Permanent

Speaker of the House, appointed

Speaker of the House, elected

The State of Franklin known also as the Free Republic of Frankland or the State of Frankland (the latter being the name submitted to the Continental Congress when it considered the territory's application for statehood) was an autonomous, secessionist United States territory created in 1784 from part of the territory west of the Appalachian Mountains that had been ceded by North Carolina to the federal government. Franklin's territory later, once again, officially became part of North Carolina, but ultimately comprised a large share of the newly formed state of Tennessee's "Eastern Division" in 1790. Franklin was never officially admitted into the United States and existed only about four and a half years, (the last two in a "parallel government" along side the official North Carolina bureaucrats) before largely being abandoned.

As the Congress of the Confederation was heavily in debt at the close of the Revolutionary War, the state of North Carolina voted, in April 1784, "to give Congress the 29,000,000 acres (117,000 km2) lying between the Allegheny Mountains (as the entire Appalachian range was then called) and the Mississippi river." This did not please the Watauga settlers who had gained an earnest foothold on the Cumberland River at Fort Nashborough. They feared Congress might, in desperation, sell the territory to a foreign power such as France or Spain. A few months later, the Legislature of North Carolina withdrew its gift, and again laid claim to its remote western region because it feared the land would not be used for its intended purpose to pay the debts of Congress. These North Carolina lawmakers also ordered judges to hold court in the western counties, arranged to enroll a brigade of soldiers, and appointed John Sevier to command it."

The spirit of the American Revolution was still very much a part of the frontier world view, and increasing dissatisfaction with the government of North Carolina by citizens in the territory west of the Alleghenies led to calls for the establishment of a separate state. On August 23, 1784, delegates from the North Carolina counties of Washington (that at the time included present day Carter County), Sullivan, Spencer (now Hawkins) and Greene — all counties in present-day Tennessee — convened in the town of Jonesborough and declared the lands independent of North Carolina.

On May 16, 1785, a delegation from these counties submitted a petition for statehood to the Continental Congress. Seven states voted to admit the tiny state under the proposed name Frankland. The number of states voting in favor of statehood fell short of the two-thirds majority required to admit a territory to statehood under the Articles of Confederation. In an attempt to curry favor for their cause, leaders changed the proposed name to "Franklin" after Benjamin Franklin, and even initiated a correspondence with the patriot to sway him to support their cause. Franklin politely refused.

Locally, a constitution that disallowed lawyers, doctors and preachers from election to the legislature was rejected by referendum. Thereafter, a constitution modeled on that of North Carolina was adopted with few changes, and the state was called Franklin.

A temporary government was assembled at Greeneville. After a swift election, John Sevier became governor and David Campbell judge of the Superior Court. Greeneville was declared the permanent capital. The first legislature met in December 1785; Landon Carter (son of John Carter, an early Carter County settler in present day Elizabethton, Tennessee) was the Speaker of the Senate, and Thomas Talbot its clerk. Major William Cage was Speaker of the House of Representatives, and Thomas Chapman served as House Clerk.

The legislature made treaties with the Indian tribes in the area, opened courts, incorporated and annexed five new counties (see map below), and fixed taxes and officers' salaries. Barter was the economic system both de facto and de jure, and anything in common use among the people was allowed to be paid to settle debts, including federal or foreign money, corn, tobacco, apple brandy, and skins (Sevier himself was paid in deer hides). Citizens were granted a two-year reprieve on paying taxes, but this lack of currency and economic infrastructure slowed development and created confusion.