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The Watauga Association (sometimes referred to as the Republic of Watauga) was a semi-autonomous government created in 1772 by frontier settlers living along the Watauga River in what is now present day Elizabethton, Tennessee. Although it lasted only a few years, the Watauga Association provided a basis for what later developed into the state of Tennessee and likely influenced other western frontier governments in the trans-Appalachian region. North Carolina annexed the Watauga settlement area, by then known as the Washington District, in November 1776. Within a year, the area was placed under a county government, becoming Washington County, North Carolina, in November 1777.〔Samuel Cole Williams, ''William Tatham, Wataugan'' (Johnson City, Tenn.: The Watauga Press, 1947), pp. 11–28.〕 (This is the present day Washington County, Carter County and other areas now located in the northeast part of the state of Tennessee.) While there is no evidence that the Watauga Association ever claimed to be outside the sovereign territory of the British Crown, historians have often cited the Association as the earliest attempt by American-born colonists to form an independent democratic government. In 1774, Virginia governor Lord Dunmore called the Watauga Association a "dangerous example" of Americans forming a government "distinct from and independent of his majesty's authority."〔Samuel Cole Williams, "The Admission of Tennessee Into the Union." ''Tennessee Historical Quarterly'' Vol. IV, no. 4 (December 1945), p. 291.〕 President Theodore Roosevelt later wrote that the Watauga settlers were the "first men of American birth to establish a free and independent community on the continent."〔Paul Fink, "Some Phases of the History of the State of Franklin." ''Tennessee Historical Quarterly'' Vol. XVI, no. 3 (1957), p. 195.〕 While no copy of the settlers' compact, known as the ''Articles of the Watauga Association'', has ever been found, related documents tend to imply that the Watauga settlers considered themselves British subjects.〔W. Calvin Dickinson, (Watauga Association ). ''Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture'', 2002. Retrieved: 24 June 2009.〕 ==History== European settlers began arriving in the Watauga, Nolichucky, and Holston river valleys in the late 1760s and early 1770s, most migrating from Virginia via the Great Valley, although a few were believed to have been Regulators fleeing North Carolina after their defeat at the Battle of Alamance. These settlers mistakenly believed (or at least claimed to have believed) the Watauga and Nolichucky valleys were part of lands ceded to Virginia by the Cherokee in the 1770 Treaty of Lochaber, but a subsequent survey by Colonel John Donelson confirmed that these lands were still part of the Cherokee domain. As settlement on lands west of colonial boundaries violated the Royal Proclamation of 1763, the Watauga and Nolichucky settlers were ordered to leave.〔John Finger, ''Tennessee Frontiers: Three Regions in Transition'' (Bloomington, Ind.: Indiana University Press, 2001), pp. 43–64.〕 In May 1772, the Watauga and Nolichucky settlers negotiated a 10-year lease directly with the Cherokee, and being outside the claims of any colony, established the Watauga Association to provide basic government functions. The lease and the subsequent purchase of these lands in 1775 were considered illegal by the British Crown, and were vehemently opposed by a growing faction of the Cherokee led by the young chief Dragging Canoe. With the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War (April 1775), the settlers organized themselves into the "Washington District," loyal to the "united colonies," and formed a Committee of Safety to govern it, marking the end of the so-called "Watauga Republic". In Spring of 1776, the Washington District Committee of Safety drafted a petition asking the colony of Virginia to annex the district. After Virginia refused, the Committee drafted a similar petition (dated July 5, 1776) asking the North Carolina Assembly to annex the district. In November of that year, North Carolina granted the petition and formally annexed the area. The Washington District was finally admitted to North Carolina as Washington County in November 1777. The Cherokee, who were aligned with the British, launched an all-out invasion against the settlements in July 1776, but were soundly defeated.〔 In 1777, the Cherokee signed the Treaty of Long Island, ceding control of the Watauga and Nolichucky valleys to the American colonies.〔Finger, pp. 66–71.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Watauga Association」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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