Georgia Legislative Watch

State Sen. David Shafer wants to redraw the border between Georgia and Tennessee:

Desperate for water amid a historic drought, some Georgia lawmakers are trying to reopen an 1818 border dispute with Tennessee.

They have set their sights on a stretch of the 652-mile long Tennessee River that flows tantalizingly close to the Georgia line - and by some historic accounts, should be within Georgia’s borders.

“It’s never too late to right a wrong,” said state Sen. David Shafer, R-Duluth.

Shafer’s Senate resolution says a flawed survey in 1818 mistakenly marked Georgia’s border one mile south of the 35th parallel - and thus excluded the Tennessee River from Georgia’s reach.
[…]
The resolution would not change Georgia’s borders, but it would create a “boundary line commission” that aims to resolve the dispute. It was co-sponsored by all of Georgia senators, and a similar proposal was introduced in the House.

The border debate centers on an 1818 survey that has entered the folklore of north Georgia. As the story goes, surveyors charting out the 35th parallel were either frightened by a nearby Indian party or simply used flawed math to draw the line.

The article notes that it has been 37 years since the issue has been visited and the border was first disputed in 1887 by North Carolina.

Shafer’s resolution on the matter can be found here (it’s not live yet, but should be shortly).