1946 3c Tennessee Statehood

U.S. #941
3¢ Tennessee Statehood 150th Anniversary

Issue Date: June 1, 1946
City: Nashville, TN
Quantity: 132,274,500
Printed by: Bureau of Engraving and Printing
Printing Method: Rotary Press
Perforations: 11 x 10½
Color: Dark violet

Issued to commemorate 150 years of Tennessee statehood, US #941 pictures the state capitol, President Andrew Jackson, and Governor John Sevier. France ceded “The Volunteer State” to the United States in 1763. In 1796, Tennessee was admitted as the 16th state of the Union, with John Sevier as its first governor.

John Sevier (1745-1815)
American Soldier, Frontiersman, and Politician

Born in New Market, Virginia, John Sevier moved to the Holston River Valley in 1773. At the time, this area was an unsettled region of the colony of North Carolina, but is now in eastern Tennessee. In 1780, Sevier led an expedition against the British during the American Revolutionary War, defeating the British at Kings Mountain. Later, Sevier won fame as an Indian fighter.

After the Revolution, many settlers in what is now Tennessee started a movement to create a separate state. In 1784, they founded the state of Franklin. Sevier became the governor of Franklin in 1785. In 1788, troubles with Native Americans, land speculation plots, and political rivalries destroyed Sevier’s power and brought the end of the state of Franklin.

Later, Sevier was elected to the North Carolina Senate and then the US Congress. In 1796, the area that had been “the lost state of Franklin” became part of the state of Tennessee. Sevier was elected Tennessee’s first governor and served for a total of six terms. He also served the state for one term as a senator and then returned to the Congress, where he served until his death.