| 1541 |
Hernando
de Soto’s band traveled through the area that was
to become Tennessee. |
| 1715 |
The
last Shawnee had been driven out by Chickasaw and Cherokee
attacks. |
| 1770s |
Four
different communities had been established in northeastern
Tennessee – on the Watauga River, the North Holston,
the Nolichucky, and in Carter’s Valley. |
| 1779/80 |
During the winter
and spring three hundred pioneers – black and white
– made the difficult trek to the French Lick, as
the future site of Nashville was then known. |
| 1780 |
The
battle at Kings Mountain was a key American victory during
the Revolutionary War. The Tennessee militia played an
important part in this victory. |
| 1784 |
The State of Franklin
was formed in part of East Tennessee. This short-lived
State of Franklin passed out of existence in 1788. |
| 1789 |
North
Carolina ceded its western land, the Tennessee county,
to the Federal Government. Congress now designated the
area as the Territory of the United States, South of
the River Ohio. |
| 1796 |
On June 1, 1796,
Congress approved the admission of Tennessee as the sixteenth
state of the Union. |
| 1815 |
On
January 8th, Andrew Jackson and his troops from Tennessee
defeated the British army at the Battle of New Orleans. |
| 1818 |
The Chickasaw Treaty
of 1818 extended Tennessee's western boundary to the
Mississippi River, and opened up a rich, new agricultural
area for settlement. |
| 1826 |
The
capitol moved to its permanent site in Nashville. |
| 1828 |
Andrew Jackson was
elected president of the United States by landslide majorities
in 1828 and 1832 |
| 1838 |
The
U.S. Army was dispatched to evict the Cherokee and send
them on a woeful trek to Indian Territory - the "Trail
of Tears. |
| 1844 |
James K Polk of Maury
County was elected president. |
| 1861 |
Having
ratified by popular vote its connection to the fledgling
Confederacy, Tennessee became the last state to withdraw
from the Union. |
| 1861/65 |
187,000 Confederate
and 51,000 Federal soldiers mustered in from Tennessee
as the Civil War raged throughout the south. |
| 1865 |
Andrew
Johnson became president following Lincoln's assassination
in April. |
| 1866 |
Tennessee was readmitted
to the Union after the state became the third state of
ratify the Fourteenth Amendment. |
| 1870 |
Delegates
from across the state met in 1870 to rewrite the Constitution. |
| 1880 |
Englishman Thomas
Hughes established the Rugby colony. |
| 1894 |
Another
experimental colony was Ruskin, founded in 1894 by the
famous socialist publicist Julius Wayland. |
| 1897 |
The Tennessee Centennial
Exposition was held in Nashville in honor of the state's
one hundredth birthday. |
| 1898 |
Four
regiments of Tennesseans were mustered into the volunteer
United States Army during the Spanish-American War. |
| 1917/18 |
Around 100,000 of
the state's young men volunteered or were drafted into
the armed services during World War I. |
| 1920 |
Tennessee
became the 36th state to ratify the Nineteenth Amendment,
giving women the right to vote. |
| 1925 |
The celebrated trial
of John T. Scopes, the so-called "Monkey Trial"
took place in Dayton. |
| 1925 |
Reelfoot
Lake was established as a state game and fish preserve,
marking the first step toward the conservation of Tennessee's
natural resources. |
| 1933 |
The Tennessee Valley
Authority built its first hydroelectric dams in Tennessee. |
| 1940 |
The Great Smoky Mountains
National Park was dedicated by President Franklin Roosevelt. |
| 1941/45 |
During World War
II, over 300,000 Tennesseans served in the armed forces
while others served at home in war related industries. |
| 1950/53 |
10,500 Tennesseans
served in the Korean War. |
| 1953 |
The Tennessee State
Library and Archives building was dedicated to the men
and women from Tennessee who served in WWII. |
| 1960 |
Students held the
first Nashville sit-in at downtown luncheon counters. |
| 1965 |
A. W. Willis, Jr.,
from Memphis, became the first African American representative
elected to the General Assembly in 65 years. |
| 1968 |
Dr. King was assassinated
at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, where he had gone in
support of the strike of the local sanitation workers. |
| 1977 |
Tennessean Alex Hailey
won the Nobel Prize for his book Roots. |
| 1987 |
General Motors opened
the new Saturn Corporation auto plant in Spring Hill. |
| 1990 |
Martha Craig Daughtrey
became the first woman to serve on the Tennessee Supreme
Court. |
| 1992 |
Albert Gore, Jr.
was elected Vice-President of the United States. |
| 1998 |
The University of
Tennessee football team became the national champions,
going undefeated for the season. |
| 2002 |
Former
Nashville Mayor, Phil Bredesen was elected Governor. |
