Qualla: State of Franklin https://qualla.com/state-of-franklin en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:14 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/d/n/m/j/state-of-franklin-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: State of Franklin https://qualla.com/state-of-franklin State of Franklin: Introduction https://qualla.com/state-of-franklin/ Photo credit Bennett1203, CC BY-SA 4.0. For four and a half years, a place that no longer exists governed itself, elected a governor, drafted a constitution, petitioned Congress, and even flirted with becoming a Spanish colony. The State of Franklin, sometimes called the Lost State or the Free Republic of Franklin, occupied the ridges and valleys of what is now East Tennessee from 1784 to 1789. It came into being because North Carolina gave away its western territory to pay war debts, then changed its mind and took it back. Caught between an indifferent Congress and a resentful parent state, the settlers of the Appalachian frontier did what frontier people do: they made their own rules.

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]]> Sun, 22 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/n/m/j/state-of-franklin-wp/dnmj-state-of-franklin-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full State of Franklin: Ceded, Abandoned, Defiant https://qualla.com/state-of-franklin/ Photo credit Brian Stansberry, CC BY 3.0. The American Revolution left Congress deeply in debt. In April 1784, North Carolina voted to cede its western lands, everything between the Appalachian Mountains and the Mississippi River, to the federal government. The offer came with a catch: Congress had two years to accept. F...

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]]> Sun, 22 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/n/m/j/state-of-franklin-wp/dnmj-state-of-franklin-ceded-abandoned-defiant.mp3 0:06 2 full State of Franklin: A Constitution That Banned Lawyers https://qualla.com/state-of-franklin/ Photo credit Iamvered, CC BY-SA 3.0. John Sevier, a hero of the Battle of Kings Mountain, reluctantly accepted the role of governor. Landon Carter became speaker of the Senate. William Cage took the first speaker's chair of the House. The delegates gathered at Jonesborough for a constitutional convention in December...

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]]> Sun, 22 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/n/m/j/state-of-franklin-wp/dnmj-state-of-franklin-a-constitution-that-banned-lawyers.mp3 0:06 3 full State of Franklin: Seven Votes Short of Statehood https://qualla.com/state-of-franklin/ Photo credit Brian Stansberry, CC BY 3.0. On May 16, 1785, Franklin's delegates submitted a petition for statehood to Congress. Seven states voted in favor, but admission required a two-thirds majority under the Articles of Confederation. The vote fell short. In a bid for influence, the delegates renamed their territory ...

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]]> Sun, 22 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/n/m/j/state-of-franklin-wp/dnmj-state-of-franklin-seven-votes-short-of-statehood.mp3 0:06 4 full State of Franklin: Spanish Schemes and a Jailbreak https://qualla.com/state-of-franklin/ Photo credit Brian Stansberry, CC BY 3.0. By 1788, Franklin was collapsing. Key supporters had defected to North Carolina. Chickamauga, Chickasaw, and other tribes attacked frontier settlements. Desperate for help, Sevier turned to Spain. With the assistance of James White, who was later discovered to be a paid Spanish a...

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]]> Sun, 22 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/n/m/j/state-of-franklin-wp/dnmj-state-of-franklin-spanish-schemes-and-a-jailbreak.mp3 0:06 5 full State of Franklin: A Ghost That Never Quite Vanished https://qualla.com/state-of-franklin/ Photo credit User:Golbez, CC BY 4.0. Franklin's spirit proved more durable than its government. John Sevier became the first governor of Tennessee when it entered the Union in 1796. The town of Elizabethton was named for Landon Carter's wife, and Carter County for the Senate speaker himself, by the very political fa...

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]]> Sun, 22 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/n/m/j/state-of-franklin-wp/dnmj-state-of-franklin-a-ghost-that-never-quite-vanished.mp3 0:06 6 full