Senate Resolution 560
By: Senator Moore of the 53rd
A RESOLUTION
Reaffirming the 35th parallel as Georgia's northern border and any rights therein, and urging
Congress, the federal Department of the Interior, and all other relevant federal, state, and
local authorities to recognize and take all steps reasonably necessary to correct the boundary
line currently dividing Georgia from Tennessee and North Carolina; and for other purposes.
WHEREAS, the admission of Tennessee to the Union in 1796 by an act of Congress,
approved June 1, 1796, 1 Stat. 491, and North Carolina's cession of its western lands to the
United States in 1790 by an act of Congress, approved April 2, 1790, 1 Stat. 106, stipulated
the 35th parallel as the boundary between Georgia and what became Tennessee and North
Carolina; and
WHEREAS, in Georgia v. South Carolina, 259 U.S. 572 (1922), the United States Supreme
Court recognized that the 35th parallel served as the historical and legal boundary of
Georgia; and
WHEREAS, the Official Code of Georgia Annotated acknowledges Georgia's boundary lines
in Code Section 50-2-1, which is consistent with state constitutions, federal statutes, and case
law that reference the 35th parallel as the northern boundary of Georgia; and
WHEREAS, the impacted area remains under the de facto control of Tennessee and North
Carolina, despite credible and longstanding legal grounds that recognize it as properly
belonging to the State of Georgia, as described in a resolution approved May 14, 2008 (2008
Ga. L., p. 1180) and a resolution introduced during the 2023 regular session of the General
Assembly (H.R. 508); and
WHEREAS, the federal Department of the Interior, through its oversight of federal land and
official state boundaries in conjunction with other federal agencies, possesses the
administrative authority to update or clarify official boundary maps.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE SENATE that the members of this body
urge:
(1) All citizens of Georgia, Tennessee, and North Carolina, and all state and federal
authorities to recognize the historical and reaffirmed legal basis of Georgia's claims;
(2) Congress, the federal Department of the Interior, and any other relevant federal
agencies to take all steps reasonably necessary to correct the official boundary maps in
order to redesignate the land situated south of the 35th parallel, but north of the
incorrectly placed state boundary line which currently divides Georgia from Tennessee
and North Carolina, as land occupied by Georgia; and
(3) The State of Georgia, all political subdivisions, and the Georgia Department of
Defense to pursue any additional measures, as may be necessary, to advance this claim
and protect the sovereign integrity of Georgia's boundaries, as originally established and
confirmed by federal statutes and the Supreme Court of the United States.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Secretary of the Senate is authorized and directed
to make appropriate copies of this resolution available for distribution to each member of the
Congressional delegation, the federal Department of the Interior, and the public.