“ The causes for divorce are impotency, bigamy, adultery, desertion for two years, conviction of an infamous crime, the attempt of one of the parties to take the life of the other, the husband's cruel and inhuman treatment of his wife, refusal of the wife to remove with her husband into the state without a reasonable cause, pregnancy of the wife at the time of the marriage by another person without the knowledge of the husband, and habitual drunkenness, provided the habit has been contracted subsequent to the marriage. ”

“ The governor may veto bills passed by the General Assembly, but to override his veto the vote of only a bare majority of the members elected to each house is required. The governor’s salary is $4000 a year. There is no lieutenant-governor; in case of a vacancy in the office of governor the speaker of the Senate becomes acting governor. The secretary of state, the comptroller, and the treasurer are elected by a joint ballot of the Senate and the House of Representatives each for a term of two years; the attorney-general is appointed by the judges of the supreme court for a term of eight years. ”

“ A homestead of a head of a family to the value of $1000 is exempt from forced sale except for the collection of taxes, debts contracted for its purchase or in making improvements upon it, or fines for voting out of the election district, for carrying concealed weapons, or for giving away or selling intoxicating liquors on election days. If the owner is married the homestead cannot be sold without the joint consent of husband and wife, and the wife's consent, as in other conveyances by married women, must be certified before the court or a commissioner appointed by the court. ”

“ Finance.—The state revenue is derived from a general property tax, a poll tax, an income tax, a tax on transfers of realty, an ad valorem tax on the average capital invested by merchants in their business, a privilege tax on merchants and many other occupations and businesses; a tax on litigation, levied on the unsuccessful party, a collateral inheritance tax, and fines and forfeitures. State, county and municipal taxes are assessed by a county assessor, who is elected for a term of four years, and one or more deputies whom the assessor is authorized to appoint. ”

“ Each school district elects one member of the county board of education, and in counties having less than five school districts one or more members of the county board, the number of which is always five, besides the county superintendent who is ex officio its secretary, are elected by the county at large, and to this county board of education together with district advisory boards is entrusted the management and control of the common schools. By the general education law enacted in 1909, 25 per cent. of the gross state revenue is paid into the general education fund, 61 per cent. ”

“ The administration of justice is vested in a supreme court, a court of civil appeals, chancery courts, circuit courts, county courts, justice of the peace courts, and, in certain cities and towns, a recorders court. The supreme court consists of five judges elected by the state at large for a term of eight years, one for each of three grand divisions (eastern, middle and western) and two for the state at large. ”

“ The clerk of the county court collects all taxes of persons, companies or corporations subject to a privilege tax; the county trustee the taxes of other persons. Three revenue commissioners, one of whom is an expert accountant, are elected biennially by each county court to examine the books and reports of the collectors, and three state revenue agents are appointed biennially by the comptroller to examine the records of all officials charged with the collection or disbursement of state or county revenue. ”

“ In 1775 the settlement on the Nollichucky was forced to join the association, and in the same year the land was bought from the Indians in the hope of averting war. With the approach of the War of Independence, the dream of becoming a separate colony with a royal governor was abandoned and on petition of the inhabitants the territory was annexed to North Carolina in 1776 as the Washington District, which in 1777 became Washington county, with the Mississippi river as the western boundary. The population increased rapidly and soon several new counties were created. ”

“ At the head of the state educational system is the University of Tennessee, which embraces a college of liberal arts, a graduate department, a college of engineering, a college of agriculture, a school of pharmacy, an industrial department, and a law department at Knoxville, and medical and dental departments at Nashville. The institution is governed by a board of trustees consisting of the governor, the state superintendent of public instruction, the commissioner of agriculture, the president of the university and twelve other members ”

“ The plaintiff must be a resident of the state for two years before filing a petition for a divorce. If the husband is the plaintiff his interest in his wife's property is not impaired by the dissolution of the marriage, but the defendant wife forfeits all her interest in his property. ”

“ Ninety per cent. of the salary, wages or income of each person eighteen years of age or over is also exempt from attachment provided such salary, wages or income does not exceed $40 per month, and in any case $36 per month of the salary, wages or income of a person eighteen years of age or over cannot be attached. The employment of children under 14 years of age in any workshop, factory or mine within the state is forbidden by a law of 1901, and the employment of women or of boys under 16 years of age in any manufacturing establishment is limited to 60 hours a week by a law of 1907. ”

“ The prisoners are kept at labour principally in the state coal-mines, in manufacturing coke, on farms, or at contract labour within the prison walls; not more than 199 prisoners are to be leased to any one firm or corporation, or to be employed in any one business within the walls. The income to the state from the prison is greater than the disbursements for its maintenance. ”

“ Education.—For the administration of the common school system each county having five or more civil districts is divided into five school districts, and in counties having five or less than five civil districts each civil district constitutes a school district. ”

“ From 1890 to 1900 the urban population (i.e. the population of places having 4000 inhabitants or more) increased from 219,792 to 285,886, or 30.1 per cent., the semi-urban population (i.e. the population of incorporated places, or the approximate equivalent, having less than 4000 inhabitants) increased from 87,351 to 114,837, 10.9 per cent. of the total increase in population; while the rural population (i.e. population outside of incorporated places) increased from 1,460,375 to 1,619,893, 63 per cent. ”

“ The Whig party was so strong that James K. Polk (Democrat) , a resident of the state, lost its electoral vote in 1844. With the disintegration of the Whig party, the state again became nominally Democratic, though Union sentiment was strong, particularly in East Tennessee. There were few large plantations and fewer slaves in that mountainous region, while the middle and western sections were more in harmony with the sentiment in Mississippi and Alabama. In 1850 representatives of nine Southern states met in a convention at Nashville (q.v.) ”

“ By good conduct a convict may shorten his term of service one month the first year, two months the second year, three months each year from the third to the tenth inclusive, and four months each subsequent year. ”

“ Physical Features.—Tennessee is traversed in the east by the Unaka Ridges of the Older Appalachian Mountains and by the Great Appalachian Valley; in the middle by the Cumberland Plateau, the Highland Rim Plateau, and the Nashville Basin of the Appalachian Plateau; and in the west by the Gulf Coastal Plains and a narrow strip of the Mississippi Flood Plain. From a maximum elevation of 6636 ft. at Mount Guyot on the North Carolina border, in Sevier county, the surface descends to 117 ft. ”

“ The development of the western section along the Mississippi was rapid after the beginning of the century. Memphis, founded in 1819, was thought as late as 1832 to be in Mississippi, and not until 1837 was the southern boundary, which according to the North Carolina cession was 35°, finally established. [3] In common with other river towns, the disorderly element in Memphis was large, and the gamblers, robbers and horse thieves were only suppressed by local vigilance committees. ”

“ A census ordered by the Territorial legislature in 1795 showed more than 60,000 free inhabitants (the number prescribed before the Territory could become a state) , and accordingly a convention to draft a state constitution met in Knoxville on the 11th of January 1796. The instrument, which closely followed the constitution of North Carolina, was proclaimed without submission to popular vote. John Sevier was elected governor, and William Blount and William Cocke United States senators. ”

“ The ownership of industrial establishments is largely in the hands of individuals, firms, and comparatively small corporations, rather than of large combinations, the average capital per establishment in 1905 being about $32,000. The amount of capital invested in manufacturing in 1880 was $20,092,845, and the value of the products was $37,074,886. ”

“ In 1908 the product was 6,199,171 tons, valued at $7,118,499.
Iron ore is found and has been mined in many places in the state. The deposits of most commercial importance are the limonites and brown hematites found west of the Cumberland Plateau, and the fossiliferous red hematite which crops out along the eastern base of that plateau. In the early history of Tennessee iron of superior quality was produced, in small charcoal furnaces, from the brown hematite's of the central part of the state. ”