 By 1860, the region's Unionist leaders opposed both secession "and" abolition.Many members of the East Tennessee Convention were slave owners, and at least one (William C. Kyle of Hawkins County) was actually a slave trader.Reasons for the strong Unionist movement in East Tennessee typically focus on long-standing political disputes with Middle and West Tennessee, economic differences with the other two divisions (including a significantly smaller slave population relative to the rest of the South), and the region's mountainous isolation.