Interpretive
Themes
War Clouds on the Horizon, 1850-1861
Mid-nineteenth-century Tennessee
was an overwhelmingly rural and agricultural state. Cities
like Memphis, Nashville, Chattanooga, and Knoxville showed
signs of industrial growth and commercial prosperity, but
the state’s population remained closely connected to the
land. The decade before the Civil War, in fact, brought
high crop prices that reinforced Tennesseans’ ties to
plantations and farms. The state’s rural economy was far
from homogenous, though. While farmers in mountainous East
Tennessee practiced a subsistence agriculture, Middle and
West Tennesseans relied on cash crops like tobacco and
cotton and increasingly turned to slaves to cultivate their
fields. These regional economic divisions were reflected in
the state’s political divisions, particularly over the
growing debate over secession.
During these years, citizens within
Tennessee’s three distinctive regions debated whether the
state should secede or remain part of the United States.
The predominant views of the residents of each region
varied, based largely on the particular agricultural economy
that had developed. In West Tennessee, where the vast
flatlands facilitated the growing of cotton and the use of
slave labor, many white residents embraced secession. With
farm size varying according to the mixed topography of the
region, Middle Tennessee became almost equally divided on
the question of secession. The citizens of mountainous East
Tennessee proved primarily loyal to the Union, as many
residents remained linked to their Revolutionary War legacy,
and slavery played a relatively minor role in the economy.
Despite the majority
opinion represented in each of the grand divisions,
dissenters existed within each region. This contributed to
the turmoil and sometimes escalated into
neighbor-against-neighbor violence. Community conflict
would prove to be one of the defining characteristics of the
Civil War and Reconstruction in Tennessee.
In the years leading up
to the war, Tennesseans protested or defended the status quo
in various ways. Both sides promoted their cause through
songs, posters, and political cartoons. Across the state,
citizens staged rallies and parades both in support of and
against secession. At the same time, the almost 240,000
enslaved people in Tennessee gathered information and
exchanged news about the possibility of war, foreseeing that
war might provide them with the opportunity to gain their
freedom. Some did not wait for war in their quest for
freedom. The biracial cooperation that existed in the
operation of the Underground Railroad brought many slaves to
freedom through abolitionist safe havens.
When it seceded on May
7, 1861, Tennessee was the last of eleven states to leave
the Union and join the Confederacy. It is fair to say that
few Tennesseans fully envisioned the devastation and social
upheaval that would visit their state over the next several
years.
Please visit the links below for additional
information on:
- Underground Railroad
- Historic Farms (teaching page)
- Steamboats
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