380 Reviezus of Books A History of Tennessee from 166 j to r goo for Use in Schools. By G. R. McGee, Principal of College Street School, Jackson, Ten- nessee. (New York : The American Book Company. Pp. xx.xix, 238.) History of Tennessee, its People ami its lustitiitions. Bj' Willlm Robertson Garrett, A.M., Ph.D., Professor of American His- tory in Peabody Normal College, and Albert Virgil Good- pasture, A.M., formerly Clerk of the Supreme Court of Ten- nessee. (Nashville : Brandon Printing Company. Pp. 350.) The first permanent settlement in the present state of Tennessee was made in the valley of the Watauga, a branch of the Holston River, in 1769, and ten years later the Cumberland settlements on the present site of Nashville were started. In 1790 the territory west of the ridge of the Smoky Mountains was deeded by North Carolina to the national govern- ment and was organized as the "Territory South of the River Ohio." The first territorial legislature under the terms of the cession (the North- west Ordinance without the anti-slavery section) sat in 1794, and two years later the people organized themselves into the state of Tennessee and demanded admission into the union of states as a right under the compact of cession. The constitution of 1796 contained several peculiarities characteristic of the period and of local conditions. All power of administration, legis- lation and legal procedure was placed in the hands or under the control of the governor and legislature, and they were held accountable to the people by biennial popular elections for the management of their trusts. The general, and most local, officers, including the judges, were their appointees. Land, polls and stud horses were the only objects taxed by the constitution : no loo-acre parcel to be taxed more than any other, and no town lot or free poll more than 100 acres ; slave polls at twice the rate of free polls. As time went on the democratizing movement affected Tennessee. Land also differentiated more in value, the land speculators lost in influence, and personal property increased in relative importance. The constitution of 1834 made most of the officials, local and general, elective, and readjusted the basis of taxation in harmony with the economic conditions. In 1853 an amendment made even the Supreme Court judges subject to popular election for terms of eight years, and the constitution of 1S70 made "all " property taxable at its value. After 1825, at latest, state politics were dominated by national. But internal improvements and state charitable institutions were fostered. Especially in respect of the latter the state was very progressive. The state refused to secede, in January, 1861, and only withdrew after Lincoln's ca 1 for troops. It was one of the great battle-grounds of the Civil War. It was also the first in which military government was set up (1862), and it was therefore excepted from the Emancipation Proclamation. It abolished slavery in 1865, and in 1866 its senators
