Georgia and the American Experience

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Georgia and the American Experience

• Chapter 6
• An Age of Expansion, 1783-1838
• Study Presentation

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Georgia and the American Experience

• Section 1 Creating A New Government
• Section 2 Land Fever in Georgia
• Section 3 Economic Growth in Georgia
• Section 4 Georgia At the Dawn of a New Century
• Section 5 The War of 1812
• Section 6 Native Americans in Georgia

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Section 1 Creating A New Government

• Essential Question
• What was Georgias role in the Constitutional
  Convention?

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Section 1 Creating A New Government

• What words do I need to know?
• U.S. Constitution
• Bill of Rights
• General Assembly

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Constitutional Convention of 1787

• William Few and Abraham Baldwin represented
  Georgia at the 1787 Constitutional Convention in
  Philadelphia George Washington presided
• U.S. Constitution established three governmental
  branches
• Executive, (enforces laws)
• Legislative, (creates laws)
• and Judicial (settles disputes about laws)

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Constitutional Convention of 1787

• Established 2 houses of Congress
• Senate (2 from each state members elected by
  citizens 6-year terms) and
• House of Representatives ( from each state is
  determined by population members elected 2-year
  terms)
• Only three-fifths of slave population would count
  toward representation

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U.S. Constitution Ratified in 1788

• Georgia was fourth state to ratify (approve) the
  new Constitution
• Constitution could be amended (changed) first 10
  amendments became the Bill of Rights
• George Washington became the first President

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Postwar Georgia

• Economy in ruin government provided food basics
  as farmers tried to reestablish their farms
• Capital moved from Savannah to Augusta (to keep
  up with the population spread into the
  backcountry)

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Postwar Georgia

• Georgia delegates met in 1788 and 1789 adopted
  state constitution similar to national
  government, with three branches
• General Assembly had two houses, Senate and House
  of Representatives appointed governor and
  judges controlled spending decisions

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Section 2 Land Fever in Georgia

• Essential Question
• How did many Georgians obtain land in the twenty
  years following the end of the American
  Revolution?

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Section 2 Land Fever in Georgia

• What words do I need to know?
• headright system
• Yazoo land fraud
• Louisiana Purchase

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Headright System

• Indian land in Georgia east of the Oconee River
  was given to settlers
• Every white male counted as a head of household
  and had the right to receive up to 1,000 acres

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Land Lottery

• Replaced the headright system in 1803
• Lottery for government-owned (public domain) land
  west of the Oconee
• For a small fee, any white male twenty-one years
  of age or older could buy a chance and win land.
  Heads of households with children, war veterans,
  and widows were given extra chances in the land
  lotteries millions of acres in several states
  were given away

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Yazoo Land Fraud

• 1795, four companies bribed the governor and
  legislators
• Bought millions of acres in western GA (todays
  AL and Mississippi) for 1½ an acre
• The public found out and protested the
  legislators involved were voted out of office
• General Assembly repealed the law approving the
  sale then the federal govt paid more than 4
  million to help GA settle Yazoo land claims

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The Western Territory

• In 1802, Georgia ceded (gave up) its land claims
  west of the Chattahoochee River to the federal
  government for 1.25 million
• President Thomas Jefferson doubled the nations
  size in 1803 with the Louisiana territory
  purchase the U.S. paid France 15 million for
  land that stretched to the Rocky Mountains

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Section 3 Economic Growth in Georgia

• ESSENTIAL QUESTION
• How did Georgia rebuild and expand its economy in
  the late 17th and early 18th century?

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Section 3 Economic Growth in Georgia

• What words do I need to know?
• depression
• turnpike
• cotton gin
• mechanical reaper

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Cotton and the Cotton Gin

• Eli Whitney in 1793 invented a machine for
  separating cotton seeds from its fiber
• Increased the amount cotton growers could process
  each day
• The gin used wire teeth on a turning cylinder to
  separate the seed from fiber

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The Mechanical Reaper

• Cyrus McCormick invented a machine to cut grain
  in a field
• Wooden paddles attached to a horses harness
  allowed six times more grain to be cut per day
  than previous methods
• Georgia farmers could work larger and more
  profitable farms with these agricultural machines

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Depression and the Panic of 1837

• GA banks failed 1837-early 1840s b/c of
  depression (a sharp economic downturn)
• Many business failed many farmers and planters
  lost their land
• Many banks didnt have enough to pay out money
  to people

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Early Roads in Georgia

• Railroads, built after 1830, replaced horses,
  stagecoaches, and boats
• Most GA roads ran east to west follow former
  Indian footpaths
• Plank roads over wetlands that featured pikes
  or gates were called turnpikes
• Travelers paid a toll, or fee at each pike the
  Old Federal Road connected Athens north to
  Tennessee

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Terminus

• Located at the southern end of a rail line that
  originated in Chattanooga, Tennessee
• Later remained Marthasville, after the daughter
  of former Governor Wilson Lumpkin
• Marthasville became Atlanta, and the capital of
  GA
• Rail lines greatly reduced travel time for people
  and freight

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Section 4 Georgia at the Dawn of a New Century

• ESSENTIAL QUESTION
• How did lifestyles differ in Georgia between
  frontier families and town dwellers?

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Section 4 Georgia at the Dawn of a New Century

• What words do I need to know?
• pioneers
• frontier Georgia
• cultural refinements
• townsfolk

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Religious Activities

• Anglicans, Quakers, and Methodist circuit riders
  (traveling ministers for frontier dwellers) grew
  in
• GAs 1st Roman Catholic Church est. in Wilkes
  County in 1796
• Savannah had Jewish synagogue
• As more towns were established, churches become
  central to community life
• In other parts of America, the Mormon church and
  the African Methodist Episcopal (A.M.E.) churches
  were started

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Education in Georgia

• The University of Georgia chartered in 1785 as
  nations first land-grant university opened for
  classes in 1801
• UGA was often called Franklin College in its
  early days
• By 1820, there were forty academies (schools)
  across the state
• Georgia Female College (later Wesleyan College)
  opened in 1836

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Section 5 The War of 1812

• ESSENTIAL QUESTION
• What were the causes of the War of 1812?

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Section 5 The War of 1812

• What words and people do I need to know?
• embargo
• president James Madison
• war hawks
• Treaty of Ghent

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Unhappy with French and British Trade Policies

• Years of war between Great Britain and France
  prompted both countries to try to block U.S.
  trade with its enemy
• British ships took American sailors and made them
  serve with the British Navy
• President Thomas Jefferson ordered an embargo in
  1807 to stop trade with foreign countries this
  proved disastrous to American shipping

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War Hawks

• Land-hungry Southerners and Westerners
• Believed British were stirring up the Indians in
  the western territories
• Argued for war against GB
• Believed the British should be driven from Canada
  to eliminate the problems in the western
  territories
• President James Madison pushed Congress to
  declare war on Great Britain in 1812 the war
  declaration narrowly passed

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War of 1812

• War lasted for two years neither side gained
  advantage during first two years
• In 1814, British attack and burn Washington, the
  young national capital
• British later attacked Baltimore harbor The
  Star Spangled Banner written during The Battle
  of Fort McHenry
• The Battle of New Orleans, fought after the
  Treaty of Ghent ended the war, was a decisive
  American victory
• The war united the American states as one nation
  Andrew Jackson became a national hero

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Section 6 Native Americans in Georgia

• ESSENTIAL QUESTION
• Why were the Indians removed from Georgia?

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Section 6 Native Americans in Georgia

• What words do I need to know?
• syllabary
• Oconee War
• Treaty of New York
• Red Sticks
• White Sticks
• Treaty of Indian Springs
• Trail of Tears

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Cherokee Culture

• Most advanced of Georgias tribes learned
  quickly from white settlers
• Some, like Chief James Vann, lived in large
  houses
• Chief Vann encouraged Christianity
• Sequoyah developed a syllabary, a group of
  symbols that stand for whole syllables it gave
  Cherokees a written form of their language
• Government modeled on that of United States
  capital at New Echota by 1825

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Creek Indians

• Series of clashes between Creek and settlers who
  pushed into their land known as Oconee War
• Treaty of New York Creeks give up all land east
  of the Oconee River, but could keep land on the
  west side this angered Georgia settlers, who
  felt betrayed by their government
• Land treaties were often broken
• Red Stick Creeks endorsed war to fight for their
  land claims White Stick Creeks wanted peace

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The Creek War

• Red Sticks attacked Fort Mims, killing more than
  400 people
• The Battle of Horseshoe Bend, in Alabama, ended
  the Creek War in 1814 Andrew Jackson led the
  U.S. troops
• The Creeks were forced to give up nearly all
  their land to the U.S. government
• The Treaty of Indian Springs gave up last Creek
  lands in Georgia to the U.S. Chief William
  McIntosh was later murdered by rival Creeks for
  signing the treaty

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Creek Removal

• Treaty of Washington (1832) resulted in 5 million
  acres of Creek land ceded to the United States
• U.S. agreed to allow Creeks who wished to remain
  and live on 2 million of those acres the U.S.
  promised to protect those who stayed
• Those who didnt wish to stay would have to move
  to the western territories
• The treaty was broken by 1840, nearly all Creeks
  were forced to move west

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The Trail of Tears

• Discovery of gold in Dahlonega Georgia heightened
  demand for Cherokee land
• The Supreme Court ruled that Cherokee territory
  was not subject to state law, but the ruling was
  not enforced (Worcester v. Georgia)
• Between 1832 and 1835, Cherokees were stripped of
  their land
• In 1838, thousands of Cherokees were forcibly
  removed to Oklahoma about 4,000 died from
  disease, exposure, or hunger
• 700 to 800 escaped and hid in the North Carolina
  mountains

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Frontier Georgia

• Undeveloped land in central and western GA
• Few settlers much land given away in land
  lotteries
• Far-flung trading posts were only stores
• Often danger lurked from hostile attacks
• Social activities often centered around necessary
  work
• The country store became the center of activity
  few luxuries were available

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Life in Georgias Towns

• Cultural refinements (higher level living) set
  apart frontier and town lifestyles
• Newspapers, theater, and debate societies
• Fancy balls, barbecues, camp meetings, and horse
  racing
• Orphanages, hospitals, and facilities for people
  with special needs were operated