History of the United States I / Unit 15 USH1 2115 short lesson, about 20 seconds
East Tennessee
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The idea
Eastern Tennessee, which had few enslaved people, stayed pro-Union even after the state seceded, and the anchor treats it as the clearest case.
In practice
A region's slaveholding density predicting its loyalty more reliably than its state.
Where people slip
Apply that test across the Upper South and the map makes sense. The line runs where the cotton stops, not where the state boundaries are.
Your place on the trail
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