The Territory South of the River Ohio, more commonly known as the Southwest Territory or the old Southwest Territory, was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from May 26, 1790, until June 1, 1796, when it was admitted to the United States as the State of Tennessee. The Southwest Territory was created by the Southwest Ordinance; its lands were taken from western areas beyond the mountains of the Commonwealth of Virginia (later to be separated and erected into the new 15th state of the Commonwealth of Kentucky.) Western lands were also ceded by the State of North Carolina from lands of the Washington District that had been already ceded to the U.S. federal government by North Carolina.
The territory's first—and only—appointed governor for its existence was William Blount, and the appointed secretary of the territory was Daniel Smith. Both were appointed by President George Washington.
The Southwest Ordinance was similar to the previous two ordinances passed by the Confederation Congress for the establishment and development of the old Northwest Territory of 1786–1803.
The establishment of the Southwest Territory followed a series of efforts by North Carolina's trans-Appalachian settlers to form a separate political entity, initially with the Watauga Association, and later with the failure of the additional proposed western State of Franklin. North Carolina ceded these lands in April 1790 as payment of obligations owed to the new central federal government.
It was also along with the intention, that when the previous governing document for the newly independent United States of the Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union which were drawn up in 1776–1778 and adopted unanimously finally in 1781, that the territories west of the Appalachian Mountains would be ceded to the Confederation Congress, to be held in trust for all of the original Thirteen States, in order to settle and create in the future of new federal territories and states to be admitted to the Union on an equal basis and status. The Southwest Territory's residents welcomed the cession, believing the federal government would provide better protection from native Indian hostilities. The federal government paid relatively little attention however to the territory, increasing its residents' desire for full statehood and admittance to the federal Union.
Along with Blount, a number of individuals who played prominent roles in early Tennessee history served in the old Southwest Territory's administration. These included John Sevier, James Robertson, Griffith Rutherford, James Winchester, Archibald Roane, John McNairy, Joseph McMinn and General and future seventh President, Andrew Jackson.
Background
During the colonial period, land that would become the Southwest Territory was part of North Carolina's land patent. The Blue Ridge Mountains, which rise along the modern Tennessee-North Carolina border, hindered North Carolina from pursuing any lasting interest in the territory. Initially trade, political interest, and settlement came mostly from Virginia and South Carolina, though refugees from the Regulator War began arriving from North Carolina in the early 1770s.
The Watauga Association was a semi-autonomous government created in 1772 by frontier settlers living along the Watauga River in what is present day Elizabethton, Tennessee. The colony was established on Cherokee-owned land in which the Watauga and Nolichucky settlers had negotiated a 10-year lease directly with the Indians. Fort Watauga was established on the Watauga River at Sycamore Shoals as a trade center of the settlements.
In March 1775, land speculator and North Carolina judge Richard Henderson met with more than 1,200 Cherokees at Sycamore Shoals. Included at the gathering were Cherokee leaders such as Attacullaculla, Oconostota, and Dragging Canoe. The meeting resulted in the "Treaty of Sycamore Shoals", in which Henderson purchased from the Cherokee all the land situated south of the Ohio River and lying between the Cumberland River, the Cumberland Mountains, and the Kentucky River. This land, which encompassed roughly 20 million acres (80,000 km<sup>2</sup>), became known as the Transylvania Purchase. Henderson's land deal was found to be in violation of North Carolina and Virginia law, as well as the Royal Proclamation of 1763, which had prohibited the private purchase of American Indian land.
Both North Carolina and Virginia considered the trans-Appalachian settlements illegal, and refused to annex them. Nevertheless, at the onset of the American War for Independence in 1776, the settlers, who vigorously supported the Patriot cause, organized themselves into the "Washington District" and formed a committee of safety to govern it. In July 1776, Dragging Canoe and the faction of the Cherokee opposed to the Transylvania Purchase (later called the Chickamaugas) aligned with the British and launched an invasion of the Watauga settlements, targeting Fort Watauga at modern Elizabethton and Eaton's Station near modern Kingsport. After the settlers thwarted the attacks, North Carolina agreed to annex the settlements as the Washington District.
In September 1780, a large group of trans-Appalachian settlers, led by William Campbell, John Sevier and Isaac Shelby, assembled at Sycamore Shoals in response to a British threat to attack frontier settlements. Known as the Overmountain Men, the settlers marched across the mountains to South Carolina, where they engaged and defeated a loyalist force led by Patrick Ferguson at the Battle of Kings Mountain. Overmountain Men would also take part in the Battle of Musgrove Mill and the Battle of Cowpens.
In 1784, North Carolina ceded control of the Overmountain settlements following a hotly contested vote. The cession was rescinded later that year, but not before some of the settlers had organized the State of Franklin, which sought statehood. John Sevier was named governor and the area began operating as an independent state not recognized by the Congress of the Confederation. Many Overmountain settlers, led by John Tipton, remained loyal to North Carolina, and frequently quarreled with the Franklinites. Following Tipton's defeat of Sevier at the "Battle of Franklin" in early 1788, the State of Franklin movement declined. The Franklinites had agreed to rejoin North Carolina by early 1789.
Territory formation
North Carolina ratified the United States Constitution on November 21, 1789. On December 22, the state legislature voted to cede the Overmountain settlements as payment of its obligations to the new federal government. Congress accepted the cession during its first session on April 2, 1790, when it passed "An Act to Accept a Cession of the Claims of the State of North Carolina to a Certain District of Western Territory". On May 26, 1790, Congress passed an act organizing the new cession as the "Territory of the United States South of the River Ohio", which consisted of modern Tennessee, with the exception of later minor boundary changes.
In the 1790 United States census, 7 counties in the Southwest Territory reported the following population counts:
{| class=wikitable
! Rank
! County
! Population
|-
|1
|Greene
|7,741
|-
|2
|Hawkins
|6,970
|-
|3
|Washington
|5,872
|-
|4
|Sullivan
|4,447
|-
|5
|Davidson
|3,459
|-
|6
|Sumner
|2,196
|-
|7
|Tennessee
|1,387
|-
|
|Unincorporated
|3,619
|-
|
|Southwest Territory
|35,691
|-
|}
Indian hostilities
right|190px|thumb|[[Howard Pyle's depiction of a scout warning the residents of Knoxville of an approaching hostile Indian force in 1793]]
Residents of the Southwest Territory initially welcomed federal control, believing the federal government would provide better protection from hostile Indians than North Carolina's distant government to the east. However, the Federal government was already more focused on critical affairs in the old Northwest Territory. Most of the land in the "Old Southwest" was still either Indian territory or had already been claimed by speculators or settlers, and thus there was little money to be made from land sales.
thumb|Indian land cessions in what is now Tennessee (Charles C. Royce, 1899)
Statehood
right|upright=1.6|thumb|Secretary [[Daniel Smith (surveyor)|Daniel Smith's "Map of the Tennassee State" (1796)]]
A census in the summer of 1791 showed the territory's population to be 35,691. Hopkins Lacy was elected clerk.
Members of the territorial council were appointed by the President from a list of candidates submitted by the territorial House of Representatives. At its first session in February 1794, the House submitted ten candidates for the council: James Winchester, William Fort, Stockley Donelson, Richard Gammon, David Russell, John Sevier, Adam Meek, John Adair, Griffith Rutherford and Parmenas Taylor. From this list, President Washington appointed Winchester, Donelson, Sevier, Rutherford and Taylor. and Blount's younger half-brother, future governor Willie Blount. Jackson served as a district attorney for the territory.
Land details
right|thumb|270px|The Washington District, as it appeared on [[Abraham Bradley, Jr.|Abraham Bradley's 1796 postal map]]
The Southwest Territory covered , In 1793, Blount organized these two new counties into a separate district, called the "Hamilton District". Blount and Sevier counties would be added to this new district during territorial administration.
The population of the Southwest Territory in 1791 was 35,691.