<p align="center"><strong>State • Country • World</p></s>

Tennesseans and others from across the country often contact the governor about national or world events. The writer may provide information on current issues or ask for the administration’s support.

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Circular to Governor John Sevier from Senator William Blount, 1796.

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Writers sent circulars (a letter distributed to multiple people) to inform readers about a variety of issues. In this circular to Governor John Sevier, Senator William Blount reported on many topics including President George Washington’s speech, the status of the French Revolutionary War, and the presidential election of John Adams.

<p align="center"><strong>Letter to Governor James K. Polk from Thomas Clarkson, president of the Convention of Friends of the Negro from the British & Foreign Anti-Slavery Society, 1840. </s></p>

<p align="center"><img src="https://digitaltennessee.tnsos.gov/context/deargovernor/article/1110/type/native/viewcontent" alt="Letter to Governor Polk from Clarkson, 1" height="600" width="auto" hspace="5" vspace="25" align="center"><img src="https://digitaltennessee.tnsos.gov/context/deargovernor/article/1111/type/native/viewcontent" alt="Letter to Governor Polk from Clarkson, 2" height="600" width="auto" hspace="5" vspace="25" align="center"><img src="https://digitaltennessee.tnsos.gov/context/deargovernor/article/1112/type/native/viewcontent" alt="Letter to Governor Polk from Clarkson, 3" height="600" width="auto" hspace="5" vspace="25" align="center"></p>

In a five page letter, Thomas Clarkson, a leading British abolitionist, appealed to Governor James K. Polk regarding the abolition of slavery and the slave trade. He also discussed the first convention of the British & Foreign Anti-Slavery Society, a group that advocated for the end of slavery across the world.

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Letter to Governor Peter Turney from Dr. Thomas Addis Emmet, committee chairman for United Irish Societies, 1893.

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In 1801, the Kingdom of Ireland merged with the Kingdom of Great Britain to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Decades later, many Irish people advocated for “home rule,” a desire for the country to self-govern once again. In his letter, Dr. Thomas Addis Emmet asked Governor Peter Turney to support the UK’s 1893 Home Rule Bill. Although the bill failed, part of the island later seceded in 1922. It became the Republic of Ireland in 1949, whereas Northern Ireland remains part of the United Kingdom.

<p align="center"><strong>Letter to Governor Albert H. Roberts from Carrie Chapman Catt, president of the National American Woman Suffrage Association, 1920.</p></s>

<p align="center"><img src="https://digitaltennessee.tnsos.gov/context/deargovernor/article/1097/type/native/viewcontent" alt="Letter to Governor Roberts from Catt, 1" height="600" width="auto" hspace="5" vspace="25" align="center"><img src="https://digitaltennessee.tnsos.gov/context/deargovernor/article/1098/type/native/viewcontent" alt="Letter to Governor Roberts from Catt, 2" height="600" width="auto" hspace="5" vspace="25" align="center">

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In 1920, the issue of women’s right to vote needed to pass in 36 states to be ratified into the U.S. Constitution. Carrie Chapman Catt, a leading suffragist, wrote to Governor Albert H. Roberts regarding the possibility of Tennessee becoming the necessary 36th state. When the General Assembly voted to pass the 19th Amendment, Tennessee became known as the “Perfect 36.”

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E-mail to Governor Don Sundquist from Dan Gardner of Ooltewah, Tenn., 1999.

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Before the new millennium, many people feared a potential global catastrophe caused by a software problem known as Y2K, the abbreviation for Year 2000. It proposed that computer systems would not be able to differentiate between the years 1900 and 2000 because many programs used only the last two digits to represent the years. In 1999, a man from Ooltewah asked the governor, “is y2k going to be a big deal?”