1780    The Cumberland Compact is signed by leaders of the settlers in early Tennessee.

1784    Western North Carolina (now eastern Tennessee) declares itself an independent state under the name of Franklin; it wasn’t accepted into the United States, and only lasted for four years.

1796    Tennessee is admitted as the 16th state of the United States.

1809    Along the Natchez Trace in Tennessee, explorer Meriwether Lewis dies under mysterious circumstances at an inn called Grinder's Stand.

1838    Tennessee enacts the first prohibition law in the United States

1847    Cumberland School of Law is founded in Lebanon, Tennessee, United States, one of only 15 law schools to exist in the United States at the end of 1847.

1860    The original cornerstone of the University of the South is laid in Sewanee, Tennessee.

1861    American Civil War: Tennessee secedes from the Union.

1862    American Civil War: General Ulysses S. Grant attacks Fort Donelson, Tennessee.

1862    American Civil War: General Ulysses S. Grant captures Fort Donelson, Tennessee.

1862    American Civil War: The Battle of Shiloh begins – in Tennessee, forces under Union General Ulysses S. Grant meet Confederate troops led by General Albert Sidney Johnston.

1862    American Civil War: General Ulysses S. Grant issues ''General Order No. 11'', expelling Jews from Tennessee, Mississippi, and Kentucky.

1864    American Civil War: The Fort Pillow massacre: Confederate forces kill most of the African American soldiers that surrendered at Fort Pillow, Tennessee.

1864    American Civil War: Sherman's March to the Sea: Confederate General John Bell Hood invades Tennessee in an unsuccessful attempt to draw Union General William T. Sherman from Georgia.

1866    Reconstruction: Tennessee becomes the first U.S. State to be readmitted to the Union following the American Civil War.

1925    Scopes Trial: A law in Tennessee prohibits the teaching of evolution.

1968    Martin Luther King, Jr. is assassinated by James Earl Ray at a motel in Memphis, Tennessee.

1981    {{convert|100000|USgal|m3}} of radioactive coolant leak into the containment building of TVA Sequoyah 1 nuclear plant in Tennessee, contaminating 8 workers.

2006    Over 60 tornadoes break out; hardest hit is in Tennessee with 29 people killed.