Introducing Mountain Republicans: A Dissertation in the Foothills of Jefferson

           How can one be a Jeffersonian in a region that resisted both secession and the slaveholding planter elites?  This dissertation, Mountain Republicans: Jeffersonian Political Thought from Franklin to Secession, will investigate how the Jeffersonian ideology grew and persisted from the beginning of the Franklin movement through the onset of the Civil War.  This blog will serve as a conduit for sharing the research process and reflections through an exploration of the intellectual and political legacy of Jeffersonian thought in the Appalachian South. 

From the creation of the State of Franklin to the fiery secession debates of 1861, East Tennessee consistently maintained an ideology focused on local control, a deep skepticism of centralized authority, and a persistent resistance to both political and economic elites.  This research argues that those East Tennessee values were not just geographic isolation or backwoods resistance but were a reflection of an evolving Jeffersonian political thought that shaped East Tennessee’s decision to remain loyal to the Union.

Most historical narratives see East Tennessee’s decision to remain loyal to the Union as an aberration against the backdrop of an otherwise mostly unified Confederate South.  Historians of Southern history have often framed this resistance as determined simply by geography or economics instead of an ideological consistent philosophy.  This dissertation, however, argues that East Tennessee’s decision to vote to remain loyal during the Civil War was a result of a political philosophy.  It explores how Jeffersonian values, especially that of individual liberty, decentralization, agrarianism, and suspicion of the elites, shaped the regions political identity over almost a century. 

This project deals with intellectual history, political history, Southern history, Appalachian studies, and the history of Jeffersonian thought.  It seeks to challenge major assumptions about the homogeny of Southern ideology and explain how the Appalachian South formed its own brand of republicanism as a result of a differing economic and social climate.  By focusing on Jeffersonian thought in East Tennessee’s history, it adds new dimensions to the broad understanding of the South’s political tradition and Unionism during the Civil War. This study contributes to the existing historiography by discovering a coherent ideological tradition where many have seen cultural and economic division.

Key research questions will span the major historical periods.  During the State of Franklin and Early Republic, the disseration will examine the following: What is Jeffersonian political thought? How did Franklin reflect Jeffersonian core principles? How did early conflict with the federal government shape a culture of independence?

During the Early National and Jacksonian periods, the project will inspect the following questions: How did East Tennesseans adapt Jeffersonian ideals in issues such as land ownership, the expansion of suffrage, and internal improvements? How did both Whigs and Democrats in East Tennessee lay claim to Jefferson’s political and ideological legacy?

During the antebellum period, this writing will explore the following questions: How did newspapers, sermons, and political speeches reflect Jeffersonian themes in debates on political topics? How did geographical ideas reflect Jeffersonian anti-elitism?

Finally, during the leadup to the Civil War, this discourse will probe the following questions: How did Jeffersonian ideals create East Tennessee’s opposition to secession?  How did local leaders and regular citizens articulate a case for remaining loyal to the Union that was rooted in a traditional republican idealism?

This dissertation relies on traditional documentary research but is rooted in the history of political thought.  It will use a variety of primary sources: newspapers, personal writings, speeches, legislative records, official government documents, and other politically charged resource materials.  These are analyzed not only for content but for political language each may contain.  The study will examine how Jeffersonian rhetoric was used, adapted, and contested in public debate. 

This dissertation will be completed over a period of three academic terms.  The first term will involve a heavy amount of archival and digital research while drafting the first chapter on Franklin and early forms of Jeffersonian thought.  The last two terms will include more research to complete the necessary tasks, but it will focus mostly on writing and revising chapters that deal with latter examples of Jeffersonian thought, including the vote on secession.  Each chapter will be written chronologically with thematic ideas interspersed within each time period to show how Jeffersonian ideas were used.

This topic was chosen because of a deep interest in intellectual and political history, especially that of the thoughts and beliefs of Thomas Jefferson.  There are apparent contradictions that prevail in the idea of Jeffersonianism existing in a region that appears, on the surface, to follow an anti-Jeffersonian ideology. The author has grown up and lived in East Tennessee and seen how the legacy of Jeffersonian thought continues to shape the region.  This project gives the author the chance to blend a love for local history with political and intellectual history in a meaningful narrative.

This blog will serve as a public display of the work done through research and writing.  Whether readers seek to understand how Jeffersonian thought evolved across regions or are simply curious about the complex political identity of East Tennessee, this blog offers a chance to follow the project as it unfolds.