The
Grand Divisions are geographic, cultural, and legally recognized regions, each constituting roughly one-third of the
StateThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
of
TennesseeTennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...
. The Grand Divisions are represented prominently by the three stars on the
flag of TennesseeThe flag of the state of Tennessee consists of an emblem on a field of red, with a strip of blue on the fly. The emblem of the middle consists of three stars on a blue circle. The flag was designed by Colonel LeRoy Reeves of the Tennessee National Guard. The Tennessee State Legislature officially...
. The earliest reference to the Grand Divisions is in
The Acts of Tennessee 1835-1836 Chapter 3, "An Act to establish a Supreme Court in pursuance of the 2nd sec., art. 6, of the Constitution of the United States", at which time the boundaries were roughly the same as they are now.
Geographic and cultural characteristics
The three grand divisions,
EastEast Tennessee is a name given to approximately the eastern third of the U.S. state of Tennessee, one of the three Grand Divisions of Tennessee defined in state law. East Tennessee consists of 33 counties, 30 located within the Eastern Time Zone and three counties in the Central Time Zone, namely...
,
MiddleMiddle Tennessee is a distinct portion of the state of Tennessee, delineated according to state law as the 41 counties in the Middle Grand Division of Tennessee....
, and
West TennesseeWest Tennessee is one of the three Grand Divisions of the State of Tennessee. Of the three, it is the one that is most sharply defined geographically. Its boundaries are the Mississippi River on the west and the Tennessee River on the east...
, are geographically and culturally distinct.
East Tennessee is dominated by the Appalachian mountain chain, including the
Great Smoky MountainsThe Great Smoky Mountains are a mountain range rising along the Tennessee–North Carolina border in the southeastern United States. They are a subrange of the Appalachian Mountains, and form part of the Blue Ridge Physiographic Province. The range is sometimes called the Smoky Mountains or the...
on the eastern border of the state, the
ridge-and-valleyThe Ridge-and-Valley Appalachians, also called the Ridge and Valley Province or the Valley and Ridge Appalachians, are a physiographic province of the larger Appalachian division and are also a belt within the Appalachian Mountains extending from southeastern New York through northwestern New...
region where East Tennessee's principal cities are located, and the rugged
Cumberland MountainsThe Cumberland Mountains are a mountain range in the southeastern section of the Appalachian Mountains. They are located in southern West Virginia, western Virginia, eastern edges of Kentucky, and eastern middle Tennessee, including the Crab Orchard Mountains...
. East Tennessee is one of the few areas in the
SouthThe Southern United States—commonly referred to as the American South, Dixie, or simply the South—constitutes a large distinctive area in the southeastern and south-central United States...
which has consistently voted
RepublicanThe Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
since Reconstruction.
East and Middle Tennessee are separated along the
Cumberland PlateauThe Cumberland Plateau is the southern part of the Appalachian Plateau. It includes much of eastern Kentucky and western West Virginia, part of Tennessee, and a small portion of northern Alabama and northwest Georgia . The terms "Allegheny Plateau" and the "Cumberland Plateau" both refer to the...
. The boundary between the two grand divisions is close to the line between the Eastern and Central time zones. Middle Tennessee, which includes the state's capital city of
NashvilleNashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state. The city is a center for the health care, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home...
, is dominated by rolling hills and fertile stream valleys.
A portion of the
Tennessee RiverThe Tennessee River is the largest tributary of the Ohio River. It is approximately 652 miles long and is located in the southeastern United States in the Tennessee Valley. The river was once popularly known as the Cherokee River, among other names...
demarcates the boundary between Middle and West Tennessee. West Tennessee's other border is the
Mississippi RiverThe Mississippi River is the largest river system in North America. Flowing entirely in the United States, this river rises in western Minnesota and meanders slowly southwards for to the Mississippi River Delta at the Gulf of Mexico. With its many tributaries, the Mississippi's watershed drains...
, and most of the region lies within the
Mississippi embaymentThe Mississippi Embayment is a physiographic feature in the south-central United States, part of the Mississippi Alluvial Plain. It is essentially a northward continuation of the fluvial sediments of the Mississippi River Delta to its confluence with the Ohio River at Cairo, Illinois. The embayment...
. Outside the
Memphis metropolitan areaThe Memphis Metropolitan Statistical Area, TN-MS-AR , more commonly known as The Mid-South, is the 41st largest among similarly designated areas in the United States. The metropolitan area covers eight counties in three states – Tennessee, Mississippi, and Arkansas...
, the region is mostly agricultural.
Legal meaning
The Grand Divisions are defined in Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 4, Chapter 1, Part 2,
Grand Divisions and State Capital.
The
Tennessee State ConstitutionThe Constitution of the State of Tennessee defines the form, structure, activities, character, and fundamental rules of the U.S. State of Tennessee....
mandates that no more than two of the five Justices on the state's
Supreme CourtThe Tennessee Supreme Court is the state supreme court of the state of Tennessee. Cornelia Clark is the current Chief Justice.Unlike other states, in which the state attorney general is directly elected or appointed by the governor or state legislature, the Tennessee Supreme Court appoints the...
can be from any one Division to help keep the court free from geographic bias. The court must also meet regularly in each Division. Similar rules apply to some other state institutions such as the former
Tennessee Public Service CommissionThe Tennessee Public Service Commission, also called Tennessee Railroad and Public Utilities Commission, was a three-member elected body which regulated private utilities, trucking firms, and railroads within the state of Tennessee...
, of whom one commissioner was required to be from each Grand Division, although the commissioners were elected statewide.
External links