John Carter was chairman of the Watauga Association in 1781 and of the five commissioners who established the first written compact for civil government by American-born freemen. He was chairman of the Committee of Safety, a colonel of militia during the Revolution, and in command of Watauga Fort in 1776. He also served as entry-taker, was one of the first delegates from Washington District to the North Carolina Assembly, and was a member of two constitutional conventions in North Carolina. Landon Carter, who lived from 1760 to 1800 and for whom Carter County was named, was a captain in the Revolutionary War in South Carolina and in the Indian Wars. He served as entry-taker and auditor of Washington District in 1784, represented Washington District in the House of Commons of the North Carolina General Assembly, served in the North Carolina Senate in 1789, was secretary of the Franklin Convention, speaker of the first Senate, a member of the first Council of State, secretary of state, and entry-taker in 1790. He was also lieutenant colonel commandant of the Washington District militia, justice of the peace for Washington County, treasurer of the Washington and Hamilton districts, a colonel in the 1792 campaign, a trustee of Martin's Academy and Greeneville College, brigadier general of militia of Tennessee, and builder of the first iron forge in Tennessee. He married Elizabeth Maclin in 1784. Elizabeth Maclin Carter, who lived from 1765 to 1842 and for whom Elizabethton was named, was the mother of their children Alfred Moore, John Maclin, Callie S., William Blount, George Washington, Eliza M., and Mary G. Landon Carter represented Washington County in the first constitutional convention of the State of Tennessee. His son, William B. Carter, was president of the second constitutional convention in 1834, and his grandson, William B. Carter, Jr., was a member of the third constitutional convention in 1870.