Maddie -

It's a good question, and you'll get more like this in the future. Teachers know you're smart enough to answer questions that require more than a little reading and will expect that. As you go about your research, you'll discover facts that will help you answer using your own words. Your answer may turn out to be better than any of the others, including the one in the teacher's book!

Here are a few facts which will help.

First, Nashville was the first Confederate state capitol to fall into Federal hands. When the summer of 1863 ended, almost the entire state was under enemy control, so officials appointed by the military governor, Andrew Johnson, could act on civil matters.

As the war continued through 1863-64, only Louisiana experienced this much rule by the Federal government.

Second, a glance at the map shows that the Tennessee River divides this state neatly into thirds. The western and middle thirds were populated by people who often raised cotton and tobacco like other farmers in the South. People in the eastern third tended to live on small, isolated communities having little connection with the market economy of the Southern states. Sectional disputes that disturbed the country had nothing to do with the way they lived, so most East Tennesseans were content to remain under the government in Washington D.C.

After the war, the only men qualified to vote were those who never been Confederate soldiers or served in its government. Large numbers of East Tennesseeans had been loyal to the Federal government and could vote, which was not true elsewhere. For that reason and the relatively long period of Federal military control in Tennessee, it was easier to recreate state government and hold elections here than in other Confederate states.

Tennessee actually elected Congressmen and sent them to Washington in January of 1866. However, the House of Representatives refused to accept members of the Tennessee delegation, who went home disapponted.

Here are a couple of articles on the subject --

http://www.americanheritage.com/events/articles/web/20060724-appomattox-confederacy-tennessee-reconstruction-civil-war-union-andrew-johnson-william-brownlow-black-suffrage.shtml

http://columbia.thefreedictionary.com/Readmission+of+states

Here's a question you may wish to ask -- if
secession was unlawful and states could not leave the Union,
why did they have to be readmitted?

Here's another question -- if
the American colonies were right to revolt against British rule in 1776,
were Southerners wrong to form their own government 1861?