USA > Georgia > A standard history of Georgia and Georgians > Part 48
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Journalism as exemplified by the Georgia Gazette at this time was neither an exact science nor a fine art. Its lack of enterprise in dealing with one of the great history-making events of the state is exasperating. We look in vain for any synopsis of these debates upon which hinged the destiny of a commonwealth. But the editor is considerate enough to keep us in no suspense as to his own mental state in announcing the result. Says he :* "We have the pleasure to announce to the publie that on Wednesday last the convention unanimously ratified the Federal Constitution." This bulletin sounds more like the marriage announce- ment of a runaway couple than it does like the proclamation of a great fact destined to reverberate in Georgia's history down to the last syllable of recorded time. But this same alert newspaper informs us that just as the last name was signed to the ratifieation a party of Colonel Arm- strong's regiment quartered in Augusta proclaimed the joyful tidings opposite the court house by a salute of thirteen guns.
There were only two other states whose action in ratifying the Fed- eral Constitution was unanimous. These were Delaware and New Jer- sey. Georgia's importance as a state at this time, due to her remoteness from the seat of government and to her scant population, was almost insignifieant, but her prompt action in ratifying the Federal Constitu- tion, without a vote cast in oposition and without an amendment offered to the instrument, was an eye-opener to the nation and it produced a thrill of excitement even in far-away New England.t For a state on the extreme southern frontier to take such action was well calculated to put to blush those states in closer touch with Philadelphia. When Georgia startled the Atlantic seaboard by the announcement of her decision, nine states were poised in an attitude of uncertainty, some in fact openly hostile to the proposed compact of Union; and, in no small degree, was Georgia's influence felt at this critical moment in shaping the future of the nascent republic.
* Georgia Gazette, January 5, 1788.
+ "History of Georgia, " W. B. Stevens, II, p. 387.
Vol. 1-23
CHAPTER II
ORGANIZING THE NEW FEDERAL GOVERNMENT-WHEN THIE ELECTORS MEET, GEORGE WASHINGTON, OF VIRGINIA, RECEIVES EVERY BALLOT CAST FOR PRESIDENT-MARCH 4, 1789, THE DATE SET FOR CONGRESS TO ASSEMBLE, BUT THE LAWMAKERS SLOW IN ARRIVING-NEW YORK THE TEMPORARY SEAT OF GOVERNMENT-WASHINGTON'S INAUGURA- TION TAKES PLACE ON APRIL 30, 1789-THREE STATES RELUCTANT TO ENTER THE UNION-RHODE ISLAND AND NORTH CAROLINA ENTER AFTER WASHINGTON'S INAUGURATION-GEORGIA'S FIRST UNITED STATES SENATORS : WILLIAM FEW AND JAMES GUNN-THREE REPRE- SENTATIVES ALLOWED, BUT ONE Is LOST UNDER THE CENSUS OF 1790 -- JOSEPH HABERSHAM BECOMES POSTMASTER-GENERAL-INDIAN AF- FAIRS CONSTITUTE AT THIS TIME THE NATION'S MOST SERIOUS PROB- LEM-COL. BENJAMIN HAWKINS, OF NORTH CAROLINA, RELINQUISHES A SEAT IN THE UNITED STATES SENATE, TO BECOME INDIAN AGENT WITH HEADQUARTERS IN GEORGIA-HIS FIRST IMPORTANT SERVICE IN NEGOTIATING THE TREATY OF COLERAINE-GEORGIA'S NEW STATE CONSTITUTION ADOPTED MAY 4, 1789-SOME OF THE MORE IMPORTANT CHANGES-THE OLD EXECUTIVE COUNCIL ABOLISHED-THE STATE SENATE OF GEORGIA IS CREATED-HOW THE TWO HOUSES WERE TO BE CONSTITUTED-QUALIFICATIONS OF MEMBERSHIP-HOW THE GOV- ERNOR WAS TO BE ELECTED-NO CLERGYMEN ADMITTED TO MEMBER- SHIP IN EITHER HOUSE-THE COUNTY UNIT PRINCIPLE-GEORGE HANDLEY GOVERNOR FROM 1788 TO 1789-THEN GEORGE WALTON IS ELECTED-HOLDS OFFICE UNTIL THE NEW CONSTITUTION BECOMES EFFECTIVE - EDWARD TELFAIR INAUGURATED - GEORGIA'S FIRST THANKSGIVING DAY-DR. NATHAN BROWNSON, FIRST PRESIDENT OF THE STATE SENATE-CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICTS-GEORGIA'S EARLY REPRESENTATIVES IN CONGRESS-GENERAL WAYNE AND MAJOR JACK- SON, TWO REVOLUTIONARY PATRIOTS, IN A BITTER CONTEST-THE FORMER UNSEATED -- AFTERWARDS LEAVES GEORGIA-IN 1793 MAJOR JACKSON SUCCEEDS WILLIAM FEW IN THE FEDERAL SENATE-THE FEWS A NOTED FAMILY IN GEORGIA-TWO NEW COUNTIES FORMED IN 1790, COLUMBIA AND ELBERT.
Preparations for launching the new government were all made by the Continental Congress. This body, into whose hands the supreme control of the nation had been entrusted since 1774, was fated to expire when the Federal Congress should meet on March 4, 1789, to inaugurate a President and to assume the law-making authority conferred upon it by the Federal Constitution. In the meantime, the first Wednesday in January was fixed as the time for choosing electors. These were to meet on the first Wednesday in February and the new Congress was to assem-
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ble on the first Wednesday in March to organize the government of the United States. When the electors met each placed on a ballot two names, whereupon George Washington, of Virginia, having received every vote cast, was declared the unanimous choice of the electoral college for President; and John Adams, of Massachusetts, having received the next highest vote, was named its ehoiee for Vice-President. The date fixed for the assembling of the new Congress was Wednesday, March 4, 1789, and the place of meeting the city of New York. But the members were slow in arriving upon the scene. Fully a month elapsed before a quorum could be counted for the transaction of business, and it was not until April 30, 1789, that Washington took the oath of office as President. We have already observed that three states bitterly fought the new Con- stitution. These were New York, Rhode Island and North Carolina. It was largely to conciliate the first-named state that New York was chosen as the temporary seat of government. Rhode Island did not enter the Union until late in the year 1789 and North Carolina not until 1790.
To conciliate the dissatisfied states ten amendments to the constitu- tion were proposed by the First Congress, all of which in due time became part of the fundamental law.
Georgia's first United States senators were William Few and James Gunn. Her first representatives in the Federal Congress were Abraham Baldwin, James Jackson and George Mathews .*
On August 7, 1790, in New York, a treaty was negotiated with the Creek Indians, at the instance of President Washington, under which, for a monetary consideration, the Indians agreed to validate the treaty of Shoulderbone and to relinquish all right and title to the ceded lands east of the Oconee. But we have already discussed this matter in a former chapter.
Georgia's electoral support in 1793 was given to Washington, for whose re-election to the presidency there was a spontaneous demand from all sections. But for Vice-President she supported George Clinton, of New York, in preferenee to Mr. Adams. Georgia's presidential eleetors in 1793 were: Benjamin Taliaferro and William Gibbons from the state at large, and John King and Seaborn Jones from the two congres- sional district.t
As we shall see later, Georgia, under the census of 1790, lost one of her representatives in Congress.
On February 25, 1795, during Washington's second administration, Joseph Habersham, of Georgia, was commissioned postmaster-general to sneeeed Thomas Pickering of Pennsylvania. # Colonel Habersham held this office until John Adams became President. He was a resident of Savannah, distinguished for his early devotion to the cause of liberty and especially for his prominenee in two daring exploits, the raid on the powder magazine at Yamacraw and the arrest of Governor Wright.
At this erisis in our history, one of the greatest problems of the nation concerned its Indian affairs. To conciliate the savage tribes was a matter of the utmost importance, requiring ability of a high order, knowledge of Indian character, experience in treaty negotiations, and
* "Biographical Cong. Directory, 1774-1911," p. 30.
+ "Lanman's Biographical Annals of the United States Government, " pp. 513-514.
#"Biog. Cong. Directory, 1774-1911,"' p. 9.
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a firm but not an ungentle hand. These qualities were possessed in an eminent degree by Col. Benjamin Hawkins, late a senator from North Carolina. This distinguished man of affairs had long enjoyed the inti- mate friendship and regard of Washington and had frequently served on important commissions. Accepting an appointment from Washing- ton as agent for all the Indian tribes south of the Ohio River, Colonel Hawkins, though a man of wealth, relinquished the comforts of civi- lized life, renounced a political career of great promise and came to Georgia, where for more than twenty years, with his headquarters at the old agency on the Flint River, he dwelt among the Creek Indians, a devoted, lifelong and generous friend of these children of the forest.
The first important service rendered by Colonel Hawkins as Indian agent was in negotiating the Treaty of Coleraine, in 1796, a transaction to which we have already alluded at some length.
But let us retrace our steps. Before electing senators and represent- atives in Congress, it was first necessary for Georgia to adjust her state constitution to changed conditions, to make it conform, in other words, to the Constitution of the United States. As early as January 30, 1788, Georgia had prepared the way for this contingency. In a resolu- tion, bearing the above date, the General Assembly had authorized the governor to call a convention as soon as nine states had ratified the Federal Constitution. At the same time, three delegates were chosen from each county to constitute this convention, subject to the governor's call. Accordingly, when news was received in Georgia that New Hamp- shire-the ninth state to ratify-had put the seal of her approval upon the new compact of union, Governor Handley, who was then occupying the executive chair, summoned these delegates previously named by the Legislature, to meet in Augusta on November 4, 1788. The Legislature was called to meet at the same time for the purpose of choosing presi- dential electors. This convention remained in session twenty days, formulating a state constitution, which was duly signed by all the dele- gates. On motion, 500 copies were printed for distribution over the state. This constitution, however, was not to become operative until revised by another body called under a resolution of the General Assem- bly to meet in Augusta on January 4, 1789. Pursuant to call, this second body met and proposed various alterations and amendments, all of which were then submitted to the Legislature. Thereupon a procla- mation of these changes was ordered. At the same time, the governor was authorized to call a third convention, for the purpose of taking final action in regard to the proposed new form of government. Thus every step taken by Georgia in this crisis of affairs was characterized by great deliberation and thoroughness. It was only another expression of her conservatism as a state. On May 4, 1789, at Augusta, this convention met and, after remaining in session three days, adopted the constitu- tion, without change, as reported by the second convention. It then waited upon the governor into whose hands the new instrument was placed, to be promulgated by him to the people of Georgia.
Much briefer than the state constitution of 1777, this new docu- ment was superior in every way to its predecessor, adopted amid the convulsions of a war with England and without the guiding light of established precedents. It may likewise be said that of all the constitu-
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tions of the state it still holds the record for brevity. Unlike the con- stitution of 1777, it contained no bill of rights, doubtless for the reason that slavery suggested an inconsisteney, if it did not present an obstacle, to such a declaration of fundamental principles. There was no bill of rights prefixed to the Federal Constitution of 1787, due to scrupulous objections on the part of delegates who thought it would not be in keep- ing with the fact that slavery was still permitted to exist. But the state constitution of 1789, in lieu of a bill of rights, did not fail to emphasize certain well-established rights, such as religious freedom, freedom of the press, trial by jury and habeas corpus .*
Some of the changes wrought by the state constitution of 1789 were as follows : it abolished the executive council; it established a bicameral Legislature by creating a State Senate, with powers similar to those still exercised by this body; it retained the House of Assembly, to be called the House of Representatives, but heightened its qualifications for membership. There was to be one senator chosen for every three years from each county in the state; but representatives were to be chosen annually from each county as follows: Two from Camden, two from Glynn, four from Liberty, five from Chatham, two from Effingham, four from Burke, four from Richmond, five from Wilkes, two from Wash- ington, two from Greene, and two from Franklin.
Representatives were to be elected annually on the first Monday in October; senators on the first Monday in October of each third year. The Legislature was to meet annually on the first Monday in November.
While a residence of only two years was requisite to entitle one to a seat in the House, he must also have been a citizen of the United States for seven years; and to qualify one for a seat in the Senate a residence of three years in the state was required, with citizenship in the United States of nine years. Says a recognized authority: t "This is the earliest instanee where any suel discrimination was made in a state con- stitution, and is indicative of the national spirit which existed among the people of Georga at this time."
Senators were required to be twenty-eight years of age and to own property valued at £200; representatives were required to be twenty-one years of age and to own property valued at £150.
Under the state constitution of 1789, the governor was to be elected for a term of two years. The House of Representatives was to nomi- nate by ballot three candidates and out of these the Senate was to eleet one. All other elections were to be made in like manner.
No elergyman of any denomination could be a member of the General Assembly, under the constitution of 1789.
There was to be a Superior Court held in each county twice in each year. The General Assembly was to provide some mode for correcting errors. The office of chief justice was abolished.
Militia officers and secretaries to the governor were all to be appointed.
From an old issue of the Georgia Gazette, dated May 9, 1789, we get this item: "On Monday last (May 4) a third convention met in the
*"Watkin's Digest of the Lands of Georgia, " pp. 25-31.
t "Georgia and State Rights," U. B. Phillips, p. 22.
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Town Hall to consider the alterations proposed by the convention of January last to the Constitution formed by the convention of 1788; and on Wednesday they finally adopted and ratified the new form of government to commence in October next. . The new form being an assimilation to the Federal Constitution, its notification and deposit was announced to the town by a discharge of eleven cannon, in honor of the federated States; when his Honor, with the President and mem- bers of the Convention and the President and members of the Council repaired to the Government House and drank a glass of wine to its pros- perity." Rhode Island and North Carolina were not yet in the Union, which accounts for the above reference to only eleven federated states.
Says a well-known student of constitutional law :* "One of the most important features of this constitution was its organization of the legislative department so as to apply the county unit principle to the enactment of legislation. Under the former Constitution, the executive council voted by conuties, but they did not act at all in the matter of legislation except in an advisory capacity. Under the new Constitution, the composition of the House of Representatives was, to a certain extent, based upon population, and in that body each county might have a diverse voice through the votes of its several members, but before pro- posed legislation could be enacted into law, it had to pass the Senate in which each county had a single and equal voice without respect to population."
Governor George Handley occupied the executive chair from Janu- ary 1, 1788, to January 1, 1789, and witnessed the evolutionary process out of which grew the new state constitution. On January 1, 1789, he was succeeded by former Governor George Walton, a signer of the Dec- laration of Independence, who had held this office during the Revolu- tionary period. He was now called to the helm for a second time. The new state constitution went into effect in October, at which time Gov- ernor Walton was succeeded by Edward Telfair, Georgia's first gov- ernor to be elected after her entrance into the Federal Union. He defeated former Governor John Houstoun, with whom he tied on the first ballot, winning on the second. Governor Telfair was a wealthy Scotchman, with large interests in both Burke and Chatham. He held office until 1793, when former Governor George Mathews, a Federalist, living in the up-country, an uneducated man, but possessed of a strong native intellect, won the governorship.
But to return. On November 26, 1789, shortly after Governor Tel- fair's induction into office, Georgia's first Thanksgiving day was ob- served. At this time the state was called upon to join the Nation in offering thanks to a kind Providence for past favors and mercies. One of the first acts of the new Legislature was to invite Dr. Palmer, of the Richmond Academy, to preach a special thanksgiving sermon at St. Paul's. Upon this service the members decorously attended and on the day following they voted Dr. Palmer a resolution of thanks for his excellent discourse.
The first president of the State Senate of Georgia was Dr. Nathan Brownson, of Liberty County, a former governor.
* " MeElreath on the Constitution of Georgia," p. 88.
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The first speaker of the House of Representatives, under the new constitution of 1789, was Hon. Seaborn Jones, of Richmond. This body as the House of Assembly had existed since 1751.
On December 8, 1790, the Legislature divided the state into three congressional distriets, having been alloted three representatives in Con- gress by the Federal Constitution of 1787. The counties composing these districts were as follows:# Chatham, Glynn, Effingham, Camden and Liberty, comprising the lower or eastern district; Burke, Richmond and Washington, the middle district; and Wilkes, Franklin and Greene, the upper or western district. James Jackson was chosen to represent the lower district; Abraham Baldwin, the middle distriet; and George Mathews, the upper district. These were Georgia's representatives in the First Federal Congress. If Georgia was represented during the early part of the session, her representatives must have been chosen on a general ticket, without regard to districts.
To the Second Congress, which convened on March 4, 1791, Anthony Wayne was elected from the lower district ; Abraham Baldwin from the middle district; and Francis Willis from the upper district.t Francis Willis succeeded General Mathews, who not long thereafter was called to the governorship. In the lower district, Gen. Anthony Wayne-the illustrious "Mad Anthony" of the Revolution-appeared on the face of the returns to have defeated Maj. James Jackson, the incumbent. Accordingly, he received a certificate of election. But Major Jackson filed a contest revealing the fraud by which his opponent had been elected, whereupon the seat was declared vacant. But a motion to seat Major Jackson resulted in a tie, which was decided against him by the adverse vote of the speaker. On returning to Georgia, Major Jackson caused articles of impeachment to be brought before the Legislature against Henry Osborne, judge of the Superior Court, for falsifying and forging the election returns of Camden County ; and such was the weight of evidence adduced to sustain the charges that Judge Osborne was removed from office. ¿ General Wayne, it seems, had unwittingly. become the tool of Major Jackson's enemies. There is no evidence to show that he was a party to any corrupt transaction; and a contest was filed by Major Jackson more for the purpose of thwarting his foes than with any desire to unseat a gallant comrade-in-arms, especially since General Wayne, in 1782, had deputized him to receive the surrender of Savannah, which was then in the hands of the British. When a new election was ordered, Hon. John Milledge, a friend to both parties, was chosen to represent the lower district in Congress.
Soon after this political episode, an Indian outbreak on the north- ' west frontier of the nation led to General Wayne's appointment by President Washington as commander-in-chief of the armies dispatched against these belligerent tribes of the forest. Resuming once more an active military life, General Wayne did not return again to Georgia; but, dying on the shores of Lake Erie, some four years later, he was taken for burial to his native town of Chester, in the State of Pennsyl- vania. Georgia continued to venerate his memory, and some time later
* "History of Georgia," W. B. Stevens, II, p. 394.
+ "Biog. Cong. Directory, 1774-1911,"' p. 33.
+ "MeElreath on the Constitution, " p. 96.
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created a new county to bear his name; but the town of Waynesboro, a thriving community, the county-seat of Burke, had already testified to Georgia's admiration for this gallant soldier: the renowned hero of West Point.
But while, under the Federal Constitution of 1787, Georgia had been allotted three representatives in Congress, it appeared from the Fed- eral census of 1790 that the state's population did not entitle her to three members in this body, and much to Georgia's mortification, therefore, her representation in Congress was reduced from three to two members, at which figure it remained stationary for the next decade. When the Federal census of 1800 was taken it was found that Georgia's popu- lation had doubled and accordingly in the Eighth Congress she was allotted four representatives.#
But, in the Third Congress (1793-1797), there were only two repre- sentatives from Georgia : Abraham Baldwin and Thomas P. Carnes.
There was no change in United States senators until March 4, 1793, at which time Major Jackson succeeded William Few. Senator Gunn continued to occupy his old seat.t Colonel Few had been an officer in command of partisan troops during the Revolution. Two other brothers, Benjamin and Ignatius, had also been officers; while a third brother, James, had been captured and executed without trial, near Salisbury, N. C., by Governor Tryon, in 1771. He was a leader of the famous Regulators, 3,000 of whom were engaged in a battle fought, May 16, 1771, on Alamance Creek, with the king's troops. Capt. James Few has been styled the first martyr of American liberty, since the insurrec- tion which culminated in blood on Alamance Creek marked the begin- ning of the American Revolution.
But returning to Col. Benjamin Few. He seems to have been bit- terly fought by the Yazoo cabel of a later period because of an unsuc- cessful bid offered by him, in association with other men of wealth, for some of the Yazoo lands. Defeated for the United States Senate, he removed to New York, where he became president of the City Bank, a member of the State Legislature, and alderman of the City of New York. He died on June 16, 1827, at Fishkill-on-the-Hudson, where his ashes lie buried.
Two new counties were created by the General Assembly at its ses- sion in 1790; Columbia and Elbert. Columbia was detached from Richmond, with Appling as its county-seat. It contained the historic old town of Wrightsboro, famous for its Quaker colony, a town today marked by its tottering ruins and crumbling monuments; but once an abode of culture, gentleness and thrift. Here lived Col. William Cand- ler, with his kinsmen, the Fews; also the Carrs, the Whites, and other families whose names appear on the muster-rolls of the Revolution. Near the present line of MeDuffie lived Capt. Thomas Cobb, patriot and centennarian, who reached the phenomenal age of 111 years, and became the progenitor of a numerous offspring. Capt. Cobb was not an ancestor of the Cobbs of Athens. But he was the grandfather of Hon. Thomas W. Cobb, a United States senator, for whom Cobb County was named;
* "Biog. Cong. Directory, 1774-1911," p. 29, also p. 55.
t "Biog. Cong. Directory, 1774-1911," p. 36.
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and among his descendants was the late Henry W. Grady. The Cobbs of Athens are descended from John Cobb, who is supposed to have been either a brother or a nephew of Capt. Thomas Cobb. In another part of this county, on Kiokee Creek, was first planted the standard of the Baptist church in Georgia, by the celebrated Daniel Marshall. Here, too, lived the Crawfords; and here, on August 10, 1790, was born the great orator of South Carolina, George McDuffie. The new county, because of its distinguished part in the Revolution, was called Columbia; and its county-seat was named Appling for a well-known family in this locality from which in after years sprang Col. Daniel Appling, of the War of 1812.
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