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4th Grade ESL Tennessee History Part Five: The Wild West   How did Tennessee grow during its early years? 
A map of southeastern Tennessee in 1821 shows "Cherokee lands".
1) If you look at a map of Tennessee in 1796, it was just 1/8 of the size it is now.
2) As settlers "bought" pieces of land from the Cherokee, Creek, and Chickasaw tribes, it grew in size. 3) The newly acquired land would be sold to land speculators who divided it up into smaller pieces and sold the land to farmers. The farmers would clear the land, start growing crops and organize counties. 4) In 1810, a typical farm would grow everything that a family needed to survive, such as vegetables, tobacco, hogs and cattle. Why did a family need to do this? 5) In the 1800s, about 85,000 people lived in the state of Tennessee: * More than 50 percent of them were white, and most of them of English, Scottish or Irish descent. * About 20 percent were black, and most of them were slaves. * The remaining 30 percent were Native Americans -- members of the Cherokee, Creek and Chickasaw tribes. 6) Tennessee's biggest land expansion happened in 1818. The Chickasaws sold their right to most of present-day West Tennessee. This was known as the Chickasaw Purchase. 7) Three Nashville businessman -- James Winchester, James Overton and Andrew Jackson -- built the town of Memphis on the Mississippi River on the newly purchased land. 
In Tennessee's "wild west" days, people lived in cabins like this and were thankful to have them!
8) As late as 1830, most parts of Tennessee were still hard to get to. It was the "wild west," as some might say. When someone traveled across the state they did so by foot, by boat, on horseback or in a carriage. When traveling, one had to protect oneself against wild animals or hostile Native Americans. One had to have survival skills, such as the ability to build a fire or shelter and to kill and eat wild animals. One also had to be able to find water. Do you have survival skills?
 Tell me about the routes traveled by settlers as they traveled across Tennessee.
Click on this map to see how the Cumberland Gap linked East to Middle Tennessee
1) The Cumberland Gap: This was a path first traveled by buffalo. It was a route that settlers used as they crossed from East Tennessee to Middle Tennessee and other places to the west. It was easier to travel than having to cross the Cumberland Plateau, which was very steep.
A map of the Natchez Trace
2) The Natchez Trace: After harvest, farms in Middle Tennessee would load everything that they wanted to trade on a flatboat. They would travel down the Cumberland River to the Ohio River, to the Mississippi River, and finally downstream to New Orleans. The farmers would often trade their harvest for gold. Because it was too difficult to travel the river upstream, the only way to get back home was along a road called the Natchez Trace. The Natchez Trace began in Natchez, Mississippi, and ended in Nashville. This route could be dangerous because of the robbers wanting the farmers' gold.
This is the actual Cumberland Gap
3) Today, the Cumberland Gap can be visited in Claiborne County. Parts of the Natchez Trace have been turned into a paved road known as the Natchez Trace Scenic Parkway.
Our New Tennessee History Words
* speculator: A speculator is a person who buys and sells land over and over again to make money. * clear: When you clear land, you cut down all the trees. * counties: A county is a very large piece of land. * descent: Your relatives are part of your descent. * survival skills: If you have survival skills, you can live off the land. * steep: The side of a mountain is very steep. * harvest: A farmer's harvest consists of the things he grows. * downstream: Downstream is the direction of a river's current. * upstream: Upstream is against the direction of a river's current. |
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