“It was in 1776 that Sevier drew up his able petition to North Carolina asking to be annexed thereto. Of the one hundred and thirteen signers, all but two wrote their own names, which speaks not so badly for these hardy frontiersmen. Their request was granted, and about April, 1777, Watauga became a part of North Carolina. It still continued to be known as the Washington District, largely on account of geographical situation. At that time it embraced practically all of the present Tennessee. “To show the rapid progress of civilization in that remote region, it may be stated that in 1778 or 1779 Reverend Samuel Doan, a young graduate of Princeton, came into the Watauga country, organized Salem Presbyterian church, and in 1780 erected a log cabin school-building, the first literary institution in Tennessee, if not the first one in the Mississippi valley, as has been frequently asserted. In the year 1783 this institution was chartered by North Carolina as Martin Academy, and is known now as Washington College. “The events leading to the formation of the state of Franklin grew out of the effort of the state of North Carolina to pay her share of the thirty-eight millions of the Revolutionary War debt. Congress proposed to sell all the vacant lands in the several states, against the pro rata indebtedness of such states. Therefore, in June, 1784, the (North Carolina) legislature passed an act giving all of Washington District to the United States. This gift was conditioned upon an acceptance within two years, otherwise the act was to be null and void.” This transfer of the sturdy population of the district brought up questions somewhat in advance of those we argue to-day regarding government without the consent of the governed, and the transfer of territory without the consent of the inhabitants. At first the frontiersmen seemed not to object to the change, but reflection showed them that the act failed to give them any sort of civil or military government during the two years Congress might elect to employ before accepting the gift. This contingency justly alarmed the population of Washington District. They found themselves inhabitants of a No-Man’s-Land, an outlaw’s land, living neither under a government of their own establishing, nor any other whatsoever. In these unusual and perplexing circumstances it was no wonder that the people of the District called a convention. This meeting was held at Jonesboro, August, 1784, John Sevier himself presiding. Witness now the wisdom of his proviso in the session of the North Carolina legislature, which, in short, contemplated precisely the act that was now taken. It was resolved to set up another government, and these hardy citizens, so capable of self-government, greeted with applause the establishment of a free and independent state. The convention adjourned to meet again in November, to ratify the constitution and further to complete the organization of the state government.