Tennessee was rapidly increasing likewise, and beginning again, like her neighbour, to think of independence, although as yet a great portion of the present territory remained in the hands of the Indians. Under the name of Franklin, or Frankland, a provisional government was organised, with John Sevier at the head, which, though leading to violence and almost civil war, and put down for the present, yet rose up again in due time, like a growth of the forest, and John Sevier was the first legalised state’s governor, with a recognised place in congress. Nor were the Wyoming people yet satisfied, and a John Franklin there, with Ethan Allen of Vermont, and other “wild Yankees,” as they were called, agitated for an independent existence, until at length Pennsylvania, who had acted like a step-mother to them, pacified their uneasiness by granting their reasonable requests. The settlers of Maine also were stirred by the same craving for independence, and agitated for it and a remission of taxes. Massachusetts surrendered to the United States, in April, her claims to the western territory; and in May, congress enacted an ordinance for the survey and sale of the lands north-west of the Ohio. Regular surveys on a systematic and uniform plan were commenced. The plan is described by Hildreth as consisting of a series of lines perpendicular to each other, the one set running north and south, the other east and west, by which means the federal lands were to be lotted out into townships of six miles square, each township to be again subdivided by similar lines into thirty-six sections, each containing a square mile. The survey has since been carried to half and quarter sections, and even to sixteenths. One section in each township was to be reserved as the basis of a school fund, which however, it is to be regretted, has not always been attended to. The public lands, when ready for market, were to be sold by public auction, the minimum price being one dollar per acre, to which the expenses of survey were to be added. The whole attention of congress was not, however, devoted to such agreeable subjects as the survey and sale of the great western territory. The early instalments of foreign debts were falling due in addition to the old pressure for money. It was no use to impose taxes, for each state had its own local debts, and congress had no legal power to enforce their payment. Nevertheless, in the midst of all these urgent and accumulating cares, congress being possessed of powers to regulate the currency and coinage of the country, turned its attention to this subject. A decimal scale was adopted, and the dollar, as the coin best known and most common in America, was taken as the money unit. A mint was established in October, 1786, but the poverty of congress allowed no coinage excepting a few tons of copper cents.[59]