Chapter IV: Front Matter (4)

_Population._--The population of Georgia in 1880 was 1,542,180; in 1890 1,837,353, an increase of 19.1%; in 1900 2,216,331, a further increase of 20.6%[4]; in 1910, 2,609,121. Of the 1900 population, 53.3% were whites and 46.7% were negroes,[5] the centre of the black population being a little south of the "fall line." Here the negroes increased, from 1890 to 1900, faster than the whites in eighteen counties, but in northern Georgia, where the whites are in the majority, the negro population declined in twelve counties. Also the percentage of negro illiteracy is higher in northern Georgia than in other parts of the state, the percentage of negro male illiterates of voting age being 38.3% in Atlanta in 1900, and in Savannah only 30.7%. The population of Georgia has a very slight foreign-born element (.6% in 1900) and a small percentage (1.7% in 1900) of people of foreign parentage. The urban population (i.e. the population in places of 2500 inhabitants and over) was 15.6% of the total in 1900, and the number of incorporated cities, towns and villages was 372. Of these only forty had a population exceeding 2000, and thirteen exceeding 5000. The largest city in 1900 was Atlanta, the capital since 1868 (Louisville, Jefferson county, was the capital in 1795-1804, and Milledgeville in 1804-1868), with 89,872 inhabitants. Savannah ranked second with 54,244, and Augusta third with 39,441. In 1900 the other cities in the state with a population of more than 5000 were: Macon (23,272), Columbus (17,614), Athens (10,245), Brunswick (9081), Americus (7674), Rome (7291), Griffin (6857), Waycross (5919), Valdosta (5613), and Thomasville (5322).

The total membership of the churches in 1906 was about 1,029,037, of whom 596,319 were Baptists, 349,079 were Methodists, 24,040 were Presbyterians, 19,273 were Roman Catholics, 12,703 were Disciples of Christ, 9790 were Protestant Episcopalians, and 5581 were Congregationalists.

_Government._--The present constitution, which was adopted in 1877,[6] provides for a system of government similar in general to that of the other states (see UNITED STATES). The executive officials are elected for a term of two years, and the judges of the Supreme Court and of the court of appeals for six years, while those of the superior court and of the ordinaries and the justices of the peace are chosen every four years. Before 1909 all male citizens of the United States at least twenty-one years of age (except those mentioned below), who had lived in the state for one year immediately preceding an election and in the county six months, and had paid their taxes, were entitled to vote. From the suffrage and the holding of office are excluded idiots and insane persons and all those who have been convicted of treason, embezzlement, malfeasance in office, bribery or larceny, or any crime involving moral turpitude and punishable under the laws of the state by imprisonment in the penitentiary--this last disqualification, however, is removable by a pardon for the offence. Before 1909 there was no constitutional discrimination aimed against the exercise of the suffrage by the negro, but in fact the negro vote had in various ways been greatly reduced. By a constitutional amendment adopted by a large majority at a special election in October 1908, new requirements for suffrage, designed primarily to exclude negroes, especially illiterate negroes, were imposed (supplementary to the requirements mentioned above concerning age, residence and the payment of taxes), the amendment coming into effect on the 1st of January 1909: in brief this amendment requires that the voter shall have served in land or naval forces of the United States or of the Confederate States or of the state of Georgia in time of war, or be lawfully descended from some one who did so serve; or that he be a person of good character who proves to the satisfaction of the registrars of elections that he understands the duties and obligations of a citizen; or that he read correctly in English and (unless physically disabled) write any paragraph of the Federal or state constitution; or that he own 40 acres of land or property valued at $500 and assessed for taxation. After the 1st of January 1915 no one may qualify as a voter under the first or second of these clauses (the "grandfather" and "understanding" clauses); but those who shall have registered under their requirements before the 1st of January 1915 thus become voters for life.

The governor, who receives a salary of $5000, must be at least thirty years old, must at the time of his election have been a citizen of the United States for fifteen years and of the state for six years, and "shall not be eligible to re-election after the expiration of a second term, for the period of four years." In case of his "death, removal or disability," the duties of his office devolve in the first instance upon the president of the Senate, and in the second upon the speaker of the House of Representatives. The governor's power of veto extends to separate items in appropriation bills, but in every case his veto may be overridden by a two-thirds vote of the legislature. An amendment to the constitution may be proposed by a two-thirds vote of the legislature, and comes into effect on receiving a majority of the popular vote. Members of the Senate must be at least twenty-five years old, must be citizens of the United States, and must, at the time of their election, have been citizens of the state for four years, and of the senatorial district for one year; representatives must be at least twenty-one years old, and must, at the time of their election, have been citizens of the state for two years. By law, in Georgia, lobbying is a felony.

Habitual intoxication, wilful desertion for three years, cruel treatment, and conviction for an offence the commission of which involved moral turpitude and for which the offender has been sentenced to imprisonment for at least two years, are recognized as causes for divorce. All petitions for divorce must be approved by two successive juries, and a woman holds in her own name all property acquired before and after marriage. Marriage between the members of the white and negro races is prohibited by law.

As the result of the general campaign against child labour, an act was passed in 1906 providing that no child under 10 shall be employed or allowed to labour in or about any factory, under any circumstances; after the 1st of January 1907 no child under 12 shall be so employed, unless an orphan with no other means of support, or unless a widowed mother or disabled or aged father is dependent on the child's labour, in which case a certificate to the facts, holding good for one year only, is required; after the 1st of January 1908 no child under 14 shall be employed in a factory between the hours of 7 P.M. and 6 A.M.; after the same date no child under 14 shall be employed in any factory without a certificate of school attendance for 12 weeks (of which 6 weeks must be consecutive) of the preceding year; no child shall be employed without the filing of an affidavit as to age. Making a false affidavit as to age or as to other facts required by the act, and the violation of the act by any agent or representative of a factory or by any parent or guardian of a child are misdemeanours.

In 1907 a state law was passed prohibiting after the 1st of January 1908 the manufacture or sale of intoxicating liquors; nine-tenths of the counties of the state, under local option laws, were already "dry" at the passage of this bill. The law permits druggists to keep for sale no other form of alcoholic drink than pure alcohol; physicians prescribing alcohol must fill out a blank, specifying the patient's ailment, and certifying that alcohol is necessary; the prescription must be filled the day it is dated, must be served directly to the physician or to the patient, must not call for more than a pint, and may not be refilled.[7]

The state supports four benevolent institutions: a lunatic asylum for the whites and a similar institution for the negroes, both at Milledgeville, an institute for the deaf and dumb at Cave Spring, and an academy for the blind at Macon. There are also a number of private charitable institutions, the oldest being the Bethesda orphan asylum, near Savannah, founded by George Whitefield in 1739. The Methodist, Baptist, Roman Catholic and Protestant Episcopal Churches, and the Hebrews of the state also support homes for orphans. A penitentiary was established in 1817 at Milledgeville. In 1866 the lease system was introduced, by which the convicts were leased for a term of years to private individuals. In 1897 this was supplanted by the contract system, by which a prison commission accepted contracts for convict labour, but the prisoners were cared for by state officials. But the contract system for convicts and the peonage system (under which immigrants were held in practical slavery while they "worked out" advances made for passage-money, &c.) were still sources of much injustice. State laws made liable to prosecution for misdemeanour any contract labourer who, having received advances, failed for any but good cause to fulfil the contract; or any contract labourer who made a second contract without giving notice to his second employer of a prior and unfulfilled contract; or any employer of a labourer who had not completed the term of a prior contract. In September 1908, after an investigation which showed that many wardens had been in the pay of convict lessees and that terrible cruelty had been practised in convict camps, an extra session of the legislature practically put an end to the convict lease or contract system; the act then passed provided that after the 31st of March 1909, the date of expiration of leases in force, no convicts may be leased for more than twelve months and none may be leased at all unless there are enough convicts to supply all demands for convict labour on roads made by counties, each county to receive its _pro rata_ share on a population basis, and to satisfy all demands made by municipalities which thus secure labour for $100 per annum (per man) paid into the state treasury, and all demands made by the state prison farm and factory established by this law.

_Education._--Georgia's system of public instruction was not instituted until 1870, but as early as 1817 the legislature provided a fund for the education in the private schools of the state of children of indigent parents. The constitution of 1868 authorized "a thorough system of general education, to be for ever free to all children of the State," and in 1870 the first public school law was enacted. Education, however, has never been made compulsory. The constitution, as amended in 1905, provides that elections on the question of local school taxes for counties or for school districts may be called upon a petition signed by one-fourth of the qualified voters of the county, or district, in question; under this provision several counties and a large number of school districts are supplementing the general fund. But the principal source of the annual school revenue is a state tax; the fund derived from this tax, however, is not large enough. In 1908 the common school fund approximated $3,786,830, of which amount the state paid $2,163,200 and about $1,010,680 was raised by local taxation. In 1908 69% of the school population (79% of whites; 58% of negroes) were enrolled in the schools; in 1902 it was estimated that the negroes, 52.3% of whom (10 years of age and over) were illiterates (i.e. could not write or could neither read nor write) in 1900 (81.6% of them were illiterate in 1880), received the benefit of only about a fifth of the school fund. Of the total population, 10 years of age and over, 30.5% were illiterates in 1900--49.9% were illiterates in 1880--and as regards the whites of native birth alone, Georgia ranked ninth in illiteracy, in 1900, among the states and territories of the Union. Of the illiterates about four-fifths were negroes in 1900. In addition to the public schools, the state also supports the University of Georgia; and in 1906 $235,000 was expended for the support of higher education. In 1906-1907 eleven agricultural and mechanical arts colleges were established, one in each congressional district of the state. Of the colleges of the university, Franklin was the first state college chartered in America (1785); the Medical College of Georgia, at Augusta, was opened in 1829; the State College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts was established at Athens in 1872; the North Georgia Agricultural College, at Dahlonega, was opened in 1873; the Georgia School of Technology, at Atlanta, in 1888; the Georgia Normal and Industrial College (for women), in Milledgeville, in 1899; the Georgia State Normal School, at Athens, in 1895; the Georgia State Industrial College for Coloured Youth, near Savannah, in 1890; the School of Pharmacy, at Athens, in 1903; and the School of Forestry, and the Georgia State College of Agriculture, at Athens, in 1906. Affiliated with the university, but not receiving state funds, are three preparatory schools, the South Georgia Military and Agricultural College at Thomasville, the Middle Georgia Military and Agricultural College at Milledgeville, and the West Georgia Agricultural and Mechanical College at Hamilton. Among the institutions generally grouped as denominational are--Baptist: Mercer University, at Macon (Penfield, 1837; Macon, 1871), Shorter College (1877) at Rome, Spelman Seminary (1881) in Atlanta for negro women and girls, and Bessie Tift College, formerly Monroe College (1849) for women, at Forsyth; Methodist Episcopal: Emory College (1836), at Oxford, and Wesleyan Female College (1836) at Macon, both largely endowed by George Ingraham Seney (1837-1893), and the latter one of the earliest colleges for women in the country; Methodist Episcopal Church, South: Young Harris College (1855) at Young Harris, Andrew Female College (1854) at Cuthbert, and Dalton Female College (1872) at Dalton; Presbyterian: Agnes Scott College at Decatur; and African Methodist Episcopal: Morris Brown College (1885) at Atlanta. A famous school for negroes is the non-sectarian Atlanta University (incorporated in 1867, opened in 1869), which has trained many negroes for teaching and other professions. Non-sectarian colleges for women are: Lucy Cobb Institute (1858) at Athens, Cox College (1843) at College Park, near Atlanta, and Brenau College Conservatory (1878) at Gainesville.

_Finance._--The assessed value of taxable property in 1910 was about
$735,000,000. A general property tax, which furnishes about
four-fifths of the public revenue, worked so inequitably that a Board
of Equalization was appointed in 1901. By the Constitution the tax
rate is limited to $5 on the thousand, and, as the rate of taxation
has increased faster than the taxable property, the state has been
forced to contract several temporary loans since 1901, none of which
has exceeded $200,000, the limit for each year set by the
Constitution. On the 1st of January 1910 the bonded debt was
$6,944,000, mainly incurred by the extravagance of the Reconstruction
administration (see _History_, below). Each year $100,000 of this debt
is paid off, and there are annual appropriations for the payment of
interest (about $303,260 in 1910). The state owns the Western &
Atlantic railway (137 m. long) from Chattanooga, Tennessee, to
Atlanta, which has valuable terminal facilities in both cities, and
which in 1910 was estimated to be worth $8,400,240 (more than the
amount of the bonded debt); this railway the state built in 1841-1850,
and in 1890 leased for 29 years, at an annual rental of $420,012, to
the Nashville, Chattanooga & St Louis railway.

Banking in Georgia is in a prosperous condition. The largest class of
depositors are the farmers, who more and more look to the banks for
credit, instead of to the merchants and cotton speculators. Hence the
number of banks in agricultural districts is increasing. The state
treasurer is the bank examiner, and to him all banks must make a
quarterly statement and submit their books for examination twice a
year. The legal rate of interest is 7%, but by contract it may be 8%.

_History._--Georgia derives its name from King George II. of Great Britain. It was the last to be established of the English colonies in America. Its formation was due to a desire of the British government to protect South Carolina from invasion by the Spaniards from Florida and by the French from Louisiana, as well as to the desire of James Edward Oglethorpe (q.v.) to found a refuge for the persecuted Protestant sects and the unfortunate but worthy indigent classes of Europe. A charter was granted in 1732 to "the Trustees for establishing the colony of Georgia in America," and parliament gave L10,000 to the enterprise. The first settlement was made at Savannah in 1733 under the personal supervision of Oglethorpe. The early colonists were German Lutherans (Salzburgers), Piedmontese, Scottish Highlanders, Swiss, Portuguese Jews and Englishmen; but the main tide of immigration, from Virginia and the Carolinas, did not set in until 1752. As a bulwark against the Spanish, the colony was successful, but as an economic experiment it was a failure. The trustees desired that there should be grown in the colony wine grapes, hemp, silk and medical plants (barilla, kali, cubeb, caper, madder, &c.) for which England was dependent upon foreign countries; they required the settlers to plant mulberry trees, and forbade the sale of rum, the chief commercial staple of the colonies. They also forbade the introduction of negro slaves. Land was leased by military tenure, and until 1739 grants were made only in male tail and alienations were forbidden. The industries planned for the colony did not thrive, and as sufficient labour could not be obtained, the importation of slaves was permitted under certain conditions in 1749. About the same time the House of Commons directed the trustees to remove the prohibition on the sale of rum. In 1753 the charter of the trustees expired and Georgia became a royal province.

Under the new regime the colony was so prosperous that Sir James Wright (1716-1785), the last of the royal governors, declared Georgia to be "the most flourishing colony on the continent." The people were led to revolt against the mother country through sympathy with the other colonies rather than through any grievance of their own. The centre of revolutionary ideas was St John's Parish, settled by New Englanders (chiefly from Dorchester, Massachusetts). The Loyalist sentiment was so strong that only five of the twelve parishes sent representatives to the First Provincial Congress, which met on the 18th of January 1775, and its delegates to the Continental Congress therefore did not claim seats in that assembly. But six months later all the parishes sent representatives to another Provincial Congress which met on the 4th of July 1775. Soon afterward the royal government collapsed and the administration of the colony was assumed by a council of safety.

The war that followed was really a severe civil conflict, the Loyalist and Revolutionary parties being almost equal in numbers. In 1778 the British seized Savannah, which they held until 1782, meanwhile reviving the British civil administration, and in 1779 they captured Augusta and Sunbury; but after 1780 the Revolutionary forces were generally successful. Civil affairs also fell into confusion. In 1777 a state constitution was adopted, but two factions soon appeared in the government, led by the governor and the executive council respectively, and harmony was not secured until 1781.

Georgia's policy in the formation of the United States government was strongly national. In the constitutional convention of 1787 its delegates almost invariably gave their support to measures designed to strengthen the central government. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify (January 2, 1788), and one of the three that ratified unanimously, the Federal Constitution. But a series of conflicts between the Federal government and the state government caused a decline of this national sentiment and the growth of States Rights theories.

First of these was the friction involved in the case, before the Supreme Court of the United States, of _Chisolm_ v. _Georgia_, by which the plaintiff, one Alexander Chisolm, a citizen of South Carolina, secured judgment in 1793 against the state of Georgia (see 2 Dallas Reports 419). In protest, the Georgia House of Representatives, holding that the United States Supreme Court had no constitutional power to try suits against a sovereign state, resolved that any Federal marshal who should attempt to execute the court's decision would be "guilty of felony, and shall suffer death, without benefit of clergy, by being hanged." No effort was made to execute the decision, and in 1798 the Eleventh Amendment to the Federal Constitution was adopted, taking from Federal courts all jurisdiction over any suit brought "against one of the United States by citizens of another state, or by citizens or subjects of any foreign state."

The position of Congress and of the Supreme Court with reference to Georgia's policy in the Yazoo Frauds also aroused distrust of the Federal government. In 1795 the legislature granted for $500,000 the territory extending from the Alabama and Coosa rivers to the Mississippi river and between 35 deg. and 31 deg. N. lat. (almost all of the present state of Mississippi and more than half of the present state of Alabama) to four land companies, but in the following year a new legislature rescinded the contracts on the ground that they had been fraudulently and corruptly made, as was probably the case, and the rescindment was embodied in the Constitution of 1798., In the meantime the United States Senate had appointed a committee to inquire into Georgia's claim to the land in question, and as this committee pronounced that claim invalid, Congress in 1800 established a Territorial government over the region. The legislature of Georgia remonstrated but expressed a willingness to cede the land to the United States, and in 1802 the cession was ratified, it being stipulated among other things that the United States should pay to the state $1,250,000, and should extinguish "at their own expense, for the use of Georgia, as soon as the same can be peaceably obtained on reasonable terms," the Indian title to all lands within the state of Georgia. Eight years later the Supreme Court of the United States decided in the case of _Fletcher_ v. _Peck_ (6 Cranch 87) that such a rescindment as that in the new state constitution was illegal, on the ground that a state cannot pass a law impairing the obligation of contracts; and at an expense of more than four millions of dollars the Federal government ultimately extinguished all claims to the lands.

This decision greatly irritated the political leaders of Georgia, and the question of extinguishing the Indian titles, on which there had long been a disagreement, caused further and even more serious friction between the Federal and state authorities. The National government, until the administration of President Jackson, regarded the Indian tribes as sovereign nations with whom it alone had the power to treat, while Georgia held that the tribes were dependent communities with no other right to the soil than that of tenants at will. In 1785 Georgia made treaties with the Creeks by which those Indians ceded to the state their lands S. and W. of the Altamaha river and E. of the Oconee river, but after a remonstrance of one of their half-breed chiefs Congress decided that the cessions were invalid, and the National government negotiated, in 1790, a new treaty which ceded only the lands E. of the Oconee. The state appealed to the National government to endeavour to secure further cessions, but none had been made when, in 1802, the United States assumed its obligation to extinguish all Indian titles within the state. Several cessions were made between 1802 and 1824, but the state in the latter year remonstrated in vigorous terms against the dilatory manner in which the National government was discharging its obligation, and the effect of this was that in 1825 a treaty was negotiated at Indian Springs by which nearly all the Lower Creeks agreed to exchange their remaining lands in Georgia for equal territory beyond the Mississippi. But President J.Q. Adams, learning that this treaty was not approved by the entire Creek nation, authorized a new one, signed at Washington in 1826, by which the treaty of 1825 was abrogated and the Creeks kept certain lands W. of the Chattahoochee. The Georgia government, under the leadership of Governor George M. Troup (1780-1856), had proceeded to execute the first treaty, and the legislature declared the second treaty illegal and unconstitutional. In reply to a communication of President Adams early in 1827 that the United States would take strong measures to enforce its policy, Governor Troup declared that he felt it his duty to resist to the utmost any military attack which the government of the United States should think proper to make, and ordered the military companies to prepare to resist "any hostile invasion of the territory of this state." But the strain produced by these conditions was relieved by information that new negotiations had been begun for the cession of all Creek lands in Georgia. These negotiations were completed late in the year.

There was similar conflict in the relation of the United States and Georgia with the Cherokees. In 1785 the Cherokees of Georgia placed themselves under the protection of the Federal government, and in 1823 their chiefs, who were mostly half-breeds, declared: "It is the fixed and unalterable determination of this nation never again to cede one foot more of land," and that they could not "recognize the sovereignty of any state within the limits of their territory"; in 1827 they framed a constitution and organized a representative government. President Monroe and President J.Q. Adams treated the Cherokees with the courtesy due to a sovereign nation, and held that the United States had done all that was required to meet the obligation assumed in 1802. The Georgia legislature, however, contended that the United States had not acted in good faith, declared that all land within the boundaries of the state belonged to Georgia, and in 1828 extended the jurisdiction of Georgia law to the Cherokee lands. Then President Jackson, holding that Georgia was in the right on the Indian question, informed the Cherokees that their only alternative to submission to Georgia was emigration. Thereupon the chiefs resorted to the United States Supreme Court, which in 1832 declared that the Cherokees formed a distinct community "in which the laws of Georgia have no force," and annulled the decision of a Georgia court that had extended its jurisdiction into the Cherokee country (_Worcester_ v. _Georgia_). But the governor of Georgia declared that the decision was an attempt at usurpation which would meet with determined resistance, and President Jackson refused to enforce the decree. The President did, however, work for the removal of the Indians, which was effected in 1838.

On account of these conflicts a majority of Georgians adopted the principles of the Democratic-Republican party, and early in the 19th century the people were virtually unanimous in their political ideas. Local partisanship centred in two factions: one, led by George M. Troup, which represented the interests of the aristocratic and slave-holding communities; the other, formed by John Clarke (1766-1832) and his brother Elijah, found support among the non-slave-holders and the frontiersmen. The cleavage of these factions was at first purely personal; but by 1832 it had become one of principle. Then the Troup faction under the name of States Rights party, endorsed the nullification policy of South Carolina, while the Clarke faction, calling itself a Union party, opposed South Carolina's conduct, but on the grounds of expediency rather than of principle. On account, however, of its opposition to President Jackson's attitude toward nullification, the States Rights party affiliated with the new Whig party, which represented the national feeling in the South, while the Union party was merged into the Democratic party, which emphasized the sovereignty of the states.

The activity of Georgia in the slavery controversy was important. As early as 1835 the legislature adopted a resolution which asserted the legality of slavery in the Territories, a principle adopted by Congress in the Kansas Bill in 1854, and in 1847 ex-Governor Wilson Lumpkin (1783-1870) advocated the organization of the Southern states to resist the aggression of the North. Popular opinion at first opposed the Compromise of 1850, and some politicians demanded immediate secession from the Union; and the legislature had approved the Alabama Platform of 1848. But Congressmen Robert Toombs, Alexander H. Stephens, Whigs, and Howell Cobb, a Democrat, upon their return from Washington, contended that the Compromise was a great victory for the South, and in a campaign on this issue secured the election of such delegates to the state convention (at Milledgeville) of 1850 that that body adopted on the 10th of December, by a vote of 237 to 19, a series of conciliatory resolutions, since known as the "Georgia Platform," which declared in substance: (1) that, although the state did not wholly approve of the Compromise, it would "abide by it as a permanent adjustment of this sectional controversy," to preserve the Union, as the thirteen original colonies had found compromise necessary for its formation; (2) that the state "will and ought to resist, even (as a last resort) to the disruption of every tie that binds her to the Union," any attempt to prohibit slavery in the Territories or a refusal to admit a slave state. The adoption of this platform was accompanied by a party reorganization, those who approved it organizing the Constitutional Union party, and those who disapproved, mostly Democrats, organizing the Southern Rights party; the approval in other states of the Georgia Platform in preference to the Alabama Platform (see ALABAMA) caused a reaction in the South against secession. The reaction was followed for a short interval by a return to approximately the former party alignment, but in 1854 the rank and file of the Whigs joined the American or Know-Nothing party while most of the Whig leaders went over to the Democrats. The Know-Nothing party was nearly destroyed by its crushing defeat in 1856 and in the next year the Democrats by a large majority elected for governor Joseph Emerson Brown (1821-1894) who by three successive re-elections was continued in that office until the close of the Civil War. Although Governor Brown represented the poorer class of white citizens he had taken a course in law at Yale College, had practised law, and at the time of his election was judge of a superior court; although he had never held slaves he believed that the abolition of slavery would soon result in the ruin of the South, and he was a man of strong convictions. The Kansas question and the attitude of the North toward the decision in the Dred Scott case were arousing the South when he was inaugurated the first time, and in his inaugural address he clearly indicated that he would favour secession in the event of any further encroachment on the part of the North. In July 1859 Senator Alfred Iverson (1798-1874) declared that in the event of the election of a Free-Soil resident in 1860 he would favour the establishment of an independent confederacy; later in the same year Governor Brown expressed himself to a similar effect and urged the improvement of the military service. On the 7th of November following the election of President Lincoln the governor, in a special message to the legislature, recommended the calling of a convention to decide the question of secession, and Alexander H. Stephens was about the only prominent political leader who contended that Lincoln's election was insufficient ground for such action. On the 17th of November the legislature passed an act directing the governor to order an election of delegates on the 2nd of January 1861 and their meeting in a convention on the 16th. On the 19th this body passed an ordinance of secession by a vote of 208 to 89. Already the first regiment of Georgia Volunteers, under Colonel Alexander Lawton (1818-1896) had seized Fort Pulaski at the mouth of the Savannah river and now Governor Brown proceeded to Augusta and seized the Federal arsenal there. Toward the close of the same year, however, Federal warships blockaded Georgia's ports, and early in 1862 Federal forces captured Tybee Island, Fort Pulaski, St Mary's, Brunswick and St Simon Island. Georgia had responded freely to the call for volunteers, but when the Confederate Congress had passed, in April 1862, the Conscript Law which required all white men (except those legally exempted from service) between the ages of 18 and 35 to enter the Confederate service, Governor Brown, in a correspondence with President Davis which was continued for several months, offered serious objections, his leading contentions being that the measure was unnecessary as to Georgia, unconstitutional, subversive of the state's sovereignty, and therefore "at war with the principles for the support of which Georgia entered into this revolution."

In 1863 north-west Georgia was involved in the Chattanooga campaign. In the following spring Georgia was invaded from Tennessee by a Federal army under General William T. Sherman; the resistance of General Joseph E. Johnston and General J.B. Hood proved ineffectual; and on the 1st of September Atlanta was taken. Then Sherman began his famous "march to the sea," from Atlanta to Savannah, which revealed the weakness of the Confederacy. In the spring of 1865, General J.H. Wilson with a body of cavalry entered the state from Alabama, seized Columbus and West Point on the 16th of April, and on the 10th of May captured Jefferson Davis, president of the Confederacy, at Irwinville in Irwin county.

In accord with President Andrew Johnson's plan for reorganizing the Southern States, a provisional governor, James Johnson, was appointed on the 17th of June 1865, and a state convention reformed the constitution to meet the new conditions, rescinding the ordinance of secession, abolishing slavery and formally repudiating the state debt incurred in the prosecution of the war. A governor and legislature were elected in November 1865, the legislature ratified the Thirteenth Amendment on the 9th of December and five days later the governor-elect was inaugurated. But both the convention and legislature incurred the suspicion and ill-will of Congress; the convention had congratulated the president on his policy, memorialized him on behalf of Jefferson Davis, and provided pensions for disabled Confederate soldiers and the widows of those who had lost their lives during the war, while the legislature passed apprenticeship, labour and vagrancy laws to protect and regulate the negroes, and rejected the Fourteenth Amendment. Although the civil rights were conferred upon the freedmen, Congress would not tolerate the political incapacity and social inferiority which the legislature had assigned to them, and therefore Georgia was placed under military government, as part of the third military district, by the Reconstruction Act of the 2nd of March 1867. Under the auspices of the military authorities registration of electors for a new state convention was begun and 95,168 negroes and 96,333 whites were registered. The acceptance of the proposition to call the convention and the election of many conscientious and intelligent delegates were largely due to the influence of ex-Governor Brown, who was strongly convinced that the wisest course for the South was to accept quickly what Congress had offered. The convention met in Atlanta on the 9th of December 1867 and by March 1868 had revised the constitution to meet the requirements of the Reconstruction Acts. The constitution was duly adopted by popular vote, and elections were held for the choice of a governor and legislature. Rufus Brown Bullock (b. 1834), Republican, was chosen governor, the Senate had a majority of Republicans, but in the House of Representatives a tie vote was cast for the election of a speaker. On the 21st of July the Fourteenth Amendment was ratified, and a section of the state constitution (which denied the power of state courts to entertain against any resident of the state suits founded on contracts existing on the 15th of June 1865) was repealed by the legislature in pursuance of the congressional "Omnibus Bill" of the 25th of June 1868, and as evidence of the restoration of Georgia to the Union the congressmen were seated on the 25th of July in that year.

But in September of the same year the Democrats in the state legislature, being assisted by some of the white Republicans, expelled the 27 negro members and seated their defeated white contestants, relying upon the legal theory that the right to hold office belonged only to those citizens designated by statute, the common law or custom. In retaliation the 41st Congress excluded the state's representatives on a technicality, and, on the theory that the government of Georgia was a provisional organization, passed an act requiring the ratification of the Fifteenth Amendment before the admission of Georgia's senators and representatives. The war department now concluded that the state was still subject to military authority, and placed General A.H. Terry in command. With his aid, and that of Congressional requirements that all members of the legislature must take the Test Oath and none be excluded on account of colour, a Republican majority was secured for both houses, and the Fifteenth Amendment was ratified. Georgia was now finally admitted to the Union by Act of Congress, on the 15th of July 1870.

The Reconstruction period in Georgia is remarkable for its comparative moderation. Although there was great political excitement, there was not as much extravagance in public administration as there was in other Southern States, the state debt increasing approximately from $6,600,000 to $16,000,000. The explanation lies in the fact that there were comparatively few "carpet-baggers" or adventurers in the state, and that a large number of conservative citizens, under the leadership of ex-Governor Brown, supported the Reconstruction policy of Congress and joined the Republican party.

The election of 1871 gave the Democrats a majority in the legislature; Governor Bullock, fearing impeachment, resigned, and at a special election James M. Smith was chosen to fill the unexpired term. After that the control of the Democrats was complete. In 1891 the Populist party was organized, but it never succeeded in securing a majority of the votes in the state.

LIST OF GOVERNORS

I. _Administration of the Trustees._

James Edward Oglethorpe[8] 1732-1743
William Stephens[9] 1743-1751
Henry Parker[9] 1751-1753
Patrick Graham[9] 1753-1754

II. _Royal Administration._

John Reynolds 1754-1757
Henry Ellis 1757-1760
Sir James Wright 1760-1782

III. _Provincial Administration._

William Ewen[10] 1775
Archibald Bulloch[11] 1776
Button Gwinnett[11] 1777
Jonathan Bryan[11] 1777

IV. _Georgia as a State._

John A. Treutlen[12] 1777-1778
John Houston 1778-1779
John Wereat[13] 1779
George Walton 1779-1780
Richard Hawley 1780
Stephen Heard[13] 1780-1781
Myrick Davies[13] 1781
Nathan Brownson 1781-1782
John Martin 1782-1783
Lyman Hall 1783-1785
Samuel Elbert 1785-1786
Edward Telfair 1786-1787
George Matthews 1787-1788
George Handley 1788-1789
George Walton 1789-1790 Democratic-Republican
Edward Telfair 1790-1793 " "
George Matthews 1793-1796 " "
Jared Irwin 1796-1798 " "
James Jackson 1798-1801 " "
David Emanuel 1801 " "
Josiah Tattnall 1801-1802 " "
John Milledge 1802-1806 " "
Jared Irwin 1806-1809 " "
David B. Mitchell 1809-1813 " "
Peter Early 1813-1815 " "
David B. Mitchell 1815-1817 " "
William Rabun[14] 1817-1819 " "
Matthew Talbot[14] 1819 " "
John Clarke 1819-1823 " "
George M. Troup 1823-1827 " "
John Forsyth 1827-1829 " "
George R. Gilmer 1829-1831 National Republican
Wilson Lumpkin 1831-1835 Democratic-Republican
William Schley 1835-1837 Union
George Gilmer 1837-1839 Democrat
Charles J. McDonald 1839-1843 Union
George W. Crawford 1843-1847 Whig
George W.B. Towns 1847-1851 Democrat
Howell Cobb 1851-1853 Constitutional Union
Herschell V. Johnson 1853-1856 Democrat
Joseph E. Brown 1857-1865 "
James Johnson[15] 1865 "
Charles J. Jenkins 1865-1868 "
Thomas H. Ruger 1868 "
Rufus B. Bullock 1868-1871 Republican
Benjamin Conley[14] 1871-1872 "
James M. Smith 1872-1876 Democrat
Alfred H. Colquitt 1876-1882 "
Alexander H. Stephens 1882-1883 "
James S. Boynton[14] 1883 "
Henry D. McDaniel 1883-1886 "
John B. Gordon 1886-1890 "
W.J. Northen 1890-1894 "
W.Y. Atkinson 1894-1898 "
A.D. Candler 1898-1902 "
Joseph M. Terrell 1902-1907 "
Hoke Smith 1907-1909 "
Joseph M. Brown 1909-1911 "
Hoke Smith 1911- "

A brief bibliography, chiefly of historical materials, is given by
U.B. Phillips in his monograph "Georgia and State Rights," in vol. ii.
of the _Annual Report of the American Historical Association for 1901_
(Washington, 1902). Valuable information concerning the resources and
products of the state is given in the publications of the Department
of Agriculture, which include weekly and monthly _Bulletins_, biennial
_Reports_ and a volume entitled _Georgia, Historical and Industrial_
(Atlanta, 1901). The Reports of the United States Census (especially
the Twelfth Census for 1900 and the special census of manufactures for
1905) should be consulted, and _Memoirs of Georgia_ (2 vols., Atlanta,
Ga., 1895) contains chapters on industrial conditions.

The principal sources for public administration are the annual reports
of the state officers, philanthropic institutions, the prison
commission and the railroad commission, and the revised Code of
Georgia (Atlanta, 1896), adopted in 1895; see also L.F. Schmeckebier's
"Taxation in Georgia" (_Johns Hopkins University Studies_, vol.
xviii.) and "Banking in Georgia" (_Banker's Magazine_, vol. xlviii.).
Education and social conditions are treated in C.E. Jones's _History
of Education in Georgia_ (Washington, 1890), the Annual Reports of the
School Commissioner, and various magazine articles, such as "Georgia
Cracker in the Cotton Mill" (_Century Magazine_, vol. xix.) and "A
Plea for Light" (_South Atlantic Quarterly_, vol. iii.). The view of
slavery given in Frances A. Kemble's _Journal of a Residence on a
Georgia Plantation in 1838-1839_ (New York, 1863) should be compared
with R.Q. Mallard's _Plantation Life before Emancipation_ (Richmond,
Va., 1897), and with F.L. Olmsted's _A Journey in the Seaboard Slave
States_ (New York, 1856).

The best book for the entire field of Georgia history is Lawton B.
Evans's _A Student's History of Georgia_ (New York, 1898), a textbook
for schools. This should be supplemented by C.C. Jones's _Antiquities
of the Southern Indians, particularly of the Georgia Tribes_ (New
York, 1873), for the aborigines; W.B. Stevens's _History of Georgia to
1798_ (2 vols., Philadelphia, 1847-1859) and C.C. Jones, jun., History
of Georgia (2 vols., Boston, 1883) for the Colonial and Revolutionary
periods; C.H. Haskins's _The Yazoo Land Companies_ (Washington, 1891);
the excellent monograph (mentioned above) by U.B. Phillips for
politics prior to 1860; Miss Annie H. Abel's monograph "The History of
Events Resulting in Indian Consolidation West of the Mississippi," in
vol. i. of the _Annual Report of the American Historical Association
for 1906_ (Washington, 1908) for a good account of the removal of the
Indians from Georgia; the judicious monograph by E.C. Woolley,
_Reconstruction in Georgia_ (New York, 1901); and I.W. Avery's
_History of Georgia from 1850 to 1881_ (New York, 1881), which is
marred by prejudice but contains material of value. _The Confederate
Records of the State of Georgia_ were published at Atlanta in 1909.
See also: E.J. Harden's _Life of George M. Troup_ (Savannah, 1840);
R.M. Johnston and W.H. Browne, _Life of Alexander H. Stephens
(Philadelphia, 1878), and Louis Pendleton, Life of Alexander H.
Stephens_ (Philadelphia, 1907); P.A. Stovall's _Robert Toombs_ (New
York, 1892); H. Fielder's _Life, Times and Speeches of Joseph E.
Brown_ (Springfield, Mass., 1883) and C.C. Jones, jun., _Biographical
Sketches of Delegates from Georgia to the Continental Congress_ (New
York, 1891). There is much valuable material, also, in the
publications (beginning with 1840) of the Georgia Historical Society
(see the list in vol. ii. of the _Report of the American Historical
Association for 1905_).

FOOTNOTES:

[1] According to the usual nomenclature, the branch flowing S.W. is
called the Chattooga; this unites with the Tallulah to form the
Tugaloo, which in turn unites with the Kiowee to form the Savannah
proper.

[2] The manufacturing statistics for 1900 which follow are not those
given in the Twelfth Census, but are taken from the _Census of
Manufactures_, 1905, the 1900 figures here given being only for
"establishments on a factory basis," and thus being comparable with
those of 1905. In 1890 there were 53 mills with a capital of
$17,664,675 and a product valued at $12,035,629.

[3] In these valuations for 1900 and for 1905 the rough lumber
dressed or remanufactured in planing mills enters twice into the
value of the product.

[4] The population of the state was 82,548 in 1790, 162,686 in 1800,
252,433 in 1810, 340,989 in 1820, 516,823 in 1830, 691,392 in 1840,
906,185 in 1850, 1,057,286 in 1860, and 1,184,100 in 1870.

[5] This negro percentage includes 211 Chinese, Japanese and Indians.

[6] The state has had four other constitutions--those of 1777, 1789,
1798 and 1868.

[7] Owing to the custom which holds in Georgia of choosing state
senators in rotation from each of the counties making up a senatorial
district, it happened in 1907 that few cities were represented
directly by senators chosen from municipalities. It is believed that
this fact contributed to the passage of the prohibition law.

[8] _De facto._

[9] President of the Colony.

[10] President of the Council of Safety.

[11] President of Georgia.

[12] First Governor under a State Constitution.

[13] President Executive Council and _de facto_ Governor.

[14] President of Senate.

[15] Provisional.

GEORGIA, a former kingdom of Transcaucasia, which existed historically for more than 2000 years. Its earliest name was Karthli or Karthveli; the Persians knew it as Gurjistan, the Romans and Greeks as Iberia, though the latter placed Colchis also in the west of Georgia. Vrastan is the Armenian name and Gruzia the Russian. Georgia proper, which included Karthli and Kakhetia, was bounded on the N. by Ossetia and Daghestan, on the S. by the principalities of Erivan and Kars, and on the W. by Guria and Imeretia; but the kingdom also included at different times Guria, Mingrelia, Abkhasia, Imeretia and Daghestan, and extended from the Caucasus range on the N. to the Aras or Araxes on the S. It is now divided between the Russian governments of Tiflis and Kutais, under which headings further geographical particulars are given. (See also CAUCASIA.)

_History._--According to traditional accounts, the Georgian (Karthlian), Kakhetian, Lesghian, Mingrelian and other races of Transcaucasia are the descendants of Thargamos, great-grandson of Japheth, son of Noah, though Gen. x. 3 makes Togarmah to be the son of Gomer, who was the son of Japheth. These various races were subsequently known under the general name of Thargamosides. Karthlos, the second son of Thargamos, is the eponymous king of his race, their country being called Karthli after him. Mtskhethos, son of Karthlos, founded the city of Mtskhetha (the modern Mtskhet) and made it the capital of his kingdom. We come, however, to firmer historic ground when we read that Georgia was conquered by Alexander the Great, or rather by one of his generals. The Macedonian yoke was shaken off by Pharnavaz or Pharnabazus, a prince of the royal race, who ruled from 302 to 237 B.C. All through its history Georgia, being on the outskirts of Armenia and Persia, both of them more powerful neighbours than itself, was at times more or less closely affected by their destinies. In this way it was sometimes opposed to Rome, sometimes on terms of friendship with Byzantium, according as these were successively friendly or hostile to the Armenians and the Persians. In the end of the 2nd century B.C. the last Pharnavazian prince was dethroned by his own subjects and the crown given to Arsaces, king of Armenia, whose son Arshag, ascending the throne of Georgia in 93 B.C., established there the Arsacid dynasty. This close association with Armenia brought upon the country an invasion (65 B.C.) by the Roman general Pompey, who was then at war with Mithradates, king of Pontus and Armenia; but Pompey did not establish his power permanently over Iberia. A hundred and eighty years later the Emperor Trajan penetrated (A.D. 114) into the heart of the country, and chastised the Georgians; yet his conquest was only a little more permanent than Pompey's. During one of the internecine quarrels, which were not infrequent in Georgia, the throne fell to Mirhan or Mirian (265-342), a son of the Persian king, who had married a daughter of Asphagor, the last sovereign of the Arsacid dynasty.

With Mirian begins the Sassanian dynasty. He and his subjects were converted to Christianity by a nun Nuno (Nino), who had escaped from the religious persecutions of Tiridates, king of Armenia. Mirian erected the first Christian church in Georgia on the site now occupied by the cathedral of Mtskhet. In or about the year 371 Georgia was overrun by the Persian king Shapur or Sapor II., and in 379 a Persian general built the stronghold of Tphilis (afterwards Tiflis) as a counterpoise to Mtskhet. The Persian grasp upon Georgia was loosened by Tiridates, who reigned from 393 to 405. One of Mirian's successors, Vakhtang (446-499), surnamed Gurgaslan or Gurgasal, the Wolf-Lion, established a patriarchate at Mtskhet and made Tphilis his capital. This sovereign, having conquered Mingrelia and Abkhasia, and subdued the Ossetes, made himself master of a large part of Armenia. Then, co-operating for once with the king of Persia, he led an army into India; but towards the end of his reign there was enmity between him and the Persians, against whom he warred unsuccessfully. His son Dachi or Darchil (499-514) upon ascending the throne transferred the seat of government permanently from Mtskhet to Tphilis (Tiflis). Again Persia stretched out her hand over Georgia, and proved a formidable menace to the existence of the kingdom, until, owing to the severe pressure of the Turks on the one side and of the Byzantine Greeks on the other, she found it expedient to relax her grasp. The Georgians, seizing the opportunity, appealed (571) to the Byzantine emperor, Justin II. who gave them a king in the person of Guaram, a prince of the Bagratid family of Armenia, conferring upon him the title, not of king, but of viceroy. Thus began the dynasty of the Bagratids, who ruled until 1803.