Georgia & Westward Expansion & Growth

Transcription

1 Georgia & Westward Expansion & Growth I. Government A. The Rules and Regulations was the first state government in Georgia. (only temporary) B. The Rules and Regulations were replaced by the Georgia Constitution of It created 3 branches of government. a. Legislative b. Executive C. Judicial 2. The Legislative Branch was called the House of Assembly and had the most power. It had only one house (unicameral).

2 3. The governor had little power and was picked by the House of Assembly. 4. John Adam Treutlen was the 1 st state governor. C. The 1777 Constitution was replaced by a new state Constitution in The legislative branch was restructured to a two house (bicameral) body with a Senate and a House of Representatives. This two house state congress is called the General Assembly. 2. Three branches of government still existed. 3. Governor (head of executive branch) and the judges of the judicial branch were chosen by the General Assembly. 4. General Assembly was chosen by popular vote.

3 D. Why was Georgia s Constitution rewritten in 1789? 1. Georgia wanted to model the U.S. Constitution. 2. In 1789, the U.S. Constitution officially replaced the Articles of Confederation. 3. Georgia sent four delegates to the Constitutional Convention which met secretly in Philadelphia in the Summer of William Pierce, William Houstoun, William Few and Abraham Baldwin were the four delegates. E. Georgia played a key role in writing the Constitution. 1. Big & small states couldn t agree on how many votes each should have in U.S. Congress. 2. Houstoun and Baldwin (only delegates left) voted for opposite sides to maintain a tied vote which made

4 the states create the GREAT COMPROMISE. This created two houses of Congress where every state has an equal vote in the Senate, and the bigger states have more votes in the House of Representatives. F. The 3/5 Compromise allowed the North and South to agree about how to count slaves for taxes and representation in the U.S. Congress. II. Georgia s Land Policies A. Georgia was a large state with the Atlantic Ocean as an eastern boundary and the Mississippi River as the western boundary. B. Georgia had a large Native-American population which included the Creek and Cherokee tribes.

5 C. Georgia had the smallest state population, and if it was going to have more of a say in Congress it would need more votes which meant Georgia needed a bigger population. D. How could Georgia s leaders attract new settlers? 1. Georgia had plenty of land. 2. Native-Americans were forced to give away their lands and move farther west. 3. Each time that the Native-Americans were forced to cede more land to Georgia the government would give it away to white settlers thus encouraging many people to move here.

6 E. Yazoo Land Fraud 1. The worst political scandal in Georgia history involved the sale of millions of acres of western lands to 4 private companies for pennies per acre. State leaders did this because they were bribed by the companies who bought land. 2. The sale of the land (Alabama & Mississippi) was called the Yazoo Act passed by the Gen. Assembly 3. When the news got out, Georgians were furious. a. state leaders were scared and ran away b. new leaders repealed the unholy act & and burned it with fire from heaven (magnifying glass) 4. Georgia tried buying back the land; however, some people who d bought it from the companies would not sell their land. It went to U.S. Supreme Court.

7 5. The U.S. government ended up taking the lands of Alabama and Mississippi. a. Georgia was paid $1.25 million b. U.S. promised to remove all remaining Native- Americans from the state of Georgia. c. The scandal took place in 1795, but it was 1802 before everything was settled. F. Land Grants for Revolutionary War Veterans 1. Georgia gave free land to men who d fought in the American Revolution. 2. The amount of the land grant varied according to the man s rank in the military. 3. Austin Dabney and Elijah Clark received some land.

8 G. Headright System 1. The man (husband) was considered to be the head of the family or household and could go out and claim the best vacant land available. 2. Land was awarded on the following basis: 1. head of the family got 200 acres 2. plus 50 acres for each family member 3. 1,000 acres was the maximum amount 3. Purpose: This free land attracted people to Georgia. 4. Problems: The best land was taken first, and because people often wanted land near rivers claims had irregular shapes.

9 H. Land Lottery 1. After the Yazoo Fraud, in 1803, Georgia changed the way that it gave away free land. 2. As land was taken from the Indians it was surveyed & divided into equal portioned square lots & numbered. 3. Any man who d lived in Georgia for 12 months and was 21 yrs old could register for 1 chance in the lottery. 4. Men who had a wife or child got 2 chances. 5. Orphans and widows were also given chances. 6. Land winners were called fortunate drawers. 7. Advantages: Except for a small recording fee the land was absolutely free and everyone had an equal chance to win and receive good land. Lots were smaller than under the headright system so more people got land. The lottery brought more people to Georgia.

10 8. Lot Size varied according to the quality of land pine barrens (south Georgia) 490 acres Piedmont 202and a 1/2 acres Cherokee Lottery (North Georgia) 160 acres Gold Fields 40 acres III. Creek Indians A. The Creeks helped the British during the Revolution and were punished for it afterwards by being forced to give up land all the way to the Oconee River. B. Chief Alexander McGillivray refused to give up land and fighting ensued. However, in 1790 he signed a treaty with President Washington agreeing to give up Creek lands to the Oconee - Treaty of New York.

11 C. Trans-Oconee Republic a. Elijah Clarke led a group who settled on the Creek s side of the Oconee River. b. They basically established their own nation. c. This actions was illegal and the group was forced out by the U.S. Army and Georgia militia. D. After the the Yazoo Fraud Georgia tried to take all of the land within the state away from the Indian tribes to pave the way for expansion and new settlement for white settlers. This action led to more fighting. E. In 1802 & 1805 the Creeks signed treaties that forced them farther west past the Oconee and Ocmulgee Rivers.

12 F. War of (2 nd War with Britain) 1. The Creeks were divided when America and Britain started fighting. Some Creeks fought on each side. 2. Since the Creeks were divided this is sometimes known as the Creek Civil War and most of the fighting with them happened between 1813 & The Red Sticks fought the U.S. 4. The White Sticks helped the U.S. a. Chief William McIntosh helped Davy Crockett and General Andrew Jackson defeat the Red Sticks b. After winning, Jackson forced the Creeks to give up more land.

13 G. Treaty of Indian Springs 1. William McIntosh sold out his people when he accepted money and signed the a treaty in 1825 giving away the remaining Creek lands. 2. This treaty led to the removal of the Creeks from GA. 3. For his action Creek warriors murdered McIntosh. H. The State of Georgia has had five capitol cities: 1. Savannah, Augusta, Louisville, Milledgeville, Atlanta 2. The capitol was moved to keep it in the center of the population so that it would be easy for people to get to in order for them to carry out routine business.

14 IV. Cotton Gin A. In 1793 Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin while working as a tutor on at Mulberry Grove Plantation near Savannah. B. The cotton gin made it much easier to separate the seeds from the cotton fiber and caused more people to start planting cotton. C. This simple invention caused the use of slave labor in the South to increase drastically and all life there became centered around King Cotton. V. Steam Engine A. This invention completely changed life all over the world. It led to the use of steamboats and railroads.

15 B. Steamboats made it possible for Georgia planters to ship crops both up and down river. C. Steamboats increased the amount of people who traveled and it allowed ships to cross the ocean more quickly. D. Railroads were soon being built throughout Georgia. E. Railroads connected areas away from major rivers where steamboats couldn t go to the rest of the state. F. Railroads were a great benefit to farmers who wanted to ship crops to market. G. In general, steamboats traveled north to south on Georgia s rivers while railroads ran east to west. H. Savannah was already a major ocean port that connected Georgia s farmers with European markets,

16 but the railroads and steamboats made it a major cotton exporting center. The European factories wanted the South s cotton. I. Steam power also allowed bigger cotton gins to be built and made existing ones run much faster. VI. Cherokee Indians A. In 1828 Benjamin Parks discovered gold in North Georgia. Later, others found more gold. B. The discovery of gold and the Dahlonega Gold Rush that followed cost the Cherokee Indians their land. C. White settlers moved onto Cherokee lands and soon Georgia was calling upon the U.S. to fulfill its promise to remove all Native-Americans from Georgia. D. President Andrew Jackson supported Indian Removal for Georgia.

17 E. A small faction of Cherokees signed the Treaty of New Echota giving up all Cherokee land. This group was led by Major Ridge, John Ridge and Elias Boudinot. F. The majority of the Cherokee didn t agree with the treaty and followed the leadership of Chief John Ross who protested their mistreatment to the U.S. Gov t. G. Ross Landing and Rossville are named for John Ross who unsuccessfully protested removal and led some Cherokees to Oklahoma. H. Jackson and Congress used the Treaty of New Echota to enforce Cherokee removal. I. A group of white missionaries moved into Cherokee lands to help them. These missionaries were ultimately arrested and sent to prison. There case went to the

18 U.S. Supreme Court and is known as Worchester v. Georgia. The missionaries won, and it was a victory for the Cherokee. However, Jackson refused to enforce it. J. John Marshall was the Chief Justice of the Court. VII. Trail of Tears A. Under General Winfield Scott the Cherokee were rounded up at gunpoint by the U.S. Army. They were placed in stockades and eventually forced to march to Oklahoma and about 4,000 out of 16,000 died including many babies. B. This tragic event happened despite the opinion of the John Marshall led U.S. Supreme Court, and attempts by the Cherokee to embrace the culture of the white settlers. For example, Sequoyah (George Guess)

19 invented a syllabary that allowed the Cherokee language to be put into a written form. VIII. Western Atlantic Railroad A. In 1837 Georgia began construction of a railroad that would end up connecting the modern cities of Atlanta & Chattanooga. It connected GA to the rest of the US. B. Before growing into a big city Atlanta was first called Terminus and later renamed Marthasville. C. Atlanta and Chattanooga became two major railway junctions and made Georgia one of the most important states in the South. D. A lot of businesses came to Atlanta and factories were built all around the city. However, Milledgeville would remain the state capital until after the Civil War.