USA > Georgia > A history of Georgia : from its first discovery by Europeans to the adoption of the present constitution in MDCCXCVIII. Vol. II > Part 23
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had proved himself worthy of the several offices and trusts, hitherto confided to him in the service of the State, at home, and in Congress; and was now, a second time, elevated to the Executive chair.
On the 1st of March, the Governor had the pleasure of laying before the Executive Council, " despatches from Congress, covering a proclamation or ratification of the definitive treaty of peace." The Council, par- taking of the happiness felt by the Governor on this joyful occasion, took immediate order to give proper publicity to this state paper, and directed "that it be read and published by the Sheriff through the streets of Savannah, on Wednesday next; that the militia of the town and the vicinity thereof, be paraded and mustered on the occasion, and that the Governor ac- cordingly issue orders for the purpose ; and further, that his Honor the Chief Justice be furnished with a cer- tified copy of the said proclamation for his Govern- ment, and that he be requested to cause the same to be published and proclaimed in the different counties of this State, at his ensuing circuit."
It must have given peculiar satisfaction to Governor Houstoun, to be occupying the gubernatorial chair at such a period of his country's history. His name was one of the four which were signed to the first call for a meeting of the friends of liberty within the province. He was one of the three persons first selected by the Provincial Congress, in January, 1775, to represent Georgia in the Continental Congress; and for his faith- ful and unfaltering devotion to the cause of American freedom, his name was placed first on the list appended to the disqualifying act, passed by the Royal Assem- bly, in Savannah, 1780, and is there styled " Rebel
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Governor." He now, not as a " Rebel" Governor, but as a recognized Chief Magistrate of an independent State, had the gratification of publishing the treaty, by which Great Britain made peace with the revolted colonies ; and in accordance with which his long-op- pressed country took its place as one of the nations of the earth.
In the Assembly which was now convened, there were " very violent struggles," owing to the fact that several persons had been returned as members of the House, who had formerly taken protection under the British Governor. Their right to sit was strenuously contested, and four or five were declared ineligible, " from their not having been long enough under Ame- rican Government to make them eligible to so impor- tant a trust."
In the midst, however, of the troubles incident to the unsettled state of a frontier province, in that tran- sition period, when military law had ceased, and civil law was but imperfectly established ; the Legislature, with a forecast which reflects the highest credit upon their wisdom, took measures for the establishment of a State institution of learning. On the 25th February, 1784, a committee of the Legislature was sent to the Executive Council, bearing a resolution, requesting his Honor, the Governor, " to grant eight land warrants for five thousand acres each, in the name of John Houstoun, James Habersham, William Few, Joseph Clay, Abram Baldwin, William Houstoun, and Nathan Brownson, Esqrs., or their successors in office, in trust for the College that is to be established in this State ; that one or more of the said Trustees be requested to proceed immediately, with a surveyor or surveyors,
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and superintend the surveying of the said land in each county, agreeable to the act for that purpose made. That His Honor, the Governor, be requested to draw an order on the Treasurer, in favor of the said Trustees, for the sum of twenty pounds, for the purpose of pay- ing chain-bearers, and defraying the necessary expenses of surveying."
The act to which reference is here made, is " An act for laying out two more counties to the westward," &c., the 11th section of which reads thus: " And whereas, the encouragement of religion and learning is an object of great importance to any community, and must tend to the prosperity, happiness, and advantage of the same. Be it, therefore, enacted by the authority aforesaid, that the county surveyors, immediately after passing of this act, shall proceed to lay out in each county, twenty thousand acres of land of the first quality, in separate tracts of five thousand acres each, for the endowment of a college or seminary of learning, and which said lands shall be vested in and granted to his honor the Governor for the time being. And John Houstoun, James Habersham, William Few, Joseph Clay, Abram Baldwin, William Houstoun, and Nathan Brownson, Esqrs., and their successors in office, are hereby nominated and appointed trus- tees for the said college or seminary of learning, and empowered to do all such things as to them shall ap- pear requisite and necessary, to forward the establish- ment and progress of the same : and all vacancies shall be filled up by the said trustees. And the said county surveyors shall, in six months after passing of this act, make return to the trustees hereinbefore mentioned, of VOL. II. 23
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all regular plats of all such tracts as he shall have laid out and surveyed by virtue of this act."
To carry out the provisions of this section of the act, the Council, on the 11th March, "ordered that the Secretary of the State do immediately make out eight warrants for the same; that is to say, four for five thousand acres each in Franklin County, and four for five thousand each in Washington County." This most judicious plan was productive of great and bene- ficial results, and prepared the way for that more definite action which, as we shall see, took place the ensuing year.
The land act-of which the setting apart of these large tracts of country for the endowment of a college constituted one section-was one of the most important results of this Legislature. It brought under survey the large cession of territory made by the Indians, to the north and west of Wilkes ; laid out and organized two new counties, and established a Land Court at Augusta, to "be opened on the first Tuesday in April next (1784), by his Honor the Governor, or the Honorable the President, with any three or more of the Execu- tive Council, for the purpose of granting out lands, under and by virtue of this act." This court was to sit for three months, on each Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, to grant land and sign warrants ; and, each Thursday and Friday, for the purpose of hearing caveats.
It is significant of the unsettled state of the country, that it was deemed necessary, in consequence of " the roads being, at present, infested with robbers," to order, on the 23d March, 1784, " that a guard, consisting of an officer and from six to twelve horsemen, be fur-
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nished by the commanding officer of each county, that is to say, the guard of Chatham County to escort the President and members of Council to the lower line of Effingham County; that the guard of Effingham County be ready there, and escort them to the lower line of Burke County; that the guard of Burke County be ready there, and escort them to the lower line of Richmond County ; and, that the guard of Richmond be ready there, and escort them to Au- gusta. That a copy of the foregoing be sent to the respective commanding officers, and that they be informed, at the same time, that the President and members of Council will set out from Savannah on Tuesday, the 30th day of this instant, March. And, that it is required that the several guards do so order themselves as to be in readiness at the several and respective places, before pointed out for them, at the proper times when they may expect the President and members of Council to be along, or one day sooner."
The Land Court was opened at Augusta, at the time designated, by the Hon. John Habersham, Presi- dent of the Executive Council, and a great number of applicants for warrants appeared. At first, some little order was observed; but, the 17th of May, 1784, being the day appointed for the delivery of the warrants, and the warrants not being fully prepared, the populace be- came exceedingly impatient, and were with difficulty restrained from acts of violence; but, "on Thursday," says the clerk of the Land Court, writing a graphic description of the scene to the Governor, " a few evil-dis- posed persons hinted to the people at large, whose minds, by the juice of the cane, were already inflamed,
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that there was a more concise way of obtaining their warrants ; they immediately herded, and, I must con- fess, looked formidable. Fancy to yourself, my dear sir, the Honorable the President and members of Council, four or five in number, convened on the business of their countrymen, their secretary or clerk, with his assistants, in an adjoining apartment, ready to faint with excessive heat and fatigue, not suffered to open the door or window, whereby a little fresh air might be admitted, and 1500 or, perhaps, 2000 men, set on by designing villains, approaching the doors with threats and menaces, crying out aloud, that their warrants they would have at any rate.
" I once more ventured my humble opinion to the President that it was absolutely necessary, and with- out hesitation to inform them, that the issuing of the warrants was unavoidably postponed until Monday following, the 24th inst .; at the same time declaring, that at the hour of ten, on the morning of the said day, and not sooner, the warrants would begin to be issued ; also that any of the parties concerned might obtain them by appointing a person to receive them on their behalf; this, with Colonel Clarke's remon- strance, seemed to appease them, and many went home thereon. The Fat King, so called in derision, being somewhat intoxicated himself and making others so by lavish treats, not pleased with the said postpone- ment, kicked up another dust, pulled down the notifi- cation last mentioned, and insisted that the warrants should be given out the next day. They were now noisy as ever, and ready for any mischief; the house was to stand but two hours at farthest. On this the President engaged that no exertion should be wanting
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to grant them on the Saturday then next to follow. This emollient produced, like Dr. Franklin's oil on the turbulent Thames, a second calm to appearance ; but I degrade the most unruly tempest by a compari- son with the savage disposition and brutal temper of lawless and ungovernable men, subject to no control, strangers to order and regularity, and averse to every- thing that opposes their will. Saturday being come (though I cannot say that those gentlemen who went to their homes on the notice that none should issue be- fore or until Monday morning, had an equal chance), and lists being handed in, by requisition of the several claims for warrants by each individual, and the putting them up accordingly in bundles to be handed out, was going on rapidly : a proposition was made by the most generous and most disinterested of men, the overflow- ing of a compassionate heart, though fatally unlucky in the consequence, that several individuals, who waited but for their own warrants, and when obtained would retire and give room for those who wanted many, might have them. I dreaded the confusion that ensued thereon, nor did I omit mentioning it; this having taken place, the general vociferation was, 'Why can't I get my warrant as well as another ? Such a one has got his, and I'll have mine.' My office was no longer at my command; the breach being made, the torrent soon widened it, and he thought himself the happiest per- son that could grab the greatest number of them. The alphabetical order that I had observed was soon obliterated, and no trace of regularity or decorum left.
" They soon had the warrants from my table on the floor, at the door, and on the highway. About four
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or five hundred were soon missing by this outrage ; true, great numbers have since been returned under the pretence of being taken away by mistake, &c. &c. The court have endeavored to remedy this evil also, on petitions and testimony that they were so taken away or mislaid. Duplicates have been made out to them and transmitted to the two County Surveyors, with positive orders not to survey on a warrant that a duplicate was issued for.
" I have been ever since busy on this work, hard as the first, and it has been almost too hard for me. I have been very unwell, and still continue so."
There were no less than five different classes of warrants to be prepared, issued and registered by this court. The first, called "Citizens' Rights," were based on the resolution of the Legislature, passed the 20th August, 1781, which declared, that " as many persons were daily absenting themselves from the State, and leaving their fellow-citizens to encounter the difficul- ties of the war with Great Britain, all who remained and did their duty faithfully, should be entitled to two hundred and fifty acres of good land, which were to be exempt from taxes for ten years." Two thousand nine hundred and twenty-three persons availed themselves of the provisions of this act to obtain certificates which entitled them to "Citizens' Rights" warrants.
On the 12th January, 1782, the Assembly ordered "that the Governor issue certificates to persons who, during their refugeeship, had served their country as good soldiers, for two hundred and fifty acres of land," the officers to receive more, in proportion to rank. Six hundred and ninety-four claimed under this act, by what were called " Refugee Certificates," the desig-
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nated warrants. Another class of claimants were those who had served the State under the old Con- gress in the Continental establishment, and nearly two hundred persons received these " Continental Certifi- cates," which entitled them to warrants for land.
A still larger class of applicants presented what were termed " Minute Men Certificates," i. e., such men as were enrolled for service, and liable to be called out at a minute's notice, but who did not do continuous service in the field ; and five hundred and fifty-five re- ceived land warrants under this provision of the law. There were also issued land warrants to nine per- sons, under the claim of " Marine Certificates," who had done duty as part of the small naval force in the galleys of the State. Thus rapidly was the territory acquired by treaty absorbed by the people of the State. Persons outside the State also sought to settle here, and General Matthews and some other gentlemen from Virginia, asked that a tract of 200,000 acres be laid off and reserved for them and others, agreeable as they conceived to a clause in the Land Act. As these last petitioners did not comply with the provisions of this act, they did not obtain the grant as desired "in one body of land," though many individuals of that Vir- ginia Company, the most prominent of whom was General Matthews himself, took up lands in Georgia and became residents of the State.
General Samuel Elbert succeeded John Houstoun as Governor, in July, 1785, the Legislature showing its appreciation of him, in placing him, by nearly a unani- mous vote, in the Executive chair.
One of his earliest acts was to direct Colonel John Baker, of Liberty County, " to take the most effectual
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means, to secure the villains who are at this time as- sembled between the St. Illa and St. Mary's Rivers ; with a number of negroes, horses, and other property, supposed to have been stolen from the citizens of this State." As the Governor of Florida was making severe examples of such as fell into their hands, Governor Elbert felt it important to strike terror into this ban- ditti, on this side the St. Mary's also, and thus put a stop to such border pillage and bloodshed.
It was not upon the southern boundary alone, how- ever, that these troubles were felt. Disaffected and mercenary persons were found to be at work among the Indian tribes, committing outrages of the grossest kind, and then attributing them to the Georgians ; stimulating the savages to revenge, and driving them on to deeds of cruelty and warfare, which it required the strong arm of military power to put down. But the Governor sent pacific " talks" to the Indians, and urged the most stringent measures of justice to be pursued towards all molesting the Indians, or trespass- ing upon their lands.
The Assembly, by an act passed on the 27th January, 1785, developed almost into maturity the germ of a university, found in their legislation the previous year. The bill now passed was entitled “ An Act for the more full and complete establishment of a public seat of learning in this State," and opens with a preamble, which for its sound principles, and as an expression of the views of the political fathers of those days, well deserves a record here.
" As it is the distinguishing happiness of free govern- ments that civil order should be the result of choice, and not necessity, and the common wishes of the peo-
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ple become the laws of the land, their public prosperity and even existence very much depends upon suitably forming the minds and morals of their citizens. When the minds of the people in general are viciously dis- posed and unprincipled, and their conduct disorderly, a free government will be attended with greater con- fusions and evils more horrid than the wild unculti- vated state of nature. It can only be happy where the public principles and opinions are properly directed, and their manners regulated. This is an influence beyond the reach of laws and punishments, and can be claimed only by religion and education. It should, therefore, be among the first objects of those who wish well to the national prosperity, to encourage and sup- port the principles of religion and morality, and early to place the youth under the forming hand of society, that by instruction, they may be moulded to the love of virtue and good order. Sending them abroad to other countries for their education, will not answer these purposes ; it is too humiliating an acknowledg- ment of the ignorance or inferiority of our own, and will always be the cause of so great foreign attach- ments, that upon principles of policy it is inadmissible.
"This country, in the times of our common danger and distress, found security in the principle and abili- ties which wise regulations had before established in the minds of our countrymen, that our present happi- ness, joined to the pleasing prospects, should conspire to make us feel ourselves under the strongest obliga- tions to form the youth, the rising hope of our land, to render the like glorious and essential services to our country."
The act provided that the general superintendence
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and regulation of the literature of this State should be confided to two bodies, one consisting of the Go- vernor and Council, the Speaker of the House of Assembly, and the Chief Justice, termed a " Board of Visitors ;" and the other, consisting of John Houstoun, James Habersham, William Few, Joseph Clay, Abram Baldwin, William Houstoun, Nathan Brownson, John Habersham, Abiel Holmes, Larkin Davis, Hugh Law- son, William Glascock, and Benjamin Talliaferro, to be called the "Board of Trustees." These two bodies, united, were to constitute "The Senatus Academi- cus of the University of Georgia." This " Senatus Academicus" was to "consult and advise, not only upon the affairs of the University, but also to remedy the defects and advance the interests of literature through the State in general."
The fourteenth section of this bill also declared that " all public schools instituted, or to be supported by funds or public moneys in this State, shall be considered as parts or members of the University, and shall be under the foregoing directions and regulations."
At a meeting of the Trustees, in Augusta, in Feb- ruary, 1786, the Board took steps towards laying out a town in Greene County, directing that eight lots be reserved for a church, academy, court-house, and jails ; and that certain others be sold upon specified condi- tions. This was the beginning of the town of Greens- boro, then the contemplated seat of the University.
The first meeting of the "Senatus Academicus" of the State, of which any record remains, was held at Louisville, in November, 1799. The first Professor, Josiah Meigs, was elected by the " Senatus Academi- cus," the next year, at a salary of $1500.
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By an act of the Legislature, in 1800, the General Assembly ordered that the permanent seat of the Uni- versity should be in the county of Jackson, Franklin, Hancock, Greene, Oglethorpe, Wilkes, or Warren. A new set of trustees was nominated, and a new board, entitled a " Board of Visitors," was appointed, to con- sist of the Governor, the Judges of the Superior Courts, the President of the Senate, the Speaker of the House, and Senators from certain designated counties.
At the meeting of the Board of Visitors, in June, 1801, the Hon. Abram Baldwin, the President of the Board, stated that the funds of the University admitted the paying of a person as President, whose duty it should be more particularly to superintend the literature of the State; he therefore resigned his posi- tion, and Professor Meigs was unanimously elected, took the oath of office, and " entered at once upon the duties of President, by taking his seat as President of the Board of Trustees."2
Though the site of the University seemed fixed at Greensboro, yet, as much dissatisfaction appeared, the subject was reconsidered, and the Board therefore appointed Abram Baldwin, John Milledge, John Twiggs, Hugh Lawson, and George Walton, to select a site in Jackson County (then including Clark and Jackson), and to contract for the erection of college buildings to accommodate one hundred students.
In November, 1801, they reported their selection of the present site, and also laid before the Board a con- veyance from Mr. Milledge, of nearly seven hundred
2 Minute Book of " Senatus Academicus."
1
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acres of land (that on which Athens now principally stands), for the benefit of the University.
The location which at that time seemed so adverse to the demands of the population, as it placed the college on the very borders of civilization on its western frontier, now proves to be a most admirable selection. The first commencement was held in May, 1804, and the exercises of that day were held under an arbor formed of branches of trees, upon the Campus. Here, in this rustic chapel, surrounded by the primeval forest, and amidst a gathering of a few friends of the institu- tion, and a still larger number of persons gathered to witness the novel scene; Colonel Gibson Clark, the Honorable Augustine T. Clayton, General Jeptha V. Harris, Colonel William H. Jackson, Professor James Jackson, Thomas Irwin, Jared Irwin, Robert Ruther- ford, and William Williamson graduated with the honors of the institution.
Considering the age of the colony, the last settled of the original thirteen; the position of the State, a frontier province exposed to incursions from Indians, French, and Spaniards : the feebleness of the State, just recovering from the effects of war, and still suffer- ing from Indian hostilities; the unsettled condition of government, when clashing interests and rival claims were jostling each other in high places, to the preju- dice of peace and order: considering these things, and then looking at the broad scope on which the University was planned; the sound principles on which it was based; the zealous efforts of its founders to make it stable and efficient; we must say that Georgia merits peculiar honor in being among the first of the States to make provision for a State University, and in passing
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most wholesome laws for securing to her sons the blessings of a liberal education on her own soil.
Much of the thought and care of Governor Elbert was taken up with the settlement of Indian difficulties ; especially in connection with the proceedings of the Commissioners appointed by Congress to treat with the Cherokees, and the Indians to the south of them; proceedings in which Georgia, indeed, took a part through State Commissioners, but which were, never- theless, regarded by the Executive with some degree of uneasiness, as if fearful that the rights of Georgia might be trespassed upon, or its true claims over- looked; the lesser power and authority of the State being made to succumb to the overshadowing influence of the General Government. Accordingly, the Execu- tive Council appointed Edward Telfair, William Few, and James Jackson, to attend at Galphinton, in Jeffer- son County, where the convention was to be held; " and there take cognizance of any matter respecting the same, and to aid and assist them, the said Com- missioners of the United States, in forwarding their business as far as they, by the Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union, are authorized to go; and they are strictly charged to protest against any measures that may appear to them to exceed the powers given by the Confederation aforesaid, and which may be con- trary to the Constitution and laws of the State, and to make report thereof to this Board."
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