In Transylvania We Trust!!!

In March 1775, a man named Richard Henderson met with more than 1,200 Cherokees at Sycamore Shoals (present day Elizabethton in northeastern Tennessee), including Cherokee leaders such as Attacullaculla, Oconostota, and Dragging Canoe. In the Treaty of Sycamore Shoals, also known as the Treaty of Watauga, dated March 14, 1775, Henderson purchased all the land lying between the Cumberland River, the Cumberland Mountains, and the Kentucky River, and situated south of the Ohio River. The land thus delineated, 20 million acres (81,000 km²), encompassed an area half the size of present-day Kentucky.

Before the Sycamore Shoals treaty, Henderson had hired Daniel Boone, an experienced hunter who had explored Kentucky, to travel to the Cherokee towns and inform them of the upcoming negotiations. Afterwards, Boone was hired to blaze what became known as the Wilderness Road, which went through the Cumberland Gap and into central Kentucky. During this trail-blazing expedition, Boone and his party suffered several Indian attacks. Along with a party of about thirty workers, Boone marked a path to the Kentucky River, where he established Boonesborough (near present-day Lexington, Kentucky), which was intended to be the capital of Transylvania. Unbeknown to Boone, Henderson and another expedition were following in Boone’s tracks, clearing the path still more so they could bring through wagons. In addition to Boonesborough, other settlements, notably Harrodsburg, were also established at this time. Many of these settlers had come to Kentucky on their own initiative, and some of them did not recognize Transylvania's authority.

When Henderson arrived at Boonesborough there were less than a hundred people at the station. This population and a few other settlements in the area constituted the sparse concentration of white settlers to be found in the isolated western wilderness. The settlers readily recognized their precarious situation. They not only faced significant Indian hostilities, but lacked adequate supplies and shelter. Notwithstanding these circumstances, Henderson urged settlers in the area to hold a constitutional convention. Henderson’s plan was for the various settlements to send delegates to Boonesborough who would act in the name of the people they represented and whose consent would justify the convention. In May 1775, under the shade of a huge elm tree, a three-day convention met. In addition to passing nine bills dealing with immediate matters of governance, delegates drafted a compact that organized a frame of government. The plan for that government included executive, legislative, and judicial branches.

Now after 75 years of Solitude and Democracy with the strength of there numbers now reaching into the Millions they look to expand and bring glory to The land of Kentucky,Richard Henderson,and The Republic of Transylvania!!!!