Tennessee: Astrological Article and Chart

About this event

Statehood and increasing settlement
Main articles: Admission to the Union and List of U.S. states by date of admission to the Union
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. 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. 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. During this relocation an estimated 4,000 Cherokees died along the way. 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.

Tennessee, 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.

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. 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.

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. 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. 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. 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.

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.

Tennessee's major industries include agriculture, manufacturing, and tourism. Poultry, soybeans, tomatoes, and cattle are its primary agricultural products, and major manufacturing exports include chemicals, transportation equipment, and electrical equipment. 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. 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.