USA > Georgia > A history of Georgia : from its first discovery by Europeans to the adoption of the present constitution in MDCCXCVIII. Vol. II > Part 31
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"1. That the whole sum of $600,000 deposited should become subject to the immediate use of the State, and be considered the first payment; that the Governor do
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thereupon issue grants to the several applicants, taking mortgage on the territory sold to secure the after-pay- ments.
"2. That the further sum of $10,000 be added to the fund already appropriated to the extinguishment of Indian claims south of the Oconee, and eastward of the Chattahoochee.
"3. That a fair and equal representation in the seve- ral companies be therein provided and secured to the citizens, subscribers for the land reserved, on the same footing with the original purchasers.
"4. That the further quantity of five million acres, in addition to the two million five hundred and eighty thousand,-already reserved by the companies for the citizens of Georgia,-to be subscribed for and held in trust for the use of the State, subject to future disposal, and represented in like manner (if assented to by the companies) as tenants in common with the pur- chasers,-affords the State an additional check on the monopolies apprehended, and should be deemed an ade- quate reserve on the part of the State and the citizens thereof; and your committee are clearly of opinion ought finally to reconcile the several objections of his Excel- lency the Governor. Your committee further report that his Excellency has conceded in part, and that a further conference is appointed."
On the question of agreeing to the report, there were-yeas 20, nays 8.
The following morning, Mr. Watkins brought in a further report, in which he stated that they had ad- justed the matter satisfactorily with the Governor ; and that the committee had prepared and brought in
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a bill, "embracing the several objects therein con- tained."
It was objected that, by the rules of the House, no bills of a general nature could be introduced, unless a committee had been previously appointed for that pur- pose; and that, as the committee in this instance were not vested with power to introduce any bill, but merely to confer with the Governor on the subject of his ob- jections to a bill already passed, therefore the bill reported by this committee could not be taken up by the House.
This objection was overruled, and the bill, entitled " An act supplementary to an act for appropriating a part of the unlocated territory of this State for the payment of the late State troops, and for other purposes therein mentioned, declaring the right to the unappro- priated territory thereof, for the protection and support of the frontiers of this State, and for other purposes therein mentioned," was read the first time in the House.
This was an ingenious grafting of a rejected bill, improved, indeed, in some of its features, but still greatly objectionable, upon a bill, in which the in- habitants of Georgia felt a deep interest, and for the passage of which they were most anxious. It was a bold policy to make the vetoed bill a rider upon an unob- jectionable bill, so that they should sink or swim to- gether. The plan produced intense excitement, and threatened serious commotions.
While the new bill was pending, the " Georgia Union Company" again addressed a letter to each branch of the Legislature, inclosing proposals for purchasing the
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whole of the territory specified in the vetoed bill, and offering as considerations for the same, " a deposit (by way of forfeiture) of $40,000 in bills of exchange on Philadelphia, at double usance, with indisputable indorsers;" "to pay to the State the residue of the purchase-money, amounting, in the whole, to $800,000, on or before the first day of December next; promis- ing to reserve 4,000,000 acres to the State, to be dis- posed of as this, or a future Legislature, shall direct ; and also to reserve 4,000,000 for the citizens them- selves."
Through the influence of the agents of the other companies, this proposition, by which so many and greater advantages would come to the State, met with as little favor as their former petition. The Legisla- ture, goaded on by an outside pressure not easily with- stood, within three days after bringing in the new bill, or rather the old bill slightly modified and riveted into a previously pending one, passed the same; the scru- ples of the too pliant Governor were overcome; and, on the 7th of December, the bill received his signa- ture, and became the law of the land.
The preamble of the bill recites, in various para- graphs, the several grounds upon which the State based its right to the territory which it now disposes; and then enacts, 1st, That the State "is in full possession and in the full exercise of the jurisdictional and terri- torial right, and the fee simple thereof," of these western lands. 2d, It grants to James Gunn, Matthew McAllister, and George Walker, and their associates, called " THE GEORGIA COMPANY," &c., " all that tract or parcel of land, including islands, situate, lying, and being, within the following boundaries,-that is to say :
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Beginning on the Mobile Bay, where the latitude 31° north of the equator intersects the same; running thence up the said bay to the mouth of Lake Tensaw ; thence up Lake Tensaw to the Alabama River, in- cluding Curry's and all other islands therein ; thence up the said River Alabama to the junction of the Coosa and Oakfuskee Rivers; thence up the Coosa River above the Big Shoal, to where it intersects the latitude of 34° north of the equator; thence a due west course to the Mississippi River; thence down the middle of said river to the latitude of 32° 40'; thence , a due east course to the mouth of Tombigbee River ; thence down the middle of the said river to its junc- tion with the Alabama River; thence down the middle of the said river to the Mobile Bay; thence down the said Mobile Bay to the place of beginning," for the sum of $250,000,-$50,000 to be deposited in the trea- sury previous to the passage of the act, and the re- maining $200,000 to be paid on or before the first day of November next. The 3d section directs, that when- ever the said company shall produce to the Governor a receipt by the Treasurer, that they have deposited the $50,000, then grants were to be issued,-the last payment to be secured by a mortgage given to the Governor on the whole of the land so granted. The next section requires the company to reserve, for the use of the citizens of Georgia, a million of acres; and the next directs how the subscription money shall be received.
The 6th section of the bill grants to Nicholas Long, Thomas Glascock, Ambrose Gordon, and Thomas Cum- ming, and their associates, called " THE GEORGIA MIS- SISSIPPI COMPANY," for the sum of $155,000, " all that
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tract of country, including islands, situate, lying, and being, within the following boundaries,-that is to say : Beginning on the River Mississippi, at the place where the latitude of 31° 18' north of the equator intersects the same; thence a due east course to the middle of Don or Tombigbee River ; thence up the middle of the said river to where it intersects the latitude of 32° 40' north of the equator; thence a due west course along the Georgia Company's line to the River Mississippi ; thence down the middle of the same to the place of beginning.
The 7th and 8th sections relate to the mortgage to be given, and the quantity of land to be reserved by them, viz., 620,000 acres for the use of the citizens of Georgia.
The 9th section grants to John B. Scott, John C. Nightengale, and Wade Hampton, called " THE UPPER MISSISSIPPI COMPANY," for the sum of $35,000,-$5,000 previous deposit,-" all that tract of country, including islands, situate, lying, and being, within the following boundaries,-that is to say : Beginning at the Missis- sippi River, where the northern boundary line of this State strikes the same; thence along the said northern boundary line due east to the Tennessee River; thence along the said Tennessee River to the mouth of Bear Creek ; thence up Bear Creek to where the parallel of latitude, twenty-five British statute miles south of the northern boundary line of this State, intersects the same; thence along the said last-mentioned parallel of latitude, across Tombigbee or Twenty Miles Creek, due west to the Mississippi River; thence up the middle of the said river to the beginning." This company was
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nearly the same as the Virginia Yazoo Company, hav- ing only changed its name.
The 10th and 11th sections regulates the mortgage to be given, and the amount of land to be reserved.
The 12th section enacts "that all that tract of land, including islands, situate, lying, and being, within the following boundary lines: Beginning at the mouth of Bear Creek, on the south side of the Tennessee River; thence up the said creek to the most southern source thereof; thence due south to the latitude of 34º 10' north of the equator; thence a due east course one hundred and twenty miles; thence a due north course to the Great Tennessee River; thence up the middle of the said river to the northern boundary line of this State; thence a due west course along the said line to where it intersects the Great Tennessee River, below the Mussel Shoals; thence up the said river to the place of beginning, shall be sold unto Zachariah Cox, Matthias Maher, and their associates, called 'THE TENNESSEE COMPANY,' and to their heirs and assigns forever, in fee simple, as tenants in common, and not as joint tenants, for the sum of $60,000."
This company were required, by subsequent clauses of the bill, to give their mortgage, as were the other companies ; to pay down as forfeit money, $12,000, and to reserve 242,000 acres for the citizens of Georgia.
The 18th section requires the grantees of land to " forbear all hostile and wanton attacks on any of the Indian tribes; and keep the State free from all charges and expenses which may attend the preserving the peace between the said Indians and the grantees, and extinguishing the Indian claims to the territory included within their respective purchases."
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The 19th section directs how the money arising from these sales should be invested.
The 20th requires settlements to be made on the lands granted, within five years from the extinguish- ment of the Indian titles by the United States.
The 21st section sets apart $10,000 towards the extinguishment of these Indian titles. The 22d di- rects that none of the territory granted shall be dis- posed of to any foreign power; and the last declares that the remaining lands ungranted, estimated at about seven and a half millions of acres, shall be reserved and set apart for the benefit of this State, "to be granted out, or otherwise disposed of as a future Legislature may direct."
On the 26th of January, the Governor issued his proclamation, granting the designated tract to "The Georgia Mississippi Company;" and thus thirty-five millions of acres were granted to these four companies · for the sum of $500,000; or less than two cents per acre.
It may well be supposed that such an act could not pass without calling out earnest remonstrance and de- cided opposition. Among the earliest remonstrants were William H. Crawford and other citizens of Colum- bia County, who, even before the bill was signed by the Governor, presented to him a petition, praying that his Excellency would "negative the said bill in due form, inasmuch as we do conceive it to be bad policy to give a grant to the company purchasing before the full amount of the purchase-money is paid ; that if a grant should be given, the grantees may (if they think proper) refuse to give a mortgage; and, even if they should, the mortgage can only be foreclosed in
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that part of the State where the territory in question doth lie; and, lastly, whenever the territory is sold, the price or value thereof would be greatly enhanced by giving notice to all citizens."
This petition expressed the views of many citizens. Others objected to the bill because they were thereby, to a great extent, debarred participating in the grand speculation of the several companies. Others, because they held that there was no necessity so urgent as to require this enormous sacrifice of territory; and others still, because they saw in the bill only the legalizing of an immense swindling scheme to rob the State of her invaluable lands for the benefit, not of her citizens in general, but of a few bold and unscrupulous specu- lators, who were willing to advance their own fortunes upon the ruin and dishonor of the State.
The people, so soon as they heard of the passage of this bill, and began to discuss its merits, and under- stand its provisions, were aroused to a sense of the great injury which had been done to their own inte- rests; and, as there was developed to them, step by step, the various means, and bribes, and machinations, which were set to work to bring over, or buy over, the several members of the Legislature, to vote for these measures, their indignation rose higher and higher, and vented itself in presentments of grand juries, in violent newspaper warfare, in stinging personal invective and insult, in threats of corporal violence, and in scenes of actual bloodshed and death.
The whole State was heaving with excitement. The bribery which had been so openly used by men high in office, on the Bench, at the Bar, in the Senate; and the corruption, intrigue, intimidation and violence
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which had been employed to gain over the Legislature to the plans of the speculators, constitute a dark page in the political history of Georgia. One of the most zealous advocates of this scheme was James Gunn. This man, who had risen from almost obscurity to power, by truckling to the vulgar tastes of the popu- lace, and by some show of military genius; was at the period of which we write, a Senator of Georgia in Congress, and his presence there was needed to guard the interests of the State. Yet, sacrificing all public considerations to private advantage, he remained in Georgia; repaired to Augusta; and, by his influence and efforts, at once overbearing and unscrupulous, he became the main manager of this nefarious business. Having secured the passage of the bill, he then re- paired to Congress, which he reached only the last day of February, four days before the constitutional close of the session; and there sought to carry out his Georgia schemes, by involving the General Govern- ment also in these questionable transactions.
The other Senator from Georgia was General James Jackson. This gentleman had been urged to take shares in some of these companies, and was told that " he might have any number of acres he pleased, to half a million, without paying a cent, provided he would put his name to the application."
But he firmly opposed these offers, and told the pro- posers, "that he, not they, had fought for Georgia, and the right to that territory; that he fought for the people, and it was their right, and the right of future generations ; and, if they did succeed, he should hold the sale void, and would resign his seat in the Senate,
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come home, and head his fellow-citizens, and either lose his life or have the act annulled."
Having made an ineffectual attempt to return to Georgia in time to take part in the Convention for the revision of the Constitution, which was to take place in May; he yet exerted his pen in behalf of the oppo- nents of a scheme which he had declared, in the Senate of the United States, to be " a conspiracy of the darkest character and of deliberate villany." He immediately began a series of articles, which he published over the signature of " Scillius," and, in eleven numbers, he examined "the policy, the legality, and the constitu- tionality of the enormous western grant,-a grant of land to a few individuals, containing more square miles than either of the German principalities, and of greater extent than some European kingdoms." These letters, which calmly and learnedly reviewed the whole pro- ceedings, discussed all the. constitutional questions involved, and showed the practical operation of the bill, had a great influence in directing and settling the opinions of the people, and enlightening them as to the real points at issue.
When the two Senators returned to Georgia, Gunn was regarded with indignation. He was in several places burned in effigy; and, in many parts of the country, did not dare to appear in public. But General Jackson was received with marks of public approbation ; and all eyes turned to him as the leader who could best retrieve the error into which the State had been led, and redress the grievances under which it was burdened.
Yielding, therefore, to the solicitations of the friends of peace and equity, and more anxious to serve his
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country than to occupy its high offices, he consented, at the request of the best citizens in Chatham County, to resign his seat in the United States Senate, and accept a nomination as Representative for that county in the next State Legislature. He was elected and took his seat. The Legislature met on the second Tuesday in January, 1796 ; and, on the 14th, Governor Matthews sent to both branches a message, in which he thus speaks of this transaction : "The Senate and House of Representatives are now constitutionally con- vened for legislative deliberations ; and at a time, too, when the minds of our fellow-citizens' are, and have been, for some time past, more engaged in discussing the conduct of the last Legislature, on the subject of the act for disposing of part of our western territory to certain companies, than perhaps has ever been ex- perienced since this State assumed rank with her sister States. It will, no doubt, be amongst the most im- portant matters that may engross your attention, to inquire on what ground this act was founded, and if a constitutional and legal remedy can be applied to calm the minds of our fellow-citizens on this interesting sub- ject. In my opinion, it requires, and, I flatter myself, will receive your most serious deliberation, whether a law can be constitutionally made to repeal another that has been so fully carried into effect as the one now in question,-the companies having paid into the treasury the whole of the purchase-money, and can- celled their mortgages; and whether, if repealed, the remedy may not be even worse than the disease. But, if a law can be devised that will constitutionally repeal the one referred to, and guard against future murmurs and well-grounded complaints against the repeal, I have VOL. II. 31
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no doubt but the man you may honor with the appoint- ment of Chief Magistrate will readily deem it a duty cheerfully to co-operate.
" It is a matter much to be regretted (considering the unfavorable light the act for disposing of our west- ern territory has been viewed in) that the spirit of party resentment and personal reflection should have run so high in many instances. The public mind has been inflamed by unfair representations, and our news- papers have teemed with personal abuse and invective. This, I remark, from having experienced the public slander. Endeavors have been made to calumniate my character by false reports, such as-' that the motives which induced me to give my assent to the second act proceeded from private interest, regardless of the sacred duty I owed to the station I filled, and the rights and interest of my fellow.citizens.' Con- scious of the purity of my intentions, and supported by the justice and integrity of my actions, I have treated with silent contempt those base and malicious reports; and I now defy the blackest and most perse- vering malice, aided by disappointed avarice, to pro- duce one single evidence of my ever having been inte- rested in the sale to the amount of one single farthing. But, whilst I treated with neglect those reports so injurious to my character, I feel it a respect due to you, and a duty I owe to my reputation, to give you a candid and fair representation of the motives which actuated me on a subject which has so much disturbed the citizens of Georgia.
"On the 25th day of December, 1794, an act for disposing of a part of our western territory to four companies was presented to me for my concurrence.
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After the most mature reflection my judgment was capable of, I thought it my duty to refuse my assent, and assigned my reasons, which, I flattered myself, would have postponed any further legislative proceed- ings in the law until the next meeting of the House ; but, in that, I was mistaken. The first idea that oc- curred to some of the members, when the bill was returned with remarks was, that I should be impeached for an unconstitutional act; yet, the more cool reflec- tion of the House terminated in appointing a commit- tee to confer with me on my objections, and to know if it was in the power of the Legislature to frame a bill for the sale of the lands which would meet my concur- rence. On the conference, I was led to believe, that the committee was convinced that my reasons for rejecting the law did not proceed from Executive arro- gance, or from any wish to bring into action a power heretofore dormant in our proceedings, or from a pro- pensity in me to do an act of so great a responsibility, but from a conviction that it would tend to the real interest of the State. The reflecting mind will easily perceive how much the responsibility would be en- hanced by rejecting a bill that the Legislature might pass for the sale of the lands after being in possession of my remarks, even supposing it to be similar to the first. But, when it appears that three of the most important objections I had made to the first law were removed, I think there is no man of cool, dispassionate reflection, that would have refused his assent to it for any reasons short of a clear proof of corruption in its passage through the Legislature, and no such informa- tion ever came to my knowledge. After all the popular clamor this law has occasioned, I should depart from
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my usual candor to say I have ever blamed myself, either for an error of the head or a corruption in the heart; and, on a similar occasion, should feel myself perfectly justified in pursuing a similar conduct. Much has been said about unascertained millions of acres being sold, and that more than fifty millions of acres are disposed of to the companies by that act. After having thought it my duty to act on the second bill, I ordered the Surveyor-General to furnish me with as accurate a map of the country contemplated to be sold that any documents he had or could procure would afford. This was done, and is now on the file of the Executive; from which, it will appear, there were no more than twenty-nine million four hundred thousand acres in the whole aggregate tract that the first law had in view, and one-fourth of that quantity is now reserved to the State, and subject to her disposition. This is a true state of facts, so far as they have come to my knowledge ; and, if it may afford you any useful hints in your deliberations, it will give me pleasure.
" The time for which I was appointed Governor having now expired, I have to request that, should an opinion prevail in the Legislature, that the duties of that important office have been improperly conducted, a committee may be appointed to examine the pro- ceedings had therein."
The committee, which the Governor suggested, was not appointed. His term of office had expired, and he had sealed his political fate by signing the obnoxious bill.
Jared Irwin was elected to succeed Governor Mat- thews, and the Legislature at once proceeded to the important work intrusted to them. So thorough had
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been the change in the public mind as to the measures pursued by the last Assembly, that nearly every mem- ber, returned by the several counties, was pledged to vote for the repeal of the obnoxious act; and not only so, but most of the counties held public meetings on the subject, and sent instructions to their representa- tives to use all means to annul the act; and petitions, remonstrances, resolutions, and presentments, against it, were sent in from all parts of the State, and were piled upon the Secretary's table.
On the 15th of January, a large number of petitions which had been sent in to the Convention for altering the Constitution, which sat in May previous, and which were by that body referred to the Legislature, were, by order of the House, laid before it; and also other peti- tions, from the counties of Hancock, Greene, Burke, Chatham, Effingham, Scriven, Washington, Camden, Warren, Franklin, Bryan, Columbia, McIntosh, Ogle- thorpe, together with the presentments of the grand juries of Liberty and Burke, were presented and read. Whereupon it was " Resolved, That a committee, con- sisting of nine members, be appointed to examine and report to this House, respecting the validity and con- stitutionality of the said act, who shall have power to call for such persons, papers, and documents, as may be likely to give information relative thereto." " Re- solved, That the petitions, remonstrances, and present- ments, addressed to the late Convention and present Legislature, on that subject, be referred to them."
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