In West and Middle Tennessee, where the soil and climate were suitable for raising cotton, slave labor was very profitable. In East Tennessee, the poor upland farms scarcely yielded a return to white labor. As the result of this difference in natural conditions, slavery flourished in West and Middle Tennessee, but in East Tennessee, by 1860, it had become almost extinct, except upon the rich plantations that bordered the Tennessee River. The efforts to form a Confederacy based upon slavery found, therefore, no support among the inhabitants of East Tennessee. Their interests and sympathy were with the free States of the North, and they rejected by a vote of two to one every proposal looking toward separation. In the eyes of the nation, Andrew Johnson stood as the representative of East Tennessee loyalty. Upon the floor of the United States Senate he denounced the withdrawal of the Southern members as treason, and refused to vacate his own seat even after Tennessee had been proclaimed by Jefferson Davis a part of the Confederacy. Next to Johnson, the most prominent Union man was W. G. Brownlow, the editor of the _Knoxville Whig_. Mr. Brownlow is in many respects the most unique figure in the history of Tennessee. He commenced life as a carpenter’s apprentice, but after serving his apprenticeship he entered the Methodist ministry and travelled as a circuit rider for ten years without intermission. His love of controversy led him into most of the political and religious discussions of the day, and gained for him the name of the “Fighting Parson.” About 1835 he became the editor and publisher of a Whig newspaper, which rapidly gained a larger circulation than any other political paper in the State. In the presidential election of 1860 Mr. Brownlow supported Bell and Everett. After the election his voice was on the side of peaceful acquiescence in the results. In vigorous editorials he denounced the sentiments expressed in the message of Governor Harris to the extra session of the Legislature. After the passage of the Convention Bill he joined several prominent citizens in issuing a call for an “East Tennessee Convention.” Every county in East Tennessee except two responded to the call. The Convention assembled at Knoxville, on the 13th of May, 1861. The delegates present numbered four hundred and sixty-nine, and represented twenty-eight counties. Hon. Thos. A. R. Nelson was elected chairman. On motion, he appointed a committee to prepare and report business for the Convention. This committee drew up an address to the people, which was in part as follows:[7]