Georgia Moves West

Problems and Opportunities

Georgia Moves West: Introduction

I. IntroductionA. After the Revolution, Georgia’s main

concern was gaining control of the land, distributing it, and developing it (improving it and building infrastructure).

B. As Georgia expanded westward, the population shifted westward. Thus, the capital moved 4 times:

1. Savannah: 1733-17852. Augusta: 1785-17963. Louisville: 1796-18044. Milledgeville: 1804-18685. Atlanta 1868-present

Georgia Moves West: IntroductionC. During this time (1785), the University of

Georgia was established as the first land grant college in the US.

D. Religiously, the Baptist and Methodist denominations began to dominate Georgia.

1. One reason was that the Anglican Church was English & Georgians resented them after the war

2. Another reason was that the Baptist and Methodist sent outriders to the frontier areas to move around and set up churches.

Georgia Moves West : Land Distribution

II. Land DistributionA. Headright Land Surveys

1. As Georgians gained control of the land, they used it to attract people to the state by giving it away.

2. However, they had to create a system to distribute it.

Georgia Moves West : Land Distribution

3. The first way they did this was called the Headright Systema. Definition: a system of

granting land by counting “heads” or people.

b. People went out and claimed the land they wanted. The amount was based on how many heads were in the family.

4. Problemsa. Boundaries were haphazard.b. Poor land was left unclaimedc. Land fraud became a

problem.

Georgia Moves West : Land Distribution

B. The Land Lottery System1. Gradually the state realized that they needed a

better system for land distribution.2. After new land was obtained, the state first

drew up new counties, then surveyed the land themselves, and then divided it into gridded lots.

3. They then held a lottery where names were picked and matched to land lots.

Georgia Moves West : Land Distribution

4. Solutions to the problems

a. Little fraudb. Borders were straightc. No land left over.

Georgia Moves West : Land DistributionC. The Yazoo Land Fraud

1. Concerned the sale of land west of modern-day GA.2. The state passed the Yazoo Act in 1795 which allowed

the state to sell the land to private businesses.3. The legislators sold the land for a very cheap price (c.

$.02/acre) in return for kick-backs (bribes).4. The people learned of this and were furious. They ran

the politicians out of the state and burned the contracts.5. In 1802, GA gave up its land west of its present border

to the US govt. in return for $ 1,250,000 and a promise to help the state remove the Indians from GA.

Georgia Moves West: Developing the LandIII. Developing the Land

A. Development includes improving it (clearing and planting) and building infrastructure.

B. One of the chief stimuli for improving the land was the invention of the cotton gin.

1. Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin in 1793 in Savannah. It provided a way to remove the seed from the cotton boll.

2. The cotton gin made cotton production hugely profitable. Cotton became “King”; all available land went into cotton production.

3. Since cotton was a labor intensive crop, slaves were needed in large numbers again.

4. Since the Creeks owned the best cotton land (the piedmont), the white settlers wanted them removed.

Georgia Moves West: Developing the LandC. The state needed to improve its

transportation infrastructure.1. The first “highways” were the rivers.2. Construction of canals began to link river systems.3. Roads were built on Indian trails.

D. Big Problem: Transportation above the Fall Line

1. Can’t use rivers (exception: the Coosa).2. Best cotton land is the piedmont.3. Need a heavy transportation system.

Georgia Moves West: Developing the LandE. The answer: railroads

1. The state chartered two railroad in 1833.2. The first line ran from Augusta to Athens. The

second from Savannah to Macon.3. Eventually the lines running east and west from

Birmingham to Augusta and north and south from Chattanooga into Georgia crossed.

4. At this point, a new town emerged. Its first name was Terminus (where the Chattanooga line ended). It was later changed to Marthasville, and then, Atlanta.

Georgia Moves West: Gaining Control of the Land

IV. Gaining Control of the LandA.The main issue for gaining control of the land

was how to get the land from the Indians.B.Oglethorpe made agreements with

Tomochichi to gain the original settlement sites in Georgia.

C.Tomochichi was a chief of the Yamacraw Indians who were a part of the Creek Confederation.

Georgia Moves West: Gaining Control of the Land

D. The main issue for gaining control of the land was how to get the land from the Indians.

E. The two main tribes/confederations in Georgia were the Creek and Cherokee.

Georgia Moves West: Gaining Control of the Land

F. Interactions with the Creeks

1. The Creeks generally chose to fight against Georgia in the wars of the 18th and 19th century. When they lost, they were forced to cede land.

2. Sometimes the Indians got into debt and the state paid it off in return for land.

3. After the invention of the cotton gin, white settlers wanted the Creek lands in the piedmont for cotton farming.

Georgia Moves West: Gaining Control of the Land

4. Following the Revolution, Georgia settlers began to cross the Oconee River and settle in Creek land. The Creeks attacked them and thus the Oconee War began.

a. Chief Alexander McGillivray led the Creeks (his father was a highlander and his other an Indian).

b. McGillivray signed the Treaty of New York with Pres. Washington to end the war.

c. The treaty stated that no Georgian could settle over the Oconee. Georgians felt betrayed and ignored the treaty. Fighting continued sporadically until 1797.

Georgia Moves West: Gaining Control of the Land

5. Many Indians west of the Appalachians wanted to fight to keep their land.

a. A confederation formed under the Shawnee Chief Tecumseh to fight.

b. This included some Creeks. These warlike Creeks were called Redsticks. Creeks wanting peace were called Whitesticks.

c. The Redsticks supported the British in the War of 1812.

d. They were defeated by Andrew Jackson at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend in 1814.

e. The Creeks were forced to give up most of their land in southern Georgia.

Georgia Moves West: Gaining Control of the Land

6. The Creeks Move Westa. Many Creeks saw staying in Georgia as hopeless.

In 1825, Chief William McIntosh sold most of the remaining Creek lands in Georgia to the government in the Treaty of Indian Springs.

b. Creeks from Alabama marched to his home and executed him for signing the treaty.

c. In 1830, Congress passed the Indian Removal Act at the urging of President Andrew Jackson which basically ended the Creek’s hopes of staying in Georgia or Alabama. They were moved to Oklahoma.

Georgia Moves West: Gaining Control of the Land

E. The Cherokee Move West1. Backgrounda. Fought against the Americans in the French

& Indian War and the Revolution. b. They were devastated during the Revolution

& began to look for other ways to deal with white society afterward.

c. They decided to adopt white culture.

Georgia Moves West: Gaining Control of the Land2. Culture Changes

a. They changed to an agricultural society. Some even bought slaves and began growing cotton.

b. Invited missionaries to open schools c. Began converting to Christianityd. A written language was created by Sequoyahe. They wrote a constitution & created a government

modeled on the United States’. The capital was at New Echota, Georgia.

f. They created their own newspaper, the Cherokee Phoenix.

Georgia Moves West: Gaining Control of the Land3. Land Struggle—Phase I

a. Georgians wanted the Indians removed so that they could settle on their lands. The 1802 agreement guaranteed this .

b. The state made attempts to put Cherokee Territory under Georgia law. In 1828, GA passed a law placing state law over the Cherokee.

c. The Cherokee countered not by war, as the Creek, but by legal and political means.

d. First they sent pressure groups to Washington to convince Congress to defend them.

e. Then they sued Georgia in the US Supreme Court in Cherokee Nation v. Georgia. The case was thrown out because the court said the Cherokee were not citizens and thus could not sue.

Georgia Moves West: Gaining Control of the Land4. Land Struggle—Phase II

a. Matters changed abruptly in 1829 when gold was discovered near present-day Dahlonega.

b. Thousands poured into the area in the first gold rush in US history.

c. The state passed laws to control the area. Some missionaries refused to follow the laws saying the state had no right to pass laws over the Cherokee.

d. These were arrested and put on trial in Lawrenceville & were convicted. They appealed to the US Supreme Court in Worcester v. Georgia

e. The court & Chief Justice John Marshall said Georgia’s laws did not apply to Cherokee land.

Samuel WorcesterJohn Marshall

Georgia Moves West: Gaining Control of the Land

5. Land Struggle—Phase IIIa. President Jackson said, “John Marshall has made his

ruling; let him enforce it.” b. In 1836, he declared that the Cherokee had two years to

move from their lands in Georgia. Chief John Ross said they wouldn’t move and continued the battle in court.

c. In 1838, the army was sent to Georgia and forced the Cherokee to move to Oklahoma. 25% of the Cherokee nation died on the way.

d. This was thus called the Trail of Tears.