tween 1875 and 1900 imith progress was made, and the State is in advance of most Southern States. There is a State Superintendent of Public Schools nominated biennially by the Governor and confirmed by the Senate. For local supervision a superintendent for each county is chosen by the County Court biennially; and in each district there are three directors, elected by the people for three years, one going out each year. The law requires State and county superintendents to be persons of literary and scientific attainments and of skill and experience in the art of teaching. The county courts may elect boards of education in their respective counties, and these boards have authority to establish one or more high schools in their county. The text books used are uniform throughout the State. In the country districts the primary course covers six years, but two additional years may he taken in many districts in the so-called secondary school. In 1900 there were 4960 male and 4235 female teachers. The expenditure upon the country schools for the year was $1,751,047, of which $1,403,848 was for salaries of superintendents and teachers. There was an additional $597,006 expended for city schools. Normal school training is provided for by the Peabody College for Teachers (q.v.) at Nashville. A large number of students at this institution are aided by the grants of scholarships. The higher institutions of learning include some of national reputation. See Tennessee, University of; Nashville, University of; Vanderbilt University; Fisk University.
Charitable and Penal Institutions. There is an unsalaried Board of Charities appointed by the Governor which investigates the whole system of public charities and correctional institutions, and reports thereon to the Legislature. The plans for new buildings, modifications, etc., must be submitted to it for suggestions and criticism. The State maintains three hospitals for the insane, namely, the Western Hospital near Bolivar, the Central Hospital near Nashville, and the Eastern Hospital near Knoxville. There is a State school for the deaf at Knoxville, one for the blind at Nashville, and an industrial school at Nashville. The State also maintains a Confederate soldiers' home near Nashville. The main prison at Nashville had on December 1, 1902, 923 convicts, and the branch prison at Petros had 762 convicts on the same date. Over two-thirds of the total number are negroes. The prisoners at the branch prison are worked in coal mines, but are not leased to contractors. The revenue from convict labor is greater than the cost of maintaining the convicts.
History. Probably De Soto (q.v.) reached the Mississippi at the present site of Memphis in 1541. La Salle, about 1682, built a fort at this point, and called it Fort Prud'homme. The place was again occupied by the French in 1714. The grant by Charles II. to the Lords Proprietors of Carolina of the territory between latitudes 29° and 36° 30′ N. in 1665 included this territory. (See North Carolina.) The first English settlement was Fort Loudon, built in 1756, at the suggestion of Governor Loudon of Virginia, and garrisoned by royal troops, but afterwards captured by the Cherokees. Before this, however, Dr. Thomas Walker with a party of Virginians had named the Cumberland River and Mountains, and Daniel Boone (q.v.) and others had entered the wilderness, which was regarded as a common hunting ground by the Cherokees, Creeks, Miamis, Choctaws, and Chickasaws. In 1768 the Iroquois, who claimed sovereignty by conquest, ceded their claim to the English, and in 1769 William Bean's cabin on the Watauga marked the beginning of real settlement. James Robertson (q.v.) and others came in 1770, another settlement was made near Rogersville in 1771, and soon after Jacob Brown opened a store on the Nollichucky. After the defeat of the Regulators (q.v.) in North Carolina, a great number of settlers came, supposing the territory to be Virginia soil. When the territory was found to be within North Carolina, the inhabitants of the first two settlements met in 1772 and formed the Watauga Association (q.v.), which served as a form of government for several years. In 1775 Col. Richard Henderson (q.v.) bought from the Indians the territoiy between the Cumberland and the Kentucky Rivers. More settlers came in 1778-79 and in 1780 a compact of government was drawn up at Nashborough, by Col. Henderson, who had been Chief Justice of North Carolina, and James Robertson, who had been one of the signers of the Watauga Association. These two compacts were much alike and served their purpose excellently.
The Watauga settlers in 1775 or 1776 gave the name Washington District to their colony, and in 1776 it was annexed to North Carolina, though some had dreamed of a separate State. The number of settlers increased rapidly and nearly 500 men under John Sevier (q.v.) and Isaac Shelby (q.v.) went across the mountains and took part in the attack on the British under Ferguson, at King's Mountain (q.v.), in 1780. All this time the settlers were harassed by severe Indian wars. In 1784 North Carolina ceded to the General Government all the territory of the present State on condition that the cession be accepted within two years, but retained until that time full sovereignty. The inhabitants, indignant at being transferred without their consent, and thinking that they had been abandoned, elected delegates from each military company, who met at Jonesboro, August 23, 1784, and formed the State of Franklin, or Frankland; John Sevier was chosen Governor. Congress ignored the request to be recognized as a State and North Carolina promptly repealed the act of cession and asserted its jurisdiction. Civil war was averted by the tact of the North Carolina Governors. Confusion, however, reigned, as there were two bodies of officers, and many settlers neglected to pay taxes to either, though furs, skins, and other articles were made legal tender by the infant State. At the expiration of Sevier's term in 1788, the State of Franklin ended. In this attempt at Statehood the Cumberland settlers did not join. Davidson County was laid out in 1783 and the Davidson Academy (now the University of Nashville) was founded in 1785. Indian troubles threatened the life of the settlement, and the intrigues of the Spaniards, who still held Louisiana and the Mississippi, made the position more difficult. See McGillivray, Alexander.
In February, 1790, North Carolina again ceded the territory to the General Government, stipulat-
