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CHAPTER
VIII
pages 147-170
By Charles C. Jones
Volume II - Revolutionary Epoch, 1888
Submitted by: Dena Whitesell
The popular current in England was setting strongly against the American colonies. The bill proposed by Lord North
for closing the port of Boston and occluding the commerce of a town of perhaps the greatest consequence in the
English dominions in America, was passed with astonishing unanimity. Absolute submission to Parliamentary enactment
was demanded of the colonies, and until that was rendered the ministry was resolved to listen to no complaints,
to adopt no measures for the redress of alleged grievances. " Obedience," cried the First Lord of the
Treasury and Chancellor of the Exchequer, " obedience, not indemnification, will be the test of the Bostonians."
" The offence of the Americans is flagitious," exclaimed Van. " The town of Boston ought to be knocked
about their ears and destroyed. Delenda est Carthago, You will never meet with proper obedience to the laws of
this Country until you have destroyed that nest of locusts." Although Burke and Dowdeswell spoke strongly
against the bill, it passed without a division. In the House of Lords it underwent a fuller and fairer discussion,
but even there it was unanimously adopted, and the king made haste to give it his royal approval.
This Boston Port Bill was but the first step in a system of coercive measures which the British ministry had now
determined to pursue. It was quickly followed, in April, 1774, by another act which provided that the provincial
council of Massachusetts, previously elected by the representative assembly in accordance with charter privileges,
should thereafter be appointed by the Crown; that the royal governor should be invested with the power of nominating
and removing judges, sheriffs, and all other executive officers whose functions possessed the slightest importance;
that jurymen, hitherto selected by the freeholders and citizens of the several towns, should in future be nominated
and summoned by the sheriffs; that no totonrmeetings of the people should be convoked without permission in writing
from the royal governor; and that no business or matter should be discussed at those meetings beyond the topics
specified and approved in the governor's license.
Apprehending that tumults and perhaps bloodshed might ensue upon the first attempt to carry these new measures
into execution, and not fully satisfied with the control which, by the second statute, they had usurped over the
administration of justice and an expression of the popular will, the British ministers proceeded still further
to insure impunity for their functionaries by framing a third act, which empowered the governor of the province,
if he saw fit, to remit any parties indicted for murder or charged with capital offenses committed in aiding the
magistracy of Massachusetts, for trial either to another colony or to Great Britain. In vain did Burke, Barrg,
and other liberal statesmen raise their warning voices against this measure of superfluous insult and injustice.
These three acts, sanctioned in rapid succession, were regarded in America as forming a complete system of tyranny.
By the first, exclaimed the organs of popular opinion in the colonies, thousands of innocent persons are robbed
of their livelihood for the act of a few individuals: by the second our chartered liberties are annihilated: and
by the third our lives may be destroyed with impunity. The passage of the Quebec Bill also contributed to enhance
the general indignation.
A knowledge of this legislation, and an appreciation of its pernicious influence, inflamed the minds of the patriots
in Carolina and Georgia and induced them to give early and decided expression to their views of condemnation and
opposition. To their friends in Georgia, Henry Laurens and other gentlemen of influence and character in South
Carolina, addressed letters inquiring whether the fertile lands between the Savannah and the Alatamaha were favorable
to the growth of the Tree of Liberty, even though the Indian hatchet, sharpened by the English, was ready to strike
at its roots.
On the 20th of July, 1774, the following invitation, signed by Noble W. Jones, Archibald Bulloch, John Houstoun,
and John Walton appeared in the " Georgia Gazette:" —
"The critical situation to which the British Colonies in America are likely to be reduced from the arbitrary
and alarming imposition of the late acts of the British Parliament respecting the town of Boston, as well as the
acts that at present exist tending to the raising of a perpetual revenue without the consent of the people or their
representatives, is considered an object extremely important at this juncture, and particularly calculated to deprive
the American subjects of their constitutional rights and liberties as a part of the English Empire. It is therefore
requested that all persons within the limits of this Province do attend at the Liberty Pole, at Tondee's tavern
in Savannah, on Wednesday the 27th instant, in order that the said matters may be taken under consideration and
such other constitutional measures pursued as may then appear to be most eligible."
Responding to this call, a respectable number of the freeholders and inhabitants of the province assembled at the
Watch House in Savannah on the day appointed. The meeting was organized by the selection of John Glen as chairman.
Sundry communications and resolutions from committees of correspondence at Boston, Philadelphia, Annapolis, Williamsburg,
Charlestown, and elsewhere, were read and considered. It was moved and carried that a committee should be raised
to prepare resolutions, similar to those adopted by the northern colonies, expres-rive of the sentiments and determination
of this province. The following gentlemen were constituted members of that committee: John Glen, John Smith, Joseph
Clay, John Houstoun, Noble Wimberley Jones, Lyman Hall, William Young, Edward Telfair, Samuel Farley, George Walton,
Joseph Habersham, Jonathan Bryan, Jonathan Cockran, George Mclntosh, Sutton Bankes, William Gibbons, Benjamin Andrew,
John Winn, John Stirk, Archibald Bulloch, James Soreven, David Zubly, Henry Davis Bourquin, Elisha Butler, William
Baker, Parmenus Way, John Baker, John Mann, John Benefield, John Stacy, and John Morel. A more intelligent, responsible,
and manly committee could not; have been nominated from out the entire circuit of the colonial population. While
the resolutions were under consideration, fc was wisely suggested that inasmuch as the inhabitants of some of the
more distant parishes had not been advised of the presen: meeting in time sufficient to allow them to attend, the
adoption of the resolutions should be postponed to a future occasion. It was therefore determined that the meeting
" stand adjourned' until the 10th of August. The chairman was requested to communicate with the different
parishes and districts, and to request that delegates be sent to unite with the committee in framing the contemplated
resolutions. It was the sense of the meeting-that those delegates should be equal in number to the representatives
usually elected to the General Assembly, and that the resolutions, as sanctioned by the meeting in August, should
be regarded as expressing the sentiments of the inhabitants of the province.
In obedience to the will of the meeting, Mr. Glen, the chairman, caused notices to be published and widely distributed
requesting the respective parishes to elect delegates to attend oc the committee at Savannah at the time agreed
upon.
Alarmed at the proceeding, Governor Wright convened hif council and consulted with the members in regard to the
best method of placing a check upon proceedings which he deemed unconstitutional and revolutionary. A motion was
made to expel Mr. Bryan from council because his name appeared among the committee men. That gentleman, says Captain
McCall, "with patriotic indignation, informed them in a style peculiar to himself for its candour and energy,
that he would 'save them the trouble,' and handed his resignation to the governor." Finding that the persuasions
of himself and council were likely to prove of little avail, Governor Wright issued the following proclamation
: — "Georgia. By his Excellency Sir James Wright, Bart, Captain
General of his Majesty's Province of Georgia, Chancellor, Vice Admiral, and Ordinary of the same.
Whereas I have received information that on Wednesday, the 27th day of July last past, a number of persons, in
consequence of a printed Bill or Summons issued and dispersed throughout the Province by certain Persons unknown,
did unlawfully assemble together at the Watch House in the Town of Savannah under colour or pretence of consulting
together for the Redress of Grievances or imaginary Grievances, and that the Persons so assembled for the purposes
aforesaid, or some of them are, from and by their own authority, by a certain other Hand-Bill issued and dispersed
throughout the Province, and by other methods, endeavouring to prevail on his Majesty's liege subjects to have
another meeting on Wednesday the 10th instant, similar to the former and for the purposes aforesaid, which summonses
and meetings must tend to raise fears and jealousies in the minds of his Majesty's good subjects: And whereas an
opinion prevails, and has been industriously propagated that Summonses and Meetings of this nature are constitutional
and legal: in order therefore that his Majesty's liege subjects may not be misled and imposed upon by artful and
designing men I do, by this Proclamation, by and with the advice of his Majesty's honorable Council, issue this
my Proclamation notifying that all such Summonses and calls by Private Persons, and all Assemblings and Meetings
of the People which may tend to raise fears and jealousies with his Majesty's subjects under pretence of consulting
together for redress of Public Grievances, are unconstitutional, illegal, and punishable by Law.
" And I do hereby require all his Majesty's subjects within this Province to pay due regard to this my Proclamation
as they will answer the contrary.
" Given under my hand and the Great Seal of his Majesty's said Province, in the Council Chamber at Savannah,
the 5th day of August in the 14th year of the Reign of our Sovereign Lord George III. in the year of our Lord 1774.
James Weight, " By his Excellency's command. Tho. Moodie, Dep: Sec: God save the King."
In direct opposition to the will of his excellency, and in utter disregard of his proclamation, a general meeting
of the inhabitants of the province was held at Tondee's tavern in Savannah on the 10th of August, 1774-
The following resolutions, reported by the committee raised for that purpose at the former convocation, were adopted
and given to the public as an expression of the sentiments of Georgia with respect to the important questions which
were then agitating the minds of the American colonists: —
"Resolved nemine contradicente, That his Majesty's subjects in America owe the same allegiance, and are entitled
to the same rights, privileges, and immunities with their fellow sabjects in Great Britain.
"Resolved, nemine contradicente, That as protection and allegiance are reciprocal, and under the British Constitution
correlative terms, his Majesty's subjects in America have a clear and indisputable right, as well from the general
laws of mankind, as from the ancient and established customs of the land so often recognized, to petition the Throne
upon every emergency.
"Resolved nemine contradicente, That an Act of Parliament lately passed for blockading the port and harbour
of Boston is contrary to our idea of the British Constitution: First, for that it in effect deprives good and lawful
men of the use of their property without judgment of their peers; and secondly, for that it is in the nature of
an ex post facto law, and indiscriminately blends as objects of punishment the innocent with the guilty; neither
do we conceive the same justified upon a principle of necessity, for that numerous instances evince that the laws
and executive power of Boston have made sufficient provision for the punishment of all offenders against persons
and property.
"Resolved, nemine contradicente, That the Act for abolishing the Charter of Massachusetts Bay tends to the
subversion of American rights; for besides those general liberties, the original settlers brought over with them
as their birthright particular immunities granted by such Charter, as an inducement and means of settling the Province:
and we apprehend the said Charter cannot be dissolved but by a voluntary surrender of the people, representatively
declared.
"Resolved, nemine contradicente, That we apprehend the Parliament of Great Britain hath not, nor ever had,
any right to tax his Majesty's American subjects; for it is evident, beyond contradiction, the constitution admits
of no taxation without representation; that they are coeval and inseparable; and every demand for the support of
government should be by requisition made to the several houses of representatives.
"Resolved, nemine contradicente, That it is contrary to natural justice and the established law of the land,
to transport any person to Great Britain or elsewhere to be tried under indictment for a crime committed in any
of the colonies, as the party prosecuted would thereby be deprived of the privilege of trial by his peers from
the vicinage, the injured perhaps prevented from legal reparation, and both lose the full benefit of their witnesses.
"Resolved, nemine contradicente, That we concur with our sister colonies in every constitutional measure to
obtain redress of American grievances, and will, by every lawful means in our power, maintain those inestimable
blessings for which we are indebted to God and the Constitution of our country—a Constitution founded upon reason
and justice and the indelible rights of mankind.
"Resolved, nemine contradicente, That the Committee appointed by the meeting of the inhabitants of this Province
on Wednesday, the 27th of July last, together with the deputies who have appeared here on this day from the different
parishes, be a general committee to act, and that any eleven or more of them shall have full power to correspond
with the committees of the several Provinces upon the Continent; and that copies of these resolutions, as well
as of all other proceedings, be transmitted without delay to the Committees of Correspondence in the respective
Provinces."
A committee, consisting of William Ewen, William Young, Joseph Clay, John Houstoun, Noble Wimberley Jones, Edward
Telfair, John Smith, Samuel Farley, and Andrew Elton Wells, was appointed to solicit, receive, and forward subscriptions
and supplies for the suffering poor in Boston. Within a short time five hundred and seventy-nine barrels of rice
were contributed and shipped to that town.
While this meeting was most respectably constituted, and while its deliberations and conclusions were harmonious,
it must not be supposed that there was no division of sentiment in Georgia upon the political questions of the
day. On the contrary, the royal party was strong and active, and it required no little effort on the part of the
" Liberty Boys " to acquire the mastery and place the province fairly within the lists of the Revolutionists.
The line of demarkation was sometimes so sharply drawn that father was arrayed against son, and brother against
brother. Thus, not to multiply instances, the Honorable James Habersham and Colonel Noble Jones maintained their
allegiance to the Crown, while their sons were amongst the foremost champions of the rights of the colony. The
brothers Telfair were divided in sentiment upon the momentous issues then involved. The cruel effects of such disagreements,
experienced during the progress of the Revolution, were projected, not infrequently, even beyond the final establishment
of the republic. No cause of quarrel can be more dangerous than that involving a conflict of opinion touching the
relative rights of the governing and the governed. No calamities are so appalling as those engendered in a strife
between peoples of the same race and claiming privileges emanating from the same fountain head. Polybius was right
when he said that such dissensions were to be dreaded much more than wars waged in a foreign country or against
a common enemy.
The only paper published in the colony at this time was the " Georgia Gazette." It was under the control
of Governor Wright, and its official utterances were in support of the royal cause. In its issue of Wednesday,
September 7, 1774, appeared a card signed by James Haberahain, Lachlan McGillivray, Josiah Tattnall, James Hume,
Anthony Stokes, Edward Langworthy, Henry Yonge, Robert Bolton, Noble Jones, David Montaigut and some ninety-three
others, inhabitants and freeholders chiefly of the town and district of Savannah, criticising the meeting of the
10th of August and protesting that the resolutions then adopted should not be accepted as reflecting the sentiments
of the people of Georgia. " The important meeting of the 10th of August in defence of the Constitutional rights
and liberties of the American Subjects, these gentlemen affirmed, " was held at a tavern, with the doors shut
for a considerable time: and it is said 26 persons answered for the whole Province and undertook to bind them by
resolutions; and when several Gentlemen attempted to go in, the Tavern-keeper, who stood at the door with a list
in his hand, refused them admittance because their names were not mentioned in that list. Such was the conduct
of these pretended advocates for the Liberties of America. Several of the inhabitants of St. Paul and St. George,—two
of the most populous parishes of the Province, — had transmitted their written dissents to any Resolutions, and
there were Gentlemen ready to present these dissents had not the door been shut for a considerable time and admittance
ref ifted. And it is conceived the shutting of the door and refusing admittance to any but resolutioners was calculated
to prevent the rest of the Inhabitants from giving their dissent to measures that were intended to operate as the
unanimous sense of the Province. Upon the whole, the world will judge whether the meeting of the 10th of August,
held by a few persons in a Tavern, with doors shut, can, with any appearance of truth or decency, be called a General
Meeting of the Inhabitants of Georgia." Such is the other side of the story as told by a pen dipped in the
king's ink.
Captain McCall, who was himself an eye witness of the occurrences, and who wrote while many of the actors were
still in life, asserts that a few days after the meeting of the 10th of August Governor Wright called a convention
to test the strength of his party. About a third of the inhabitants in and near Savannah, including his council
and other civil and military officers, met at the court-house, signed a dissent from the republican proceedings,
and entered a protest against the late assemblage as being unconstitutional. Documents of similar import were prepared
and placed in the hands of influential friends of the governor with instructions to procure signatures to them
from various parishes in the province. To the parties having charge of these papers moneys were allowed, "proportioned
to the number of subscribers they obtained," as compensation for their services. Under such advantageous circumstances
these royal agents were successful in procuring signatures from many timid men who sympathized with the American
cause. Fraud too was practiced. In some instances the number of subscribers exceeded the population of the parish
from which the protest purported to come. Signatures of dead men were forged. Thus was earnest effort made to overestimate
the strength of the king's party in Georgia and to belittle the power of such as were resolved to resist an enforcement
of the recent tyrannical Parliamentary enactments. Several protests, obtained in this manner and intended not only
to influence the public sentiment in Georgia but also to reach the ear and confirm the purposes of the home authorities,
were published in the " Georgia Gazette." We instance one from the inhabitants of the parish of St. Matthew
and town of Ebenezer, which appeared on the 21st of September;a another on the 28th of the month,8 signed by sundry
parties in the parish of St. George, and from the town of Queensborough; and a third on the 12th of October,* subscribed
by a number of the inhabitants of the parish of St. Paul and town of Augusta, and also by citizens of Wrightsboro,
Kyoka, and the Broad River settlements. In his communication to the Earl of Dartmouth Governor Wright alludes to
the preparation of these protests, and ventures the opinion that when they are all received it will be apparent
that the resolutions of the 10th of August " were not the voioe of the People, but unfairly and insolently
made by a Junto of a very few only."
The two parties in the province were already counting noses, and marshaling their forces for the coming contest.
His excellency, with that political sagacity which distinguished him in a remarkable degree, foresaw the danger
and confessed the inability of the colonial government to sustain itself in the face of the gathering storm. He
frankly admitted that it required the interposition of a power greater than that possessed by the executive to
rectify abuses, remedy existing evils, and subdue the flame of independence which was each year burning more fiercely
in the province.
In the meeting of the 10th of August the expediency of sending six deputies to the proposed general congress of
the American colonies was discussed. The proposition did not, however, receive the sanction of the assemblage.
Of all the parishes composing the province none was more patriotic or resolute, none more public spirited or anxious
to form a league against British oppression, than the parish of St. John. Of the five hundred and seventy-nine
barrels of rice contributed by Georgia for the relief of the suffering poor of Boston two hundred were given by
the inhabitants of this parish. Brave, intelligent, generous, and most intolerant of the semblance of oppression,
they were prepared "to exert themselves to the utmost, and to make every sacrifice that men impressed with
the strongest sense of their rights and liberties, and warm with the most benevolent feelings for their oppressed
brethren, can make to stand firmly or fall gloriously in the common cause." Dissatisfied with the action of
the meeting in Savannah, which declined to commission delegates to a general congress, they called a convention
of their own on the 30th of August, 1774. By invitation, deputies from St. George and St. David were also present.
It was then resolved " that if a majority of the Parishes would unite with them, they would send deputies
to join the General Congress and faithfully and religiously abide by and conform to such determination as should
there be entered into, and come from thence recommended."
Georgia, however, was not represented in the first general congress of the colonies. Upon the return of the deputies
from South Carolina to that body the most earnest efforts were made to incite Georgians to greater activity in
the cause of the united colonies, and to evoke from them a cordial approval of the resolutions passed at Philadelphia.
The " Declaration of Colonial Rights," there framed and adopted, was widely disseminated, and many were
they in Georgia who openly and strenuously urged its acceptance as a forcible expression of the general sentiment.
In explanation of the state of feeling then dominant in the province, Sir James Wrightx thus addressed the Earl
of Dartmouth: "I think it my duty to acquaint your Lordship that since the Carolina Deputies have returned
from die Continental Congress as they call it, every means possible have been used to raise a flame again in this
Province. Those People, it is said, solemnly undertook that this Province should accede to the Resolutions of that
Congress, and we have been in hot water ever since, and I suppose the Sons of Liberty here, stimulated by the Carolinians,
will take upon them to pass resolves in the name of the whole Province. I shall endeavour as much as possible to
prevent it, but the sanction given to Rebellion by the Resolves and Proceedings of that Congress has greatly encouraged
the spirit of political enthusiasm which many were possessed of before, and raised it to such a height of Frenzy
that God knows what the consequences may be or what man or whose property may escape their resentment."
In the Continental Congress twelve provinces were represented. Governor Wright's influence, sustained by the leading
royalists, had been sufficiently potent to deter Georgia from sending delegates. Their absence was severely commented
upon, and it was resolved to spare no exertions which might induce the colony of Oglethorpe to cast her lot with
her sister plantations.
The colonial rights, promulgated by Congress and severely denounced by Governor Wright, may be epitomized thus:
The enjoyment of life, liberty, and property was absolutely claimed. The privilege of being bound by no law to
which they had not consented through their representatives was demanded as inherent in the colonists by virtue
of their character as British subjects. The exclusive power of taxation, internal and external, and the right of
legislation for the colonies were declared to reside in their respective assemblies; Parliament possessing the
authority to enact only such laws as were requisite for the bonafide regulation of trade. The common law of England
was insisted upon as the birthright of the colonists. " The right of trial by a jury of the vicinage, the
right of public meetings, and the right of petition for the redress of grievances " were pronounced "inalienable."
Against standing armies maintained in the colonies without their consent, and against legislation by councils dependent
on the Crown, solemn protests were entered. All immunities hitherto enjoyed by the colonies, whether authorized
by charter or by custom, were asserted to be vested rights which could not be abrogated by any exercise of power
on the part of the mother country. Eleven acts of Parliament passed since the accession of George III. — the Sugar
act, the Stamp act, the two Quartering acts, the Tea act, the act suspending the New York legislature, the two
acts for the trial in Great Britain of offenses committed in America, the Boston Port Bill, the act for regulating
the government of Massachusetts, and the Quebec act — were denounced as having been passed in derogation of the
rights of the colonies.
With a view to the practical enforcement of these claims, fourteen articles were agreed upon as the basis of an
" American Association." The associators were pledged to commercial non-intercourse with Great Britain,
Ireland, and the West Indies, and to a non-consumption of tea and British goods.. This non-intercourse was to extend
to such of the North American provinces as should decline to unite in the association, and was to continue until
the obnoxious acts of Parliament were repealed. The nonimportation clauses were to become operative in December,
but the non-exportation clauses were postponed for nine months longer. The slave-trade was specially denounced,
and entire abstinence from it and from those engaged in it was enjoined. The associators stood pledged to encourage
the breeding of sheep. Mourning goods were to be discarded. There was to be no enhancement of the price of goods
on hand in consequence of this agreement. Committees were to be raised everywhere, whose duty it should be to publish
the names of all who violated the provisions of this compact. All dealings with such " enemies of American
liberty " were strictly prohibited.
To the " Sons of Liberty " the position now occupied by Georgia was distressful and mortifying. From
her isolated situation, from her apparent indifference to the compact into which the other American colonies had
entered, and from the ban under which she was placed by her failure to participate in the deliberations of and
to be bound by the conclusions reached by the Continental Congress, they determined to liberate her at the earliest
practicable moment.
A Provincial Congress was determined upon as the surest and best method of accomplishing this desirable result,
and the 18th of January, 1775, was suggested for the convocation. Savannah was named as the most suitable place
for the session. On the 8th of December, 1774, many of the leading citizens of that town and of Christ Church Parish
convened at the market-place, and, having summoned John Glen, Esq., to the chair, proceeded to an election of delegates
to the Provincial Congress. Upon closing the polls at six o'clock in the afternoon, " the following gentlemen
were declared duly elected, viz.: Joseph Clay, George Houstoun, Ambrose Wright, Thomas Lee, Joseph Habersham, Edward
Telfair, John Houstoun, Peter Tondee, Samuel Farley, William Young, John Smith, Archibald Bulloch, John McCluer,
Noble Wimberley Jones, and John Morel."
In commenting upon this action of Christ Church Parish a writer in the " Georgia Gazette "x says: "
It cannot surely at this time admit of a doubt but every Parish and District throughout the Province will, as soon
as possible, follow so laudable an example.
"Every thinking man must be convinced how much the honour, welfare, and happiness of us and our posterity
depend upon a rigorous assertion and claim of our just and natural rights which the arbitrary system of politicks
adopted by the Administration is undeniably calculated to deprive us of."
This anticipation was not realized: for, as we shall see, upon tbe assembling of the Provincial Congress it was
found that only five of the twelve parishes composing the province sent delegates. Governor Wright and the supporters
of the Crown were most earnest in discountenancing all these preliminary meetings, and the home authorities assured
him that in his efforts to " suppress Buch unwarrantable proceedings " he should have every support.
The Lords of the Admiralty were instructed to direct Admiral Graves to station one of his small cruisers in Savannah
River, and General Gage was ordered to send to Governor Wright a detachment of one hundred men from the garrison
at St Augustine.
On the 20th of December Sir James advised the Earl of Dartmouth: "Our Liberty Folks are really very active
in tormenting a flame throughout the Province, . . . but your Lordship may rely on it that every means possible
shall be used to counteract and oppose them, and in which I shall persevere to the last, and if they do accede
to the resolutions of the Continental Congress, yet had I but 200 Soldiers and a Sloop of War I think I should
be able to keep everything quiet and orderly and might be very easy as to their threats about non-importation and
non-exportation, and of shutting up the Ports, &c, &c., &c; but your Lordship knows I have not the
least support, altho' I have the great satisfaction to acquaint your Lordship that the King's Officers and a great
number of Gentlemen are against all the Liberty Measures, as your Lordship would see by the Dissents."
Although not yet thoroughly republican, Georgia was fast becoming so, and neither the persuasions of the king's
officers nor the threats of a resort to military force to compel submission to the will of Parliament were sufficiently
potent to silence the voice of the protestants or to prohibit public demonstrations in favor of colonial rights.
Early in January, 1775, a district congress was held by the inhabitants of St. Andrew's Parish, at which a series
of manly resolutions, embodying the views of a large number of the most influential citizens of that flourishing
settlement on the Alatamaha, was adopted with much enthusiasm. The first of these resolutions expressed the unqualified
approval, by the members of the congress, of " the unparalleled moderation, the decent but firm and manly
conduct of the loyal and brave people of Boston and Massachusetts Bay " in their efforts to preserve their
liberties ; their acquiescence in, and adoption of, " all the resolutions of the Grand American Congress;"
and their " cheerful accession to the Association entered into by them as the wisest and most moderate measure
that could be adopted. The second resolution, after condemning the closing of the land offices to the great detriment
of colonial growth and the injury of the industrious poor, declared that every " encouragement should be given
to the poor of every nation by every generous American." The third criticised severely ministerial mandates
which prohibited colonial assemblies from passing such laws as the exigencies of the respective provinces required.
In the fourth the practice of making colonial officers dependent upon Great Britain for the determination and payment
of their salaries, thus rendering them " independent of the people who should support them according to their
usefulness and behaviour" was heartily condemned. By the fifth the parish declared its " disapprobation
and abhorrence of the unnatural practice of slavery in America," and its determination to urge "the manumission
of our slaves in this Colony upon the most safe and equitable footing for the masters and themselves." The
last resolution provided for the election of delegates to represent the district in the Provincial Congress, and
instructed them to urge the appointment of deputies from Georgia to the Continental Congress.
Appended to these resolutions, and signed by Lachlan Mclntosh, George Threadcraft, Charles McDonald, John Mclntosh,
Raymond Demere, Jiles Moore, Samuel McClelland, Peter Sallens, Jr., James Clark, John Witherspoon, Jr., John Witherspoon,
John Fulton, Samuel Fulton, Isaac Cuthbert, Isaac Hall, Jones Newsom, A. Daniel Cuthbert, John Hall, John McCollugh,
Snr. John McCollugh, Jr., William McCollugh, Reuben Shuttleworth, John McCleland, Richard Cooper, Seth McCullugh,
Thomas King, Paul Judton, John Roland, Pr: Shuttleworth, Joseph Stobe, and To: Bierry, were the following articles
of association :
"Being persuaded that the salvation of the rights and liberties of America depend, under God, on the firm
union of the inhabitants in the vigorous prosecution of the measures necessary for its safety, and convinced of
the necessity of preventing the anarchy and confusion which attend the dissolution of the powers of Government,
we, the freemen, freeholders, and inhabitants of the Province of Georgia, being greatly alarmed at the avowed design
of the Ministry to raise a revenue in America, and shocked by the bloody Scene now acting in the Massachusetts
Bay, do in the most solemn manner resolve never to become slaves; and do associate under all the ties of religion,
honor, and love of country, to adopt and endeavor to carry into execution whatever may be recommended by the Continental
Congress, or resolved upon by our Provincial Convention that shall be appointed, for the purpose of preserving
our Constitution and opposing the execution of the several arbitrary and oppressive acts of the British Parliament
until a reconciliation between Great Britain and America on constitutional principles, which we most ardently desire,
can be obtained; and that we will in all things follow the advice of our general Comihittee, to be appointed, respecting
the purposes aforesaid, the preservation of peace and good order, and the safety of individuals and private property."
Christ Church, St. John, and St. Andrew were the strongest and most intelligent parishes within the limits of the
province. In their primary meetings they all declared themselves in favor of the resolutions adopted by the Continental
Congress, and appointed delegates to the Provincial Congress.
It was the expectation of Governor Wright, by convening the General Assembly of the province on the same day named
for the meeting of the Provincial Congress, either to prevent a session of the latter body or essentially to modify
its deliberations. Vain was this anticipation. Pursuant to the call of his excellency the General Assembly of Georgia
met in Savannah on the 18th of January, 1775. In his speech the governor thus cautioned the Commons House of Assembly:a
" The alarming situation of American affairs at this juncture makes it highly necessary for me to say something
to you on that subject: and it is with the utmost concern that I see, by every account, all the Colonies to the
northward of us, as far as Nova Scotia, in a general ferment, and some of them in such a state as makes me shudder
when I think of the consequences which it is most probable will soon befall them.
" The unhappy disputes with the Mother Country are now become of the most serious nature, and I am much afraid
the very extraordinary and violent measures adopted and pursued will not only prevent a reconciliation, but may
involve all America in the most dreadful calamities.
"Gentlemen, I think myself very happy in having it in my power to say that this Province is hitherto clear,
and I much hope by your prudent conduct it will remain so.
"Be not led away by the voices and opinions of men's overheated ideas. Consider coolly and sensibly of the
terrible consequences which may attend adopting resolutions and measures expressly contrary to lawy and hostile
to the Mother Country, especially at so late a season, when we may almost daily expect to hear the determination
of Great Britain on the matters in dispute, and therefore I conceive can answer no purpose but that of throwing
the Province into confusion: and I tremble at the apprehension of what may be the resolution and declaration of
the new Parliament relative to the conduct of the People in some parts of America.
" You may be advocates for liberty: so am I, but in a constitutional and legal way. You, Gentlemen, are legislators,
and let me entreat you to take heed how you give a sanction to trample upon law and government, and be assured
it is an indisputable truth that where there is no law there can be no liberty. It is the due course of law and
support of Government which only can insure to you the enjoyment of your lives, your liberties, and your estates,
and don't catch at the shadow and lose the substance.
" I exhort you not to suffer yourselves to be drawn in to involve this Province in the distresses of those
who may have offended. We are in a very different situation and on a very different footing from the other Colonies.
Don't consider me as speaking to you merely as the King's Governor of this Province. As such, Gentlemen, it is
certainly my duty to support his Majesty's just rights and authority and to preserve peace and good order within
my Government, and to contribute as much as possible towards the prosperity and happiness of the Province and people.
Believe me when I tell you I am at this time actuated by further motives than those only of discharging my duty
as the King's Governor. I have lived amongst and presided over you upwards of fourteen years and have other feelings.
I have a real and affectionate regard for the People, and it grieves me to think that a Province which I have been
so long in, and which I have seen nurtured by the Crown at a vast expense to the Mother Country, and grow up from
mere infancy, from next to nothing, to a considerable degree of maturity and opulence, should by the imprudence
and rashness of some inconsiderate People be plunged into a state of distress and ruin. We have been most happy
in (I hope) avoiding Scylla, and let me in the strongest terms conjure you to steer clear of Charybdis."
The response of the Upper House of Assembly was most satisfactory to his excellency, and entirely loyal to the
Crown. Lamenting the unhappy differences existing between England and the American colonies, the members of that
body disapproved of all violent and intemperate measures, and declared it to be their pride and glory to be constitutionally
connected with Great Britain by the closest and most enduring union. While dreading nothing more than a dissolution
of the ties binding them to the mother country, they expressed an ardent wish that the American colonists might
be permitted to enjoy all the rights and privileges of British subjects as fully as though they were actual inhabitants
of the British Isles. " Nor can we doubt of success," they added, " when we reflect that we are
blessed with a King who glories in being the equal father of all his people, and therefore we can and do submit
our cause with full confidence to his royal wisdom and paternal goodness. Neither will we suppose that a British
Parliament, that great and august Body who have so often generously asserted and defended the liberties of other
nations, will disregard the equitable claims of their fellow subjects."
The king and Parliament were still secure in the loyalty and affection of the council.
The address of the Lower House of Assembly was more independent in its tone, and less acceptable to the governor.
" We cannot," said the representatives, " be less affected by and concerned for the present alarming
situation of affairs between Great Britain and America than your Excellency. We must be equally insensible not
to feel our numerous grievances and not to wish them redressed. It is that alone which every good American contends
for. It is the enjoyment of our constitutional rights and liberties that softens every care of life and renders
existence itself supportable. At the same time, in all our proceedings we shall studiously avoid every measure
that shall not appear to us at once strictly consonant with our duty to his Majesty and the interest, liberty,
and welfare of our Constituents."
Commenting upon the temper of the representatives and many of their constituents Governor Wright, on the 13th of
February, 1775, thus addressed the Earl of Dartmouth : " Really, my Lord, a great many People have worked
themselves up to such a pitch of political enthusiasm with respect to their ideas of Liberty and the powers of
the British Parliament and of their right to resist what they call unconstitutional laws, that I do not expect
they will yet give up their pretensions. They have not forgot certain speeches in the beginning of the year 1766,
and very frequently mention them and say if they had not been constitutional and unanswerable the Parliament would
not have so far approved of and yielded to them as to have repealed the Stamp Act. These things my Lord have made
such strong impressions that it's very difficult to remove them, or for the people to bring themselves to think
otherwise."
But a short time before * he had advised his lordship of the active interference of the South Carolinians, and
of the violent threats uttered by them against such Georgians as opposed the resolutions of the Continental Congress.
Referring to the subject of an armed force to support his majesty's government and execute the obnoxious laws of
Parliament within the province, he writes: " I know that any Troops being sent here at this time would be
looked upon as Dragooning (as they call it) the people into passive obedience and submission to the unconstitutional
acts of the Parliament of Great Britain, and that keeping a standing army without the consent and request of the
Legislature of the Colony will be said to be contrary to law.
" But your Lordship will be the best Judge how far his Majesty's Officers ought to remain not only lyable
to Insults from the People of the Province they live in, but also from the People in another Province, and probably
to be seized upon by them and confined or possibly murdered."
The Provincial Congress assembled simultaneously with the legislature and perfected its organization by calling
John Glen to the chair. Of the twelve parishes composing the colony only five were represented by delegates, and
some of these delegates were hampered by restrictions which materially impaired their freedom of expression and
action. The power of Governor Wright and of the loyal party in Georgia had been successfully exerted in preventing
a more genefal response to the invitation extended by the Liberty Boys of Christ Church Parish. Chagrined at the
inaction of the colony, the delegates to this congress essayed to accomplish through the Commons House of Assembly
that which, of themselves, they were not strong enough to perform. Laying before that body the papers and resolutions
which were then engaging their attention, they hoped by securing the sanction of the representatives to announce
those resolutions, which were akin to such as had been adopted by the Continental Congress, as embodying the general
sentiments of the province. After a conference with the Upper House, finding it impossible to bring about unity
of thought and action, the members of the Lower House proceeded to a consideration of various communications received
from other provinces on the subject of American grievances, and entered upon a discussion of the resolutions of
the Provincial Congress which were submitted for their approval. These resolutions were substantially the same
as those which had been adopted on the 14th of October, with the addition of three others: one rendering grateful
acknowledgment to the noble, honorable, and patriotic advocates of civil and religious liberty who had so generously
and powerfully espoused and defended the cause of America both in and out of Parliament; another giving thanks
to the members of the late American congress for their wise and able exertions in behalf of American liberty; and
a third urging that deputies should be sent from Georgia to the Continental Congress which was to convene on the
10th of May next in the city of Philadelphia.
Pending the deliberations upon these important matters, and in order to prevent any authoritative and final action
in the premises, the governor, on the 10th of February, adjourned the General Assembly until the 9th of the following
May. This action completely thwarted the designs of the liberty party and utterly prevented the nomination, by
the representatives, of delegates to the Philadelphia congress.
Embarrassed by this unexpected event; perplexed by the paucity of the representation present, which, in all honesty,
forbade that the conclusions and recommendations of the Provisional Congress should be promulgated as expressive
of the will of even a majority of the parishes of Georgia; hampered by the restrictions under which some of the
delegates labored, and weakened by the withdrawal of the deputies from St. John's Parish who would listen to nothing
short of an emphatic indorsement of all the measures and resolutions suggested by the Continental Congress, the
Provisional Congress adjourned on the 25th of January. Before doing so, however, it elected Noble W. Jones, Archibald
Bulloch, and John Houstoun to represent the province in the Philadelphia congress. Having failed to indorse all
the resolutions entered into by her sister colonies, Georgia, to the delight of the governor and council and the
sincere mortification of the lovers of American liberty, still remained outside of the continental association.
So incensed were the South Carolinians that they resolved to hold no intercourse with Georgians, but "to consider
them as unworthy the rights of freemen and as inimical to the liberties of their country." Bewailing the posture
of affairs, and repudiating the action of the Provincial Congress, the parish of St. John resolved to act independently
and in advance of the rest of the colony. So annoyed were the citizens of that parish at the
abortive effort made at Savannah to commit the province to the line of conduct prescribed by the Continental Congress
that on the 9th of February, 1775, Joseph Wood, Daniel Roberts, and Samuel Stevens, members of the parish committee,
were deputed, with a carefully prepared letter, to repair to Charlestown and request of the committee of correspondence
there " permission to form an alliance with them and to conduct trade and commerce according to the act of
non-importation to which they had already acceded. Among other arguments advanced in that communication, framed
and signed by Lyman Hall, chairman, we find the following: "Our being a Parish of a non-associated Province
cannot, we presume, prevent our joining the other Provinces, as the restrictions mentioned in the 14th clause of
the General Association must, as we apprehend, be considered as a general rule only, and respects this Province
considered in a mixed or promiscuous sense; but as we of this Parish are a body detached from the rest by our resolutions
and association, and sufficiently distinct by local situation, large enough for particular notice, and have been
treated as such by a particular address from the late Continental Congress, adjoining a seaport and in that respect
capable of conforming to the General Association, and (if connected with you), with the same fidelity as a distinct
Parish of your own Province: therefore we must be considered as comprehended within the spirit and equitable meaning
of the Continental Association, and we are assured you will not condemn the innocent with the guilty, especially
when a due separation is made between them."
Reaching Charlestown on the 23d of February, Messrs. Wood, Roberts, and Stevens waited upon the.general committee
and earnestly endeavored to accomplish their mission. While admiring the patriotism of the parish and entreating
its citizens to persevere in their laudable exertions, the Carolinians deemed it improper and "a violation
of the Continental Association to remove the prohibition in favor of any part of a Province."
Disappointed, yet not despondent, the inhabitants of St. John's Parish, with surprising unanimity, " resolved
to prosecute their claims to an equality with the Confederated Colonies."
This parish then possessed nearly one third of the aggregate wealth of Georgia, and its citizens were remarkable
for their thrift, courage, honesty, and determination. Having adopted certain resolutions by which they obligated
themselves to hold no commerce with Savannah or other places except under the supervision of a committee, and then
only with a view to procuring the necessaries of life, and having avowed their entire sympathy with all the articles
and declarations promulgated by the General Congress, the inhabitants of St. John's Parish elected Dr. Lyman Hall
to represent them in the Continental Congress. This appointment occurred on the 21st of March and no more suitable
selection could have been made. Among the prominent citizens of the parish none occupied a position superior to
that accorded to Dr. Hall. A native of Connecticut, he had long been identified with the region, and was a member
of the Midway Congregation. Owning and cultivating a rice plantation on the Savannah and Darien road only a few
miles from Midway meeting-house, he resided in Sunbury and was the leading physician in that community. When departing
for the Continental Congress he carried with him, as a present from his constituents to the suffering republicans
in Massachusetts, one hundred and sixty barrels of rice and fifty pounds sterling. On the 13th of May this gentleman,
who had been largely instrumental in persuading the Parish of St. John to this independent course, presented his
credentials in Philadelphia and was unanimously admitted to a seat in Congress, "as a delegate from the Parish
of St. John in the Colony of Georgia subject to such regulations as the Congress should determine relative to his
voting." Until Georgia was fully represented, Dr. Hall declined to vote upon questions which were to be decided
by a vote of colonies. He, however, participated in the debates, recorded his opinions in all cases where an expression
of sentiment by colonies was not required, and declared hia earnest conviction " that the example which had
been shown by the Parish which he represented would be speedily followed, and that the representation of Georgia
would soon be complete."
The patriotic spirit of its inhabitants and this independent action of St. John's Parish in advance of the other
parishes of Georgia were afterwards acknowledged when all the parishes were in accord in the Revolutionary movement.
As a tribute of praise and in token of general admiration, by special act of the legislature the name of Liberty
County was conferred upon the consolidated parishes of St. John, St. Andrew, and St. James. Sir James Wright was
not far from the mark when he located the head of the rebellion in St. John's Parish, and advised tbe Earl of Dartmouth
that the rebel measures there inaugurated were to be mainly referred to the influence of the " descendants
of New England people of the Puritan Independent sect" who, retaining " a strong tincture of Republican
or Oliverian principles, ksve entered into an agreement amongst themselves to adopt both the resolutions and association
of the Continental Congress." On the altars erected within the Midway District were the fires of resistance
to the dominion of England earliest kindled; and Lyuaan Hall, of all the dwellers there, by his counsel, exhortations,
and determined spirit, added stoutest fuel to the flames. Between the immigrants from Dorchester and the distressed
Bostonians existed not only the ties of a common parentage, but also sympathies born of the same religious, moral,
social, and political education. Hence we derive an explanation of the reason why the Midway settlement declared
so early for the Revolutionists. The Puritan element — cherishing and proclaiming intolerance of Established Church
and of the divine right of kings, impatient of restraint, accustomed to independent thought and action, and without
associations which encouraged tender memories of and love for the mother country — asserted its hatreds, its affiliations,
and its hopes with no uncertain utterance, and appears to have controlled the action of the entire parish.
Aside from an appreciation of her own weakness and of the dangers arising from a numerous Indian population on
her borders, a military force in Florida obedient to the will of the king, the presence of predatory bands eager
for some excuse to inaugurate a system of spoliation and murder, and an extensive coast entirely exposed to naval
depredations, there were other considerations which caused Georgians to pause ere they lifted their hands in anger
against the mother country. Some of them are alluded to by Bishop Stevens.
Since its settlement Georgia had received, by grant of Parliament, nearly £200,000 in addition to generous
bounties lavished in aid of silk culture and various agricultural products. This fact weighed with no little force
upon the minds of many, and Governor Wright sought every opportunity to inculcate gratitude towards a sovereign
whose paternal care had been so kindly manifested.
Other colonies had charters upon which to base some claims for redress. Georgia had none. Upon the surrender by
the trustees of the charter granted to them by King George the Second, all chartered privileges became extinct.
Upon its erection into a royal province, the commission of the governor, and the instructions of his majesty communicated
through the Lords of Trade and Plantations and the Privy Council, constituted the supreme measure of privilege
and the rules of government.
For fourteen years had Sir James Wright presided over the colony with impartiality, wisdom, and firmness. Through
his zeal and watchfulness the province had been delivered from the horrors of Indian warfare and guided into the
paths of peace and plenty. By his negotiations millions of acres had been added to the public domain. Diligent
in the discharge of his official duties, firm in his resolves, just in the exercise of his powers, loyal in his
opinions, courteous in his manners, thrifty in the conduct of his private affairs, and exhibiting the operations
of a vigorous and well-balanced judgment, he secured the respect and affection of his people. Although differing
from many of the inhabitants upon the political questions which were now dividing the public mind, he never suffered
himself to be betrayed into acts of violence or of revenge. He preferred to counsel, to enlighten, to exhort. Georgia
was prosperous and her development, year by year, was marked. Her position therefore was peculiar, and it excites
no surprise that at the outset there should have been a division of sentiment upon the momentous political issues
presented for her consideration. The period of doubt, however, was short in its duration. Before Jefferson framed
his immortal Declaration of Independence, Georgia cast her lot with her sister American colonies and, through her
delegates, was participating in the adoption of those measures which brought about the war of the Revolution. Of
all the English provinces in America, Georgia had least cause to take arms against the mother country.
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