Tennessee

Tennessee
Tennessee (/ˌtɛnǝˈsiː/ ( listen),[8][9] locally /ˈtɛnǝsi/[10]), officially the State of Tennessee,

is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th largest by
area and the 16th most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by eight states, with
Kentucky to the north, Virginia to the northeast, North Carolina to the east, Georgia,
Alabama, and Mississippi to the south, Arkansas to the west, and Missouri to the northwest.
The Appalachian Mountains dominate the eastern part of the state, and the Mississippi
River forms its western border. Nashville is the state's capital and largest city, with a 2019
population of 670,820 and a 2019 metro population of 1,934,317. Tennessee's second
largest city is Memphis, which had a population of 651,073 and metro population of
1,346,045 in 2019.[11]
Tennessee
State
State of Tennessee
Flag
Seal
Nickname(s): The Volunteer State[1]
Motto(s): Agriculture and Commerce
Anthem: Nine songs

Map of the United States with Tennessee highlighted
Country United States
Before statehood Southwest Territory
Admitted to the Union June 1, 1796 (16th)
Capital Nashville[2]
(and largest city)
Largest metro Greater Nashville
Government
• Governor Bill Lee (R)
• Lieutenant Governor Randy McNally (R)
Legislature General Assembly
• Upper house Senate
• Lower house House of Representatives
Judiciary Tennessee Supreme Court
U.S. senators Marsha Blackburn (R)

Bill Hagerty (R)
U.S. House delegation 7 Republicans

2 Democrats (list)
Area
• Total 42,143 sq mi (109,247 km2)
• Land 41,217 sq mi (106,846 km2)
• Water 926 sq mi (2,401 km2) 2.2%
Area rank 36th
Dimensions
• Length 440 mi (710 km)
• Width 120 mi (195 km)
Elevation 900 ft (270 m)

Highest elevation (Clingmans Dome[3][4]) 6,643 ft (2,025 m)
Lowest elevation (Mississippi River at 178 ft (54 m)

Mississippi border[3][4])
Population (2020)
• Total 6,886,834 (estimate)[5]
• Rank 16th
• Density 159.4/sq mi (61.5/km2)
• Density rank 20th
• Median household income $52,340[6]
• Income rank 42nd
Demonym(s) Tennessean
Big Bender (archaic)
Volunteer (historical significance)
Language
• Official language English
• Spoken language Language spoken at home[7]

English: 94.6%
Spanish: 3.9%
Other: 1.5%
Time zones
East Tennessee UTC−05h00 (Eastern)
• Summer (DST) UTC−04h00 (EDT)
Middle and West UTC−06h00 (Central)
• Summer (DST) UTC−05h00 (CDT)
USPS abbreviation TN
ISO 3166 code US-TN
Traditional abbreviation Tenn.

Latitude 34°59′ N to 36°41′ N
Longitude 81°39′ W to 90°19′ W
Website www.tn.gov
Tennessee state symbols
Flag of Tennessee
Living insignia
Amphibian Tennessee cave salamander
Bird Mockingbird
Bobwhite quail
Butterfly Zebra swallowtail
Fish Channel catfish

Smallmouth bass
Flower Iris
Passion flower
Tennessee echinacea
Insect Firefly
Lady beetle
Honey bee
Mammal Tennessee Walking Horse

Raccoon
Reptile Eastern box turtle

Tree Tulip poplar
Eastern red cedar
Inanimate insignia
Beverage Milk
Dance Square dance
Firearm Barrett M82
Food Tomato
Fossil Pterotrigonia (Scabrotrigonia) thoracica
Gemstone Tennessee River pearl
Mineral Agate
Poem "Oh Tennessee, My Tennessee" by William

Lawrence
Rock Limestone
Slogan "Tennessee—America at its best"
Tartan Tennessee State Tartan
State route marker
State quarter
Released in 2002
Lists of United States state symbols
The state of Tennessee is rooted in the Watauga Association, a 1772 frontier pact generally
regarded as the first constitutional government west of the Appalachians.[12] What is now
Tennessee was initially part of North Carolina, and later part of the Southwest Territory.
Tennessee was admitted to the Union as the 16th state on June 1, 1796. Tennessee earned
the nickname "The Volunteer State" during the War of 1812, when many Tennesseans
stepped in to help with the war effort, especially at the Battle of New Orleans. The
nickname became even more applicable during the Mexican–American War in 1846, after
the Secretary of War asked the state for 2,800 soldiers, and Tennessee sent over
30,000.[13]
Tennessee was the last state to formally leave the Union and join the Confederacy at the
outbreak of the American Civil War in 1861. Occupied by Union forces from 1862, it was the
first state to be readmitted to the Union at the end of the war.[14] During the war, Tennessee
furnished the second-most soldiers to the Confederate Army, behind Virginia. It also
supplied more regiments of soldiers to the Union Army than any other state in the
Confederacy.[14] Beginning during Reconstruction, the state had competitive party politics,
but a Democratic takeover in the late 1880s resulted in passage of disenfranchisement laws
that excluded most blacks and many poor whites from voting. This reduced competition in
politics in the state until passage of civil rights legislation in the mid-20th century.[15] Unlike
states in the Deep South, Tennessee Republicans always expected at least a third of the
vote in statewide elections, via East Tennessee and Highland Rim Unionists.[16]
During the 20th century, Tennessee transitioned from mainly an agrarian economy to a
more diversified one. This was aided in part by massive federal investment in the Tennessee
Valley Authority and, in the early 1940s, the city of Oak Ridge, which was established just
outside of Knoxville to house the Manhattan Project's uranium enrichment facilities, helping
to build the world's first atomic bombs, two of which were dropped on Imperial Japan near
the end of World War II. After the war, the Oak Ridge National Laboratory became a key
center of scientific research. In 2016, the element tennessine was named for the state,
largely in recognition of the roles played by Oak Ridge, Vanderbilt University, and the
University of Tennessee in its discovery.[17]
Tennessee's major industries include agriculture, manufacturing, and tourism. Poultry,

soybeans, tomatoes, and cattle are its primary agricultural products,[18][19] and major
manufacturing exports include chemicals, transportation equipment, and electrical
equipment.[20] The Great Smoky Mountains National Park, the nation's most visited national
park, is in the eastern part of the state, and a section of the Appalachian Trail roughly
follows the Tennessee–North Carolina border.[21] Other major tourist attractions include the
Tennessee Aquarium and Chattanooga Choo-Choo Hotel in Chattanooga; Dollywood in
Pigeon Forge; Ripley's Aquarium of the Smokies and Ober Gatlinburg in Gatlinburg; the
Parthenon, the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, and Ryman Auditorium in
Nashville; the Jack Daniel's Distillery in Lynchburg; Elvis Presley's Graceland residence and
tomb, the Memphis Zoo, the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis; and Bristol Motor
Speedway in Bristol.
Etymology
Tap to display image.
Monument near the old site of

Tanasi in Monroe County
The earliest variant of the name that became Tennessee was recorded by Captain Juan
Pardo, the Spanish explorer, when he and his men passed through an American Indian
village named "Tanasqui" in 1567 while traveling inland from South Carolina. In the early
18th century, British traders encountered a Cherokee town named Tanasi (or "Tanase", in
syllabary: ᏔᎾᏏ) in present-day Monroe County, Tennessee. The town was located on a river
of the same name (now known as the Little Tennessee River), and appears on maps as early
as 1725. It is not known whether this was the same town as the one encountered by Juan
Pardo, although recent research suggests that Pardo's "Tanasqui" was located at the
confluence of the Pigeon River and the French Broad River, near modern Newport.[22]
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".[23][24] According to ethnographer James Mooney, the
name "can not be analyzed" and its meaning is lost.[25]
The modern spelling, Tennessee, is attributed to James Glen, the governor of South
Carolina, who used this spelling in his official correspondence during the 1750s. The
spelling was popularized by the publication of Henry Timberlake's "Draught of the Cherokee
Country" in 1765. In 1788, North Carolina created "Tennessee County", the third county to
be established in what is now Middle Tennessee. (Tennessee County was the predecessor
to present-day Montgomery and Robertson counties.) When a constitutional convention
met in 1796 to organize a new state out of the Southwest Territory, it adopted "Tennessee"
as the name of the state.
Nickname
…
Tennessee is known as The Volunteer State, a nickname some claimed was earned during
the War of 1812 because of the prominent role played by volunteer soldiers from Tennessee,
especially during the Battle of New Orleans.[26] Other sources differ on the origin of the
state nickname; according to The Columbia Encyclopedia,[27] the name refers to volunteers
for the Mexican–American War from 1846 to 1848. This explanation is more likely, because
President Polk's call for 2,600 nationwide volunteers at the beginning of the Mexican–
American War resulted in 30,000 volunteers from Tennessee alone, largely in response to
the death of Davy Crockett and appeals by former Tennessee Governor and then Texas
politician, Sam Houston.[28]
Maps of the Grand Divisions of Tennessee, with East Tennessee at the top, Middle Tennessee in the center,
and West Tennessee at the bottom.
Geography
Tennessee borders eight other states: Kentucky and Virginia to the north; North Carolina to
the east; Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi on the south; Arkansas and Missouri on the
Mississippi River to the west. Tennessee is tied with Missouri as the state bordering the
most other states. The state is trisected by the Tennessee River.
The highest point in the state is Clingmans Dome at 6,643 feet (2,025 m).[29] Clingmans
Dome, which lies on Tennessee's eastern border, is the highest point on the Appalachian
Trail, and is the third highest peak in the United States east of the Mississippi River. The
state line between Tennessee and North Carolina crosses the summit. The state's lowest
point is the Mississippi River at the Mississippi state line: 178 feet (54 m). The geographical
center of the state is located in Murfreesboro.
The state of Tennessee is geographically, culturally, economically, and legally divided into
three Grand Divisions: East Tennessee, Middle Tennessee, and West Tennessee. The state
constitution allows no more than two justices of the five-member Tennessee Supreme Court
to be from one Grand Division and a similar rule applies to certain commissions and boards.
Tennessee features six principal physiographic regions: the Blue Ridge, the Appalachian
Ridge and Valley Region, the Cumberland Plateau, the Highland Rim, the Nashville Basin,
and the Gulf Coastal Plain. Tennessee is home to the most caves in the United States, with
more than ten thousand documented.[30]
About half the state is in the Tennessee Valley drainage basin of the Tennessee River.[31]
Approximately the northern half of Middle Tennessee, including Nashville and Clarksville,
and a small portion of East Tennessee is in the Cumberland River basin.[32] A small part of
north-central Tennessee in Sumner, Macon, and Clay counties is in the Green River
watershed.[33] All three of these basins are tributaries of the Ohio River watershed. Most of
West Tennessee is in the Lower Mississippi River watershed.[34] The entirety of the state is
in the Mississippi River watershed, except for a small area in Bradley and Polk counties
traversed by the Conasauga River, which is part of the Mobile Bay watershed.[35]
East Tennessee
…
The Blue Ridge area lies on the eastern edge of Tennessee, which borders North Carolina.
This region of Tennessee is characterized by the high mountains and rugged terrain of the
western Blue Ridge Mountains, which are subdivided into several subranges, namely the
Great Smoky Mountains, the Bald Mountains, the Unicoi Mountains, the Unaka Mountains
and Roan Highlands, and the Iron Mountains.
The average elevation of the Blue Ridge area is 5,000 feet (1,500 m) above sea level.
Clingmans Dome, the state's highest point, is located in this region. The Blue Ridge area
was never more than sparsely populated, and today much of it is protected by the Cherokee
National Forest, the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, and several federal wilderness
areas and state parks.
Bald Mountains
Stretching west from the Blue Ridge for approximately 55 miles (89 km) is the Ridge and
Valley region, in which numerous tributaries join to form the Tennessee River in the
Tennessee Valley. This area of Tennessee is covered by fertile valleys separated by wooded
ridges, such as Bays Mountain and Clinch Mountain. The western section of the Tennessee
Valley, where the depressions become broader and the ridges become lower, is called the
Great Valley. In this valley are numerous towns and two of the region's three urban areas,
Knoxville, the third largest city in the state, and Chattanooga, the fourth largest city in the
state. The third urban area, the Tri-Cities, comprising Bristol, Johnson City, and Kingsport
and their environs, is located to the northeast of Knoxville.
The Cumberland Plateau rises to the west of the Tennessee Valley; this area is covered with
flat-topped mountains separated by sharp valleys. The elevation of the Cumberland Plateau
ranges from 1,500 to about 2,000 feet (460 to about 610 m) above sea level.
East Tennessee has several important transportation links with Middle and West Tennessee,
as well as the rest of the nation and the world, including several major airports and
interstates. Knoxville's McGhee Tyson Airport (TYS) and Chattanooga's Chattanooga
Metropolitan Airport (CHA), as well as the Tri-Cities' Tri-Cities Regional Airport (TRI),
provide air service to numerous destinations. I-24, I-81, I-40, I-75, and I-26 along with
numerous state highways and other important roads, traverse the Grand Division and
connect Chattanooga, Knoxville, and the Tri-Cities, along with other cities and towns such
as Cleveland, Athens, and Sevierville.
Middle Tennessee
…
West of the Cumberland Plateau is the Highland Rim, an elevated plain that surrounds the
Nashville Basin. The northern section of the Highland Rim, known for its high tobacco
production, is sometimes called the Pennyroyal Plateau; it is located primarily in
Southwestern Kentucky. The Nashville Basin is characterized by rich, fertile farm country
and great diversity of natural wildlife.
Middle Tennessee was a common destination of settlers crossing the Appalachians from
Virginia in the late 18th century and early 19th century. An important trading route called the
Natchez Trace, created and used for many generations by American Indians, connected
Middle Tennessee to the lower Mississippi River town of Natchez. The route of the Natchez
Trace was used as the basis for a scenic highway called the Natchez Trace Parkway.
Some of the last remaining large American chestnut trees grow in this region. They are
being used to help breed blight-resistant trees.
Middle Tennessee is one of the primary state population and transportation centers along
with the heart of state government. Nashville (the capital), Clarksville, and Murfreesboro are
its largest cities.[36] Interstates 24, 40, 65, and 840 service the Division, with the first three
meeting in Nashville.
West Tennessee
…
West of the Highland Rim and Nashville Basin is the Gulf Coastal Plain, which includes the
Mississippi embayment. 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 Gulf of
Mexico and extends north into southern Illinois. In Tennessee, the Gulf Coastal Plain is
divided into three sections that extend from the Tennessee River in the east to the
Mississippi River 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 the Mississippi River; this
area is called the Tennessee Bottoms or bottom land. In Memphis, the Tennessee Bottoms
end in steep bluffs overlooking the river. To the west of the Tennessee Bottoms is the
Mississippi Alluvial Plain, less than 300 feet (91 m) above sea level. This area of lowlands,
flood plains, and swamp land is sometimes referred to as the Delta region. Memphis is the
economic center of West Tennessee.
Most of West Tennessee remained Indian land until the Chickasaw Cession of 1818, when
the Chickasaw 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 Jackson
Purchase.
Public lands
…
View from atop Mount Le Conte in

the Great Smoky Mountains National
Park, April 2007
Areas under the control and management of the National Park Service include the following:
Andrew Johnson National Historic Site in Greeneville
Appalachian National Scenic Trail
Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area

Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park
Cumberland Gap National Historical Park
Great Smoky Mountains National

Park
Foothills Parkway
Fort Donelson National Battlefield and Fort Donelson National Cemetery near Dover
Great Smoky Mountains National Park
Natchez Trace Parkway

Obed Wild and Scenic River near Wartburg
Overmountain Victory National Historic Trail

Shiloh National Cemetery and Shiloh National Military Park near Shiloh
Stones River National Battlefield and Stones River National Cemetery near Murfreesboro
Trail of Tears National Historic Trail
Fifty-four state parks, covering some 132,000 acres (530 km2) as well as parts of the Great
Smoky Mountains National Park and Cherokee National Forest, and Cumberland Gap
National Historical Park are in Tennessee. Sportsmen and visitors are attracted to Reelfoot
Lake, originally formed by the 1811–12 New Madrid earthquakes; stumps and other remains
of a once dense forest, together with the lotus bed covering the shallow waters, give the
lake an eerie beauty.
Climate
…
A map of Köppen climate types in

Tennessee
Most of the state has a humid subtropical climate, with the exception of some of the higher
elevations in the Appalachians, which are classified as having a mountain temperate or
humid continental climate due to cooler temperatures.[37] The Gulf of Mexico 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, with highest average
monthly precipitation generally in the winter and spring months, between December and
April. The driest months, on average, are August to October. On average the state receives
50 inches (130 cm) of precipitation annually. Snowfall ranges from 5 inches (13 cm) in West
Tennessee to over 80 inches (200 cm) in the highest mountains in East Tennessee.[38][39]
Summers in the state are generally hot and humid, with most of the state averaging a high
of around 90 °F (32 °C) during the summer months. Winters tend to be mild to cool,
increasing in coolness at higher elevations. Generally, for areas outside the highest
mountains, the average overnight lows are near freezing for most of the state. The highest
recorded temperature is 113 °F (45 °C) at Perryville on August 9, 1930, while the lowest
recorded temperature is −32 °F (−36 °C) at Mountain City on December 30, 1917.
While the state is far enough from the coast to avoid any direct impact from a hurricane, 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, such as Tropical Storm Chris in
1982 and Hurricane Opal in 1995.[40] The state averages about fifty days of thunderstorms
per year, some of which can be severe with large hail and damaging winds. Tornadoes are
possible throughout the state, with West and Middle Tennessee the most vulnerable.
Occasionally, strong or violent tornadoes occur, such as the devastating April 2011
tornadoes that killed twenty people in North Georgia and Southeast Tennessee.[41] On
average, the state has 15 tornadoes per year.[42] Tornadoes in Tennessee can be severe,
and Tennessee leads the nation in the percentage of total tornadoes which have
fatalities.[43] Winter storms are an occasional problem, such as the infamous Blizzard of
1993, although ice storms are a more likely occurrence. Fog is a persistent problem in parts
of the state, especially in East Tennessee.
Monthly Normal High and Low Temperatures For Various Tennessee Cities (F)
City Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov
Bristol 44/25 49/27 57/34 66/41 74/51 81/60 85/64 84/62 79/56 68/43 58/35
Chattanooga 50/31 54/33 63/40 72/47 79/56 86/65 90/69 89/68 82/62 72/48 61/40
Knoxville 47/30 52/33 61/40 71/48 78/57 85/65 88/69 87/68 81/62 71/50 60/41
Memphis 50/31 55/36 63/44 72/52 80/61 89/69 92/73 92/72 86/65 75/52 62/43
Nashville 47/28 52/31 61/39 70/47 78/57 85/65 89/70 89/69 82/61 71/49 59/40
Major cities
The capital and largest city is Nashville, though Knoxville, Kingston, and Murfreesboro have
all served as state capitals in the past. Nashville's 13-county metropolitan area has been the
state's largest since c. 1990. Memphis was the largest city in the state until 2018 when it
was surpassed by Nashville. Chattanooga and Knoxville, both in the east near the Great
Smoky Mountains, are about a third that size. The city of Clarksville is a fifth significant
population center, 45 miles (72 km) northwest of Nashville. Murfreesboro is the sixth-
largest city in Tennessee, consisting of 146,900 residents.
History
Early history
…
Mississippian-period shell gorget,

Castalian Springs, Sumner County
Reconstruction of Fort Loudon, the

first British settlement in Tennessee
The area now known as Tennessee was first inhabited by Paleo-Indians nearly 12,000 years
ago.[46] The names of the cultural groups who 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 Archaic (8000–1000 BC), Woodland (1000 BC –
1000 AD), and Mississippian (1000–1600 AD), whose chiefdoms were the cultural
predecessors of the Muscogee people who inhabited the Tennessee River Valley before
Cherokee migration into the river's headwaters.
The first recorded European excursions into what is now called Tennessee were three
expeditions led by Spanish explorers, namely Hernando de Soto in 1540, Tristan de Luna in
1559, and Juan Pardo in 1567. Pardo recorded the name "Tanasqui" from a local Indian
village, which evolved to the state's current name. At that time, Tennessee was inhabited by
tribes of Muscogee and Yuchi people. Possibly because of European diseases devastating
the Indian tribes, which would have left a population vacuum, and also from expanding
European settlement in the north, the Cherokee moved south from the area now called
Virginia. As European colonists spread into the area, the Indian populations were forcibly
displaced to the south and west, including all Muscogee and Yuchi peoples, the Chickasaw
and Choctaw, and ultimately, the Cherokee in 1838.
In 1673, Abraham Wood, a British fur trader in Virginia, sent an expedition led by James
Needham and Gabriel Arthur from Fort Henry in Virginia into Overhill Cherokee territory in
modern-day Northeast Tennessee. Needham was killed during the expedition, but Arthur
remained with the Cherokees for more than a year.[47] The same year, a French expedition
led by missionary Jacques Marquette and trader Louis Jolliet explored the Mississippi River
and became the first Europeans to map the Mississippi Valley. In 1682 an expedition led by
René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle constructed Fort Prudhomme on the Chickasaw
Bluffs near the mouth of the Hatchie River in West Tennessee.[48] By the late 17th century,
French traders also began to explore the Cumberland River valley. In 1714, a group of
French traders under Charles Charleville's command established a fur trading post at the
present location of downtown Nashville, which became known as French Lick. These
settlers quickly established an extensive fur trading network with the local Native
Americans, but by the 1740s the settlement had largely been abandoned.[49] In 1739, Fort
Assumption was constructed by the French under Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville on
the Mississippi River at the present-day location of Memphis, and used as a base against
the Chickasaw during the 1739 Campaign of the Chickasaw Wars. It was abandoned the
next year after the Chickasaw took French troops stationed at the fort hostage.[50]
In the 1750s and 1760s, long hunters from Virginia explored much of East and Middle
Tennessee. The first British settlement in what is now Tennessee was built in 1756 by
settlers from the colony of South Carolina at Fort Loudoun, near present-day Vonore. Fort
Loudoun was the westernmost British outpost to that date. It was designed by John William
Gerard de Brahm and constructed by forces under British Captain Raymond Demeré. After
its completion, Demeré relinquished command on August 14, 1757, to his brother, Captain
Paul Demeré. Hostilities erupted between the British and the neighboring Overhill
Cherokees, and a siege of Fort Loudoun ended with its surrender on August 7, 1760. The
next morning, Paul Demeré and a number of his men were killed in an ambush nearby, and
most of the rest of the garrison was taken prisoner.[51] The first permanent European
settlers began arriving in the northeastern part of the state in the late 1760s. The majority of
18th-century settlers were English or of primarily English descent but nearly 20% of them
were also Scotch-Irish.[52] These settlers formed the Watauga Association, a community
built on lands leased from the Cherokee.
In 1775, Daniel Boone blazed a trail from Fort Chiswell in Virginia through the Cumberland
Gap, which became part of the Wilderness Road, a major thoroughfare for settlers into
Tennessee and Kentucky. Later that year, Boone and William Bean passed through the gap
at Clinch Mountain along a southern expansion of the Wilderness Road on a longhunting
excursion after passing through the Cumberland Gap.[53] The next year, Bean received a
3,000 acres (12 km2) land grant in the area he previously surveyed for settlement during his
excursion with Boone for his service in the American Revolutionary War.[53] He constructed
a four-room cabin on the site, which served as his family's permanent home and an inn for
prospective settlers, fur traders, and longhunters, thus establishing the first reported
permanent settlement in Tennessee, which became known as Bean Station in present-day
Grainger County.[54] The settlement was at the intersection of the Wilderness Road, which
roughly followed present-day U.S. Route 25E, and the Great Indian Warpath, an east–west
pathway that roughly followed what is now U.S. Route 11W.[55][56][57] This heavily trafficked
crossroads made Bean Station an important stopover between Washington, D.C. and New
Orleans for early American travelers and settlers entering Tennessee, with taverns and inns
operating by the early 1800s.[55]
In 1776, during the American Revolutionary War, Dragging Canoe and his warring faction of
Cherokee aligned with the British Loyalists attacked Fort Watauga at Sycamore Shoals (in
present-day Elizabethton). Settlers called these renegade Cherokee the Chickamauga. They
opposed North Carolina's annexation of the Washington District and the concurrent settling
of the Transylvania Colony further north and west. Many settlers' lives were spared from the
initial warrior attacks by the warnings of Dragging Canoe's cousin Nancy Ward. The frontier
fort on the banks of the Watauga River later served as a 1780 staging area for the
Overmountain Men in preparation to trek over the Appalachian Mountains, to engage and
later defeat the British Army at the Battle of Kings Mountain in South Carolina.
Three counties of the Washington District (now part of Tennessee) broke off from North
Carolina in 1784 and formed the State of Franklin. Efforts to obtain admission to the Union
failed, and the counties (now numbering eight) rejoined North Carolina by 1789. North
Carolina ceded the area to the federal government in 1790, after which it was organized into
the Southwest Territory. In an effort to encourage settlers to move west into the new
territory, in 1787 North Carolina ordered a road to be cut to take settlers into the
Cumberland Settlements—from the south end of Clinch Mountain (in East Tennessee) to
French Lick (Nashville). The Trace was called the North Carolina Road, Avery's Trace, or The
Wilderness Road (not to be confused with Daniel Boone's Wilderness Road through the
Cumberland Gap).
Statehood and increasing settlement

…
Tennessee was admitted to the Union on June 1, 1796, as the 16th state. It was the first
state created from territory under the jurisdiction of the U.S. federal government. Apart
from the former Thirteen Colonies, only Vermont and Kentucky predate Tennessee's
statehood, and neither was ever a federal territory.[58] The Constitution of the State of
Tennessee, Article I, Section 31, states that the beginning point for identifying the boundary
is the extreme height of the Stone Mountain, where the line of Virginia intersects it, and
basically runs the extreme heights of mountain chains through the Appalachian Mountains
separating North Carolina from Tennessee past the Native American towns Cowee and Old
Chota, thence along the main ridge of 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 Tennessee. Part of the provision also stated that Tennessee's limits and
jurisdiction would include future land acquisition, referencing possible land trade with other
states, or acquisition of territory from west of the Mississippi River.
As more white settlers moved into Tennessee, they came into increasing conflict with Native
American tribes. In 1832, the Cherokee, who had established a national government
modeled on the U.S. Constitution, moved their capital from Georgia to the Red Clay Council
Grounds in the southeastern part of the state, due to new Georgia laws forcing them from
their previous capital at New Echota.[59] During the administration of President Martin Van
Buren, nearly 17,000 Cherokees and about 2,000 Black people enslaved by the Cherokees
were uprooted from their homes between 1838 and 1839. U.S. troops forced them to march
from "emigration depots" in Eastern Tennessee, such as Fort Cass, toward the more distant
Indian Territory west of Arkansas, now in Oklahoma.[60] During this relocation an estimated
4,000 Cherokees died along the way.[61] In the Cherokee language, 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 U.S. Indian removal efforts, and so the
phrase "Trail of Tears" sometimes refers to similar events endured by other American Indian
peoples, especially among the "Five Civilized Tribes". It originated as a description of the
earlier emigration of the Choctaw nation.
Civil War and Reconstruction …
In February 1861, secessionists in Tennessee's state government, led by Governor Isham

Harris, sought voter approval for a convention to sever ties with the United States, but
Tennessee voters rejected the referendum by a 54–46% margin. The strongest opposition
to secession came from East Tennessee, which later tried to form a separate Union-aligned
state. Following the Confederate attack on Fort Sumter in April and Lincoln's call for troops
from Tennessee and other states in response, Harris began military mobilization, submitted
an ordinance of secession to the General Assembly, and made direct overtures to the
Confederate government. The Tennessee legislature ratified an agreement to enter a
military league with the Confederate States on May 7, 1861. On June 8, with people in
Middle Tennessee having significantly changed their position, voters approved a second
referendum on secession, becoming the last state to do so. But the Union-backing State of
Scott was also established at this time, and remained a de facto enclave of the United
States throughout the war.
Many major battles of the American Civil War were fought in Tennessee—most of them
Union victories. Ulysses S. Grant and the U.S. Navy captured control of the Cumberland and
Tennessee rivers in February 1862. They held off the Confederate counterattack at Shiloh in
April. Memphis fell to the Union in June after a naval battle on the Mississippi River in front
of the city. The 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 January 1863
and the subsequent Tullahoma Campaign.
The Battle of Franklin, November

30, 1864
Despite the strength of Unionist sentiment in East Tennessee (with the exception of Sullivan
County, which was heavily pro-Confederate), Confederates held the area. The
Confederates, led by General James Longstreet, attacked General Burnside's Fort Sanders
at Knoxville and lost. It was a big blow to East Tennessee Confederate momentum, but
Longstreet won the Battle of Bean's Station a few weeks later. The Confederates besieged
Chattanooga during the Chattanooga Campaign 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 Braxton Bragg, who led the Army of Tennessee from Perryville, Kentucky,
to another Confederate defeat at Chattanooga.
The last major battles came when the Confederates invaded Middle Tennessee in November
1864 and were checked at Franklin, then completely dispersed by George Thomas at
Nashville in December. Meanwhile, President Abraham Lincoln appointed displaced senator
and native Tennessean Andrew Johnson military governor of the state.
When the Emancipation Proclamation was announced, Tennessee was largely held by Union
forces and thus was not among the states enumerated in the proclamation, which freed no
slaves there. Nonetheless, enslaved African Americans escaped to Union lines to gain
freedom without waiting for official action. Old and young, men, women, and children
camped near Union troops. Thousands of former slaves ended up fighting on the Union
side, nearly 200,000 in total across the South.
Tennessee's legislature approved an amendment to the state constitution prohibiting

slavery on February 22, 1865.[62] Voters in the state approved the amendment in March.[63]
It ratified the Thirteenth Amendment (abolishing slavery in every state) on April 7, 1865.
In 1864, Andrew Johnson, a War Democrat from Tennessee, was elected Vice President
under Lincoln. He became president after Lincoln's assassination in 1865. Under Johnson's
lenient readmission policy, Tennessee was the first of the seceding states to have its
elected members readmitted to Congress, on July 24, 1866. Because Tennessee had
ratified the Fourteenth Amendment, it was the only one of the formerly secessionist states
that did not have a military governor during the Reconstruction period.
After the formal end of Reconstruction, the struggle over power in Southern society
continued. Through violence and intimidation against freedmen and their allies, White
Democrats regained political power in Tennessee and other states across the South in the
late 1870s and 1880s. Over the next decade, the state legislature passed increasingly
restrictive laws to control African Americans. In 1889 the General Assembly passed four
laws described as electoral reform, with the cumulative effect of essentially disfranchising
most African Americans in rural areas and small towns, as well as many poor Whites.
Legislation included implementation of a poll tax, timing of registration, and recording
requirements. Tens of thousands of taxpaying citizens were without representation for
decades into the 20th century.[15] Disfranchising legislation accompanied Jim Crow laws
passed in the late 19th century, which imposed segregation. In 1900, African Americans
made up nearly 24% of the state's population, numbering 480,430 citizens who lived mostly
in central and western Tennessee.[64]
In 1897, Tennessee celebrated its centennial of statehood one year late with a great
exposition in Nashville. A full-scale replica of the Parthenon was constructed for the
celebration, in what is now Nashville's Centennial Park.
20th century
…
Workers at Norris Dam construction

camp site, 1933
On August 18, 1920, Tennessee became the 36th and final state necessary to ratify the
Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which gave women the right to
vote. Disenfranchising voter registration requirements continued to keep most African
Americans and many poor whites, both men and women, off the voter rolls.
The need to create work for the unemployed during the Great Depression, a desire for rural
electrification, and the need to control annual spring flooding and improve shipping capacity
on the Tennessee River were all factors that drove the federal creation of the Tennessee
Valley Authority (TVA) in 1933. Through the TVA, Tennessee quickly became the nation's
largest public utility supplier.
During World War II, the availability of abundant TVA electrical power led the Manhattan
Project to locate one of the principal sites for production and isolation of weapons-grade
fissile material in East Tennessee. The planned community of Oak Ridge was built from
scratch to provide accommodations for the facilities and workers. These sites are now Oak
Ridge National Laboratory, the Y-12 National Security Complex, and the East Tennessee
Technology Park.
Despite recognized effects of limiting voting by poor whites, successive legislatures

expanded the reach of the disfranchising laws until they covered the state. Political scientist
V. O. Key, Jr. argued in 1949:
... the size of the poll tax did not inhibit voting as much as the inconvenience
of paying it. County officers regulated the vote by providing opportunities to
pay the tax (as they did in Knoxville), or conversely by making payment as
difficult as possible. Such manipulation of the tax, and therefore the vote,
created an opportunity for the rise of urban bosses and political machines.
Urban politicians bought large blocks of poll tax receipts and distributed
them to blacks and whites, who then voted as instructed.[15]
In 1953 state legislators amended the state constitution to remove the poll tax. In many
areas both blacks and poor whites still faced subjectively applied barriers to voter
registration that did not end until after passage of national civil rights legislation, including
the Voting Rights Act of 1965.[15]
Tennessee celebrated its bicentennial in 1996. With a yearlong statewide celebration called
"Tennessee 200", it opened a new state park, Bicentennial Mall, at the foot of Capitol Hill in
Nashville.
The state has had major disasters, such as the Great Train Wreck of 1918, one of the worst
train accidents in U.S. history,[65] and the Sultana explosion on the Mississippi River near
Memphis, the deadliest maritime disaster in U.S. history.[66]
21st century
…
In 2002, businessman Phil Bredesen was elected Tennessee's 48th governor. Also in 2002,
Tennessee amended its state constitution to establish a lottery. Tennessee's Bob Corker
was the only freshman Republican elected to the U.S. Senate in the 2006 midterm
elections. The state constitution was amended to reject same-sex marriage. In January
2007, Ron Ramsey became the first Republican elected Speaker of the State Senate since
Reconstruction, as a result of the realignment of the Democratic and Republican parties in
the South since the late 20th century, with Republicans now elected by conservative voters,
who previously had supported Democrats.
In 2010, during the 2010 midterm elections, Bill Haslam was elected to succeed Bredesen,
who was term-limited, to become the 49th governor of Tennessee. In April and May 2010,
flooding in Middle Tennessee devastated Nashville and other parts of Middle Tennessee. In
2011, parts of East Tennessee, including Hamilton and Bradley counties, were devastated by
the April 2011 tornado outbreak.
In 2018, Republican businessman Bill Lee was elected to succeed term-limited Haslam as
Tennessee's 50th governor.
Demographics
Historical population
Census Pop. %±
1790 35,691 —
1800 105,602 195.9%
1810 261,727 147.8%
1820 422,823 61.6%
1830 681,904 61.3%
1840 829,210 21.6%
1850 1,002,717 20.9%
1860 1,109,801 10.7%
1870 1,258,520 13.4%
1880 1,542,359 22.6%
1890 1,767,518 14.6%
1900 2,020,616 14.3%
1910 2,184,789 8.1%
1920 2,337,885 7.0%
1930 2,616,556 11.9%
1940 2,915,841 11.4%
1950 3,291,718 12.9%
1960 3,567,089 8.4%
1970 3,923,687 10.0%
1980 4,591,120 17.0%
1990 4,877,185 6.2%
2000 5,689,283 16.7%
2010 6,346,105 11.5%
2020 (est.) 6,886,834 8.5%
Source: 1910–2010[67]
2019 estimate[5]
The United States Census Bureau estimates that the population of Tennessee was
6,829,174 on July 1, 2019, an increase of 483,069 people since the 2010 United States
Census, or 7.61%.[5] This includes a natural increase since the last census of 124,385
(584,236 births minus 459,851 deaths), and an increase from net migration of 244,537
people into the state. Immigration from outside the United States resulted in a net increase
of 66,412, and migration within the country produced a net increase of 178,125.[68]
Twenty percent of Tennesseans were born outside the South in 2008, compared to a figure
of 13.5% in 1990.[69] In recent years, Tennessee has received an influx of people relocating
from California, Florida, New York, New Jersey and the New England States for the low cost
of living, and the booming healthcare and automobile industries. Metropolitan Nashville is
one of the fastest-growing areas in the country due in part to these factors.[70]
The center of population of Tennessee is located in Rutherford County, in the city of

Murfreesboro.[71]
Ethnicity
…
Racial composition 1970[72] 1990[72] 2000[73] 2010[73] 2019 est.[74]
White 83.9% 83.0% 80.2% 77.6% 77.6%
Black 15.8% 16.0% 16.4% 16.7% 16.8%
Asian 0.1% 0.7% 1.0% 1.4% 1.8%
Native 0.1% 0.2% 0.3% 0.3% 0.3%
Native Hawaiian and

- – – 0.1% 0.1%
other Pacific Islander
Other race - 0.2% 1.0% 2.2% 1.4%
Two or more races - – 1.1% 1.7% 2.2%
In 2010, 4.6% of the total population was of Hispanic or Latino origin (they may be of any
race), up from 2.2% in 2000. Between 2000 and 2010, the Hispanic population in Tennessee
grew by 134.2%, the third highest of any state.[75] That same year Non-Hispanic whites
were 75.6% of the population, compared to 63.7% of the population nationwide.[76]
In 2010, approximately 4.4% of Tennessee's population was foreign-born, an increase of

about 118.5% since 2000. Of the foreign-born population, approximately 31.0% were
naturalized citizens and 69.0% non-citizens. The foreign-born population was
approximately 49.9% from Latin America, 27.1% from Asia, 11.9% from Europe, 7.7% from
Africa, 2.7% from Northern America, and 0.6% from Oceania.[77]
Population density as of 2010
In 2010, the five most common self-reported ethnic groups in the state were: American
(26.5%), English (8.2%), Irish (6.6%), German (5.5%), and Scotch-Irish (2.7%).[78] Most
Tennesseans who self-identify as having American ancestry are of English and Scotch-Irish
ancestry. An estimated 21–24% of Tennesseans are of predominantly English
ancestry.[79][80] In the 1980 census 1,435,147 Tennesseans claimed "English" or "mostly
English" ancestry out of a state population of 3,221,354 making them 45% of the state at
the time.[81]
According to the 2010 census, 6.4% of Tennessee's population were reported as under
age 5, 23.6% under 18, and 13.4% were 65 or older.[82]
On June 19, 2010, the Tennessee Commission of Indian Affairs granted state recognition to
six Native American tribes, which was later repealed by the state's Attorney General
because the action by the commission was illegal. The tribes were as follows:
The Cherokee Wolf Clan in western Tennessee, with members in Carroll County, Benton,
Decatur, Henderson, Henry, Weakley, Gibson and Madison counties.
The Chikamaka Band, based historically on the South Cumberland Plateau, said to have
members in Franklin, Grundy, Marion, Sequatchie, Warren and Coffee counties.
Central Band of Cherokee, also known as the Cherokee of Lawrence County.
United Eastern Lenape Nation of Winfield.
The Tanasi Council, said to have members in Shelby, Dyer, Gibson, Humphreys and Perry
counties; and
Remnant Yuchi Nation, with members in Sullivan, Carter, Greene, Hawkins, Unicoi,
Johnson and Washington counties.[83]
Birth data
…
As of 2011, 36.3% of Tennessee's population younger than age 1 were minorities.[84]
Note: Births in table do not add up, because Hispanics are counted both by their ethnicity
and by their race, giving a higher overall number.
Live births by single race/ethnicity of mother
Race 2013[85] 2014[86] 2015[87] 2016[88] 2017[89] 2018[90]
59,804 61,391 61,814

White: ... ... ...
(74.7%) (75.2%) (75.7%)
> Non-Hispanic 54,377 55,499 55,420 53,866 53,721 53,256

White (68.0%) (68.0%) (67.8%) (66.7%) (66.3%) (66.0%)
17,860 17,791 17,507 15,889 16,050 15,921

Black
(22.3%) (21.8%) (21.4%) (19.7%) (19.8%) (19.7%)
2,097 2,180 2,153 1,875 1,905 1,877

Asian
(2.6%) (2.7%) (2.6%) (2.3%) (2.4%) (2.3%)
American Indian 231 (0.3%) 240 (0.3%) 211 (0.2%) 77 (0.1%) 150 (0.2%) 148 (0.2%)
Hispanic (of any 6,854 6,986 7,264 7,631 7,684 7,824

race) (8.6%) (8.6%) (8.9%) (9.4%) (9.5%) (9.7%)
Total 79,992 81,602 81,685 80,807 81,016 80,751

Tennessee (100%) (100%) (100%) (100%) (100%) (100%)
Since 2016, data for births of White Hispanic origin are not collected, but included in one
Hispanic group; persons of Hispanic origin may be of any race.
Religion
…
Religious affiliation of Tennessee
population as of 2014[91]
Evangelical Protestant (52%)

Mainline Protestant: (13%)
Protestants (8%)
Roman Catholic (6%)
Latter-day Saints (1%)
Orthodox Christian (1%)
Other Christian (1%)
Islam (1%)
Jewish (1%)
Non-religious (14%)
Other (2%)
The religious affiliations of the people of Tennessee as of 2014:[91]
Christian 81%
Protestant 73%
Evangelical Protestant 52%
Mainline Protestant 13%
Historically Black Protestant 8%
Roman Catholic 6%
Mormon 1%
Orthodox Christian <1%
Other Christian (includes unspecified "Christian" and "Protestant") <1%
Islam 1%
Jewish 1%
Other religions 3%
Non-religious 14%
Atheist 1%
Agnostic 3%
Nothing in particular 11%
The largest denominations by number of adherents in 2010 were the Southern Baptist
Convention with 1,483,356; the United Methodist Church with 375,693; the Roman Catholic
Church with 222,343; and the Churches of Christ with 214,118.[92]
As of January 1, 2009, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church)
reported 43,179 members, 10 stakes, 92 Congregations (68 wards and 24 branches), two
missions, and two temples in Tennessee.[93]
Tennessee is home to several Protestant denominations, such as the National Baptist

Convention (headquartered in Nashville); the Church of God in Christ and the Cumberland
Presbyterian Church (both headquartered in Memphis); the Church of God and The Church
of God of Prophecy (both headquartered in Cleveland). The Free Will Baptist denomination
is headquartered in Antioch; its main Bible college is in Nashville. The Southern Baptist
Convention maintains its general headquarters in Nashville. Publishing houses of several
denominations are located in Nashville.
Economy
A geomap showing the counties of

Tennessee colored by the relative
range of that county's median
income. Source: 2014 American
Community Survey five-year
estimate report.
Chart showing poverty in

Tennessee, by age and gender (red
= female)
Total employment: 2,592,600
Total employee establishments: 135,352[94]
According to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, in 2011 Tennessee's real gross state
product was $233.997 billion. In 2003, the per capita personal income was $28,641, 36th in
the nation, and 91% of the national per capita personal income of $31,472. In 2004, the
median household income was $38,550, 41st in the nation, and 87% of the national median
of $44,472.
For 2012, the state held an asset surplus of $533 million, one of only eight states in the
nation to report a surplus.[95]
Major outputs for the state include textiles, cotton, cattle, and electrical power. Tennessee
has more than 82,000 farms, roughly 59 percent of which accommodate beef cattle.[96]
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. Soybeans are also heavily planted in West
Tennessee, focusing on the northwest corner of the state.[97]
Large corporations with headquarters in Tennessee include FedEx, AutoZone and

International Paper, all based in Memphis; Pilot Corporation and Regal Entertainment Group,
based in Knoxville; Eastman Chemical Company, based in Kingsport; Hospital Corporation
of America and Caterpillar Financial, based in Nashville; and Unum, based in Chattanooga.
Tennessee is also a major hub for the automotive industry.[98] Four automobile
manufacturers have factories in Tennessee: Nissan in Smyrna, General Motors in Spring Hill,
Van Hool in Morristown, and Volkswagen in Chattanooga.[99][100] Nissan moved its North
American corporate headquarters from California to Franklin, Tennessee in 2005,[101] and
Mitsubishi Motors did the same in 2019.[102]
Other major manufacturers include a $2 billion polysilicon production facility owned by

Wacker Chemie in Bradley County and a $1.2 billion polysilicon production facility owned by
Hemlock Semiconductor in Clarksville.
Tennessee is a right to work 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. As of August
2019, the state has an unemployment rate of 3.5%, which is ranked 28th in the country.[103]
As of 2015, 16.7% of the population of Tennessee lives below the poverty line, which is
higher than the national average of 14.7%.[104]
Taxation
…
Tennessee has a reputation as low-tax state and is usually ranked as one of the five states
with the lowest tax burden on residents.[105] It is one of nine states that do not have a
general income tax; the sales tax is the primary means of funding the government.[106] The
Hall income tax was a tax imposed on most dividends and interest. The tax rate was 6%
from 1937 to 2016, but was completely phased out by January 1, 2021.[107] The first $1,250
of individual income and $2,500 of joint income was exempt from this tax.[108]
The state's sales and use tax rate for most items is 7%, the second-highest in the nation,
along with Mississippi, Rhode Island, New Jersey, and Indiana. Food is taxed at a lower rate
of 4%, but candy, dietary supplements and prepared food are taxed at 7%.[109] 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%, with an average rate of about 9.5%, the nation's
highest average sales tax.[110] Intangible property tax is assessed on the shares of stock of
stockholders of any loan, investment, insurance, or for-profit cemetery companies. The
assessment ratio is 40% of the value times the jurisdiction's tax rate.[111] Since January 1,
2016, Tennessee has had no inheritance tax.[112]
While sales tax remains the main source of state government funding, property taxes are
the primary source of revenue for local governments.[111]
Tourism
…
The resort city of Gatlinburg borders

Great Smoky Mountains National
Park, which is the most visited
national park in the United States as
of 2019.[113]
Tourism contributes billions of dollars every year to the state's economy, and Tennessee is
ranked among the Top 10 destinations in the nation.[114] In 2014 a record 100 million people
visited the state resulting in $17.7 billion in tourism related spending within the state, an
increase of 6.3% over 2013; tax revenue from tourism equaled $1.5 billion. Each county in
Tennessee saw at least $1 million from tourism while 19 counties received at least $100
million (Davidson, Shelby, and Sevier counties were the top three). Tourism-generated jobs
for the state reached 152,900, a 2.8% increase.[114] International travelers to Tennessee
accounted for $533 million in spending.[115]
In 2013, tourism within the state from local citizens accounted for 39.9% of tourists, the
second highest originating location for tourists to Tennessee is the state of Georgia,
accounting for 8.4% of tourists.[116]:17 Forty-four percent of stays in the state were "day
trips", 25% stayed one night, 15% stayed two nights, and 11% stayed four or more nights.
The average stay was 2.16 nights, compared to 2.03 nights for the U.S. as a whole.[116]:40
The average person spent $118 per day: 29% on transportation, 24% on food, 17% on
accommodation, and 28% on shopping and entertainment.[116]:44
Tennessee is home to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, the most visited national
park in the United States. The park anchors a large tourism industry based primarily in
nearby Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge, which consists of such attractions as Dollywood, the
most visited ticketed attraction in Tennessee, Ober Gatlinburg, and Ripley's Aquarium of the
Smokies.[117] Major attractions in Memphis include Graceland, the home of Elvis Presley,
Beale Street, the National Civil Rights Museum, the Memphis Zoo, and the Stax Museum of
American Soul Music.[118] Nashville contains many attractions related to its musical
heritage, including Lower Broadway, the Country Music Hall of Fame, the Ryman
Auditorium, Grand Ole Opry, and the Gaylord Opryland Resort. Other major attractions in
Nashville include the Tennessee State Museum, Parthenon, and the Belle Meade
Plantation.[119] Major attractions in Chattanooga include Lookout Mountain, the
Chattanooga Choo-Choo Hotel, Ruby Falls, and the Tennessee Aquarium, the largest
freshwater aquarium in the United States.[117] Other major attractions include the American
Museum of Science and Energy in Oak Ridge, the Bristol Motor Speedway in Bristol, Jack
Daniel's Distillery in Lynchburg, and the Hiwassee and Ocoee rivers in Polk County.[117]
Tennessee is home to eight National Scenic Byways, including the Natchez Trace Parkway,
the East Tennessee Crossing Byway, the Great River Road, the Norris Freeway, Cumberland
National Scenic Byway, Sequatchie Valley Scenic Byway, The Trace, and the Cherohala
Skyway.[120][121]
Four Civil War battlefields in Tennessee are preserved by the National Park Service:
Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park, Stones River National Battlefield,
Shiloh National Military Park, and Fort Donelson National Battlefield.[122] Big South Fork
National River and Recreation Area is within the Cumberland Mountains in northeastern
Tennessee. Other major attractions preserved by the National Park Service include
Cumberland Gap National Historical Park and Overmountain Victory National Historic
Trail.[123]
Energy and mineral production

…
Norris Dam, a hydroelectric dam

operated by the Tennessee Valley
Authority that was among the first
projects the TVA performed as part
of the New Deal in 1933.[124]
Tennessee's electric utilities are regulated monopolies, as in many other states.[125][126] As

of 2020, the Tennessee Valley Authority owned over 90% of generating capacity.[127]
Nuclear power is the largest source of electricity generation in Tennessee, producing about
47.3% of its power in 2020. The same year, 18.4% of the power was produced by coal,
20.2% from natural gas, 13.4% from hydroelectric power, and 1.6% from other renewables.
About 61.3% of the electricity generated in Tennessee produces no greenhouse gas
emissions.[128] Tennessee is a net consumer of electricity, receiving power from other TVA
facilities in neighboring states such as the Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant in northern
Alabama.[129]
Tennessee is home to the two newest civilian nuclear power reactors in the United States, at
Watts Bar Nuclear Plant in Rhea County. Unit 1 began operation in 1996 and Unit 2 began
operation in 2016, making it the first and only new nuclear power reactor to begin operation
in the United States in the 21st century.[130] As of 2020, officials at Oak Ridge National
Laboratory and the TVA are studying advancements in nuclear power as an energy source,
including small modular reactors, in a joint effort.[131] Tennessee was also an early leader in
hydroelectric power, first with the now defunct Chattanooga and Tennessee Electric Power
Company; later, the United States Army Corps of Engineers and the TVA constructed
several hydroelectric dams on Tennessee rivers.[132] Today, Tennessee is the third-largest
hydroelectric power-producing state east of the Rocky Mountains.[133]
Tennessee has very little petroleum and natural gas reserves, but is home to one oil refinery,
in Memphis.[133] Bituminous coal is mined in small quantities in the Cumberland Plateau and
Cumberland Mountains.[134] There are sizable reserves of lignite coal in West Tennessee
that remain untapped.[134] Coal production in Tennessee peaked in 1972, and today less
than 0.1% of coal production in the United States comes from Tennessee mines.[133]
Tennessee is the leading producer of ball clay in the United States.[134] Other major mineral
products produced in Tennessee include sand, gravel, crushed stone, Portland cement,
marble, sandstone, common clay, lime, and zinc.[134][135] The Copper Basin, in Tennessee's
southeastern corner in Polk County, was one of the most productive copper mining districts
in the United States between the 1840s and 1980s.[136] Mines in the basin supplied about
90% of the copper used by the Confederacy during the Civil War,[137] and also marketed
chemical byproducts of the mining, including sulfuric acid.[138] Mining activities in the basin
resulted in a major environmental disaster, which left the landscape in the basin barren for
more than a century.[139] Iron ore was another major mineral mined in Tennessee until the
early 20th century.[140] Tennessee was also a top producer of phosphate until the early
1990s.[141]
Culture
Music
…
The Grand Ole Opry, which was

recorded in Nashville's Ryman
Auditorium from 1943 to 1974, is the
longest-running radio broadcast in
US history.[142]
Tennessee has played a critical role in the development of many forms of American popular
music, including rock and roll, blues, country, and rockabilly. Beale Street in Memphis is
considered by many to be the birthplace of the blues, with musicians such as W. C. Handy
performing in its clubs as early as 1909.[143] Memphis was historically home to Sun
Records, where musicians such as Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee
Lewis, Roy Orbison, and Charlie Rich began their recording careers, and where rock and roll
took shape in the 1950s.[144] The 1927 Victor recording sessions in Bristol generally mark
the beginning of the country music genre and the rise of the Grand Ole Opry in the 1930s
helped make Nashville the center of the country music recording industry.[145][146] Multiple
brick-and-mortar museums recognize Tennessee's role in nurturing various forms of
popular music: the Memphis Rock N' Soul Museum, the Country Music Hall of Fame and
Museum and National Museum of African American Music in Nashville, and the International
Rock-A-Billy Museum in Jackson. Moreover, the Rockabilly Hall of Fame, an online site
recognizing the development of rockabilly in which Tennessee played a crucial role, is based
in Nashville.
Literature
…
Notable writers with ties to Tennessee include Cormac McCarthy, Peter Taylor, James Agee,
Francis Hodgson Burnett, Thomas S. Stribling, Ida B. Wells, Nikki Giovanni, Shelby Foote,
Ann Patchett, Ishmael Reed, and Randall Jarrell.
Sports
…
Tennessee Titans
Memphis Grizzlies
Nashville Predators
Memphis Redbirds
Nashville Sounds
Tennessee Volunteers football
Tennessee is home to four major professional sports franchises: the Tennessee Titans have
played in the National Football League since 1997, the Memphis Grizzlies have played in the
National Basketball Association since 2001, the Nashville Predators have played in the
National Hockey League since 1998, and Nashville SC has played in Major League Soccer
since 2020.
The state is also home to eight teams playing in minor leagues. Four Minor League Baseball
teams call the state their home. The Memphis Redbirds and Nashville Sounds, each of the
Triple-A East, compete at the Triple-A level, the highest before Major League Baseball. The
Chattanooga Lookouts and Tennessee Smokies play in the Double-A classification Double-
A South.
The Knoxville Ice Bears are a minor league ice hockey team of the Southern Professional
Hockey League. Memphis 901 FC, a soccer team, joined the USL Championship in 2019.[147]
Chattanooga Red Wolves SC became an inaugural member of the third-level USL League
One in 2019. Chattanooga FC began play in the National Independent Soccer Association in
2020.
In Knoxville, the Tennessee Volunteers college team has played in the Southeastern
Conference (SEC) of the National Collegiate Athletic Association since the conference was
formed in 1932. The football team has won 13 SEC championships and 28 bowls, including
four Sugar Bowls, three Cotton Bowls, an Orange Bowl and a Fiesta Bowl. Meanwhile, the
men's basketball team has won four SEC championships and reached the NCAA Elite Eight
in 2010. In addition, the women's basketball team has won a host of SEC regular-season
and tournament titles along with eight national titles.
In Nashville, the Vanderbilt Commodores are also charter members of the SEC. The
Tennessee–Vanderbilt football rivalry began in 1892, having since played more than a
hundred times. In June 2014, the Vanderbilt Commodores baseball team won its first men's
national championship by winning the 2014 College World Series.
The state is home to 10 other NCAA Division I programs. Two of these participate in the top
level of college football, the Football Bowl Subdivision. The Memphis Tigers are members of
the American Athletic Conference, and the Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders from
Murfreesboro play in Conference USA. In addition to the Commodores, Nashville is also
home to the Belmont Bruins and Tennessee State Tigers, both members of the Ohio Valley
Conference (OVC), and the Lipscomb Bisons, members of the Atlantic Sun Conference.
Tennessee State plays football in Division I's second level, the Football Championship
Subdivision (FCS), while Belmont and Lipscomb do not have football teams. Belmont and
Lipscomb have an intense rivalry in men's and women's basketball known as the Battle of
the Boulevard, with both schools' men's and women's teams playing two games each
season against each other (a rare feature among non-conference rivalries). The OVC also
includes the Austin Peay Governors from Clarksville, the UT Martin Skyhawks from Martin,
and the Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles from Cookeville. These three schools, along with
fellow OVC member Tennessee State, play each season in football for the Sgt. York Trophy.
The Chattanooga Mocs and Johnson City's East Tennessee State Buccaneers are full
members, including football, of the Southern Conference.
Tennessee is also home to Bristol Motor Speedway which features NASCAR Cup Series
racing two weekends a year, routinely selling out more than 160,000 seats on each date; it
also was the home of the Nashville Superspeedway, which held Nationwide and IndyCar
races until it was shut down in 2012. Tennessee's only graded stakes horse race, the
Iroquois Steeplechase, is also held in Nashville each May.
The FedEx St. Jude Classic is a PGA Tour golf tournament held at Memphis since 1958. The
U.S. National Indoor Tennis Championships has been held at Memphis since 1976 (men's)
and 2002 (women's).
Sports teams
…
Club Sport League
Tennessee Titans American football National Football League
Memphis Grizzlies Basketball National Basketball Association
Nashville Predators Ice hockey National Hockey League
Nashville SC Soccer Major League Soccer
Memphis Redbirds Baseball Triple-A East
Nashville Sounds Baseball Triple-A East
Chattanooga Lookouts Baseball Double-A South
Tennessee Smokies Baseball Double-A South
Knoxville Ice Bears Ice hockey Southern Professional Hockey League
Memphis 901 FC Soccer USL Championship
Chattanooga Red Wolves SC Soccer USL League One
Chattanooga FC Soccer National Independent Soccer Association
Transportation
Interstate highways
…
The Hernando de Soto Bridge spans

the Mississippi River at Memphis.
Interstate 40 crosses the state in an east–west orientation. Its branch interstate highways
include I-240 in Memphis; I-440 in Nashville; I-840 around Nashville; I-140 from Knoxville to
Alcoa; and I-640 in Knoxville. I-26, although technically an east–west interstate, runs from
the North Carolina border below Johnson City to its terminus at Kingsport. I-24 is an east–
west interstate that runs from Chattanooga to Clarksville. In a north–south orientation, are
interstates 55, 65, 75, and 81. Interstate 65 crosses the state through Nashville, while
Interstate 75 serves Chattanooga and Knoxville and Interstate 55 serves Memphis.
Interstate 81 enters the state at Bristol and terminates at its junction with I-40 near
Dandridge. I-155 is a branch highway from I-55. The only spur highway of I-75 in Tennessee
is I-275, which is in Knoxville.[148] An extension of I-69 is proposed to travel through the
western part of the state, from South Fulton to Memphis.[149] A branch interstate, I-269
also exists from Millington to Collierville.[148]
Airports
…
Major airports within the state include Memphis International Airport (MEM), Nashville
International Airport (BNA), McGhee Tyson Airport (TYS) outside of Knoxville in Blount
County, Chattanooga Metropolitan Airport (CHA), Tri-Cities Regional Airport (TRI), and
McKellar-Sipes Regional Airport (MKL), in Jackson. Because Memphis International Airport
is the major hub for FedEx Corporation, it is the world's largest air cargo operation.
Railroads
…
For passenger rail service, Memphis and Newbern, are served by the Amtrak City of New
Orleans line on its run between Chicago, Illinois, and New Orleans, Louisiana. Nashville is
served by the Music City Star commuter rail service.
Cargo services in Tennessee are primarily served by CSX Transportation, which has a hump
yard in Nashville called Radnor Yard. Norfolk Southern Railway operates lines in East
Tennessee, through cities including Knoxville and Chattanooga, and operates a
classification yard near Knoxville, the John Sevier Yard. BNSF operates a major intermodal
facility in Memphis.
Governance
Tennessee State Capitol in Nashville
Similar to the United States Federal Government, Tennessee's government has three parts.
The Executive Branch is led by Tennessee's governor, who holds office for a four-year term
and may serve a maximum of two consecutive terms. The governor is the only official who is
elected statewide. Unlike most states, the state does not elect the lieutenant governor
directly; the Tennessee Senate elects its Speaker, who serves as lieutenant governor. The
governor is supported by 22 cabinet-level departments, most headed by a commissioner
who serves at the pleasure of the governor:
Department of Agriculture
Department of Children's Services
Department of Commerce and Insurance
Department of Correction
Department of Economic & Community Development
Department of Education
Department of Environment and Conservation
Department of Finance and Administration
Department of Financial Institutions

Department of General Services
Department of Health
Department of Human Resources
Department of Human Services
Department of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities
Department of Labor and Workforce Development
Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services
Department of Military
Department of Revenue
Department of Safety and Homeland Security
Department of Tourist Development
Department of Transportation
Department of Veterans Services

The Executive Branch also includes several agencies, boards and commissions, some of
which are under the auspices of one of the cabinet-level departments.[150]
The bicameral Legislative Branch, known as the Tennessee General Assembly, 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. Each chamber chooses its own
speaker. The speaker of the state Senate also holds the title of lieutenant governor.
Constitutional officials in the legislative branch are elected by a joint session of 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
Supreme Court of Tennessee also appoints the Attorney General, a practice not found in
any of the other 49 states. Both the Court of Appeals and the Court of Criminal Appeals
have 12 judges.[151] A number of local, circuit, and federal courts provide judicial services.
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. The 1870 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.
Politics
…
Presidential elections results
Year Republican Democratic
2020 60.66% 1,852,475 37.45% 1,143,711
2016 60.72% 1,522,925 34.72% 870,695
2012 59.42% 1,462,330 39.04% 960,709
2008 56.85% 1,479,178 41.79% 1,087,437
2004 56.80% 1,384,375 42.53% 1,036,477
2000 51.15% 1,061,949 47.28% 981,720
1996 45.59% 863,530 48.00% 909,146
1992 42.43% 841,300 47.08% 933,521
1988 57.89% 947,233 41.55% 679,794
1984 57.84% 990,212 41.57% 711,714
1980 48.70% 787,761 48.41% 783,051
1976 42.94% 633,969 55.94% 825,879
1972 67.70% 813,147 29.75% 357,293
1968 37.85% 472,592 28.13% 351,233
1964 44.49% 508,965 55.50% 634,947
1960 52.92% 556,577 45.77% 481,453
Tennessee politics, like that of most U.S. states, are dominated by the Republican and the
Democratic parties. Historian Dewey W. Grantham traces divisions in the state to the period
of the American Civil War; for decades afterward, the eastern third of the state was heavily
Republican and the western two thirds mostly voted Democratic.[152] This division was
related to the state's pattern of farming, plantations and slaveholding. The eastern section
was made up of yeoman farmers, but Middle and West Tennessee farmers cultivated crops
such as tobacco and cotton which were dependent on the use of slave labor. These areas
became defined as Democratic after the war.
During Reconstruction, freedmen and former free people of color were granted the right to
vote; most joined the Republican Party. Numerous African Americans were elected to local
offices, and some to state office. Following Reconstruction, Tennessee continued to have
competitive party politics, but in the 1880s, the white-dominated state government passed
four laws, the last of which imposed a poll tax requirement for voter registration. These
served to disenfranchise most African Americans, and their power in state and local politics
was markedly reduced. In 1900 African Americans comprised 23.8 percent of the state's
population, concentrated in Middle and West Tennessee.[64] In the early 1900s, the state
legislature approved a form of commission government for cities based on at-large voting
for a few positions on a Board of Commission; several cities adopted this as another means
to limit African-American political participation. In 1913 the state legislature enacted a bill
enabling cities to adopt this structure without legislative approval.[153]
After disenfranchisement of blacks, the Republican Party in Tennessee became a primarily

white sectional party supported only in the eastern part of the state. In the 20th century,
except for two nationwide Republican landslides of the 1920s (in 1920, when Tennessee
narrowly supported Warren G. Harding over Ohio Governor James Cox, and in 1928, when it
more decisively voted for Herbert Hoover over New York Governor Al Smith), the state was
part of the Democratic Solid South until the 1950s. In that postwar decade, it twice voted
for Republican Dwight D. Eisenhower, former Allied Commander of the Armed Forces during
World War II. Since then, more of the state's voters have shifted to supporting Republicans,
and Democratic presidential candidates have carried Tennessee only four times.
By 1960 African Americans comprised 16.45% of the state's population. It was not until after
the mid-1960s and passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 that they were able to vote in
full again, but new devices, such as at-large commission city governments, had been
adopted in several jurisdictions to limit their political participation. Former Gov. Winfield
Dunn and former U.S. Sen. Bill Brock wins in 1970 helped make the Republican Party
competitive among whites for the statewide victory. Tennessee has selected governors
from different parties since 1970.
In the early 21st century, Republican voters control most of the state, especially in the more
rural and suburban areas outside of the cities; Democratic strength is mostly confined to
the urban cores of the four major cities, and is particularly strong in the cities of Nashville
and Memphis. The latter area includes a large African-American population.[154] Historically,
Republicans had their greatest strength in East Tennessee before the 1960s. Tennessee's
1st and 2nd congressional districts, based in the Tri-Cities and Knoxville, respectively, are
among the few historically Republican districts in the South. Those districts' residents
supported the Union over the Confederacy during the Civil War; they identified with the
GOP after the war and have stayed with that party ever since. The first has been in
Republican hands continuously since 1881, and Republicans (or their antecedents) have
held it for all but four years since 1859. The second has been held continuously by
Republicans or their antecedents since 1859.
In the 2000 presidential election, Vice President Al Gore, a Democratic U.S. Senator from
Tennessee, failed to carry his home state, an unusual occurrence but indicative of
strengthening Republican support. Republican George W. Bush received increased support
in 2004, with his margin of victory in the state increasing from 4% in 2000 to 14% in
2004.[155] Democratic presidential nominees from Southern states, such as Lyndon B.
Johnson, Jimmy Carter, and Bill Clinton, usually fare better than their Northern counterparts
do in Tennessee, especially among split-ticket voters outside the metropolitan areas.
Tennessee sends nine members to the U.S. House of Representatives, of whom there are
seven Republicans and two Democrats. Lieutenant Governor Ron Ramsey is the first
Republican speaker of the state Senate in 140 years. In the 2008 elections, the Republican
party gained control of both houses of the Tennessee state legislature for the first time
since Reconstruction. In 2008, some 30% of the state's electorate identified as
independents.[156]
The Baker v. Carr (1962) decision of the U.S. Supreme Court established the principle of
"one man, one vote", requiring state legislatures to redistrict to bring Congressional
apportionment in line with decennial censuses. It also required both houses of state
legislatures to be based on population for representation and not geographic districts such
as counties. This case arose out of a lawsuit challenging the longstanding rural bias of
apportionment of seats in the Tennessee legislature.[157][158][159] After decades in which
urban populations had been underrepresented in many state legislatures, this significant
ruling led to an increased (and proportional) prominence in state politics by urban and,
eventually, suburban, legislators and statewide officeholders in relation to their population
within the state. The ruling also applied to numerous other states long controlled by rural
minorities, such as Alabama, Vermont, and Montana.
Law enforcement
…
State agencies
…
The state of Tennessee maintains four dedicated law enforcement entities: the Tennessee
Highway Patrol, the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency (TWRA), the Tennessee Bureau
of Investigation (TBI), and the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation
(TDEC).
The Highway Patrol is the primary law enforcement entity that concentrates on highway
safety regulations and general non-wildlife state law enforcement and is under the
jurisdiction of the Tennessee Department of Safety. The TWRA is an independent agency
tasked with enforcing all wildlife, boating, 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 Park Rangers are responsible for all
activities and law enforcement inside the Tennessee State Parks system.
Local
…
Local law enforcement is divided between County Sheriff's Offices and Municipal Police
Departments. Tennessee's Constitution requires that each County have an elected Sheriff.
In 94 of the 95 counties the Sheriff is the chief law enforcement officer in the county and
has jurisdiction over the county as a whole. Each Sheriff's Office is responsible for warrant
service, court security, jail operations and primary law enforcement in the unincorporated
areas of a county as well as providing support to the municipal police departments.
Incorporated municipalities are required to maintain a police department to provide police
services within their corporate limits.
The three counties in Tennessee to adopt metropolitan governments have taken different
approaches to resolving the conflict that a Metro government presents to the requirement
to have an elected Sheriff.
Nashville/Davidson County converted law enforcement duties entirely to the Metro

Nashville Police Chief. In this instance the Sheriff is no longer the chief law enforcement
officer for Davidson County. The Davidson County Sheriff's duties focus on warrant
service and jail operations. The Metropolitan Police Chief is the chief law enforcement
officer and the Metropolitan Police Department provides primary law enforcement for the
entire county.
Lynchburg/Moore County took a much simpler approach and abolished the Lynchburg
Police Department when it consolidated and placed all law enforcement responsibility
under the sheriff's office.
Hartsville/Trousdale County, although the smallest county in Tennessee, adopted a

system similar to Nashville's, which retains the sheriff's office but also has a metropolitan
police department.
Firearms
…
Gun laws in Tennessee regulate the sale, possession, and use of firearms and ammunition.
Concealed carry and open-carry of a handgun is permitted with a Tennessee handgun carry
permit or an equivalent permit from a reciprocating state. As of July 1, 2014, a permit is no
longer required to possess a loaded handgun in a motor vehicle.[160]
Capital punishment
…
Capital punishment has existed in Tennessee at various times since statehood. Before 1913,
the method of execution was hanging. From 1913 to 1915, there was a hiatus on executions
but they were reinstated in 1916 when electrocution became the new method. From 1972 to
1978, after the Supreme Court ruled (Furman v. Georgia) capital punishment
unconstitutional, there were no further executions. Capital punishment was restarted in
1978, although those prisoners awaiting execution between 1960 and 1978 had their
sentences mostly commuted to life in prison.[161] From 1916 to 1960 the state executed 125
inmates.[162] For a variety of reasons there were no further executions until 2000. Since
2000, Tennessee has executed seven prisoners. Tennessee has 59 prisoners on death row
(as of October 2018).[163]
Lethal injection was approved by the legislature in 1998, though those who were sentenced
to death before January 1, 1999, may request electrocution.[161] In May 2014, the Tennessee
General Assembly passed a law allowing the use of the electric chair for death row
executions when lethal injection drugs are not available.[164][165]
Tribal
…
The Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians is the only federally recognized Native American
Indian tribe in the state. It owns 79 acres (32 ha) in Henning, which was placed into federal
trust by the tribe in 2012. This is governed directly by the tribe.[166][167]
Media
Education
University of Tennessee,
Knoxville
Vanderbilt University,
Nashville
East Tennessee State

University, Johnson City
Middle Tennessee State

University, Murfreesboro
Tennessee Technological
University, Cookeville
Tennessee has a rich variety of public, private, charter, and specialized education facilities
ranging from pre-school through university.
In 2015, state legislators began efforts on the "Drive to 55" movement, which plans to
increase the number of college-educated residents to at least 55% of the state's
population.[168] Then Governor Bill Haslam signed legislation that started the Tennessee
Promise program.[168] Tennessee Promise, if students meet its requirements, allows in-state
high school graduates to enroll in two-year post-secondary education programs such as
associate's degrees and certificates at community colleges and trade schools in Tennessee
tuition-free, funded by the state lottery.[168]
Colleges and universities

…
Public higher education is under the oversight of the Tennessee Higher Education
Commission which provides guidance to two public university systems—the University of
Tennessee system and the Tennessee Board of Regents. In addition a number of private
colleges and universities are located throughout the state.
American Baptist College
Aquinas College
The Art Institutes
Austin Peay State University
Baptist College of Health Sciences
Belmont University
Bethel College
Bryan College
Carson–Newman University
Chattanooga State Community College

Christian Brothers University
Cleveland State Community College
Columbia State Community College
Crown College
Cumberland University
Dyersburg State Community College
East Tennessee State University
Emmanuel Christian Seminary
Fisk University
Freed–Hardeman University
Jackson State Community College
Johnson University
King University
Knoxville College
Lane College
Lee University
LeMoyne–Owen College
Lincoln Memorial University
Lipscomb University
Martin Methodist College
Maryville College
Meharry Medical College
Memphis College of Art
Memphis Theological Seminary
Mid-America Baptist Theological Seminary
Middle Tennessee State University
Milligan College
Motlow State Community College
Nashville School of Law
Nashville State Community College
Northeast State Community College
O'More College of Design
Pellissippi State Community College
Rhodes College
Roane State Community College
Sewanee: The University of the South
Southern Adventist University
Southern College of Optometry
Southwest Tennessee Community College
Tennessee Colleges of Applied Technology
Tennessee State University
Tennessee Technological University
Tennessee Wesleyan University
Trevecca Nazarene University
Tusculum University
Union University
University of Memphis
University of Tennessee system

University of Tennessee (Knoxville)
University of Tennessee Health Science Center (Memphis)
University of Tennessee Space Institute
University of Tennessee at Chattanooga
University of Tennessee at Martin
Vanderbilt University
Volunteer State Community College
Walters State Community College
Watkins College of Art, Design & Film
Welch College
Williamson College
Local school districts
…
Public primary and secondary education systems are operated by county, city, or special
school districts to provide education at the local level. These school districts operate under
the direction of the Tennessee Department of Education. Private schools are found in many
counties.
Discovery Park of America

in Union City, Tennessee.
Museums
…
Over 250 public and private museums are located in Tennessee, including renowned
museums such as the Brooks Museum, Pink Palace Museum and Planetarium, Country
Music Hall of Fame, and Discovery Park of America.
…
State symbols
Tulip Poplar
State symbols,[169] found in Tennessee Code Annotated; Title 4, Chapter 1, Part 3, include:
State amphibian: Tennessee cave salamander
State bird: mockingbird
State game bird: bobwhite quail
State butterfly: zebra swallowtail
State sport fish: smallmouth bass
State commercial fish: channel catfish
State cultivated flower: iris
State wild flowers: Passion Flower and Tennessee Coneflower
State insects: firefly and lady beetle
State agricultural insect: honeybee
State wild animal: raccoon
State horse: Tennessee Walking Horse
State reptile: eastern box turtle
State firearm: Barrett M82[170]
State tree: tulip poplar
State evergreen tree: eastern red cedar
State beverage: milk
State dance: square dance
State fruit: tomato
State fossil: Pterotrigonia (Scabrotrigonia) thoracica

State gem: Tennessee River pearl
State mineral: agate
State rock: limestone
State motto: Agriculture and Commerce
State poem" "Oh Tennessee, My Tennessee" by Admiral William Lawrence
State slogan: "Tennessee—America at its best"
State songs: nine songs
State cultivated flower: iris
See also …
Index of Tennessee-related articles
Outline of Tennessee
References …
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climate change has made that a very big deal" . The Washington Post. Retrieved
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Further reading …
Bergeron, Paul H. (1982). Antebellum Politics in Tennessee. University of Kentucky Press.

ISBN 978-0-8131-1469-9.
Bontemps, Arna (1941). William C. Handy: Father of the Blues: An Autobiography. New York:
Macmillan Company.
Brownlow, W. G. (1862). Sketches of the Rise, Progress, and Decline of Secession: With a
Narrative of Personal Adventures among the Rebels .
Cartwright, Joseph H. (1976). The Triumph of Jim Crow: Tennessee's Race Relations in the 1880s.
University of Tennessee Press.
Cimprich, John (1985). Slavery's End in Tennessee, 1861–1865. University of Alabama. ISBN 978-
0-8173-0257-3.
Finger, John R. (2001). Tennessee Frontiers: Three Regions in Transition. Indiana University Press.
ISBN 978-0-253-33985-0.
Honey, Michael K. (1993). Southern Labor and Black Civil Rights: Organizing Memphis Workers .
University of Illinois Press. ISBN 978-0-252-02000-1.
Jones, James B. Jr. (July 6, 2015). Hidden History of Tennessee Politics . Mount Pleasant, South
Carolina: Arcadia Publishing. ISBN 978-1625853745 – via Google Books.
Lamon, Lester C. (1980). Blacks in Tennessee, 1791–1970 . University of Tennessee Press.

ISBN 978-0-87049-324-9.
Mooney, James (1900). Myths of the Cherokee. New York: reprinted Dover, 1995. ISBN 978-0-
914875-19-2.
Norton, Herman (1981). Religion in Tennessee, 1777–1945. University of Tennessee Press.

ISBN 978-0-87049-318-8.
Olson, Ted (2009). A Tennessee Folklore Sampler: Selected Readings from the Tennessee Folklore
Society Bulletin, 1934–2009. University of Tennessee Press. ISBN 978-1-57233-668-1.
Schaefer, Richard T. (2006). Sociology Matters . New York: NY: McGraw-Hill. ISBN 978-0-07-
299775-0.
Van West, Carroll, ed. (1998). Tennessee History: The Land, The People, and The Culture .
University of Tennessee Press. ISBN 978-1-57233-000-9 – via Google Books.
Van West, Carroll, ed. (1998). The Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture. ISBN 978-1-
55853-599-2.
External links …
Tennessee
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Official website
Tennessee Department of Tourist Development
Tennessee State Library and Archives
Tennessee Blue Book
Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture
Tennessee State Agency Databases by the Government Documents Round Table of the
American Library Association
TNGen Web Project , free genealogy resources for the state
Tennessee QuickFacts by the U.S. Census Bureau

Tennessee scientific resources by the U.S. Geological Survey
Tennessee state data by the U.S. Department of Agriculture
Tennessee State Profile and Energy Estimates by U.S. Energy Information

Administration
Tennessee Code Annotated by LexisNexis
Tennessee Landforms
Ramsey, J. G. M. (1853). The Annals of Tennessee to the End of the Eighteenth Century .
John Russell.
Tennessee at Curlie
Geographic data related to Tennessee at OpenStreetMap
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Preceded by Succeeded by
admission to the Union
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Admitted on June 1, 1796 (16th)
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Tennessee (/ˌtɛnǝˈsiː/ ( listen),[8][9] locally /ˈtɛnǝsi/[10]), officially the State of Tennessee,

Nickname(s): The Volunteer State[1]

Motto(s): Agriculture and Commerce

Anthem: Nine songs

Country United States

Before statehood Southwest Territory

Admitted to the Union June 1, 1796 (16th)

Largest metro Greater Nashville

• Governor Bill Lee (R)

• Lieutenant Governor Randy McNally (R)

Legislature General Assembly

• Upper house Senate

• Lower house House of Representatives

Judiciary Tennessee Supreme Court

U.S. senators Marsha Blackburn (R)

U.S. House delegation 7 Republicans

• Total 42,143 sq mi (109,247 km2)

• Land 41,217 sq mi (106,846 km2)

• Water 926 sq mi (2,401 km2) 2.2%

Area rank 36th

• Length 440 mi (710 km)

• Width 120 mi (195 km)

Elevation 900 ft (270 m)

Lowest elevation (Mississippi River at 178 ft (54 m)

• Total 6,886,834 (estimate)[5]

• Density 159.4/sq mi (61.5/km2)

• Density rank 20th

• Median household income $52,340[6]

• Income rank 42nd

• Official language English

• Spoken language Language spoken at home[7]

East Tennessee UTC−05h00 (Eastern)

• Summer (DST) UTC−04h00 (EDT)

Middle and West UTC−06h00 (Central)

• Summer (DST) UTC−05h00 (CDT)

ISO 3166 code US-TN

Traditional abbreviation Tenn.

Longitude 81°39′ W to 90°19′ W

Tennessee state symbols

Amphibian Tennessee cave salamander

Butterfly Zebra swallowtail

Fish Channel catfish

Mammal Tennessee Walking Horse

Reptile Eastern box turtle

Dance Square dance

Firearm Barrett M82

Fossil Pterotrigonia (Scabrotrigonia) thoracica

Gemstone Tennessee River pearl

Poem "Oh Tennessee, My Tennessee" by William

Slogan "Tennessee—America at its best"

Tartan Tennessee State Tartan

State route marker

Lists of United States state symbols

Tennessee's major industries include agriculture, manufacturing, and tourism. Poultry,

Tap to display image.

Monument near the old site of

Tap to display image.

Tap to display image.

Tap to display image.

Tap to display image.

View from atop Mount Le Conte in

Andrew Johnson National Historic Site in Greeneville

Appalachian National Scenic Trail