Actually, on several places on the frontier at that time, groups were setting up their own governments. They were so far from the government on the east coast, under Indian attack, no army showing up to help....far from the tax collectors, etc. What is now Tennessee I think had 3 such groups, but it was not just in the south. The frontier of the north the same thing was happening. A lot of the original settlers at what is now Nashville came out of NC. My group was from the Holston River area. When they settled there they thought they were still in VA, but I am not sure it really mattered to them. they simply wanted help fighting off the Indians - if they had to pay taxes they demanded protection. My ancestor's brother was in that group "Lost State of Franklin". they not only had VA and NC wanting them, but they were dealing with the Spanish from the south and the French from the west. Remember, you either had people from Scotland, Ireland, Wales or German speaking people. Neither group felt any real connection to England. They were out there in small groups depending on each other, heck with the Governor back on the coast. Also, in VA, there was a state religion, most of these early frontier people were of a different relgion. they had to pay taxes for the state religion even though they did not belong to the VA church. So I think, and these are just my thoughts, that they really did not care if they were in VA or NC. They wanted the free land, and were very able to form their own governments. and they did. Thomas Jefferson wrote much of the Declaration of Independence, but other small groups had previously written similar documents, but for their own use. Jefferson knew about the people on the frontier, what they wanted, and he believed as did Washington and Franklin that there was real money to be made there. England telling us not to go beyond the mountains - the land belonged to the Indians - did not have much impact. If they were already breaking the King's rules, why not set up their own rules? Mary