near
 * and near
 * near
 * and near
 * and near
 * and near
 * and near

Fifty-four state parks, covering some 132,000 s (534 ) as well as parts of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and, and are in Tennessee. Sportsmen and visitors are attracted to, originally formed by an ; stumps and other remains of a once dense forest, together with the lotus bed covering the shallow waters, give the lake an eerie beauty.

See also: 

Climate
Most of the state has a, with the exception of the higher mountains, which have a. The is the dominant factor in the climate of Tennessee, with winds from the south being responsible for most of the state's annual precipitation. Generally, the state has hot summers and mild to cool winters with generous precipitation throughout the year. On average the state receives 50 inches (130 cm) of precipitation annually. Snowfall ranges from 5 inches (13 cm) in West Tennessee to over 16 inches (41 cm) in the higher mountains in East Tennessee.

Summers in the state are generally hot, with most of the state averaging a high of around 90 °F (32 °C) during the summer months. Summer nights tend to be cooler in East Tennessee. Winters tend to be mild to cool, increasing in coolness at higher elevations and in the east. Generally, for areas outside the highest mountains, the average overnight lows are near freezing for most of the state.

While the state is far enough from the coast to avoid any direct impact from a, the location of the state makes it likely to be impacted from the remnants of tropical cyclones which weaken over land and can cause significant rainfall. The state averages around 50 days of thunderstorms per year, some of which can be quite severe. es are possible throughout the state, with West Tennessee slightly more vulnerable. On average, the state has 15 tornadoes per year. Tornadoes in Tennessee can be severe, and Tennessee leads the nation in the percentage of total tornadoes which have fatalities. Winter storms are an occasional problem&mdash;made worse by a lack of snow removal equipment and a population which might not be accustomed or equipped to travel in snow&mdash;although are a more likely occurrence. is a persistent problem in parts of the state, especially in much of the Smoky Mountains.

History
The area now known as Tennessee was first settled by nearly 11,000 years ago. The names of the cultural groups that inhabited the area between first settlement and the time of European contact are unknown, but several distinct cultural phases have been named by archaeologists, including, , and , whose chiefdoms were the cultural predecessors of the who inhabited the Tennessee River Valley prior to Cherokee migration into the river's headwaters.

When first visited the area, led by  in 1539–43, it was inhabited by tribes of  and  people. Possibly because of European diseases devastating the Native tribes, which would have left a population vacuum, and also from expanding European settlement in the north, the moved south from the area now called Virginia. As European colonists spread into the area, the native populations were forcibly displaced to the south and west, including all Muscogee and Yuchi peoples, the, and.

Early during the, Fort Watauga at (in present day ) was attacked in 1776 by  and his warring faction of Cherokee (also referred to by settlers as the ) opposed to the  and aligned with the British Loyalists. The lives of many settlers were spared through the warnings of Dragging Canoe's cousin. The frontier fort on the banks of the later served as a 1780 staging area for the  in preparation to trek over the, to engage, and to later defeat the British Army at the  in.

Eight counties of western (and now part of Tennessee) broke off from that state in the late 1780s and formed the abortive. Efforts to obtain admission to the Union failed, and the counties had re-joined North Carolina by 1790. North Carolina ceded the area to the federal government in 1790, after which it was organized into the. In an effort to encourage settlers to move west into the new territory of Tennessee, in 1787 the mother state of North Carolina ordered a road to be cut to take settlers into the Cumberland Settlements—from the south end of (in East Tennessee) to French Lick. The Trace was called the “North Carolina Road” or “,” and sometimes “The Wilderness Road”. It should not be confused with Daniel Boone's road through.

Tennessee was admitted to the Union in 1796 as the 16th state. The state boundaries, according to the Constitution of the State of Tennessee, Article I, Section 31, stated that the beginning point for identifying the boundary was the extreme height of the Stone Mountain, at the place where the line of Virginia intersects it, and basically ran the extreme heights of mountain chains through the Appalachian Mountains separating North Carolina from Tennessee past the Indian towns of Cowee and Old Chota, thence along the main ridge of the said mountain (Unicoi Mountain) to the southern boundary of the state; all the territory, lands and waters lying west of said line are included in the boundaries and limits of the newly formed state of Tennessee. Part of the provision also stated that the limits and jurisdiction of the state would include future land acquisition, referencing possible land trade with other states, or the acquisition of territory from west of the Mississippi River.

The word Tennessee comes from the Cherokee town, which along with its neighbor town was one of the most important Cherokee towns and often referred to as the capital city of the. The meaning of the word "tanasi" is lost (Mooney, 1900). Some believe that Tanasi may mean "River with a big bend," referring to the Tennessee River, or that the word Tanasi may have meant "gathering place", as a reference to government or worship for the Native American tribes pre-existent to the pioneer era.

During the administration of, nearly 17,000 Cherokees were uprooted from their homes between 1838 and 1839 and were forced by the U.S. military to march from "emigration depots" in Eastern Tennessee (such as ) toward the more distant west of Arkansas. During this relocation an estimated 4,000 Cherokees died along the way west. In the, the event is called Nunna daul Isunyi—"the Trail Where We Cried." The Cherokees were not the only Native Americans forced to emigrate as a result of the efforts of the United States, and so the phrase "Trail of Tears" is sometimes used to refer to similar events endured by other Native American peoples, especially among the "." The phrase originated as a description of the earlier emigration of the nation.

Many major battles of the were fought in Tennessee&mdash;most of them Union victories. It was the last border state to secede from the Union when it joined the on,. and the captured control of the Cumberland and Tennessee rivers in February 1862. They held off the Confederate counterattack at in April. Memphis fell to the Union in June, following a on the Mississippi River in front of the city. Capture of Memphis and Nashville gave the Union control of the western and middle sections; this control was confirmed at the battle of Murfreesboro in early January 1863.

The Confederates held East Tennessee despite the strength of Unionist sentiment there, with the exception of extremely pro-Confederate. The Confederates besieged Chattanooga in early fall 1863, but were driven off by Grant in November. Many of the Confederate defeats can be attributed to the poor strategic vision of General, who led the from  to Confederate defeat at Chattanooga.

The last major battles came when the Confederates invaded Middle Tennessee in November 1864 and were checked at, then totally destroyed by at , in December. Meanwhile, a civilian, was appointed military governor by.

Tennessee was already mostly held by Union forces when the was announced, hence it was not among the states enumerated in the Proclamation, and the Proclamation did not free any  there. Tennessee's legislature approved an amendment to the state constitution prohibiting slavery on,. Voters in the state approved the amendment in March. It also ratified the (abolishing slavery in every state) on.

Andrew Johnson (a War Democrat from Tennessee) had been elected Vice President with Abraham Lincoln in 1864 and became President after Lincoln's assassination in 1865. Under Johnson's lenient re-admission policy, Tennessee was the first of the seceding states to have its elected members readmitted to the U.S. Congress, on,. Because Tennessee had ratified the Fourteenth Amendment, it was the only one of the formerly seceded states that did not have a military governor during the period.

In 1897, the state celebrated its centennial of statehood (though one year late of the 1896 anniversary) with a great in Nashville. A of the  was constructed for the celebration, located in what is now Nashville's.

On, , Tennessee became the thirty-sixth and final state necessary to ratify the , which provided women the right to vote.

The need to create work for the unemployed during the, a desire for rural electrification, the need to control annual spring floodings and improve shipping capacity on the Tennessee River were all factors that drove the Federal creation of the (TVA) in 1933. Through the power of the TVA projects, Tennessee quickly became the nation's largest public utility supplier.

During, the availability of abundant TVA electrical power led the to locate one of the principal sites for production and isolation of weapons-grade  material in East Tennessee. The of  was built from scratch to provide accommodations for the facilities and workers. These sites are now, the , and the East Tennessee Technology Park.

Tennessee celebrated its bicentennial in 1996. With a yearlong statewide celebration entitled "Tennessee 200", it opened a new state park at the foot of Capitol Hill in.

Demographics
The of Tennessee is located in, in the city of.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, as of 2006, Tennessee has an estimated population of 6,038,803, which is an increase of 83,058, or 1.4%, from the prior year and an increase of 349,541, or 6.1%, since the year 2000. This includes a natural increase since the last census of 142,266 people (that is 493,881 births minus 351,615 deaths) and an increase from net migration of 219,551 people into the state. from outside the United States resulted in a net increase of 59,385 people, and migration within the country produced a net increase of 160,166 people.

In 2000, the five most common self-reported ethnic groups in the state were: (17.3%),  (16.4%),  (9.3%),  (9.1%), and  (8.3%).

The state's African-American population is concentrated mainly in rural West and Middle Tennessee and the cities of, , , , and. Memphis has the largest percentage of African-American residents for any metropolitan area in the U.S.

6.6% of Tennessee's population were reported as under 5 years of age, 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 people of Tennessee are:
 * – 82%
 * – 39%
 * – 10%
 * – 6%
 * – 3%
 * – 2%
 * – 2%
 * – 2%
 * – 6%
 * Other Christian (includes unspecified "Christian" and "Protestant") – 12%
 * Other Religions – 3%
 * Non-Religious – 9%

Source: American Religious Identification Survey (2001). 5% of the people surveyed refused to answer.

Tennessee is home to several Protestant denominations, such as the, the , and the. The maintains its general headquarters in Nashville, where its Sunday School Board, along with publishing houses of several other denominations, is also located, along with publishing houses of several other denominations.

The state's small Roman Catholic and communities are mainly centered in the metropolitan areas of Memphis, Nashville, and Knoxville.

Economy
According to U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, in 2005 Tennessee's gross state product was $226.502 billion, making Tennessee the 18th largest economy in the nation. In 2003, the was $28,641, 36th in the nation, and 91% of the national per capita personal income of $31,472. In 2004, the was $38,550, 41st in the nation, and 87% of the national median of $44,472.

Major outputs for the state include textiles, cotton, cattle, and electrical power. As proof of interest in beef production, Tennessee has over 82,000 farms, and beef cattle are found in roughly 59 percent of the farms in the state. Although cotton was an early crop in Tennessee, large-scale cultivation of the fiber did not begin until the 1820s with the opening of the land between the Tennessee and Mississippi Rivers. The upper wedge of the Mississippi Delta extends into southwestern Tennessee, and it was in this fertile section that cotton took hold. Currently West Tennessee is also heavily planted in, focusing on the northwest corner of the state.

Major corporations with headquarters in Tennessee include, and , all based in Memphis.

The Tennessee does not apply to salaries and wages, but most income from stocks, bonds and notes receivable is taxable. All taxable dividends and interest which exceed the $1,250 single exemption or the $2,500 joint exemption are taxable at the rate of 6%. The state's and  rate for most items is 7%. Food is taxed at a lower rate of 6%, but candy, dietary supplements and prepared food are taxed at the full 7% rate. Local sales taxes are collected in most jurisdictions, at rates varying from 1.5% to 2.75%, bringing the total sales tax to between 8.5% and 9.75%, one of the highest levels in the nation. is assessed on the shares of stock of stockholders of any loan company, investment company, insurance company or for-profit cemetery companies. The assessment ratio is 40% of the value multiplied by the tax rate for the jurisdiction. Tennessee imposes an on decedents' estates that exceed maximum single exemption limits ($1,000,000 for deaths 2006 and after;  ).

Tennessee is a state, as are most of its Southern neighbors. Unionization has historically been low and continues to decline as in most of the U.S. generally.

Interstate highways
crosses the state in an east-west orientation. Its branch interstate highways include in Memphis;  and  in Nashville; and  and  in Knoxville. , although technically an east-west interstate, runs from the North Carolina border below to its terminus at. is the other east-west interstate crossing Tennessee.

In a north-south orientation are highways, , , and. Interstate 65 crosses the state through Nashville, while Interstate 75 serves Knoxville and Interstate 55 serves Memphis. Interstate 81 enters the state at Bristol and terminates at its junction with I-40 near. is a branch highway from I-55.

Airports
Major airports within the state include (BNA),  (MEM),  (TYS) in Knoxville,  (CHA), and  (TRI). Because Memphis International Airport is the major hub for, it is the.

Railroads
Memphis is served by the famed train, the  on its run between  and. The City of New Orleans also stops near.

Law and government
Tennessee's governor holds office for a four-year term and may serve a maximum of two terms. The governor is the only official who is elected statewide, making him one of the more powerful chief executives in the nation. The state does not elect the directly, contrary to most other states; the Tennessee Senate elects its Speaker who serves as lieutenant governor.

The, the state legislature, consists of the 33-member and the 99-member. Senators serve four-year terms, and House members serve two-year terms. Each chamber chooses its own speaker. The speaker of the state Senate also holds the title of lieutenant-governor. Most executive officials are elected by the legislature.

The highest court in Tennessee is the state Supreme Court. It has a chief justice and four associate justices. No more than two justices can be from the same Grand Division. The Court of Appeals has 12 judges. The Court of Criminal Appeals has nine judges.

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. The Tennessee Constitution outlaws martial law within its jurisdiction. This may be a result of the experience of Tennessee residents and other Southerners during the period of military control by Union (Northern) forces of the U.S. government after the American Civil War.

Lethal injection ban
On, , Judge Aleta Trauger ruled that ers were not properly anesthetized before  administration. She banned this as a form of. Tennessee is among 11 which has delayed executions because of  over.

Politics
Tennessee politics, like that of most U.S. states, is dominated by the and  Parties. Like practically all Southern states, Tennessee tends to be politically and currently tilts towards the Republican Party. However, it has often prided itself on its more moderate attitudes about matters of economics and race than some states of the.

While the Republicans control slightly more than half of the state, Democrats have strong support in the cities of Memphis and Nashville and in parts of Middle Tennessee (although declining, due to the growth of suburban Nashville) and West Tennessee north of Memphis, where a large rural population resides. The Republicans historically had their greatest strength in East Tennessee, one of the few areas of the South with a Republican voting history that predates the 1960s. Such voting habits were a legacy from the region's support for the Union during the ; much of East Tennessee has not elected a Democrat to since then. In contrast, the Democrats generally dominated politics in the rest of the state until the 1960s; the GOP was essentially a sectional party. In the decades following the and a concomitant revulsion against cultural liberalism, the Republicans have gained strength in the conservative  of Memphis and Nashville and increasing support among rural voters elsewhere in West and Middle Tennessee (especially the former Grand Division). These patterns are largely in keeping with the South generally and do not generally reflect local idiosyncrasies.

In the, the majority of Tennessee voters voted for Republican rather than Vice President , a former  from Tennessee. Tennessee support for Bush increased in 2004, with his margin of victory in the state increasing from 4% in 2000 to 14% in 2004. This occurred quite possibly because the nominee,, was a Northerner; Southern nominees (e.g., , ) usually fare better for the Democrats in Tennessee, especially among split-ticket voters outside the metropolitan areas.

Tennessee sends nine members to the, currently consisting of five Democrats and four Republicans. The decision of the  (1962), which established the principle of  was based on a lawsuit over rural-biased malapportionment in the Tennessee legislature. The ruling led to an increased prominence in state politics by urban and, eventually, suburban, legislators and statewide officeholders.

See also:, 

Law enforcement
The State of Tennessee maintains two dedicated law enforcement entities, the and the, as well as the  and the  department.

The Highway Patrol is the primary law enforcement entity that concentrates on highway safety regulations and general non-game state law enforcement and is under the jurisdiction of the Tennessee Department of Safety. The TWRA is an independent agency tasked with enforcing all wild game and fisheries regulations outside of state parks. The TBI maintains state-of-the-art investigative facilities and is the primary state-level criminal investigative department. Tennessee State s are responsible for all activities and law enforcement inside the Tennessee State Parks system.

Important cities and towns


The capital is, though , , and have all served as  in the past. has the largest population of any city in the state, but Nashville has had the state's largest since circa 1990; Memphis formerly held that title. and, both in the eastern part of the state near the Great Smoky Mountains, each has approximately a third of the population of Memphis or Nashville. The city of is the fifth significant population center, some 45 miles (70 km) northwest of Nashville.

Professional teams
Tennessee is also home to which features  racing two weekends a year, routinely selling out more than 160,000 seats both times.

Name origin
The earliest variant of the name that became Tennessee was recorded by Captain, the explorer, when he and his men passed through a  village named "Tanasqui" in 1567 while traveling inland from. European settlers later encountered a Cherokee town named (or "Tanase") in present-day. The town was located on a river of the same name (now known as the ). It is not known whether this was the same town as the one encountered by Juan Pardo.

The meaning and origin of the word are uncertain. Some accounts suggest it is a Cherokee modification of an earlier Yuchi word. It has been said to mean "meeting place", "winding river", or "river of the great bend". According to, the name "can not be analyzed" and its meaning is lost (Mooney, pg. 534).

The modern spelling, Tennessee, is attributed to, the governor of South Carolina, who used this spelling in his official correspondence during the 1750s. In 1788, North Carolina created "", the third county to be established in what is now Middle Tennessee. (Tennessee County was the predecessor to current-day and ). When a met in 1796 to organize a new state out of the, it adopted "Tennessee" as the name of the state.