Muscle Shoals Speculation
MUSCLE SHOALS SPECULATION
MUSCLE SHOALS SPECULATION. During the Confederation period, the Muscle Shoals region on the Tennessee River in Alabama was considered valuable as an alternative waterway to the Mississippi River, which was blocked by the Spanish. John Sevier, William Blount, and others purchased land and received a grant from Georgia to settle the Muscle Shoals region as a colony of that state. They were resisted by Native Americans and the Confederation government. In 1785, the project was supposed to become part of the new state of Franklin, and when these plans came to naught, Sevier and others offered to secede from the union in return for Spanish support. Spain rejected the proposal and Sevier became a loyal supporter of the new federal government.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Whitaker, A. P. "The Muscle Shoals Speculation, 1783–1789." Mississippi Valley Historical Review 13 (1927).
MichaelWala