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WHIG POLITICAL AFFAIRS 1776 - 1778

THE departure of Governor Wright and the complete collapse of royal government emphasized the fact that the temporary Whig government needed to be regularized and legalized. The contract theory of government was entirely acceptable to most Georgians, but the contract needed concrete expression. The old contract of colonial government had been broken, and a new contract of state government must be drawn up. Out of such a situation in all the revolting colonies came the writing of state constitutions.

Georgians lost no time once the royal governor was gone. While the British men-of-war were still off Cockspur, the provincial congress must have been considering the changed conditions of government; for on April 15, 1776, it issued Georgia’s first temporary state constitution, known as the Rules and Regulations of 1776.¹ The preamble stated that when Wright left, carrying with him the great seal of the province, many of the magistrates doubted that their authority still existed and most of them had refused to act further. Judicial powers, which had been totally suspended, were vitally needed. While no general system of government could be concluded until application was made to the Continental Congress for advice, some temporary government was necessary for the protection of people and property. This temporary government the Rules and Regulations set up.

A government of the usual three departments was created with all real authority residing in the legislature. The chief executive was a president and commander-in-chief, who was appointed by the legislature for a six months’ term. He was bound to consult and follow the advice of the council of safety in all matters and was legally no more than the chairman of that council. The council of safety, also appointed by the legislature, consisted of thirteen members plus the delegates to the Continental Congress; seven were a quorum.

All legislative power was vested in a one-house provincial congress which was limited by no higher authority or executive veto and could do anything not specifically delegated to some other department. In actual practice it controlled the executive, though this particular power was not formally provided for in the Rules and Regulations. All laws in force in Georgia were continued if they did not interfere with the actions of the Continental or provincial congresses. All resolves of both congresses were to have full force and validity unless otherwise directed.

The court of sessions, which replaced the old general court, was to consist of a chief justice, two assistant judges, an attorney general, a provost marshal, and a clerk—all appointed by the congress to serve during its pleasure. Courts were to be held twice a year and were to observe all former rules and methods of procedure as nearly as the changed situation allowed. Local magistrates were appointed by the president and the council of safety and were directed to conform as nearly as possible to the old methods of procedure.

The Rules and Regulations, a simple document of thirteen brief paragraphs, contained only the broadest outline for the government, leaving the rest to be filled in by the congress and the council of safety. It continued the governmental machinery which had already developed and all colonial practices that did not conflict with the new situation. Its court system was the first one created by the revolutionary government, and it is quite possible that the need for courts was the reason the document was drawn up, as the preface stated. The document voiced good Whig doctrines when it said that governmental power originated with the people and that governments existed for their benefit. Certainly Georgia now had a full-fledged revolutionary government resting upon a constitutional basis. The separation from England was completed with the provincial congress’s statement on June 12 that henceforth justice should run in the name of the province instead of the King,² and with the adoption of the Declaration of Independence by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776.

Archibald Bulloch, an early and consistent leader of the revolutionary movement in Georgia and the president of the provincial congress, was elected president and commander-in-chief under the new government which went into effect on May l.³ At the first session of the provincial congress after Bulloch’s election as president, he showed that he had a good grasp of Georgia’s problems and made sensible recommendations for their solution. He recommended further regulation of the courts, of the continental battalion, and of the militia. The Indian situation should be considered seriously to prevent troubles on the frontier and to improve defense. Provisions should be made for foreign trade, for the promotion of domestic manufactures, and for keeping down inflation. Non-associates and other enemies of American liberty should be watched closely.⁴

The structure of government was considerably augmented and altered by the provincial congress and the council of safety as the need arose. The property, especially slaves, of absent loyalists was used to construct and repair civil and military installations. The council of safety did not hesitate to change appropriations made by the provincial congress,⁵ to overrule the courts and order the re-arrest of people of doubtful loyalty freed by the chief justice,⁶ or to appoint executors while the courts were not functioning.⁷ The council carried on all normal executive functions, including the pardoning of criminals.⁸ It oversaw the parochial committees in the enforcement of the association⁹ and otherwise saw that the Whig cause was forwarded and that its enemies did not get out of line.¹⁰ It began the raising of a fighting force and issued letters of marque to privateers to prey upon British shipping.¹¹

The Rules and Regulations continued as Georgia’s fundamental law for a year and made a satisfactory temporary government to effect the transition from province to state, a period during which there were no grave political problems. President Bulloch, a capable executive, died mysteriously late in February, 1777. He was succeeded by Button Gwinnett, who remained in office until a new constitution went into effect in May.¹²

The Rules and Regulations made it obvious that Georgia was ready for independence when it was declared by the Continental Congress in July, 1776. Georgia had no conspicuous part in the adoption of the Declaration of Independence, but she did not delay it as did some other states. In April, 1776, Georgia’s provincial congress reminded her delegates to the Continental Congress that the American cause was continental, not provincial, and instructed them to do what they thought best for the common good.¹³ In the discussions of independence that took place in the Continental Congress in the first half of 1776, it was generally assumed that Georgia would go along with independence. Her delegates favored independence, and their April instructions gave them a free hand.¹⁴ Georgia had three delegates—Button Gwinnett, George Walton, and Lyman Hall—who voted for and signed the Declaration, but there is no record of their actions in the debates that preceded its adoption.

Independence was announced in Georgia when President Bulloch read a letter announcing the adoption of the Declaration, from John Hancock, President of the Continental Congress, to the council of safety on August 8. Two days later Bulloch, accompanied by the council of safety, other officials, and military forces, read the Declaration publicly at the assembly, the liberty pole, and the battery. The reading was followed by a public dinner at which toasts were drunk to the “United, Free, and Independent States of America.” The day was concluded with a funeral procession and the interment of “George the Third” before the courthouse.¹⁵ Georgia did not specifically affirm the Declaration, but all acts of the Continental Congress were law in Georgia. There can be no doubt that the dominant Whig element approved the Declaration wholeheartedly.

Prior to the adoption of the Declaration of Independence, the Continental Congress advised the states, in May, 1776, to set up adequate governments if they did not already exist.¹⁶ This action removed the temporary aspect of Georgia’s new government and appears to have been the beginning of a move to write a new and permanent state constitution. Late in the summer President Bulloch called for the election of what he called a convention, but there was nothing in the election call to indicate that the convention was any different from the provincial congresses that had been meeting for the last year.¹⁷ This convention, or congress, met in several sessions and carried on ordinary legislative business. Nothing is known as to when the move for a new constitution first was considered by the convention or who were its prime movers, but a movement was well along by December. There is extant a partial journal beginning January 24, 1777, which is concerned with the final revision and adoption of the new constitution; but the journal records only the personnel of a committee of form and the fact that the constitution was debated in its final form January 29 through February 5, on which day it was unanimously adopted.¹⁸

Though it is impossible to know who were the leaders in the writing of the new constitution, one thing is certain. They were Whigs of the more radical type, and there was probably general agreement among the Whig leaders concerning the new constitution. Whig doctrine is obvious in the preamble statement that separation from Britain came because of the insistence of Parliament on legislating for the colonies without their consent. The convention, as representatives of the people (“from whom all power originates, and for whose benefit all government is intended”), adopted the constitution without submitting it to the voters.¹⁹

The legislative, executive, and judicial departments of government were declared separate and distinct, but far more power was given to the legislative than to the other two departments. “The legislature of this state shall be composed of the people,” declared Paragraph II. Representatives were to be elected and to meet yearly in assembly. They must be residents of the counties they represented, of the Protestant religion, twenty-one years of age, and owners of 250 acres of land or property worth £250.²⁰ Representation was to be apportioned by the number of electors in each county. Camden and Glynn counties, largely unsettled, were initially given one representative each. Every other county received ten representatives except Liberty, which was given fourteen. In addition, Savannah was allowed four representatives and Sunbury two “to represent their trade.”

A one-house legislature, the House of Assembly, was given all power to make (or repeal) laws and regulations provided they were not repugnant to the true intent of the constitution itself—the first statement in Georgia that the constitution was superior law. There was no executive veto or check of any kind upon the legislature. The assembly was given power to elect its speaker and other officers, draw up its own rules, direct the issuance of writs of election to fill vacancies, and to adjourn itself. No person holding a civil or military office in any state (except officers of the militia) and no clergyman could be a member. The Continental delegates, though elected by the assembly, were also full members of it.

Although it was not an upper house of assembly as in colonial times, the executive council did have certain legislative functions. During assembly sessions, the entire council was required to attend and to examine all proposed laws and ordinances after their second reading in the assembly. The council could propose amendments and make other suggestions but had no legislative authority. In practice, the council seldom tried to influence pending legislation. When the council performed its legislative functions the governor did not attend, but the president of the council presided, and a journal was kept, separate from one for executive actions.

All male whites twenty-one years of age and six months Georgia residents, who were owners of property worth £10 subject to state tax or who followed a mechanic trade, were qualified to vote. Elections were to be by ballot, free and open, and no officer or soldier could appear at elections in a military character. No person was entitled to more than one vote,²¹ and no person claiming a title of nobility could vote. Every person qualified to vote who did not do so was subject to a fine of not over five pounds unless he could give a good excuse for not voting, but this portion of the constitution apparently was never enforced.

The governor, styled Honorable, was to be elected by the assembly on the first day it met. The executive council, which was to advise the governor on all matters, was elected the same day by the assembly from among its members. Two members came from each county entitled to send ten representatives to the assembly, and one member from each county was to attend the governor in a system of rotation. The council appointed its own officers and drew up its own rules of procedure. The executive, the term used to denote governor and council acting together, was vested with executive powers except the granting of pardons or the remitting of fines, which powers were reserved to the assembly. The executive could call the assembly in emergencies but could not adjourn it. The executive commissioned all state officials and filled vacancies when the assembly was not in session. The governor was commander-in-chief of the militia and all other military and naval forces of the state. No governor could hold office for more than one year out of three. The president of the council exercised the governor’s powers in his absence.

The creation of Georgia’s first counties necessitated a change in court structure. A superior court, the ordinary trial court, was created for each county. There was to be one chief justice to preside over all superior courts in rotation, and he was assisted by three or more assistant justices who resided in each county. There was no higher court in Georgia, but any party to a civil suit who was dissatisfied with the verdict could file an appeal for a new trial within three days of the decision. Such appeals were retried in the superior court by a special jury, and its decision was final. There was no provision for appeals in criminal cases. Courts of conscience, or justice courts, were to continue as previously for small offenses and civil matters involving no more than ten pounds. Courts merchant were indirectly mentioned in the constitution, but no provision was made for their creation. Captures, by land or by sea, were to be tried by what amounted to a specially appointed superior court, and appeals would be made to the Continental Congress. If any county had insufficient population to form a jury, its cases should be tried in an adjoining county. Court costs in the superior courts were not to exceed three pounds, and no case was to be held over for more than two terms (one year). The fact that juries were made the judge of both fact and law was an indication of the control of government by the people. In case of doubtful legal points, the jury might apply to the bench for advice, and such requests were to be answered by the justices in rotation. In reality juries interpreted the constitution as it applied to their cases. The only organizational link among the courts that might work for uniformity of decisions was the fact that the chief justice presided over all courts and the same attorney general was public prosecutor in all courts.

Besides the governor and council and the court officials, no other state officials were specifically provided for in the constitution. The assembly annually elected a chief justice, an attorney general, a treasurer, a secretary, and any others thought necessary. The provost marshal was replaced by county sheriffs.

The militia was established on a basis of county battalions; however, depending upon its population, a county might have more or less than one battalion. Although the constitution did not so specify, company officers continued to be elected by the men of the company and field officers by their company officers. Officers were commissioned by the executive after elections.

Because of the physical growth of Georgia and the revolutionary belief in control of government by the people concerned, the colonial parishes were replaced by counties which were real units of government and not simply administrative subdivisions. All the counties were named for English politicians who had taken the side of the colonies in the American struggle except for the county containing St. John’s Parish, which was given the distinctive name of Liberty. The former parishes, the new counties, and their principal towns follow:²²

Civil officials of the counties were to be elected by county voters on the day of the general election. Justices of the peace, registers of probate, tax collectors, road commissioners, and other officers who performed state functions on a local level were to be elected by the assembly. Schools were to be erected in each county and supported by the state. Courthouses and jails were directed to be built in each county.

Scattered throughout the constitution were several paragraphs which together made up a bill of rights, guaranteeing certain economic and social gains. Entail of estates was forbidden; property of people dying intestate was to be divided equally among the widow and children, or the widow could have her dower. Free exercise of religion, provided it was not repugnant to the peace and safety of the state, was guaranteed to all, and no one was to be compelled to support any teacher of a religious denomination except his own. These provisions effected the disestablishment of the Church of England without any specific statement to that effect. Excessive amounts for fines or bail were forbidden. Freedom of the press and trial by jury were to remain inviolate. The principles of the habeas corpus act were declared a part of the constitution.

The constitution prescribed the design for a new seal of state. On one side was a scroll containing the words “The Constitution of the state of Georgia,” and the Latin motto “Pro Bono Publico.” (For the Public Good). On the other side was to be an elegant house with other buildings, fields of corn and meadows with sheep and cattle, a river running through the meadow with a ship under full sail, and the Latin motto, “Deus nobis haec otis fecit,” (God created these opportunities, or blessings, for us).²³

A clumsy amending system provided that amendments were to originate in petitions from a majority of the counties and signed by a majority of the voters in each county. When these petitions were presented to the assembly, it was to call an amending convention, and specify the alterations to be framed from the petitions.

The constitution was marked by simplicity of style and brevity; it restricted itself to the barest of fundamentals—a characteristic that Georgia’s later constitutions would have done well to emulate. It was divided into sixty-two numbered paragraphs, most of which were short and could be easily understood by a layman.

The political philosophy behind the constitution was that of the eighteenth-century Whig—natural rights, separation of powers, government deriving its power from the consent of the governed, guarantees of citizens against arbitrary government—philosophy that had been ably expounded by Locke, Montesquieu, and others. From a purely practical viewpoint, many of the provisions of the constitution came from colonial and early revolutionary experience. The belief in government as close to the people as possible and the dislike of a strong executive in the colonial period were responsible for the creation of a strong legislature and a weak executive. Hence there was created a one-house legislature,²⁴ elected directly by the people and with no veto or other executive check upon it. It was colonial tradition coupled with the fear of strong executives that was responsible for the creation of a plural executive, a governor and council. Since the governor was elected by the assembly and could serve but one year, he was effectively limited and was hardly able to carry through any extensive program of his own. Making juries the judge of both fact and law, the absence of any appeal court, and the use of local assistant judges kept all judicial power in the hands of the local citizens.

Because Georgia’s conservatives were so effectively silenced, church disestablishment and the killing of entail were easily effected without the long and bitter battle that was necessary to end them in Virginia, where conservative Whigs were more powerful. All outside checks, even of the Continental Congress, were eliminated; and the voters, practically the entire white male population, were in ultimate control. Politically the radicals had overthrown the old order with its aristocratic checks and had established a new one without any checks. They had achieved their revolutionary victory and were ready to enjoy it.²⁵

Conservative Whigs did not approve the extreme democratic tendencies of the new constitution. One, who had been a member of the convention and who protested privately about the shortcomings of the constitution after it was written, was Joseph Clay, Savannah merchant and deputy paymaster for Continental troops in Georgia. Clay complained that Joseph Wood, just elected as a Continental delegate, had several times been convicted by the courts of dishonest dealings. Election of such a man, said Clay, arose from a defect in the constitution, “which is so very Democratical & has thrown power into such Hands as must ruin the Country if not timely prevented by some alteration in it. . . .” Too many of the old leaders in Georgia were now Tories, and government had got “into the Hands of those whose ability or situation in Life does not intitle them to it. . . .” Later Clay complained that many people now in power “from their levelling Principles & Conduct” were as great enemies to Georgia as the King. As an illustration Clay described the passage of a bill through the assembly in which a clause that had been defeated was included in the engrossed bill signed by the speaker. But, said Clay, this was not to be wondered at with the type of assemblies Georgia then had, for their main concern was to fleece the state and then go home and enjoy the spoils. The Chatham County Grand Jury presented as grievances the lack of any check upon the assembly and the unequal representation in the assembly—two items that undoubtedly showed Savannah’s discontent at the loss of her dominant role in Georgia’s government.²⁶

Having treated the constitutional history, it will be well to consider political conditions from the summer of 1776 through 1778, the period in which the radical Whigs were in complete control. During the summer of 1776 the majority of politically active Georgians were willing to back independence by force of arms if necessary. While rough treatment of Tories had abated, people deemed dangerous to American liberty were banished or arrested.²⁷ Many loyalists removed to East Florida where they formed themselves into the Florida Scouts to harass south Georgia. By fall, there were reports that there was much dissatisfaction in Georgia, that the Continental battalion was generally considered insufficient to protect the state, that British sympathizers were impatiently awaiting the arrival of British soldiers to help them, that there were numerous squabbles between Whig factions, and that many Whigs contemplated leaving Georgia and removing to South Carolina.²⁸

Certainly squabbles among Whig factions had much to do with discontent and almost paralyzed concerted action against Georgia’s internal and external enemies—Tories, Florida Scouts, and Indians. A year later Joseph Clay described Georgia in rather unhopeful terms: her money had depreciated drastically; unwise and poorly led military expeditions had brought the state low and promised to bring it still lower; Georgia could not possibly defend herself, yet her boasting manner discouraged outside help; about the only hope was her importance to the United States.²⁹

The new constitution went into effect in May, 1777, but it made no great difference in governmental organization or action. The pattern of a weak plural executive and a strong legislature continued. Button Gwinnett was defeated in his desire to be the governor under the new constitution, probably because of his recent and disastrous expedition against East Florida.³⁰ Instead that honor went to John Adam Treutlen, a merchant and planter and leading citizen of Ebenezer who had come from humble beginnings but was a substantial citizen with colonial and early revolutionary legislative experience; he served until January, 1778. The executive continued to refer all important decisions to the assembly;³¹ the assembly, in continuing to give directions to the executive and the judges, showed that it considered itself superior to them.³² The executive council proved a frail check upon the governor, for twice in times of military danger the council requested him to take upon himself the whole executive power and to act without consulting it until the danger was passed.³³ Such a course of action was both efficient and unconstitutional.

The action of the assembly between May, 1777, and December, 1778, as well as can be determined,³⁴ was mainly concerned with normal governmental functions, with military organization and protection of the state, and with the changes necessitated by political and economic dislocations stemming from separation from Britain. Many ordinary governmental functions continued the same as previously: pilots were regulated, roads were ordered built or repaired, the state’s paper circulating medium was kept up, militia regulations were amended, taxes were levied with the change that religious objectors to military duty and absentees were taxed doubly.³⁵ All laws not in conflict with Georgia’s new status were continued.³⁶

Legislation growing out of the new political status was concerned with several topics. Counties and superior courts needed further regulation. In June, 1777, the granting of land was resumed on the old colonial headright system. Merchants from non-British areas were encouraged to trade with Georgia, and a state insurance office was set up to insure vessels owned by Georgians and to further encourage trade.³⁷ The assembly and executive issued numerous regulations for the control or expulsion of enemies of the state, but these were allowed to lapse as soon as any immediate fear was over.³⁸

Georgia was one of the last states to enact legislation against her citizens who remained loyal to Britain. Loyalists were expelled in the fall of 1777, but no details of the law have been discovered.³⁹ The estates of some Tories were used for defense purposes early in 1777, but it was March, 1778, before an act was passed to attaint 177 Tories for high treason and to confiscate their estates.⁴⁰ Refusal of allegiance to the state after April 19, 1775, was taken as sufficient reason for inclusion in this list. People listed in the act who returned to the state or who were taken fighting against the United States were to be tried for high treason and upon conviction were to suffer death. Commissioners were appointed to manage and sell confiscated property in the interest of the state. Money realized from this property was to be used to redeem the paper money of the state and to pay the state’s requisitions from the Continental Congress. A supplementary act of November, 1778, provided that the property of people over twenty-one years of age who resided in British territory and who did not return to Georgia within twelve months and take oaths to support the state should be sold under the terms of the original act.⁴¹ Little is known of how much property was sold under these acts or the amount of income the state derived from it, but the asumption is that not very much was done.

Not only did Georgia Whigs fight Tories, but they often considered it necessary to fight other Whigs as well. In 1776 and 1777 there were two main Whig groups which may be called the radical or popular or country party on one side, and the conservative or city or merchant party on the other. When the officers of the Georgia Continental battalion were elected by the provincial congress in January, 1776, the Whig factions had not become as pronounced as they did later, and Lachlan McIntosh (who later became identified with the conservative Whigs) was elected colonel. Button Gwinnett, a leading radical Whig, had hoped for this command. As the Whig ranks diverged further throughout 1776, Gwinnett and McIntosh became estranged, and the radicals secured complete control of state politics. The election of McIntosh as brigadier general by the Continental Congress, in September, 1776, did not help the feeling between him and Gwinnett.

While Gwinnett was president and McIntosh was Continental commander, the 1777 expedition against St. Augustine was undertaken.⁴² There was insufficient cooperation between McIntosh and Gwinnett,⁴³ because of the existing ill feeling and the desire of Gwinnett to command in the field and prove that he had real military ability. This rivalry went so far that the council of safety requested both Gwinnett and McIntosh to return to Savannah and to allow Colonel Samuel Elbert the field command.

About the middle of March, just before the Florida expedition, Lachlan McIntosh’s brother George was arrested on order from President Gwinnett and put in irons in the common jail. This arrest resulted from a recommendation of the Continental Congress after it considered an intercepted letter of Governor Tonyn, of East Florida, which intimated that George McIntosh, a member of the Georgia Council of Safety, was friendly to the British cause. Gwinnett refused bail because the charge was treason, and George McIntosh said that he was not even informed of the charges against him. When the council met in the absence of Gwinnett, it released McIntosh on £20,000 bail and gave him copies of the papers received from the Continental Congress so that he could prepare a defense of himself. Gwinnett said that three relatives of McIntosh on the council allowed his release on bail.⁴⁴

When George McIntosh was released from jail, it was specified that he could go to Congress to present his case but must give security to the executive before his departure. After the executive had refused McIntosh a trial in Georgia, he set out for Congress without notifying the executive. As the assembly had specified that McIntosh be sent to Congress under guard, Governor Treutlen sent a guard after him which overtook him in North Carolina and delivered him to Congress.⁴⁵ The case was considered in Congress on October 2-10, 1777, and the decision was that there was insufficient evidence to detain McIntosh for trial. He was accordingly released.⁴⁶

As best as can be determined from the mass of conflicting evidence, George McIntosh had joined several other St. Andrew’s Parish planters in loading a vessel of rice intended for Dutch Guiana in May, 1776. William Panton, a notorious Tory, had become associated with the vessel just before it sailed. He sailed with it, took it to St. Augustine and got new papers for it, sailed to the British West Indies, sold the cargo, bought a new cargo, and returned to St. Augustine. There is no evidence that McIntosh knew of Panton’s plans, but he certainly can be censured for association with a known Tory while he was a member of the council of safety. The St. Andrew’s committee seems to have been rather lax in enforcement of the association, and East Florida had secured considerable rice from the parish.⁴⁷

When the assembly under the constitution of 1777 met, it considered the recent Florida expedition. The arrest and bad treatment of George McIntosh was fresh in Lachlan’s mind, and the case had not yet been determined. After hearing Gwinnett and Lachlan McIntosh, the assembly approved the conduct of Gwinnett and his council. When this approval was announced, Lachlan McIntosh is said to have called Gwinnett “A Scoundrell & lying Rascal” to his face before the assembly. This brought the McIntosh-Gwinnett feud to a head. Gwinnett challenged McIntosh to a duel, which was fought in Governor Wright’s meadow outside Savannah on May 16, 1777. Both men fell wounded, and Gwinnett died three days later.⁴⁸

No notice of the duel was taken by the civil authorities until the next session of the assembly. McIntosh was then arrested, tried, and acquitted. Lyman Hall and Joseph Wood led the movement against McIntosh in the assembly and throughout the state. Petitions asking the removal of McIntosh from his command were circulated and secured 574 signatures in Richmond, Liberty, Chatham, Wilkes, and Effingham counties. These, together with a petition from the assembly, were forwarded to Congress.⁴⁹ However, before the assembly could formulate its petition, McIntosh’s friends in Congress (George Walton of Georgia and Henry Laurens of South Carolina) had requested his transfer, and he was ordered to report to Washington for reassignment on August 6, a month before the Georgia Assembly petition was voted.⁵⁰

Arguments among Georgia Whig factions were not the only excitement that 1777 brought to Georgia politics. The suggested union of Georgia and South Carolina caused considerable furor. Late in 1776 the South Carolina Assembly proposed the union and sent William Henry Drayton and John Smith to Georgia to promote it. Drayton arrived in Savannah in January, 1777, and reported that he found all officeholders opposed to the union but that there was some sentiment in favor of it among the people. Appearing before the Georgia convention on January 23, he presented a very elaborate argument as to why Georgia should join South Carolina but gave no consideration to the objections which might be raised by Georgians. By soil, climate, economy, and general interests the two states should be one. The Savannah River could be more effectively improved and used by one state than split between two. The jealousies that had always existed between the two states could cease, and the people of both could work for the common good. Agriculture, trade, and industry would all improve markedly. Carolina planters would extend their improvements into Georgia, where land prices would rise as a result. South Carolina merchants would improve Georgia trade, which already depended upon them. Savannah would become the natural metropolis of the entire Savannah River valley and grow in economic importance, though it would lose its political importance. If there were no union, South Carolina would probably build a rival city across the river to retain all its trade within its own borders, and Savannah would decay rapidly. Government and public defense would improve, yet the cost would be less. Georgia currency, which was of less value than South Carolina’s, would rise in value. Georgians would not have to pay any of the South Carolina debt, but South Carolina would probably help pay the Georgia public debt. South Carolinians would not take up great tracts of land in Georgia as some feared; rather they would be willing, on this and other items, to grant whatever reasonable terms Georgians might require in a treaty of union.

The convention excluded Drayton from any participation in the debate on his propositions, but he attended privately. Button Gwinnett led the opposition to union. Drayton said that several members of the Georgia convention agreed with him that Gwinnett’s arguments were not so good as Drayton’s, but this made no difference since the convention already opposed union. The convention rejected Drayton’s proposals on the grounds that they were contrary to the Articles of Confederation to which Georgia had agreed but which had not gone into effect.⁵¹

Although Drayton was not allowed to answer the convention, he kept up his efforts by sending letters into Georgia, circulating petitions for the union, and doing everything else he could to stir up agitation in favor of union and against those who opposed it. In July the executive council requested Governor Treutlen to issue a proclamation offering £100 reward to anyone who would apprehend Drayton or anyone working with him in the interest of the union.⁵² Drayton replied with a stinging and sarcastic letter to Treutlen in which he delivered a long tirade against rulers who opposed petitions, with apt references to the Stuart kings and their well-known tyranny. He accused the governor and council of being concealed Tories and said he did not doubt but that the people of Georgia would prefer British rule to anything they could get from their present rulers. He threatened to show the illegality of the proclamation and any action under it by paying for the defense of anyone arrested under it. He offered to continue the argument as long as Treutlen and his council desired. But he was careful to remain in South Carolina out of the reach of Georgia authorities.⁵³ So far as the records show, here ended the proposed union; and the two states soon fell to quarreling over their boundary, just as Drayton had predicted they would.

Of more importance than her relations with South Carolina were Georgia’s relations with the Continental Congress. These began on July 7, 1775, when the second provincial congress elected Archibald Bulloch, John Houstoun, the Reverend John J. Zubly, Noble Wimberly Jones, and Lyman Hall delegates to the Continental Congress, any three of them to be a quorum. The delegates were instructed to work for the preservation and defense of American rights and liberties and for the restoration of harmony with Britain upon constitutional principles. The provincial congress promised to do whatever the delegates agreed to in the Continental Congress.⁵⁴ Bulloch, Houstoun, and Zubly left at once for Philadelphia. By the time they arrived in Philadelphia, Dr. Lyman Hall, who had been representing St. John’s Parish in the Continental Congress since May 13, had left for Georgia. When Congress reconvened on September 13, the three delegates were seated. Two of them being clothed in homespun aroused favorable comment. John Adams was especially impressed with the learning and zealous spirit of Zubly.⁵⁵

Georgia’s first request to the Congress was for a decision on what should be done with the goods landed in Georgia during the month after the association went into effect. After a heated debate, Congress recommended that the goods be sent back or sold at auction for the benefit of the public.⁵⁶ Georgia wanted to allow importations for the Indian trade and the exportation of her 1775 crop as usual but made no definite application on these points. Zubly led a debate in which he maintained that only through trade could the colonies secure much that was necessary, but he was strenuously opposed by Samuel Chase. No decision was reached nor was any modification of the association approved.⁵⁷

Zubly had championed American rights from the very beginning of the argument with Britain. From the Stamp Act until he went to Philadelphia, he had emphasized his belief that American rights must be upheld and that a constitutional union with Britain must be maintained. He was opposed to republics, considering them inherently evil, and he said so publicly several times.⁵⁸ He refused to go along with the steadily increasing sentiment for independence and left Congress somewhat under a cloud about the middle of November and returned to Georgia.⁵⁹ The other delegates left about the end of November.

Georgia was unrepresented from November, 1775, until the arrival of Button Gwinnett and Lyman Hall on May 20, 1776. They brought with them very broad instructions from the provincial congress stressing Georgia’s weakness and exposed situation and hence the need of union for protection, declaring that America’s cause was Continental and not provincial, and complaining that Georgia was too far away to know the current thinking in Congress. The delegates were told to use their best judgment in promoting the cause of Georgia and America. Georgia had delegates in Congress throughout the rest of 1776 and during most of 1777 and 1778.⁶⁰

The Continental business with which Georgia was most concerned throughout these years was the raising and equipping of troops for the defense of the state. While the Georgia delegates devoted themselves to these matters, the efforts of Henry Laurens of South Carolina probably produced more results. Laurens had a better over-all picture of Southern conditions than any other delegate and had considerable influence in Congress. He tried to impress upon Congress the importance of Georgia and South Carolina in the general defense picture, an importance which he said the Northern states did not realize properly.⁶¹

Congress voted some funds for the support of Georgia’s Continental troops from the time they were authorized in 1775; but the majority of their support through 1777 came from the state itself, which soon issued more bills of credit for their support than the state’s credit could sustain. Georgia’s currency depreciated in value considerably below Continental curency or that of its neighboring states. By the summer of 1777, the treasury was so empty that the commissary general in Georgia was forced to appeal to the public for funds or supplies to keep the troops going, and Governor Treutlen laid the situation before Congress. Congress voted $400,000 to redeem the Georgia bills of credit issued to support the troops and $300,000 for future expenses.⁶²

Upon the urging of General Robert Howe, Continental commander in the South in the fall of 1777,⁶³ Congress appointed Joseph Clay, a Savannah merchant and friend of Henry Laurens, as Continental paymaster for Georgia. By May, 1778, Clay and Howe still complained that little money had come to Georgia except to redeem bills of credit; but in June Clay said he hoped to be able soon to pay all back pay due.⁶⁴ After continual complaints from state and army officials, Congress in September voted another $1,000,000 for Georgia military expenses.⁶⁵ Laurens continued in Congress to press for consideration of Georgia’s condition, but other matters pushed it into the background. Few people in Congress could see the necessity for action when most of the British army was much farther north, and Georgia did not have enough weight in Congress to demand attention.⁶⁶

In the debates on the writing and adoption of the Articles of Confederation, Georgia took little part. Button Gwinnett was Georgia’s member on the committee of thirteen appointed in the summer of 1776 to write the articles, but not even his enthusiastic biographer could find any influence that he exerted in the original draft of the articles.⁶⁷ In the debate which followed, both Gwinnett and George Walton (another Georgia delegate) argued that Congress should have complete control of Indian affairs and trade as the articles specified.⁶⁸ When methods of representation were debated, in October, 1777, the Georgia delegates Walton and Nathan Brownson favored equal representation for all the states.⁶⁹

The Articles were sent to the states in November with a request that they be ready to ratify by March 10, 1778. When Congress called for a report on ratification from all states on June 25, Edward Langworthy, the only Georgian present, said he had no recent instructions but was sure that Georgia would ratify.⁷⁰ Edward Telfair arrived from Georgia on July 13 and said that he was authorized to sign for Georgia. Not until the arrival of John Walton on July 23 was Georgia’s authorization for ratification laid before Congress. Walton and Telfair signed the next day; and Edward Langworthy, who was not present then, signed after he returned to Congress in August.⁷¹

The Georgia Assembly had actually approved the Articles on February 26, 1778, but sent no notification to Congress until Telfair arrived. The assembly proposed four minor amendments to the Articles. The first two concerned the first sentence in article four. This sentence is given with Georgia amendments inserted in brackets. “The better to secure and perpetuate mutual friendship and intercourse among the people of the different states in this union, the free [white] inhabitants of each of these states, paupers, vagabonds [all persons who refuse to bear Arms in defense of the State to which they belong, and all persons who have been or shall be attainted and Judged guilty of high treason in any of the United States], and fugitives from justice excepted, shall be entitled to all privileges and immunities of free citizens in the several states; . . .” The fifth paragraph of the ninth article should be so amended that when Congress reported to the states on monies borrowed or bills of credit emitted, an account of how the money had been spent should be given. Article eleven should be amended so as to admit East and West Florida as well as Canada into the Confederation should they so desire. South Carolina had made several attempts to get “free white” substituted for “free.” The second amendment to article four was in line with Georgia policy. In case Congress would not agree to Georgia’s proposed amendments, the delegates were to ratify the Articles as they were; and this they did.⁷²