State of Franklin

The State of Franklin (Frankland)
August 1784 – December 1788

The state of Franklin highlighted on a map of Tennessee
CapitalJonesborough (August 1784 – December 1785)
Greeneville (December 1785 – 1788)
Area
 • Coordinates36°10′N 82°49′W / 36.167°N 82.817°W / 36.167; -82.817
Government
 • TypeRepublic / Organized, extralegal territory
"Governor" (President) 
• December 1784 – December 1788
President/Governor Col. John Sevier
Speaker of the Senate 
• December 1784 – December 1788
Landon Carter
• Speaker of the House
August 1784 – June 1785
William Cage
• Speaker of the House
June 1785 – December 1788
Col. Joseph Hardin
LegislatureCongress of Greeneville
• Upper house
Senate
• Lower House
House of Representatives
Historical erapost American Revolution
• North Carolina cedes the Washington District to federal government
April 1784
• Secedes from North Carolina and blocks federal government claims; Franklin proclaimed
23 August 1784
• Petition for Frankland statehood sent to Congress
May 16, 1785
• Provisional name changed to "Franklin"
December 24, 1785
• Disbanded; and area re-acquired by North Carolina
March–September 1788 1788
• Area is designated part of the Southwest Territory
1790
Political subdivisionsCounties
Preceded by
Succeeded by
North Carolina
North Carolina
Today part ofEast Tennessee, United States
State of Franklin on U.S. map

The State of Franklin (also the Free Republic of Franklin, Lost State of Franklin, or the State of Frankland)[a] was an unrecognized proposed state located in present-day East Tennessee, in the United States. Franklin was created in 1784 from part of the territory west of the Appalachian Mountains that had been offered by North Carolina as a cession to Congress to help pay off debts related to the American War for Independence. It was founded with the intent of becoming the 14th state of the new United States.

Franklin's first capital was Jonesborough. After the summer of 1785, the government of Franklin (which was by then based in Greeneville), ruled as a "parallel government" running alongside (but not harmoniously with) a re-established North Carolina bureaucracy. Franklin was never admitted into the union. The extra-legal state existed for only about four and a half years, ostensibly as a republic, after which North Carolina reassumed full control of the area.

The creation of Franklin is novel, in that it resulted from both a cession (an offering from North Carolina to Congress) and a secession (seceding from North Carolina, when its offer to Congress was not acted upon and the original cession was rescinded).
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