USA > Georgia > Statistics of the state of Georgia : including an account of its natural, civil, and ecclesiastical history ; together with a particular description of each county, notices of the manners and customs of its aboriginal tribes, and a correct map of the state > Part 4
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Being arrived, on the 1st of February, at the intended Town, before night they erected four large tents, sufficient to hold all the people, being one for each tything ; they landed
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EARLY SETTLEMENT.
their bedding, and other little necessaries ; and all the people lay on shore. The ground they encamped upon is the edge of the river where the Key is intended to be.
Until the 7th was spent in making a Crane, and unlading the goods :- which done, Mr. Oglethorpe divided the people ; employing part in clearing the land for seed ; part in beginning the palisade ; and the remainder in felling of trees where the Town is to stand.
Col. Bull arrived here, with a message from the General Assembly to Mr. Oglethorpe, and a letter from his Excellency Governor Johnson and the Council ; acquainting him that the two Houses, upon a conference, had agreed to give twenty barrels Rice and a hundred head of Cattle, besides Hogs, to the Trustees ; and that they had commanded a detachment of the Rangers (which are Horse, kept in the pay of the Province, for the scouring of the frontiers) and the Scout-boat (which is an armed Bark, employed for the same purpose by water) to attend him, and take his orders.
Col. Bull brought with him four of his Negroes, who were Sawyers, to assist the Colony ; and also brought provision for them, being resolved to put the Trust to no expense ; and by this means, to bestow his benefaction in the most noble and useful manner.
On the 9th day, Mr. Oglethorpe and Col. Bull marked out the Square, the Streets, and forty Lots for houses of the town ; and the first House (which was ordered to be made of clap- boards) was begun that day.
The Town lies on the south side of the river Savannah, upon a Flat on the top of a hill, and sixty yards of it is reserved between it and the Key. The river washes the foot of the hill; which stretches along the side of it about a mile, and forms a terrace forty feet perpendicular above high water.
From the Key, looking eastward, you may discover the river as far as the islands in the sea; and westward, one may see it wind through the woods above six miles. The River is one thousand feet wide ; the water fresh, and deep enough for sloops of seventy tons to come up close to the side of the Key.
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YAZOO FRAUD.
YAZOO FRAUD.
The following account of the Yazoo fraud has been con- densed from a history of the same which appeared in the Mil- ledgeville Recorder, in the year 1825.
The Yazoo speculation was in embryo immediately after tha Revolutionary war. Certain characters viewed our west- ern territory as the land of promise, not for all the good people of Israel, but for a few only who possessed wealth and family influence, and who, by getting into their possession im- mense tracts of country, might soon command thousands of liege vassals bending the knee and paying them homage in their lordly principalities. Their cupidity was exhibited by an asso- ciation of persons styling themselves the "Combined So- ciety," in which an oath was exacted from every individual of secrecy as to their plans and movements. The secret leaked out, and the society, composed of divers persons and soldiers of the war, of aristocratic pretensions, who had combated the British arms more from a desire to erect an oligarchy in Ame- rica than to throw off a foreign yoke, became disbanded. In the year 1789, the famous swindler Thomas Washington, as he called himself, but whose real name was Walsh, set on foot the 1789 speculation. He was a most extraordinary man, one who had borne arms honorably in the service of Georgia, but who cared not for any of the obligations by which, in civil life, man is bound to his fellow. In the daily habit of specu- lation, he would unhesitatingly sell to any applicant, lands, houses, horses, carriages, and negroes, before he had a shadow of property in them. He was artful and cunning in the ex- treme, and, under the appearance of the most perfect candor, succeeded in defrauding most men with whom he dealt. This man associated himself with others, and instigated by the des- criptions of one Sullivan, a captain in the Revolutionary army, who had headed a mob in Philadelphia which insulted the old Congress, and had to fly to the Mississippi for his life, persuad- ed the Virginia Yazoo Company to make its application to our General Assembly. So extravagant were Sullivan's descrip- tions, that in our State, where Washington's character was
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YAZOO FRAUD.
well known, another company was speedily formed. Some of this company were of the former "Combined Society ;" others were men whose characters had not been before impeached. They employed active and wily agents ; and several members of the Legislature were persuaded to become interested, but in no manner of corruption, compared with that of the Legis- lature of 1794 and 5. An act was passed-a sale was made -the people demanded a repeal, and another Legislature de- clared the sale a nullity.
The fire of speculation seemed to be extinct, but the em- bers remained only smothered for a while. In 1794 it kindled into a blaze. Federal and State Judges, members of the Unit- ed States Congress, generals and other high officers of the militia took the lead. The people were stunned by the violence of the praises pronounced in support of the contemplated sale, and blinded by the greatness of the names who favoured it. No attempt was left untried, no artifice not used, to enlist all the leading and influential characters of the State. General James Jackson, then a senator in Congress, was told by a citi- zen high in judicial rank, that he might have any number of acres he pleased to half a million, without paying a dollar, if he would embark his reputation against the honour and inter- ests of Georgia. He replied, " that he had fought for her-for the people-the land was theirs, and the property of future generations ; and that if the conspirators did succeed, he for one would hold the sale void." Every expedient was employ- ed-epistolary intercourse was quadrupled-arguments of every character were used to keep honest men at home-the newspapers were enlisted, and teemed with editorial and com- municated articles in favour of the intended purchase, and eulo- gizing the patriotism of those who projected it-the people were inactive, and, to the great gratification of the traitors who were gulling them, a Legislature was returned which they felt they could play upon. The monsters of corruption pre- vailed. Alas! it is too true that the escutcheon of Georgia was dishonoured. The people have no adequate idea of the scenes represented at Augusta, where the Legislature sat, or of the principal persons who managed the drama,
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YAZOO FRAUD.
nor will we now furnish the names. In the lobbies of the Senate and House alternately were seen a judge of the Su- preme Court of the United States, from Pennsylvania, with $25,000 in his hands, it was said, as a cash payment ; a Judge of the United States District Court of Georgia, passing off shares of land to the members for their votes ; and a senator from Georgia, who had perfidiously neglected to proceed to Philadelphia to take his seat in Congress, and who was absent from his post until the three last days of its session, bullying with a loaded whip, and by turns cajoling the numerous under- strappers in speculation. There were also seen a judge of our State Courts, and other eminent Georgians, surrounding our poor degraded representatives, offering shares, sub-shares, and half sub-shares, striving to frighten some, and to seduce others into compliance with their will. Our sister State, South Caro- lina, was represented by one who was regarded as a prince of speculation, plotting against the honour of Georgia. Many weak men, whose conscience prompted resistance, were in- timidated ; some who could not be persuaded to vote for the sale, were paid to go home, and the virtuous minority were every moment in dread of their lives. To this very minority, however, did the corrupt majority in a few days owe their safety. The disgraceful and nefarious transactions were made known. The people arose in the vicinity of Augusta, deter- mined to put to death all who had voted for the obnoxious act, but were prevented by the intercessions of the same minority whom they had improperly treated. The alarm, on the Gov- ernor's signing the bill, became universal. It was pronounced by all an unparalleled usurpation. No corruption was imputed to the Governor. It is just to his memory-that of a soldier who had won a thousand laurels in the war of independence- to affirm, that weakness of judgment, not corruption of heart, guided the pen which sanctioned the detested statute. Georgia became a perilous residence for all concerned in the specula- tion. A senator from Hancock, to avoid being tied to a sap- ling and whipped, fled to South Carolina, whither he was fol- lowed and killed by some of his constituents. Most of the other perjured members, excepting in one or two counties, con- cealed themselves, not daring to appear in public. The "mark of Cain" was upon them.
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YAZOO FRAUD.
At this time the whole State was in a ferment. The peo- ple were amazed at the perfidy of the Legislature. They had sold to certain companies, for $500,000, 35,000,000 acres of land, and had rejected for a portion of the public domain, not greater in extent, $800,000, offered, but without bribery, by persons "of as large a capital, and as much respectability and credit, and on terms more advantageous to the State." Presentments of Grand Juries, resolutions, remonstrances, and petitions of the people, were made and signed by hundreds in every county. A Convention for altering the Constitution had been called to meet in May, 1795 ; but the members had been chosen at the same time with those of the corrupt Legis- lature. Many of them were the same men, and others were of the same kidney. The presentments, resolutions, remon- strances, and petitions, crowded so fast upon the Convention, that a revision of the Constitution was deferred to a more tem- perate period. The Convention referred all the papers to the next Legislature, and broke up in confusion. The people be- came more and more excited. Betrayed by one senator in Congress, by their legislators at home, by many high judicial officers, and by their Convention, they looked around them for aid-certain of having suffered wrong, doubtful of redress. It was by many believed that the powers of government had ceased, upon the principle that all Constitutions fail, when their purpose, the public welfare, is defeated. Others believed that those powers would cease on the first Monday in Novem- ber, 1795, the Convention having altered the time of Legisla- tive meeting to the first Tuesday in January, 1796, without making provision for the intermediate administration. Under the last impression, an application was made from Columbia county to Major General Twiggs, as the senior major general, calling upon him to convene a Legislature for the first Monday in December, 1795, in conformity with the custom of military of- ficers high in confidence during the troubles of the Revolution. It was apprehended that a sale would be made by the Companies to the United States before the first Tuesday in January, and it was desired that the Legislature should meet on the first Mon- day in December, to annul the act before the forms of legisla- tion could be completed at Philadelphia. Hence the application
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YAZOO FRAUD.
to General Twiggs. It was supported by the respectable names, among others, of James Sims, James McNeil, Peter Crawford, and Moses Waddel ; and represented that, at that alarming crisis, " having no confidence in the civil authority," they conceived themselves under a military government. The honest old veteran declined doing what he conceived he had no power to do, and the people remained remediless. General Jackson, called by the voice of an indignant country, had re- signed his seat in Congress. Letters had been written to him from various parts of Georgia, urging him to become a candi- date for the Legislature from Chatham county. His opposi- tion to the "usurped act" had been well understood. In the presence of General Gunn, Georgia's faithless senator, he had taken occasion to pronounce, in full Senate, on the last day of the session of Congress in the spring of 1795, the speculation, as it was, " a conspiracy of the darkest character and of de- liberate villainy." He published upon his arrival, a series of letters under the name of SICILIUs, in which he strove to ex- hibit the impolicy, illegality, and unconstitutionality of the act. Other patriots stepped forward and addressed the people. The elections eventuated prosperously for the virtuous cause. Every where anti-Yazoo men were elected. The General Assembly met at Louisville in January, 1796. Their first object was an attack upon the infamous speculation. The people had given instructions to annul the abominable act, to restore their rights to them, and their posterity, and to pro- claim to the world their abhorrence of the stupendous fraud which had bartered away their estate. Petitions on petitions, remonstrances on remonstrances, resolutions, and present- ments, again poured in from every quarter. A day was as- signed to consider the state of the Republic, when after de- bate, these petitions, remonstrances, resolutions, and present- ments, were submitted to a Committee, of which General James Jackson was appointed Chairman. On the 22d of January, 1796, the Committee reported, " that there were suf- ficient grounds, as well with respect to the constitutionality of the act, as from the testimony before them of the fraud prac- tised to obtain it, to pronounce that the same is a nullity, and not binding or obligatory on the people of this State." A bill
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YAZOO FRAUD.
rescinding the sale, drawn by General Jackson, was passed by large majorities in both houses. Governor Irwin, an excellent man and patriot, with pride completed the good work by his signature. It is not necessary to inquire here into its consti- tutionality. This is left to men of cold and meditative minds, whose breasts are not fired with a love of country ; not indig- nant against corruption in all its manifestations. The re- scinding law was an act of the people, a movement of the State ; self-preservation demanded, authorized, and sanctioned it ; and its obligatory character, independently of aid from statutes, or common law principles, rested on virtue, justice, and honour. The people approved it. Virtuous spirits all the world over applauded the Assembly that passed it, and Georgia has ever since continued to hold in veneration the memories of her public servants who advocated it.
Having determined that the sale was corrupt and the act of 1795 usurped, it was considered rightful that the records and documents pertaining to the sale should forthwith be de- stroyed, that no monument of its wickedness should remain in the public offices to give flattering assurance to the speculators that their vile machinations might yet be gratified. It was necessary to prove to all by decided conduct, that Georgia loathed the corruption, loathed the speculation, loathed the evidence of fraud, and would never abandon her ground. By order of the two houses, a fire was kindled in the square, and the records and documents burned. The Secretary of State produced from the archives the enrolled bill and " usurped act." These were delivered to the President of the Senate for examination. By him they were passed to the Speaker of the House, who handed them, after inspection, to the Clerk. He read aloud their titles, and gave them to the messenger, who, committing them to the flames, cried out with a loud and decisive voice, " God save the State, and long preserve her rights, and may every attempt to injure them perish, as these wicked and corrupt acts now do !"
Let us not forget the patriots who laboured for this happy issue. Some of them (members of the Legislature) were, from the interior, James McNiel, James Sims, David Merri-
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POLITICAL GOVERNMENT.
wether, John Rutherford, Benjamin Taliafero, William Few, John Twiggs, John Morrison, Charles Abercrombie, and Wil- liam Barnett ; and from the sea-coast, Josiah Tattnall, John Milledge, James Jones, David B. Mitchell, George Jones, and James B. Maxwell. All of these are men of note in Georgia's history. Some of them had been members of the corrupted Assembly. They had resisted with scorn alike per- suasion and threats. They had been no more affected by bri- bery or menace than had been the "Conscript Fathers " in- timidated, when the ruffian Gaul entered the Roman Senate- no more moved by allurement or hostility than the everlasting rocks by surges of the stormy ocean.
POLITICAL GOVERNMENT.
For about ten years after the establishment of the colony of Georgia, the government was administered by Gen. Ogle- thorpe; but in 1741, by order of the trustees, it was divided into two counties, one called Savannah county, embracing the territory north of Darien ; the other Frederica, including the island of St. Simon's, and the Alatamaha settlements, each having a president and four assistants. Over Savannah county William Stephens was appointed President, and Henry Parker, Thomas Jones, John Fallowfield, and Samuel Mercer, coun- sellors or assistants. For the county of Frederica no appoint- ments appear to have been made. This state of affairs con- tinued only until May, 1743, when the trustees ordered, that both counties should be united under one executive, and that the president and assistants of the county of Savannah should have the government of the whole province of Georgia. This plan of government existed until 1750, when the trustees or- dered a colonial assembly to be called, consisting of sixteen members proportioned to the number of inhabitants of the dif- ferent districts; and accordingly the following gentlemen, constituting the first General Assembly of Georgia, met in Savannah, on the 15th of January, 1751.
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POLITICAL GOVERNMENT.
Savannah District .- Francis Harris, Speaker ; John Mil- ledge, William Francis, William Russel.
Augusta Dstrict .- George Catogan, David Douglass.
Ebenezer District .- Christian Reidlesperger, Theobald Kieffer.
Abercorn and Goshen Districts .- William Ewen.
Joseph's Town District .- Charles Watson.
Vernonburg District .- Patrick Houstoun.
Acton District .- Peter Morel.
Little Ogeechee District .- Joseph Summers.
Skidaway District .- John Barnard.
Medway District .- Audley Maxwell.
Darien District .- John McIntosh, B.
On the 20th of June, 1752, the trustees of Georgia resigned their charter, and the province was formed into a royal gov- ernment. Until 1754 the colony remained in a defenceless con- dition, when John Reynolds, an officer in the British navy, was appointed Governor, with powers similar to those of the other royal governments in America. By the instructions of the King the Governor was directed to convene a General As- sembly ; but, as the royal instructions excluded several of the most populous villages in the province, the council divided it into three districts, and on the 7th of January, 1755, the first Legislature of Georgia, consisting of three branches, Governor, Council, and Commons House, met in Savannah. On the 15th of March, 1758, the General Assembly divided the province into eight parishes; Christ Church, including Savannah, Acton, Vernonburg, Sea Islands, and Little Ogeechee ; St. Matthews, comprising Abercorn and Ebenezer ; St. George's, embracing Halifax ; St. Paul's, Augusta ; St. Phillip's, Great Ogeechee ; St. John's, Medway and Sunbury ; St. Andrew's, Darien ; St. James's, Frederica. In 1765, the tract of country lying between the river Alatamaha and the southernmost stream of the river St. Marys, which had been annexed to the pro- vince of Georgia in 1763, was divided into four parishes, thus. All the territory between the river Alatamaha and the north branch of Turtle river, into the parish of St. David. From the north branch of Turtle river, to the southern branch of the Little St. Illa, the parish of St. Patrick ; from the southern
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POLITICAL GOVERNMENT.
branch of the river Little St. Illa, to the southern branch of the river Great St. Illa, the parish of St Thomas ; from the south- ern branch of the river Great St. Illa, to the southern branch of the river St. Mary's, and from the head of the river St. Mary's in a due west line, including all the islands within the said boundary, the parish of St. Mary's. When Georgia, in common with the other colonies, threw of the yoke of Great Britain, the parishes were organized into counties. In the constitution of Georgia adopted in 1777, it was declared, " that the parish of St. Paul should be known by the name of Richmond. The parish of St. George should be known by the name of Burke. The parish of St. Matthew, and the upper part of St. Phillip above Cannouchee, Effingham. The parish of Christ Church, and the lower part of St. Phillip below Cannouchee, Chatham. The parish of St. John, St. Andrew and St. James, Liberty. The parish of St. David and St. Patrick, Glynn. The parish of St. Thomas and St. Mary's, Camden. The ceded lands north of Ogeechee, Wilkes." In 1784, two counties were laid out called Franklin and Washington. Franklin began at the Savannah river, " where the west line of Wilkes county strikes the same, thence along the said line to the Cherokee corner, from thence on the same direction to the south branch of the Oconee river, thence up the said river, to the head or source of the most southern stream thereof, thence along the temporary line separating the Indian hunting ground, to the northern branch of Savannah river, known by the name of Keowee." Washington embraced an extent of country bounded by a line beginning at the Oconee river, where the last mentioned line strikes the same, thence along that river to where it strikes the former temporary line, thence along the said line to the Cherokee corner, and from thence to the beginning. As new territory was acquired, new counties were added, and these were divided and subdivided into other counties. The State now comprises ninety-three counties.
In addition to this division of the State there is an organ- ization of eight congressional districts. First district, has 18 counties, viz. :- Appling, Bryan, Bulloch, Camden, Chatham, Effingham, Emanuel, Glynn, Laurens, Liberty, Lowndes, McIntosh,. Montgomery, Tattnall, Telfair, Thomas, Ware,
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POLITICAL GOVERNMENT.
Wayne. Second district, 14 counties,-Baker, Decatur, Dooly, Early, Houstoun, Irwin, Lee, Macon, Marion, Mus- cogee, Pulaski, Randolph, Stewart, Sumter. Third district, 8 counties,-Bibb, Crawford, Harris, Monroe, Pike, Talbot, Twiggs, Upson. Fourth district, 9 counties,-Campbell, Carroll, Coweta, Fayette, Heard, Henry, Merriwether, New- ton, Troup. Fifth district, 13 counties,-Cass, Chattooga, Cherokee, Cobb, Dade, De Kalb, Floyd, Forsyth, Gilmer, Gwinnett, Murray, Paulding, Walker. Sixth district, 11 counties,-Clark, Elbert, Franklin, Habersham, Hall, Jack- son, Lumpkin, Madison, Rabun, Union, Walton. Seventh district, 10 counties,-Baldwin, Butts, Greene, Jasper, Jones, Morgan, Oglethorpe, Putnam, Taliafero, Wilkinson. Eighth district, 10 counties,-Burke, Columbia, Hancock, Jefferson, Lincoln, Richmond, Scriven, Warren, Washington, Wilkes.
There are 37 counties entitled to two representatives to the State Legislature, and 56 to one.
The State is also divided into 47 Senatorial districts. Chatham constitutes Ist; Bryan and Liberty 2d; McIntosh and Glynn 3d; Wayne and Camden 4th; Ware and Lown- des 5th ; Appling and Montgomery 6th; Tattnall and Bulloch 7th ; Effingham and Scriven 8th; Burke and Emanuel 9th ; Laurens and Wilkinson 10th ; Telfair and Irwin 11th ; Decatur and Thomas 12th; Baker and Early 13th; Randolph and Stewart 14th; Lee and Sumter 15th ; Muscogee and Harris 16th ; Houstoun and Macon 17th; Talbot and Marion 18th ; Pulaski and Dooly 19th; Twiggs and Bibb 20th; Washing- ton and Jefferson 21st; Richmond and Columbia 22d ; Warren and Taliafero 23d; Hancock and Baldwin 24th; Putnam and Jones 25th ; Monroe and Pike 26th ; Crawford and Upson 27th ; Merriwether and Coweta 28th ; Troup and Heard 29th ; Carroll and Campbell 30th ; Fayette and Henry 31st ; Butts and Jasper 32d; Newton and Walton 33d ; Morgan and Greene 34th; Wilkes and Lincoln 35th; Elbert and Franklin 36th ; Oglethorpe and Madison 37th ; Clark and Jackson 38th ; Gwinnett and De Kalb 39th; Paulding and Cass 40th ; Cobb and Cherokee 41st; Forsyth and Hall 42d; Habersham and Rabun 43d ; Lumpkin and Union 44th; Gilmer and Murray 45th ; Walker and Dade 46th; Floyd and Chattooga 47th.
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REVENUE AND EXPENDITURES.
ANNUAL REVENUES AND EXPENDITURES.
REVENUES.
GENERAL TAX, viz., Capitation-tax on free white males, (from 21 to 60)-Slaves-free persons of colour -- Lawyers-Physicians- Factors and Brokers-tax on Land, per acre, according to its clas- sification as to quality-on Town lots, Merchandise, Ferries, Toll-bridges and Turnpikes, the returned value-on Money at interest-Capital of Manufacturing Companies-Capital of Banks of other States employed in this, and sales of merchan- dise by Factors, the amount returned-and on pleasure carriages and billiard tables, the number returned. Net amount, 1848, about $265,000 TAX ON BANK STOCK, special 19,300
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