Editing Jackson, Tennessee (section)

===Early settlement===
[[File:Bird's eye view of Jackson, Tennessee 1870.gif|thumb|A bird's eye view of Jackson, Madison County, Tennessee 1870]]
This area was occupied by the historic [[Chickasaw people]] at the time of European encounter. They were pushed out by European-American settlers under various treaties with the United States, in actions authorized by the [[Indian Removal Act]] of 1830 and ratified by the US Senate.

European-American settlement of Jackson began along the [[Forked Deer River]] before 1820, primarily by migrants from eastern areas of the Upper South, such as Virginia and Kentucky.  Originally named Alexandria, the city was renamed in 1822 to honor General [[Andrew Jackson]], a hero of the [[War of 1812]]. He was later elected as [[President of the United States]].<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|url=https://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9043157|title=Jackson|encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica|access-date=September 19, 2014}}</ref>

The City of Jackson was founded by an act of the [[Tennessee General Assembly]], passed in 1821, entitled an "act to establish a seat of justice for Henry, Carroll, Henderson and Madison Counties." The act required {{cvt|50|acre|ha}} of land to be deeded to the commissioners. The commissioners chosen by the Legislature were Sterling Brewer and James Fentress. The places considered for the seat of justice were Alexandria, Golden's Station, and Jackson. The larger portion of the settlers at that time were living on Cotton Grove Road, and as Jackson was closer to them than either of the other settlements, this settlement was determined to be the more suitable site for the seat of justice.<ref>{{cite web |title=History of Madison County |url=https://www.tngenweb.org/records/madison/history/goodspeed/index.html |website=Goodspeed's History of Tennessee |others=Transcribed by David Donahue |publisher=TNGenWeb Project |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240615202752/https://www.tngenweb.org/records/madison/history/goodspeed/index.html |archive-date=2024-06-15 |access-date=2025-02-04 }} First published in 1887 by [[Goodspeed Publishing]], {{OCLC|9776920|show=all}}.</ref>

At the time of the second [[Tennessee State Constitution]] in 1834, when the [[Tennessee Supreme Court]] was established, [[Memphis, Tennessee|Memphis]] had not yet been developed. The county seat of Jackson was the most significant city in [[West Tennessee]] and this was designated as a site for the State Supreme Court in this part of the state.<ref name="tnhistoryforkids.org">{{cite web |title=High 10: Some Supreme Court History |url=https://www.tnhistoryforkids.org/civics/high/high-10-some-supreme-court-history/ |department=Civics |website=Tennessee History for Kids |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240719205220/https://www.tnhistoryforkids.org/civics/high/high-10-some-supreme-court-history/ |archive-date=2024-07-19 |access-date=2025-02-04 }}</ref>

The city of Jackson did not establish public elections until 1837, with a Board of Aldermen elected [[at-large]]. From 1854 to 1915, Jackson had a Board of Aldermen of eight members elected from four districts, each with two members elected [[at-large]]. [[Free people of color]] and [[freedmen]] were not allowed to vote in the state until after passage of federal constitutional amendments following the Civil War that granted them citizenship and suffrage.<ref name="buch"/>

This area was initially developed for agricultural purposes, especially cotton plantations for producing the chief commodity crop of the Mississippi Valley and Deep South. Cotton plantations were dependent on the labor of [[Slavery in the United States/enslaved]] African Americans, and thousands were brought into the area as it was developed. As county seat, Jackson was a trading town and retail center for surrounding agricultural areas.

But developing as a railroad hub of several lines was most important to Jackson's industrial and population growth, from 1852 on for the next hundred years.