USA > Georgia > A standard history of Georgia and Georgians > Part 52
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t "Georgia and State Rights," U. B. Phillips, p. 25.
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On December 14, 1792, while the case was still pending, the Legis- lature passed a resolution declaring that litigation of this character "would effectually destroy the retained sovereignty of the States and would actually tend in its operations to annihilate the very shadow of State governments and to render them but tributary corporations to the government of the United States." To quote an eminent authority on constitutional law: "Ilere for the first time was announced the prin- ciple that the primary allegiance of the citizen is to the State, not to the nation, and that other principle, equally far-reaching, that the State is the judge of the constitutionality of its own acts. These are the bases upon which the theory of State Sovereignty is reared."* Governor Tel- fair, in a message addressed by him to the Legislature, in the fall of 1793, used language as strong as that contained in the resolution of 1792. The idea of bringing suit against a sovereign state was not to be tolerated.
Judgment was rendered against the State of Georgia at the Febru- ary term of the Supreme Court in 1794. But Georgia had fully made up her mind to resist, realizing full well that no means of executing a judgment against a state was known to administrative law. Time was destined to vindicate her course.
The Federal Government did not seek to enforce its judgment. Mean- while a senator from Massachusetts introduced a bill into Congress for a constitutional amendment; while the legislatures of Massachusetts, Connecticut and Virginia all proposed amendments of a like eharacter. In due time an act was passed by Congress making this change in the Constitution and its ratification was announced on January 8, 1798.
Thus the judgment rendered against this state by the Federal Su- preme Court, in the case of Chisholm versus Georgia, lay unenforced upon the court records until all such questions were finally removed from the cognizance of the court by the eleventh amendment to the Constitution of the United States. Says McElreath: "Thus Georgia won the first great fight of the nation for State Rights and wrote her victory into the fundamental law of the nation." t
But scarcely had the excitement incident to this litigation subsided before the state was stirred by a much greater sensation, viz., the Yazoo fraud. This issue was destined for years to disturb the peace of the state and to bequeath its memories of bitterness to remote generations. Governor Mathews had succeeded Governor Telfair at the executive helm and, though at first opposed to the Yazoo purchase, the stout old Federalist at length yielded to pressure, signed the bill alienating Geor- gia's western lands for a small sum of money and unloosed upon the state a sea of troubles, from the effect of which it took her a quarter of a century to recover.
Viewing the whole matter dispassionately and calmly at this late day it seems to us that entirely too much has been made of the Yazoo fraud, especially in its ethical aspects. But such was the odium which came in time to be attached to the whole affair that the one thing needed
* "Fess: Political Theory and Party Organization in the United States," pp. 27-28, quoted in "MeElreath on the Constitution."
t "MeElreath on the Constitution," p. 90.
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to render a man obnoxious was to say that he was connected with the Yazoo frand. For this revolution in public sentiment credit must be given to an individual who stood pre-eminent in the state at this time- the embodiment of its awakened conscience-Senator James Jackson. Divested of all the qualifying adjectives with which we are wont to speak of this transaction, it was nothing more or less than a deal in wild lands, with which some of the leading men of the state were connected. The Supreme Court of the United States adopted this view of the matter. Such was likewise the position taken by HIon. N. J. IIammond, in a strong paper read by him before the Georgia Bar Association at Warm Springs, on July 2, 1896. There never lived a man whose moral sense was more acute than Colonel Hammond's. He was not only a man of high character but a man of vigorous intellect, who had served the state as attorney-general and as member of Congress. In the national arena, Colonel Hammond was the recognized peer of men like John G. Carlisle and Samnel J. Randall. His paper before the Georgia Bar Association was read on the centennial anniversary of the Rescinding Act. Ile ap- proached the subject, therefore, in an academie spirit. But Colonel Hammond, after carefully sifting and weighing all the evidence, was unable to escape the conclusion that Senator Jackson, a consummate politieal strategist, was merely playing to the grandstand in the dramatic fight which he made upon the Yazooists. But more of this later.
To obtain an adequate understanding of this dramatie chapter, we must go back to the Treaty of Paris. This instrument signed in 1783 left Georgia in nominal possession of an extensive area reaching back to the Mississippi River. But there were no white settlements in this western domain. Only a small portion of Georgia's territory lying east of the Oconee River was then occupied by the whites. There was quite a belt of land then known as British West Florida, but afterwards confirmed to Georgia, the titles to which were at this time disputed by Spain and also by the United States Government, as we have already seen in a former chapter. South Carolina likewise claimed these lands as a part of the territory described in her own charter. In fact the state's owner- ship of all these western lands according to Mr. Phillips consisted merely of the right to take possession of them after extinguishing the Indian titles .*
Moreover, these lands were of little value. It was long before the days of the iron horse, of the electric telegraph, and of the various mod- ern agencies of expansion. In fact, most of the states considered it a wise thing to rid themselves of trouble for the future by ceding to the general Government as early as 1787 all claims held by them to western lands. But Georgia was not willing to make an unqualified gift of her unoccupied domain. She offered to surrender a belt of territory 140 miles in width, occupying the lower half of her territory west of the Chattahoochee. But conditions were attached to the offer. The state was to be confirmed in the ownership of lands which it did not eede and was to receive a reimbursement of $171,428, money expended in quieting the Indians. Congress rejected the offer of Georgia, but agreed to accept a cession, if all the lands west of the Chattahoochee
* "Georgia and State Rights, " U. B. Phillips, p. 29.
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were offered and if the conditions were suitably modified. Later, Georgia saw fit to adopt this course.
But for the present, without knowing exactly how she could turn these western lands to profit, she resolved at any rate not to relinquish them to the general Government. In 1789, four stock companies were formed for the purpose of acquiring these lands. They were called Yazoo companies, from the Yazoo River, which traversed a section of the territory sought to be purchased. The Legislature this year passed a bill, approved by Governor Walton, conveying to these companies 2,500,000 acres of land in this state, for a total sum of $200,000. Indian titles were to be extinguished by the purchasers and all money was to be paid in two years. But the purchasers failed to comply with these terms and the agreement lapsed.
But the fever for land speculation was rife among the people of the United States. In 1794 new companies were formed. These sought to buy a much larger area of land. But Governor Mathews was opposed to the transaction; and, when a bill was passed, he returned it with his veto. For a time, this obstacle delayed the Yazooists. But the objec- tions of the governor were finally overcome and he agreed, if certain changes were made, to approve a sale of Georgia's western lands, if a majority of the Legislature still favored such a transfer.
Accordingly, on January 7, 1795, an act was passed ceding to four companies 35,000,000 acres of land for $500,000. The companies re- ceiving this grant were: the Georgia Company, the Georgia-Mississippi Company, the Tennessee Company, and the Upper Mississippi Com- pany. Under the terms of this act a domain of territory was conveyed almost as large as the present area of the State of Georgia. Deeming the sale unwise, on grounds of public policy, William H. Crawford pre- sented a petition to the governor, signed by numerous citizens of Colum- bia County, Georgia. It is said that the governor's secretary-a young man named Urquhart-was so much opposed to the sale that when finally the bill was ready for signature he adopted a ruse. Making a pen, he first dipped it in oil and then gave it to the governor, hoping that when the ink failed to flow the governor would construe it as an omen and would thereupon refuse to proceed further. But the secre- tary's strategem miscarried. Auother pen was ordered and in due time the bill was approved.
At once there arose an issue between the State of Georgia and the Federal Government. The former's right to cede these lands was traversed, in view of the latter's outstanding guarantees and obligations to the Indian tribes. President Washington, on receiving news of the Yazoo sale, transmitted copies of the act to Congress, requesting that it be made a matter of rigid investigation.
But events were already transpiring in Georgia which were des- tined to result in a speedy repudiation of the act. Gen. James Jack- son, then a United States senator, relinquished the toga, returned to Georgia, and began a campaign which was soon to fire the state into a blaze of virtuous indignation. In a series of articles, over the pen name of "Sicillius," he violently assailed the act. These articles ap- peared in the Savannah Gazette and in the Augusta Chronicle .* Blis-
* "Story of Georgia and the Georgia People, " George G. Smith, p. 174.
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tering charges of corruption were made against every one connected with the transaction. To show what a citadel of entrenched wealth and influence Senator Jackson opposed, it is only necessary to cite a few names. Some of the prominent citizens who held stock in the Yazoo companies and who helped to finance the deal were: James Gunn, Senator Jackson's colleague in the United States Senate; Judge McAllister, Judge Nathaniel Pendleton, Thomas Glascock, Thomas Cumming, Ambrose Gordon, John B. Scott, John C. Nightingale, Wade Hampton, Zach Coxe, and a Mr. Maher. These names are all given in Watkins' Digest.
Patrick Henry, of Virginia, and James Wilson, of Pennsylvania, were both connected with similar transactions.
Some of the unsuccessful bidders who made an effort to buy these lands were: Gen. John Twiggs, ex-Governor John Wereat, Col. Wil- liam Few and Hon. William Gibbons. These were all men of the high- est character. In consequence of the feudal enmities engendered by this campaign, Senator Jackson was forced repeatedly into the field of honor. He fought duels with Robert Watkins, with William Gibbons, with a United States commissioner by the name of James Seagrove and with perhaps a number of others. Let us investigate the records to see how the vote stood in the Georgia Legislature. After a heated debate in both branches, the Yazoo Act passed the House by a vote of 19 to 9 and the Senate by a vote of 10 to 8 .*
Those voting for the bill in the House were: T. P. Carnes, Mr. Longstreet, Mr. Gindrat, Mr. Lachlan MeIntosh (not the General), Mr. Gresham, of Greene, Mr. Mowbray, Mr. Gilbert, Mr. Moore, Mr. Howell, Mr. Musgrove, Mr. Hardin, Mr. Watkins, Stephen Heard, Mr. Worsham, Thomas Heard, Mr. Wilkinson, Mr. King, Mr. Rabun, and George Walker. Total, 19.
Opposed to the bill in the House were: George Jones, David B. Mitchell, John Jones, Mr. MeNeal, Clement Lanier, Mr. Shepherd. J. B. Maxwell, and two others. Total, 9.
Those voting for the bill in the Senate were: Mr. King, Mr. Wright, Mr. O'Neal, Mr. Wylie, Mr. Walton, Mr. Hampton, Mr. Cauthon, Mr. Gresham, Mr. Thomas and Mr. Mann. Total, 10.
Opposed to the bill in the Senate were: Mr. Milledge, Mr. Lanier, Mr. Morrison, Mr. Irwin, Mr. Blackburn, Mr. Pope, Mr. Mitchell, and Mr. Wood. Total, 8.
Every member of the Legislature who voted for the bill was charged with bribery. To quote Dr. George G. Smith, not only a distinguished antiquarian but a devout Methodist preacher: "There was a color of truth to this charge when it was found that all who voted for the sale did have shares of stock in the land company, except one man, Robert Watkins." But he further adds that the governor who signed the bill was never accused of being a participant in the profits. Nor was it ever proved, according to Doctor Smith, that a single member of the Legis- lature voting for the bill had not paid a fair price for his stock.
Feeling ran high. Governor Gilmer narrates an occurrence which shows how bent the people were upon punishing the offenders. An indig-
* Ibid., p. 172.
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nation meeting was held in Oglethorpe County soon after the famous Yazoo Act was passed, and one of the citizens on his way to the court- house stopped by to get a friend. He chanced to meet him at the gate, and, seeing that he carried a rope, he inquired :
"What is that for?"
"That is to hang Musgrove with," he replied; and he looked Span- ish daggers as he delivered himself of this information.
But Musgrove, who was one of the offending members of the Legis- lature of 1795, escaped the noose. He managed to catch some wind of what was intended, and in this way succeeded in eluding Judge Lynch. The crowd at the courthouse, however, was more than ready to dispatch him ; and he was lucky to have found an asylum. In May, 1796, a con- vention of the people condemned the sale and urged the next Legisla- ture to rescind the obnoxious act. Senator Jackson's relentless opposi- tion inspired this action. It was also the chief factor in arousing the state into a frenzy of excitement. The Yazoo sale became the dominant issue in Georgia at this time, overshadowing every other question before the people. To rescind the obnoxious act became the objective of a most relentless crusade. On this issue, Jared Irwin, a Scotch-Irishman, born in North Carolina, who was both a patriot of the Revolution and a man of spotless reputation, became a candidate for governor. On this issue, a State Legislature was chosen with an overwhelming preponder- ance of its members opposed to the sale, including James Jackson him- self, who took his seat in the House as a member from the County of Chatham.
In February, 1796, the newly elected State Legislature passed its famous Rescinding Act, to which Governor Irwin's signature was duly attached, declaring null and void the Act of 1795 and repudiating in toto the Yazoo sale. It was then decided to commit to the flames every record, document and paper in any wise connected with this transaction.
There is, perhaps, nothing more dramatic in Georgia's history than the scene enacted in front of the old capitol building, in Louisville, when the records of the Yazoo conspiracy were burned. The traditional accounts of this affair are somewhat variant. We will first give the story which is told by Doctor White .* Says he: "This was executed in a solemn manner. Tradition informs us that when the public func- tionaries were assembled in the State House Square, in Louisville, to commit the registers of dishonor to the flames, a venerable old man, whose head was whitened with the frosts of four-score winters, unknown to any present, rode through the multitude, and made his way to the officers of the government. Alighting from his horse, he commenced an address, in which he stated that he had been led there by a desire to see an act of justice performed; that he did not think that earthly fire should be employed to manifest the indignation which the occasion required, but the fire should come from heaven. With his trembling hands, he took from his bosom, whilst a deathlike silence prevailed amidst the throng, a burning glass ; and, applying it to a heap of papers, the conflagration was completed. Meanwhile the old man retired unper- ceived, and no traces of him could afterwards be found."
* " White's Statistics of Georgia, " p. 347, Savannah, 1849.
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Though Doctor White narrates the foregoing legend, he does not vouch for it, and there is an atmosphere about the account which makes it savor of myth. The accepted version is this: After deciding to com- mit to the flames the various documents involved in the Yazoo transac- tion there was an adjournment of the Legislature to the area of ground directly in front of the State House, where the impressive ceremonial was planned to occur. In ealling down the fire of heaven to consume the mass of papers, a sun glass was used, but it was held in the hand of Governor Jackson himself. This version is corroborated by an old picture which Prof. Lawton B. Evans has reproduced in his "School
KARET
BURNING THE YAZOO ACT
GOV JARED IRWIN SIGNED THE RESCINDING YAZOO ACT FEB 13TH 1796 AND THE YAZOO FRAUD PAPERS WERE BURNED BEFORE THE CAPITOL FEB 15TH 1796 GOV IRWIN. STANDS JUST BEHIND THE MESSENGER WHO HOLDS THE PAPERS
History of Georgia," a picture based upon the recollection of Mr. Wil- liam Fleming, of Louisville, who witnessed the affair. If we ean imagine the picture before us-its features are these: The man with the burning-glass in his hands is James Jackson; next to him stands Thomas Glascock ; then John Milledge. The man on the right is Wil- liam Few, while Jared Irwin stands behind the messenger. David B. Mitchell stands behind Jackson, and Peter Early behind Few. Benja- min Taliaferro, David Meriwether, and David Emanuel were also pres- ent on this oeeasion.
Without seeking to detract from the just merits of an illustrious Georgian, who is entitled to full eredit for having thwarted the designs
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of the speculators, Colonel Hammond, to whom we referred in the begin- ning of this chapter, was clearly of the opinion that entirely too much had been made of this episode by historians, and that Senator Jackson's use of a sun-glass to call down fire from heaven was a fine theatrical performance, which, if not so intended, could hardly have been staged
JAMES JACKSON
Governor and United States Senator: An Implacable Foe of the Yazooists
in ignoranee of its political effect. Had the purchase price been $800,000, instead of $500,000, Colonel Hammond is inclined to believe that we would never have heard of a Yazoo fraud.
Small as was the consideration involved in the transfer, he eites the fact that in 1625 the whole of Manhattan Island, on which New York is now situated, was purchased from the Indians for only sixty guilders, or less than $25: and he is disposed to think that the sale of the wild
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western lands might not have been an unmixed evil, since the plan of having them colonized in large bodies offered superior advantages in some respects to the policy of dividing them into small parcels as re- quired under the new constitution of 1798. To show further that the sum involved was in itself no indication of fraud, as land was then valued, he cites the mere song for which the whole vast Territory of Louisiana was acquired by President Jefferson in 1803 from the Emperor Napoleon.
James Jackson became the popular hero. In 1798, he suceceded Jared Irwin as governor of the state. While occupying the executive chair, he refused to draw a warrant in favor of George and Robert Watkins, who had just completed a digest of the laws of Georgia, to which the state was a subseriber. This was the earliest compilation of Georgia's statutes. But the Watkins Digest contained the forbidden Yazoo Act; and, though it carried the Rescinding Act also, it was still obnoxious to Governor Jackson. He, therefore, remained obdurate. Regarding the Yazoo Act as a usurpation, he did not wish to see it monumentalized. Because of Governor Jackson's unsparing opposition, the Watkins Digest was never given legislative adoption, though a small appropriation was afterwards voted.
Capt. Horatio Marbury, then secretary of state, with two other commissioners, was subsequently authorized to make a digest. William H. Crawford and George Watkins were named to assist him; but the latter, on account of his aggrieved feelings, declined to serve on this commission. Marbury and Crawford prosecuted the task alone; and in due time completed the undertaking. It is known to this day as "Mar- bury and Crawford's Digest of Georgia Laws."
Governor Jackson, though devoid of fear, was not without vindiet- iveness. He showed no quarter to his enemies. Pursuing an old grudge, he caused Colonel Watkins to be put under arrest and tried before a court-martial for having taken without the consent of the commander- in-chief- himself-certain old Indian guns belonging to the Augusta arsenal, with which Watkins armed his militia on muster day. When Maj. John Berrien, a Revolutionary patriot, then treasurer of the state, was victimized by a dishonest clerk, who made way with some of the funds offered to the state by the Yazoo purchasers, Governor Jackson marked him . for sacrifice. It was proof to his mind of complicity with the Yazooists. Major Berrien made the loss good. But Governor Jaek- son insisted on a trial of impeachment, the result of which was, of course, a vindication for the treasurer.
But the Yazoo fraud did not become at once a closed incident. Growing out of the Act of 1796 to rescind the sale, there was no end of complications. Georgia stood by her guns and in the Constitution of 1798 wrote her repudiation of the sale into the state's organic law. All money received for the land was order to be returned to purchasers or held subject to demand.
Meanwhile Congress began to investigate the claims of Georgia to these western lands. It will be remembered that President Washington had addressed a communication to Congress on this subject. Protests from purchasers began to furnish an additional spur. Those who had bought these lands sought redress. The Royal Proclamation of 1763 was
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cited as showing that all lands lying westward of the fountain heads of rivers flowing into the Atlantic were reserved to the crown of Eng- land and exempted from Georgia's grant. On the other hand; under the Treaty of Paris, in 1783, Georgia remained in undisputed posses- sion of all her western lands, so far at least as England was concerned. But the Federal Government itself was a claimant to at least a part of this domain; and in 1798 Congress passed an act providing for a govern- ment of the Mississippi Territory, without waiting for an expression of consent from the state authorities. Georgia filed a remonstrance to this action; but there was no redress. Finally to make an end of mat- ters, Georgia was forced into ceding to the general government all of her western lands. The conditions of this grant which conveyed to the Federal Government a domain containing 80,000,000 of acres were as follows :
1. Georgia was to receive from the United States Government out of the proceeds arising from a sale of these lands the sum of $1,250,000.
2. All persons settled in this territory were to be given valid titles by the United States Government.
3. These ceded lands were to constitute a public domain for the benefit of all the states, to be disposed of as other public lands.
4. The Federal Government at its own expense was to extinguish for the use of Georgia all Indian titles to the remaining lands unceded. This was to be peaceably done, and on terms just to all parties, but with the utmost dispatch consistent with these restrictions.
5. These ceded lands were to be erected into a state and admitted into the Union whenever the requisite population of 60,000 inhabitants was reached.
This treaty of cession was consummated on April 24, 1802, and out of the territory thus acquired were afterwards erected the states of Ala- bama and Mississippi.
Georgia was represented in this important transaction by the follow- ing commissioners : Abraham Baldwin, James Jones, Benjamin Talia- ferro, and John Milledge.
At the same time, the United States Government ceded to Georgia a twelve-mile strip, on her northern border, thus making the thirty-fifth parallel of latitude the state's boundary line on the north.
Without delay, all money paid into the state treasury by the Yazoo purchasers was transferred to the United States Government, thus end- ing Georgia's connection with the Yazoo litigation.
It was further stipulated in the above agreement that a treaty was to be made with the Creek Indians at once, looking to a cession of land ; and this promise was redeemed at Fort Wilkinson within a few months, at which time two bodies of land were acquired, one west of the Oconee River, and the other extending in a belt from the Altamaha River to the St. Marys.
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