Georgia
and the American Experience
Chapter 6:
An Age of Expansion,
1783-1838
Study Presentation
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 1: Creating A
New Government
• Essential Question
– What was Georgia’s role in the
Constitutional Convention?
Section 1: Creating A
New Government
• What words do I need to
know?
–U.S. Constitution
–Bill of Rights
–General Assembly
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,
Legislative, and Judicial
• Senate and House of Representatives
established; only three-fifths of slave
population would count toward representation
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 Bill of Rights
• George Washington became the first
President
Postwar Georgia
• Economy in ruin; government provided food
basics as farmers tried to reestablish their
farms
• Capital moved to Augusta
• Georgia delegates met in 1788 and 1789;
adopted state constitution similar to national
government, with three branches (executive,
general assembly, judicial)
• General Assembly had two houses, Senate
and House of Representatives; appointed
governor and judges; controlled spending
decisions
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?
Section 2: Land Fever
in Georgia
• What words do I need to
know?
–headright system
–Yazoo land fraud
–Louisiana Purchase
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
• This was generally replaced in 1803 by a land
lottery for government-owned land west of the
Oconee
• All white heads-of-household could buy a
lottery chance and win land; millions of acres
in several states were given away (widows
and families with children were given
additional chances.
Yazoo Land Fraud
• Around 1795, four companies bribed the
Georgia governor, George Matthews and
legislators
• Bought millions of acres in western Georgia
(today’s Alabama 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; the federal government
paid more than $4 million to help Georgia
settle Yazoo land claims
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
nation’s 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?
Section 3: Economic
Growth in Georgia
• What words do I need to know?
– depression
– turnpike
– cotton gin
– mechanical reaper
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 from 6 pounds
to 50 pounds
• The gin used wire teeth on a turning
cylinder to separate the seed from fiber
The Mechanical Reaper
• Cyrus McCormick invented a machine
to cut grain in a field
• Wooden paddles attached to a horse’s
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
Depression and the Panic of 1837
• Many Georgia banks failed between
1837 and the early 1840s
• This happened during a depression (a
sharp economic downturn)
• Many business failed; many farmers
and planters lost their land
• Many banks didn’t have enough cash to
pay out money their depositors had
entrusted to them
Early Roads in Georgia
• Railroads, most built after 1830, replaced
horses, stagecoaches, and boats
• Most Georgia roads ran east to west; they
were 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
Terminus
• Located at the southern end of a rail line that
originated in Chattanooga, Tennessee
• Later renamed Marthasville, after the
daughter of former Governor Wilson Lumpkin
• Marthasville became Atlanta, and the capital
of Georgia
• Rail lines greatly reduced travel time for
people and freight
Section 4: Georgia at the
Dawn of a New Century
• ESSENTIAL QUESTION
– How did lifestyles differ in Georgia
between frontier families and town
dwellers?
Section 4: Georgia at the
Dawn of a New Century
• What words do I need to know?
–pioneers
–frontier Georgia
–cultural refinements
–townsfolk
Frontier Georgia
• Undeveloped land in central and western
Georgia
• 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
Life in Georgia’s Towns
• Cultural refinements (higher level living)
create the difference in 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
Religious Activities
• Anglicans, Quakers, and Methodist circuit riders
(traveling ministers for frontier dwellers) grew in
number
• Georgia’s first Roman Catholic Church
established in Wilkes County in 1796
• Savannah had active Jewish synagogue
• As more towns were established, churches
become central to community life
• Springfield Baptist Church – established 1787 in
Augusta by free blacks, became the original
home of Morehouse College (which later moved to
Atlanta) and the church is still located in its
original site.
Religious Activities
• In other parts of America, the Mormon
church – The Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter Day Saints was started by
Joseph Smith
• African Methodist Episcopal (A.M.E.)
churches were started by a former
slave, Richard Allen
Education in Georgia
• The Academy of Richmond County chartered
in 1783 is the oldest educational institution in
Georgia
• The University of Georgia chartered in 1785
as nation’s first land-grant university; opened
for classes in 1801in Athens Georgia
• 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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