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American Studies Commons

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Full-Text Articles in American Studies

Violence, Statecraft, And Statehood In The Early Republic : The State Of Franklin, 1784–1788, Kevin T. Barksdale Jan 2011

Violence, Statecraft, And Statehood In The Early Republic : The State Of Franklin, 1784–1788, Kevin T. Barksdale

History Faculty Research

In December 1784, a small contingent of upper Tennessee Valley political leaders met in Washington County, North Carolina's rustic courthouse to discuss the uncertain postrevolutionary political climate that they believed threatened their regional political hegemony, prosperity and families. The Jonesboro delegates fatefully decided that their backcountry communities could no longer remain part of their parent state and that North Carolina's westernmost counties (at the time Washington, Sullivan and Greene counties) must unite and form America's fourteenth state.


Early Black Migration And The Post-Emancipation Black Community In Cabell County, West Virginia, 1865-1871, Cicero Fain Jan 2011

Early Black Migration And The Post-Emancipation Black Community In Cabell County, West Virginia, 1865-1871, Cicero Fain

History Faculty Research

West Virginia’s formation divided many groups within the new state. Grievances born of secession inflamed questions of taxation, political representation, and constitutional change, and greatly complicated black aspirations during the state’s formative years. Moreover, long-standing attitudes on race and slavery held great sway throughout Appalachia. Thus, the quest by the state’s black residents to achieve the full measure of freedom in the immediate post-Civil War years faced formidable challenges. To meet the mandates for statehood recognition established by President Lincoln, the state’s legislators were forced to rectify a particularly troublesome conundrum: how to grant citizenship to the state’s black residents …