9:13 p.m. April 9, 2013
After the Laughter
By Georgia State Senator Charlie Bethel (R – Dalton)

Georgia State Senator Charlie Bethel Image courtesy of www.senate.ga.gov.

I like Tennessee. I have spent most of my life just south of the great city of Chattanooga. I love the cultural and geological diversity that is found in my neighboring state. From Memphis to Johnson City is a great distance in more than miles. I enjoy Nashville. I even admit to liking Knoxville. And the places and spaces in between contain great people and wonderful sights.

It is with no devil-may-care recklessness that I have reached the conclusion that our two States should go to court to resolve the boundary between us. I do not wish it so, but see no other plausible resolution. My neighbors feel in the right and are physically possessed of all the disputed land. My state has a good legal claim to land that is occupied by another sovereign and it is our duty to assert that claim to defend our boundaries and protect our residents and resources.

In addressing this topic, I hope to restore neighborly civility to this discussion. Talk of outlandish trades, militarized borders, and trips to Atlanta with bottled water and coonskin caps are unproductive. At best, they are a natural reaction to what on its face seems like a funny topic: the notion that nearly 200 years hence, states would still be disputing borders. At worst, they are a tried and true rhetorical trick that involves avoiding tough answers through jokes. If you move on while everyone is laughing, perhaps no one will notice that you never answered the actual question. Serious minded Tennesseans of years gone by were more circumspect and respectful of the legal claims of Georgia. I hope my neighbors can resume the sobriety of their ancestors.

The following are not opinions. In 1796, Congress established the southern border of Tennessee at the 35th Parallel. Congress could not have given anything south of the 35th because it was not theirs to give. In 1796, everything south of Tennessee was Georgia. In 1802, Georgia ceded its “western” lands to the Federal Government. In defining what was given, Georgia specifically retained the easternmost place where the Tennessee River dips below the 35th parallel (Nickajack). This deliberate target is what gives the Georgia state line north of Columbus its distinctive north by northwest trajectory. Those western lands went on to become Alabama and Mississippi (whose northern borders are the 35th parallel). In 1818, Tennessee and Georgia commissioned a survey to find the 35th parallel. The surveyors incorrectly marked the line. Tennessee adopted the survey line – subject to reciprocal adoption on the part of Georgia. Georgia has never adopted the flawed survey line. Not less than 11 times in the intervening 195 years, the state of Georgia has formally contested the line claimed by Tennessee. On at least 3 occasions, Tennessee has formally called the line into question. In 1974, the DC Circuit Court of Appeals and in 1981, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission both noted that the Georgia/Tennessee boundary “is still in dispute”.

So, my questions are as follows. By what right does the State of Tennessee claim land south of the 35th parallel? When was this right(s) acquired and by what instrument or mechanism? What legal change has occurred since Tennessee Governors Robert L. Taylor, in 1889, and James B. Frazier, in 1905, signed into Tennessee Law affirmative statements that the boundary between Tennessee and Georgia is in grave doubt?

Can I get something other than a joke?

Charlie Bethel of Dalton, Georgia, is a husband, father of three, HR Executive, and represents the people of the 54th Senate District in the Georgia General Assembly.

Published April 9, 2013