 Being outside the authority of the Virginia and North Carolina colonial governments, the settlers lacked any official means of dealing with criminals and carrying out basic government functions, such as registering land deeds.Thus, in May 1772, the settlers drafted the "Articles of the Watauga Association"— one of the first written constitutions west of the Appalachian Mountains.The Watauga Association consisted of a five-man court that held sessions in a courthouse at Sycamore Shoals.