As the next Governor of the State of Tennessee, I fully understand the duties of this political position, and I fully intend to uphold the Tennessee Constitution with a 100% obligation to the people. My number one goal is to place people back into politics.

(1) Tennesseans will have the opportunity to evaluate my performance quarterly; therefore, giving feedback for improvement or assessment to people-oriented changes. The voices and the will of the people must be in the governmental process of meeting the needs of Tennesseans. Budgets are moral documents, and all Tennesseans should reap the benefits of decisions and monetary investments.

(2) My first obligation is to never violate any Tennessean's constitutional rights, thus always securing their life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness.

(2) My responsibility and obligations are to Tennesseans and not necessarily to a particular political party.

(3) I will be the Governor of the people, thus placing Tennesseans first in my decision-making process as it relates to the Tennessee Constitution and the General Assembly. Tennessee deserves a fair and equitable Governor who can not be bought or sold to the highest bidder. I am unbossed, unbought, and uncompromised.

Tennessee Constitution Preamble and Declaration of Rights

Preamble and Declaration of Rights

Whereas, The people of the territory of the United States south of the river Ohio, having the right of admission into the general government as a member state thereof, consistent with the Constitution of the United States, and the act of cession of the state of North Carolina, recognizing the ordinance for the government of the territory of the United States north west of the Ohio River, by their delegates and representatives in convention assembled, did on the sixth day of February, in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and ninety-six, ordain and establish a Constitution, or form of government, and mutually agreed with each other to form themselves into a free and independent state by the name of the state of Tennessee, and,

The first constitution of the state of Tennessee was adopted in 1796. The constitution was drafted in Knoxville by a convention consisting of 55 delegates. Once it was completed, the delegates sent the Constitution to Washington City for review by the Congress before it adjourned. President Washington signed the bill giving Tennessee immediate statehood on June 1, 1796. Most of the provisions regarding declarations on rights, taxes, and legislative authority were drawn from the North Carolina and Pennsylvania constitutions. According to historian J. G. M. Ramsey, Thomas Jefferson described the Tennessee constitution as the “least imperfect and most republican of the state constitutions.”

The constitution was revised in 1834 to update the court system and address some of the problems in the original constitution. By 1834, Tennessee’s population was more than 6 times greater than the population in 1796, reaching almost 700,000. This revision focused mostly on taxation, the courts, and how to govern a state that was becoming less rural and more urban. 

The Constitution was revised again in 1870 after the Civil War. The biggest change in this version of the constitution was the permanent abolition of slavery in Tennessee. Another purpose of the framers of this constitution was a reaction against the overreaching actions of Governor William G. Brownlow. The constitution essentially remained unchanged until it was amended in 1953, making it “the nation’s oldest unamended state constitution.” Further amendments followed in 1960, 1966, 1972, 1978, 1998, 2006, 2010, and 2014. Today, the 1870 Constitution is still the fundamental charter for the State of Tennessee. 

Atwater's mission will be to exceed the expectations of our Tennessee customers, the taxpayers, by operating at the highest levels of accuracy, cost-effectiveness, and accountability in a customer-centered environment. As a Governor of the State of Tennessee, I will work for you and not lobbyists and billionaires.