Is Chattanooga on the Georgia border?

ATLANTA, GA -- For the umpteenth time in the last 130 years, Georgia is expressing its dudgeon over its border with Tennessee.

The Georgia House of Representatives passed a resolution seeking a summit of sorts with its two northern neighbors - Tennessee, but also its mother state of North Carolina. The resolution asks the three states to come together to form a Boundary Line Commission to "proclaim the true boundary."

Georgia's northern border - or if you prefer, Tennessee's southern - was set at the 35th parallel by Congress when Tennessee was admitted to the union in 1796, following the line set by the British between the colonies of Georgia and North Carolina. An 1818 survey set the current border, which was ratified by Tennessee's legislature though, to be fair, not Georgia's.

All parties involve admit that, no, the border does not follow the 35th. It's about one mile too far south. It's not just a desire to liberate these disputed northern lands inspiring Georgia: it's an expression of Atlanta's thirst. Moving the border to the 35th would give Georgia the southern bank of the Tennessee River as it bends through the Chattanooga area, thus allowing the construction of pipeline which, lawmakers believe, would alleviate Atlanta's water problem.

Georgia has sought resolution to the badly surveyed border several times beginning in the 1890s, but its largest city's persistent water problem has brought it to a head a number of times since the last decade.

In 2008, the Georgia legislature directed the governor to seek relief in the Supreme Court of the United States, which has original jurisdiction over interstate disputes. In 2013, a more pointed threat was leveled by Peach State when it said if Tennessee did not settle, the Georgia Attorney-General would, in fact, file suit in the Supreme Court.

Such an effort, however, is unlikely to prevail according to most legal experts. Historically, the Supreme Court has been hesitant to get involved in such disputes. In 1893, in a similar case - State of Virginia v. State of Tennessee, the court ruled "A boundary line between States which has been run out... and afterwards recognized and acquiesced in by them for a long course of years is conclusive...".

Thus, Georgia's recourse is to ask Tennessee to give way, which is unlikely. Even the resolution tacitly acknowledges this, setting the border commission to expire in December 2018, giving Tennessee and North Carolina precious little time to send representatives to the commission, which no one expects them to do in any event.

Georgia's resolution also doesn't address what might happen to the rest of Tennessee's southern border which follows the erroneous survey line from the Appalachians to the Mississippi and its relocation would, presumably, change the state's border with Alabama and Mississippi, as well.

Of Tennessee's currently drawn borders, only the western border - which runs through the middle of the Mississippi - and the western third of the northern border are "correct." The northern border - the one Virginia disputed in 1893 - is called the "Walker Line" after its surveyor, Thomas Walker, and famously meanders, with notches and dips throughout as Walker attempted to correct himself as he went. Walker's commission only ran to what is now Land Between The Lakes. When Tennessee decided to settle the Chickasaw Lands which are now West Tennessee, a new border survey was commissioned. Lo and behold, the error was discovered - in part it was because surveyors, in the mean time, had learned the difference in magnetic and true north; thus, the western third of Tennessee's border with Kentucky is significantly farther south that the eastern two-thirds.

Tennessee's eastern border with North Carolina was intended to follow the highest ridge of the mountains and, in fact, it does for the most part, except for the final 16 miles, which run a straight line south-southwest about six miles east of the ridgeline. The reason the surveyors decided to shoot a straight line is unknown, though legend insists the surveying party caught sight of a tavern and decided to make quick work of the rest of the border. Whatever the inspiration, it was a significant mistake, as it put the Copper Basin and the Burra Burra Mine, key sources of metal — and revenue — within Tennessee.

Image via State of Tennessee