USA > Georgia > The history of Georgia from its earliest settlement to the present time > Part 13
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against the Indians, that he was unable to com- ply with the request. He sent, however, a letter to General Greene, who, as soon as he was in- formed of the condition and prospects of Clarke, ordered a detachment under Colonel Lee to march to his relief. Almost immediately after- ward, Pickens, was placed in a condition to fol- low.
On the 23d of May, a junction was formed by Pickens, Lee, and Clarke. After reconnoitring the ground and the British works, it was deter- mined to dislodge Grierson, who was garrisoned about half a mile west of Fort Cornwallis, and either destroy or intercept him in his retreat. The attempt was immediately made. Discover- ing that Grierson was in a critical situation, Brown drew out a part of his forces, and made an ineffectual attempt to relieve his subordinate.
Grierson, finding resistance would be vain, evacuated his fortress, and endeavoured, under shelter of a ravine leading to the river's bank, to unite his command with that of Brown in Fort Cornwallis.
In this hazardous retreat, he had thirty men killed, and forty-five wounded and taken prison- ers. Grierson himself was shot, after he had sur- rendered, by one of the Georgia riflemen. A re- ward was offered by the American commander for the apprehension of the offender, but without effect. The death of Grierson was in retaliation for his
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numerous cruelties, but especially for his barba- rous conduct toward the venerable Mr. Alexander a short time previous. As the company of Captain Alexander formed a part of the American force before Augusta, it may easily be conjectured by whose hand Grierson fell.
Brown, finding that he would be closely in- vested, applied himself to strengthen his fortress ; and every part which required amendment was repaired with industry. He placed the aged Alexander, and others who had long been in captivity, in one of the bastions most exposed to the fire of the rifle batteries; one of which was manned by Captain Samuel Alexander's com- pany : thus the father was exposed to be killed by the hand of his son ; but he escaped uninjured.
These preparations on the part of the enemy could not be counteracted. The Americans had but one field-piece, and all that could be done was only to be achieved by close investure and regular approaches.
At length, Colonel Lee suggested the plan of raising a tower of square logs, some thirty feet high, proof against the enemy's artillery, and sufficiently large and strong to sustain a six- pounder.
By the 1st of June, the tower was raised suffi- ciently high to overlook the works of the enemy, and Brown, anticipating the fatal consequences which would result from its completion, directed
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his attention to the destruction of it. Finding it could not be destroyed by fair and open combat, Brown resorted to stratagem to effect his object ; but in this also he was equally unsuccessful.
On the 31st of May, Brown had been sum- moned to surrender, but refused. On the morn- ing of the 3d of June, another opportunity was afforded him, which he rejected.
During the day an incessant and galling fire was kept up from the rifle batteries, which were raised so high as to enable the besiegers to unman the field-pieces, and drive the enemy from the opposite bastions. The six-pounder in the tower had dismounted the enemy's artillery, and ren- dered it useless. They were obliged to dig vaults in the ground within the fort, to secure them- selves from the fire of the American riflemen.
The morning of the 4th, at nine o'clock, was destined for the assault : as the hour approached, and columns were arrayed waiting the signal to advance, a British officer appeared with a flag, and presented a letter at the margin of the trenches, addressed to General Pickens and Colonel Lee, offering to surrender on the conditions specified in the communication. After a day's delay, the terms which the Americans offered as their ulti- matum were agreed to; and, on the morning of the 5th of June, the fort and garrison were sur- rendered.
The British loss during the siege was fifty-two
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MRS. McKAY'S ADDRESS TO BROWN.
killed, and three hundred and thirty-four, in- cluding the wounded, were made prisoners of war. The American loss was sixteen killed, and thirty- five wounded, seven of them mortally. Brown and his officers were placed under a strong guard to secure their safety. Young McKay, the bro- ther of the youth murdered by Brown, endea- voured to kill the latter, but was prevented by the guard. Mrs. McKay was said to have armed herself for the same purpose. As the prisoners were on their way to Savannah for the purpose of being exchanged, she met the escort at Silver- bluff, and, after promising the officer in charge to do no violence to Brown, obtained leave to speak with him. As soon as she was admitted to his presence, she thus addressed him :
" Colonel Brown, in the late day of your pros- perity, I visited your camp, and on my knees supplicated for the life of my son ; but you were deaf to my entreaties : you hanged him, though a beardless youth, before my face. These eyes saw him scalped by the savages under your im- mediate command. As you are now a prisoner to the leaders of my country, I lay aside for the present all thoughts of revenge; but when you resume your sword, I will go five hundred miles to demand satisfaction at the point of it, for the murder of my son !"
Immediately after the capture of Augusta, Pickens and Lee, with a part of the Georgians,
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joined General Greene in his investment of Fort Ninety-Six. The approach of Lord Rawdon at the head of two thousand men compelled Greene to raise the siege and retire toward North Caro- lina. The situation of the British becoming every day more precarious, Ninety-Six was soon after- ward abandoned by Colonel Cruger, who de- stroyed the works, and, retreating upon Orange- burg, formed a junction with Rawdon.
The attention of the continental officers was now turned to the reduction of Savannah; but before this could be accomplished, it was found necessary to organize an expedition against the Indian towns, to chastise the savages and loyal- ists, who had for some time been murdering and plundering along the frontiers. The expedition terminated favourably, and for a few months the inhabitants were left in the enjoyment of peace.
At length, the success of the American army under General Greene in South Carolina enabled him to send a force, commanded by General Wayne, to the assistance of the Georgians.
The British Brigadier-general Clarke, who at this time commanded in Savannah, on learning the advance of Wayne, called in his outposts and made preparations for a vigorous defence. He despatched expresses to the Creek and Cherokee Indians, requesting them to march to his as- sistance ; but the defeats they had suffered from Pickens and Lee had in some measure discouraged
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them. They met in council in the spring of 1782, and while some agreed to join the British on the southern frontier by the middle of May, the greater part of the warriors resolved to remain neutral. In the mean time, in endeavouring to keep open the communication to the southward of Savannah for the purpose of giving free pas- sage to his savage allies, the detachments of the British commander suffered several defeats.
On the night of the 23d of June, three hundred Creek Indians, headed by Guristersigo, reached undiscovered the vicinity of Wayne's camp, and while seeking to avoid it by surprising the pickets, fell upon the main body. After a short conflict the Indians were routed. Scattering into small parties they returned to the Creek nation, leaving seventeen men dead upon the field, and one hun- dred and seventeen pack-horses loaded with pel- try, in the hands of the victors.
Shortly after this, an expedition was organized by Pickens and Clarke against the Cherokees, the effect of which was to bring about a treaty with that nation, by which the Cherokees ceded to Georgia all the lands south of Savannah River, and east of the Chattahoochee, as the price of peace.
Early in 1783, the chiefs repaired to Augusta, and, on the 30th of May, formally ratified the treaty entered into with General Pickens the September previous.
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Another treaty was made soon after with the Creeks, by which the lands claimed by them east of the Oconee River were surrendered to Georgia.
The war was now rapidly drawing to a close. The defeat of Burgoyne at Saratoga, the capture of Cornwallis at Yorktown, joined to the ill-suc- cess which had attended the British arms gene- rally, had rendered the war very unpopular in England.
After numerous debates upon the subject, Ge- neral Conway, on the 29th of February, 1783, moved in the House of Commons, "That a further prosecution of hostilities against the colonies would tend to increase the mutual enmity so fatal to the interests of both Great Britain and Ame- rica."
A change of ministry and policy soon suc- ceeded. General Sir Guy Carleton was ordered to take command of the British forces in America, and, in conjunction with Admiral Digby, was ap- pointed to negotiate a peace with the American government.
On the 2d of May, General Leplie, who com- manded the British forces in the southern depart- ment, proposed to General Greene a cessation of hostilities; but the latter declined entering into any stipulation of the kind without authority from Congress. It was understood, however, that measures were in progress for withdrawing the British forces from America, and that terms of
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SAVANNAH EVACUATED.
peace had been offered by Great Britain to the American commissioners at Paris.
About the 1st of July, a deputation from the merchants of Savannah visited General Wayne, for the purpose of ascertaining upon what terms British subjects might be permitted to remain in the city after it should be evacuated by the troops .of the enemy. 1
After some preliminary difficulties had been overcome, the conduct of the negotiation on the part of Georgia was intrusted principally to Ma- jor John Habersham, and on the 11th of July, 1783, the embarkation of the British troops was commenced. The American army entered and took possession of the city the same day. Be- tween the 12th and 25th of the same month, twelve hundred British regulars and loyalists, five hundred women and children, three hundred Indians, and five thousand negroes sailed from the port of Savannah.
The metropolis of Georgia had been three years, six months, and thirteen days, in the en- tire possession of the enemy; and at several times, the whole state had been under the control of the British government. The number of the disaffected to the republican government appears, by the act of confiscation and banishment, to have amounted to two hundred and eighty. A. considerable number of them were afterward re- stored to the rights of citizenship, and some of
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them to the enjoyment of their property, upon paying twelve and a half per cent. upon the amount thus restored ; and others upon paying eight per cent. into the public treasury.
No correct estimate can be made of the im- mense losses sustained by the inhabitants of Geor- gia during the Revolutionary war. The negroes and other property which was carried off; the houses, plantations, and produce, destroyed by fire; the loss of time, by constant military em- ployment ; the distressed condition of widows, who were left by the numerous murders com- mitted upon the heads of families, and killed in the field of battle,-seem to bid defiance to calculation. If the inhabited part of the state, with all the property it contained, had been valued at the commencement of the war, half of the amount would probably have been a moderate estimate of the loss.
As early as the 30th of November, 1782, pro- visional articles of peace were entered into at Paris between the American commissioners and the commissioner on the part of Great Britain, but the definitive treaties between England, France, and America, were not finally ratified until the 3d of September, 1783. 1
Thus ended the terrible but glorious war of the American Revolution ; terrible in the calami- ties which it brought upon a patriotic people, glorious in its final result. Never in the history
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CONDITION OF THE COLONIES.
of the world did an appeal to arms originate from purer motives, or entail more blessings upon future generations by the success which fol- lowed it.
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CHAPTER XXI.
Condition of the colonies at the close of the war-Re-organiza- tion of the Federal government proposed-Delegates meet at Annapolis-Recommend a convention to meet at Phila- . delphia-Convention meets-Number of states represented -Washington elected chairman-Rules of proceeding-The first questions considered, ratio of representation, and rules of voting-Contest between the larger and smaller states- Vote of Georgia-The executive-A counter project-Grand committee of conference-Proposition of Franklin-Rule of appointment-Committee of detail-New difficulties-Com- promises-Doubts and fears respecting the constitution- Territorial suit between Georgia and South Carolina-Geor- gia called upon to cede her public lands-Congress of 1790 -Slavery petitions.
THE long and bloody struggle against British oppression was now closed. That independence in political action, for which the colonies had dared and suffered so much, was acknowledged and confirmed. They were henceforth, in the eyes of all Europe, free and sovereign states. But they had yet many difficulties to encounter. They were about to take upon themselves a form of government, the permanence of which all pre- vious examples had shown to be precarious and uncertain. In addition to this cause for reason- able doubt, there were others equally calculated
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to operate injuriously to the free working of the new institutions.
The war was indeed over; and peace once more smiled upon the land; but the disruption of so- cial ties during a prolonged contest, the depressed condition of trade, the interruptions which com- merce had so long experienced, and above all, the heavy load of debt by which the nation was encumbered, rendered the experiment of self- government not merely hazardous in the extreme, but, in the opinion of many profound thinkers, certain to end, after the lapse of a few years, in the entire destruction of the commonwealths.
One of the first acts of the disenthralled states showed a thoughtful recognition of the future. They proposed a re-organization of the federal government with powers equal to the importance of its functions.
Delegates from six states, responding to the call of Virginia, met at Annapolis in September, 1786 ; but finding their number so few, and the powers of several of them very much restricted, they resolved to recommend a convention of dele- gates from all the states, to meet at Philadelphia the following May, to consider the articles of confederation, and to propose such changes therein as might render them adequate to the exigencies of the Union.
The proposal was transmitted to all the state legislatures, and was presently laid before Con-
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CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION.
gress. At first, it was received with marked coolness ; but circumstances occurring soon after that rendered some action of the kind imperatively necessary, the proposed convention was sanctioned and approved, and delegates chosen from all the states, except Rhode Island and New Hampshire.
Although the 14th of May was the day ap- pointed for the meeting of the convention, on the 25th there were but seven states represented.
By the end of the month, however, fifty dele- gates from eleven states were present-men highly distinguished for talents, character, prac- tical knowledge, and public services.
Of this convention Washington was elected President. The rules of proceeding adopted were copied chiefly from those of Congress. Each state was to have one vote; seven states were to constitute a quorum; all committees were to be appointed by ballot, and the debates to be conducted with closed doors and under the injunction of secrecy.
The first questions which were considered re- lated to the ratio of representation and the rule of voting in the national legislature ; whether it - should be by state, or by the individual members. The small states desired to retain that equal vote which, under the confederation, they already possessed. The larger states, on the other hand, were firmly resolved to secure to themselves, under the new arrangement, a weight propor-
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tionate to their superior wealth and numbers. Georgia, and the two Carolinas, anticipating a speedy increase of population, voted with the larger states, and representation by population was thus carried by a majority of one only.
The election of the first branch of the national legislature by the people was strongly opposed by Roger Sherman and Elbridge Gerry; the latter of whom said :- " All the evils we expe- rience flow from excess of democracy. The people do not want virtue, but are the dupes of pretended patriots. In Massachusetts, they are daily misled into the most baleful measures and opinions. He had been too republican hereto- fore, but had been taught by experience the danger of a levelling spirit."
In reply to this, Madison and others argued that no republican government could stand with- out popular confidence, which confidence could only be secured by giving to the people one branch of the legislature.
In this opinion the delegates from Georgia co- incided, and voted for the resolution, which was successfully carried, in opposition to the neigh- bouring delegates from South Carolina, who thought a choice by the people impracticable in a scattered population.
The election of senators now came up, and after much debate, it was agreed that their nomi- nation should emanate from the second branch of
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the state legislatures ; and it was carried by a vote of six states to five, that the same ratio of representation should prevail in both branches. When the question arose, " Whether the execu- tive should consist of one person or several ?" it gave rise to considerable hesitancy among the members. At length, James Wilson, of Pennsyl- vania, moved that it be composed of a single person.
After an animated debate, during which C. Pinckney, of South Carolina, denounced unity in the executive officer as the " foetus of monarchy," the motion was carried; Georgia voting in the affirmative.
The mode by which the executive should be elected was next discussed. Wilson proposed at first, doubtfully, the election by the people ; and, subsequently, by a college of electors chosen by the people : Sherman proposed an election by the national legislature ; and this was at length acceded to as part of the plan.
The term of office was then fixed, after con- siderable varying, at seven years, with ineligi- bility afterward. The Georgia members-who preferred three years with re-eligibility-voting with the minority.
A motion to allow the executive a modified veto was next carried; making a vote of three- fourths in both branches necessary to pass laws objected to by the executive.
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Considerable excitement having arisen from the determination of the larger states not to ad- mit an equality of representation in the second branch of the legislature, Paterson, of New Jersey, brought forward a counter scheme.
This counter project, and the plan just re- ported to the house, were referred to a new com- mittee of the whole, and the entire question of . a national government, or not, had again to be gone over.
The report of the committee of the whole being now taken up, each article of the plan previously passed was separately considered anew; many alterations were suggested, and several were made.
Two difficulties, however, presented them- selves, in so serious an aspect, that they threat- ened to result in the breaking up of the conven- tion.
The first of these arose from the determination of the smaller states to agree to no plan which did not concede an equality of representation in the second branch of the national legislature.
As a last resource, the convention appointed a grand committee of conference, consisting of one member from each state.
In this committee, the proposition of Franklin, giving to the first branch of the legislature one representative for every forty thousand persons, according to the three-fifths ratio, with the sole
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power to originate money-bills : and to the second branch, an equal representation by the states : was reluctantly acquiesced in by the larger states, and thus this vexatious question was settled.
The rule of apportionment was another diffi- culty. Paterson, of New Jersey, considered a mere reference to wealth and numbers too vague ; and asked, "if negroes, being regarded in the light of property in the states to which they belong, are not represented in those states, why should they be represented in the general govern- ment ?"
King contended for a compromise between the north and south, and argued that as eleven of the thirteen states had agreed to consider slaves in the apportionment of taxation, taxation and representation ought to go together.
Gouverneur Morris expressed great apprehen- sions of the new states to be formed in the west ; and proposed to leave the future apportionment of members of the first branch to the discretion of the legislature. Edmund Randolph, sup- ported by Mason and Wilson, objected to any such arrangement, as it would put the majority into the power of the minority. The former, therefore, proposed that future appointments should be regulated by a periodical census.
Williamson, of Maryland, moved, as a substi- tute, to reckon in this census the whole number of freemen, and three-fifths of all others. Butler
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and C. Pinckney insisted that all the slaves ought to be counted. Gerry thought three-fifths quite enough. Gouverneur Morris denounced the three-fifths clause as an encouragement to the slave-trade, and an injustice to human nature.
Wilson, while professing his ignorance of the principles upon which the admission of the blacks could be explained, acknowledged the existence of difficulties which were only to be overcome by a spirit of compromise. The voting now com- menced. Butler's motion to count blacks equally with whites was rejected : Georgia voting in the affirmative.
The three-fifths clause, moved by Williamson, was also voted down. Randolph's periodical census was next rejected. The question then recurring on the report of the special committee, authorizing the legislature to regulate future ap- portionments on the basis of wealth and numbers, Gouverneur Morris moved a preliminary proviso, that taxation should be in proportion to repre- sentation, which, being restricted to direct taxa- tion, was unanimously agreed to.
Davie, of North Carolina, now rose and de- clared, "it was time to speak out. He saw that it was meant by some gentlemen to deprive the southern states of any share of representation for their blacks. He was sure North Carolina would never confederate on any terms that did not rate them at least as three-fifths. If the
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eastern states meant therefore to exclude them altogether, the business was at an end." .
This plain speaking brought matters to a crisis. After several ineffectual attempts to restore har- monious action in the convention, a motion was made by Randolph to adjourn till the morrow ; " to devise, (as he said,) if possible, some concilia- tory expedient ; or, in case the small states con- tinued to hold back, to take such measures-what he would not say-as might seem necessary." The adjournment was carried. The delegates from the larger states met in consultation, but nothing could be agreed upon. The next day the ques- tion was set at rest by a failure of the motion to reconsider, and the convention proceeded to take up the remaining articles of the report.
The provisions respecting the national legisla- ture having thus been decided upon, the conven- tion passed to the articles on the executive, and after two warm debates, succeeded, with some few modifications, in completing them.
In the articles relating to the judiciary, no essential change was made.
The amended report was now referred to a committee of detail, which, after an adjournment of ten days, brought in their report-a rough sketch of the constitution as it now stands.
This draft gave to the national legislature the name of Congress ; the first branch to be called the House of Representatives ; the second branch
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the Senate. The name of President was given to the executive.
In detailing the powers of Congress, some new provisions had been introduced by the committee, which were the occasion of exciting considerable feeling in the convention. Those subjects which elicited the strongest opposition were the taxes on exports, the regulation of commerce, and the importation of slaves.
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