I | INTRODUCTION |
Georgia
(state), one of the South Atlantic states of the United States. Founded
in 1733, Georgia was the last of the 13 original English colonies to be
established in what is now the United States. Georgia emerged as a state during
the American Revolution (1775-1783), and Georgians were among the first signers
of the Declaration of Independence. On January 2, 1788, Georgia became the
fourth state, and the first Southern one, to ratify the Constitution of the
Constitution of the United States. Georgia developed slowly and did not begin to
prosper until late in the 18th century. However, during the first half of the
19th century Georgia flourished as an agricultural state, with vast cotton and
rice plantations. By 1860 Georgia was one of the wealthiest Southern states, and
stately plantation homes graced the rolling hills of the coastal and central
sections of the state.
The American Civil War (1861-1865) and its
aftermath were major turning points in the economic and social life of Georgia.
The state was devastated during the war, and after the abolition of slavery the
plantation system was replaced by tenant farming, which still focused on
traditional agricultural products such as cotton, tobacco, peanuts, and grain
crops. The state remained poor, and during the Great Depression of the 1930s it
was particularly devastated as the boll weevil decimated the cotton economy.
Migration to other states seemed to be one of the few ways of overcoming
poverty. The state remained primarily agricultural in nature until the early
1950s, when the development of industry began to accelerate. By the early 1960s,
industrial production far outranked agriculture as the chief source of income.
In the late 1990s Georgia had an economy based on manufacturing and service
industries. Atlanta, the largest city and capital of the state, serves as an
important economic center of the South and the nation.
The early colony was named in honor of King
George II of the United Kingdom of Great Britain. Over the years the state has
acquired many nicknames. Nicknames include the Buzzard State, in commemoration
of an early state law to protect buzzards; and the Goober State, for the state’s
enormous annual peanut crop. Two nicknames, however, are gaining frequency in
use. Georgia is known as the Peach State, for the famous peaches grown
there, and the peach emblem is on the state’s automobile license plates. Georgia
is also known as the Empire State of the South. This nickname alludes to
New York, which is known as the Empire State, and reflects Georgia’s size and
the rapid development of its economy.
II | PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY |
Georgia has a total area of 153,910 sq km
(59,425 sq mi), including 2,631 sq km (1,016 sq mi) of inland water and 124 sq
km (48 sq mi) of coastal waters over which the state has jurisdiction. The state
is the 24th largest in the country and has the largest land area of any state
east of the Mississippi River. Georgia has a maximum dimension north to south of
515 km (320 mi) and east to west of 441 km (274 mi). The mean elevation is about
180 m (600 ft).
A | Natural Regions |
Georgia occupies parts of six natural
regions, or physiographic provinces. They are the Atlantic Coastal Plain, the
Gulf Coastal Plain, the Piedmont, the Blue Ridge province, the Ridge and Valley
province, and the Appalachian Plateaus.
The six natural regions are parts of two
major physiographic divisions of the United States. The Atlantic Coastal Plain
and Gulf Coastal Plain are parts of the Coastal Plain, a lowland that extends
around the coast of the eastern United States from New York to Texas. The four
other natural regions are parts of the Appalachian Region, or Appalachian
Highland.
The boundary between the Coastal Plain and
the Appalachian Highland is marked by the Fall Line, or more accurately a zone
along which the rivers and streams of the Piedmont flow across resistant rocks
that mark the boundary with the Coastal Plain. Rapids and small waterfalls are
numerous along the Fall Line. The falls provided waterpower for early industry,
but impeded navigation above the Fall Line. Cities such as Columbus, Macon, and
Augusta developed on the Fall Line at the head of navigation on the rivers and
became major manufacturing centers due to the availability of water power.
The Atlantic Coastal Plain and the adjoining
Gulf Coastal Plain occupy about 60 percent of Georgia. The Atlantic Coastal
Plain rises gradually from sea level along the coast to an elevation of nearly
240 m (800 ft) near the Fall Line. Most of the plain is generally flat. Near the
Fall Line, however, it becomes quite rolling and hilly. All rivers on the plain
flow generally eastward to the Atlantic Ocean. Extensive salt marshes, which
become flooded at high tide, are found in the coastal areas. There are also many
freshwater swamps on the plain. Okefenokee Swamp, a vast watery region teeming
with life, covers the extreme southeastern corner of the state and extends into
the Gulf Coastal Plain and into Florida. Except for the swamps and the
pine-covered hilly areas, most of the Atlantic Coastal Plain is covered by
farmlands.
The Gulf Coastal Plain in Georgia differs
little from the Atlantic Coastal Plain except that its rivers drain southward to
the Gulf of Mexico. Underlain by soft limestone, the extensive pumping of
groundwater in this region to irrigate agricultural land has resulted in many
sinkholes.
The Piedmont, or Piedmont Plateau, which
occupies about 30 percent of Georgia, is a rolling upland region. It lies
between the lowlands of the Atlantic and Gulf coastal plains and the truly
mountainous land of the Appalachians farther north. Rolling hills are
characteristic of the Piedmont, and many of them rise high above the surrounding
countryside. One of the most prominent is Stone Mountain, a steep-sided,
whale-back-shaped mountain near Atlanta. Stone Mountain, 514 m (1,686 ft) above
sea level, is a great mass of exposed granite. The gently rolling areas of the
Piedmont are generally cultivated, but the more hilly sections are usually
covered by forests, mainly of pine.
The Blue Ridge province, or Blue Ridge
region, includes, in Georgia, the Blue Ridge Mountains and the neighboring
valley. It occupies only about 5 percent of the state. Mount Oglethorpe, which
reaches an elevation of 1,003 m (3,290 ft), is the southernmost point of the
Blue Ridge. Brasstown Bald Mountain, which rises to 1,458 m (4,784 ft), is the
highest point in the state. Several other peaks are more than 1,200 m (4,000 ft)
above sea level. The region is a sparsely populated rural area, and heavily
forested. It is one of the most scenic areas in Georgia, and has many deep and
steep-sided river valleys and small waterfalls. Amicalola Falls, the state’s
highest falls, drop 222 m (729 ft).
The Ridge and Valley province is
characterized by a series of prominent ridges and narrow lowlands, which extend
across the northwest in a southwest to northeast direction. The ridges mark
outcrops of resistant rocks, and the lowlands are formed on softer rocks. The
principal lowland is the Rome Valley. The most prominent ridges are Taylor Ridge
and Pigeon Mountain. Most of the ridges, which reach elevations of 460 m (1,500
ft), are forested, and the valleys are used for farming.
The Appalachian Plateaus in Georgia are
made up of part of the section known as the Cumberland Plateau. This plateau
occupies the extreme northwestern corner of Georgia. Lookout Mountain is a long
ridge that lies partly in Alabama and Tennessee and cuts across Georgia’s
portion of the Cumberland Plateau. Sand Mountain, 460 m (1,500 ft) in elevation,
forms the eastern edge of the plateau. The north Georgia mountain country has
experienced population growth in recent years as residents of Atlanta favor the
area for locating second homes and Floridians seek cooler locales to spend their
summers. The fragile ecosystem in the area makes it increasingly vulnerable as
development proceeds.
B | Rivers and Lakes |
Most of the rivers of Georgia drain
eastward to the Atlantic Ocean proper or southward to the Gulf of Mexico. Only a
few flow northward to the Tennessee River, which is a major tributary of the
Mississippi River. Most of the rivers flowing to the coasts are navigable by
barges and small craft as far upstream as the Fall Line.
The major river flowing to the Atlantic is
the Savannah River, which, with the Tugaloo River, one of its headwaters, forms
most of the state’s eastern border with South Carolina. Other rivers are the
Ogeechee; the Altamaha and its tributaries the Ocmulgee and Oconee; the Satilla;
and the Saint Marys, which forms part of the state boundary with Florida.
The major river flowing to the Gulf of
Mexico is the Chattahoochee River, which rises in the Blue Ridge. It forms part
of Georgia’s western border with Alabama. Near the Florida state line the
Chattahoochee is joined by the Flint River, the longest river wholly within
Georgia, to form the Apalachicola River, which flows southward through Florida
to the gulf. More than 800 km (500 mi) long, the Chattahoochee-Apalachicola is
one of the longest river systems in the eastern United States. Northwestern
Georgia is drained by the Coosa River and its tributaries, flowing roughly
southward to join the Tallapoosa River in Alabama. Other rivers flowing to the
gulf include the Ochlockonee and the Suwannee and its tributaries, all rising in
the Coastal Plain. The Ocoee (called Toccoa in Georgia), Nottely, and Hiwassee
flow north from the Blue Ridge to the Tennessee River in Tennessee.
Most of Georgia’s large lakes are
artificial bodies of water constructed by utility companies for power
generation, or by the United States Army Corps of Engineers for flood control.
Major reservoirs on the Savannah River, on the Georgia-South Carolina state
line, are Hartwell and Clark Hill reservoirs. On the Chattahoochee River and
only partly in Florida are Walter F. George and Jim Woodruff reservoirs. Lake
Sidney Lanier, on the upper Chattahoochee, covers 186 sq km (72 sq mi) and is
the largest lake wholly within the state. Other major lakes are Lake Sinclair on
the Oconee River, Lake Allatoona on the Etowah River, a Coosa tributary, and
Tobesofkee, near Macon.
C | Coastline |
The state’s coastline along the Atlantic
Ocean is 161 km (100 mi) long. However, when all the river estuaries, bays, and
islands are included, the shoreline measures 3,772 km (2,344 mi) long. Saltwater
tidal marshes are found in most river estuaries. Just off the mainland,
separated from it by a narrow and sheltered waterway, lies a chain of low
islands. The islands, which continue along the coast of South Carolina, are
called the Sea Islands. Sandy beaches fringe the seaward sides of many of the
islands. Several of these islands are now developed, but two, Sapelo and
Cumberland, are mostly owned by the state and largely remain in a natural
condition.
D | Climate |
Along the Coastal Plain and in much of the
Piedmont, summers are generally hot, and winters are mild. The relative humidity
is generally high throughout the year. In the mountains, in northern Georgia,
cooler conditions prevail.
D1 | Temperature |
The average January temperature on the
Coastal Plain and the Piedmont ranges from about 7° C (about 44° F) in the north
to about 12° C (54° F) in the south. In the mountains, winter temperatures are
in the middle single digits C (lower 40°s F) in the valleys and considerably
lower on the hills and more exposed mountain slopes. Occasionally in winter
masses of colder air sweep into Georgia from the north. On such occasions,
temperatures have dropped to the lower 20°s C (lower 10°s F).
Average July temperatures are in the
upper 20°s C (lower 80°s F) on the Coastal Plain and the Piedmont, and range
from about 23° to 26° C (about 74° to 78° F) in the mountains. Daytime
temperatures are often in the upper 30°s C (lower 100°s F) and have risen
occasionally to the middle 40°s Celsius (lower 110°s F). The high humidity makes
very hot days exceedingly uncomfortable.
D2 | Precipitation |
The Coastal Plain and Piedmont receive
between 1,170 and 1,320 mm (46 and 52 in) of precipitation (both rainfall and
snowfall) a year, and the mountains receive between 1,420 and 1,930 mm (56 and
76 in). However, the amount of precipitation varies greatly from year to year,
and prolonged dry spells, although infrequent, occasionally cause crop failures
and water shortages. More than half of all annual precipitation falls during the
spring and summer. Snow is rare in the lowlands, but there are sometimes heavy
snowfalls in the mountains.
D3 | Growing Season |
The growing season, or period between
the last killing frost in the spring and the first killing frost in the fall,
may range from more than 300 days in some of the Sea Islands to fewer than 190
days in the northern mountain valleys. The last spring frost usually occurs at
the end of February along the southeastern coast and in the middle of April in
the northern mountain valleys. The first autumn frost may be expected around the
end of September in the north and around the beginning of December along the
coast.
E | Soils |
The soils of the Atlantic and Gulf coastal
plains include clays, loams, and large areas of gray, sandy soils. The clays and
loams are productive when farmed. The sandy soils are generally too dry and too
poor in organic matter for farming unless large amounts of fertilizer are used.
The soils of the Piedmont and the other Appalachian regions range from
light-colored sandy loams, which are underlain by clay subsoils, to reddish clay
loams and sticky red clays. Soil erosion has been especially severe in the hilly
sections of the Piedmont. In many areas the sandy loams have been completely
removed by erosion and the underlying clay subsoils exposed. Parts of the
Cumberland Plateau, which is underlain mainly by limestones and shales, have
fertile red or brown loams, but only the more level sections are farmed.
F | Plant Life |
Almost the entire area of Georgia was
forested in early colonial times, and 66 percent of the land is still covered by
forests and woodlands. Mixed forests of deciduous and coniferous trees cover
most of the Blue Ridge and Appalachian mountain areas. Common trees in these
areas include species of ash, beech, birch, hemlock, hickory, poplar, sweetgum,
sycamore, red oak, white oak, and Virginia, shortleaf, and loblolly pines. Pines
which predominate on the Piedmont are loblolly and shortleaf. On the coastal
plains, slash, loblolly, and longleaf pines are found. The live oak, the state
tree, flourishes in the southern part of the coastal plains. Palmettos are found
in areas of sandy soil, and bald cypresses and tupelo gums are common in swampy
and poorly drained areas. Spanish moss festoons many of the cypresses in
Okefenokee Swamp. Other trees found in the state include the red maple, sweet
bay, black cherry, butternut, sassafras, southern magnolia, cottonwood, locust,
and elm.
Okefenokee Swamp is a unique part of
Georgia, a vast wilderness of marshlands, floating green lily pads, wild
orchids, and bald cypresses draped in Spanish moss.
Flowering plants grow in great profusion
in Georgia. Those native to the state include the trillium, galax, bellwort,
hepatica, mayapple, bloodroot, violet, columbine, lady slipper, and Cherokee
rose, which is the state flower. Among the many shrubs and small flowering trees
common in Georgia are species of laurel, mimosa, redbud, flowering dogwood,
rhododendron, and flame azalea.
G | Animal Life |
White-tailed deer are the most abundant of
the larger animals found in the state. There are black bears in the northern
mountains and in Okefenokee Swamp, and bobcats prowl many of the rural areas.
Red foxes, gray foxes, muskrats, raccoons, opossums, flying squirrels, foxes and
gray squirrels are abundant in the forested areas, and otter and beaver are
found in many swamps and rivers.
Most of the more than 300 species of birds
found east of the Mississippi can be sighted in Georgia. Some 160 species are
permanent residents; 120 of them breed below the Fall Line, which not only
sharply divides the species of birds but of plants and trees as well. Many
migratory birds from the northern United States and Canada spend the winter in
Georgia. Along the coast and in marshes and swamps inland are found the anhinga,
wood ibis, least bittern, wood duck, clapper rail, and many species of herons
and egrets. Hawks, black vultures, and turkey vultures are found throughout the
state, and mourning doves and bobwhite quail are common in cultivated areas. The
distinctive calls of the catbird, the mockingbird, and the brown thrasher, the
state bird, ring out from brushy thickets. Other birds include the towhee, blue
jay, meadowlark, cardinal, robin, crow, and ruby-throated hummingbird. There are
also numerous species of warblers, vireos, wrens, and sparrows. The ivory-billed
woodpecker, thought to be extinct, was sighted in Georgia (as well as other
places) in 1967.
Georgia’s largest reptile is the
alligator, which is found in coastal swamps and in the great Okefenokee Swamp.
The six venomous snakes found in the state are the coral snake, the water
moccasin, or cottonmouth, the copperhead, the pygmy rattlesnake, timber or
canebreak rattlesnake, and the Eastern diamondback rattlesnake. There are also
many nonpoisonous snakes. Saltwater game fish include the channel bass, spotted
weakfish, tarpon, and sailfish. Shrimp, crabs, and oysters are also found along
the coastal regions. In the lakes and streams of northern and central Georgia
are mountain trout, bream, bass, and catfish. Redfish, bass, mullet, drum, shad,
and mackerel are plentiful along the coast.
H | Conservation |
The prevention of soil erosion is the
state’s primary concern in the field of conservation. Much topsoil has been lost
as a result of the excess runoff of rainwater and floodwater. It is estimated
that since colonial times, parts of the Piedmont and the Atlantic Coastal Plain
have lost between 18 and 38 cm (7 and 15 in) of topsoil. Soil fertility has also
been reduced. Until about the 1930s a major factor in the destruction of
Georgia’s soils was the cotton grower, whose poor farming techniques encouraged
excessive water runoff and soil depletion. Another important factor has been the
hilly, sloping nature of much of the land. When left bare, the hillslopes are
soon gullied and stripped of their soil by heavy rains.
Since the 1930s much of the eroded
cotton-growing acreage has been converted to pastureland or woodland. On the
hilly lands still under cultivation, contour plowing, terracing, strip cropping,
and crop rotation techniques are now used to help reduce runoff and maintain
soil fertility. As part of the efforts to reduce runoff and flooding, the
Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) operates two dams in northern Georgia.
Reforestation, which has been carried on
extensively throughout the state, has helped reduce runoff on eroded lands. It
has also stimulated the growth of the wood pulp and paper industry in the state.
The Georgia forestry commission and the United States Forest Service are the two
principal agencies active in the conservation of Georgia’s forest resources. The
commission operates tree nurseries where pine seedlings are raised for use in
both public and private reforestation programs throughout the state. In
addition, a number of timber companies have carried out extensive reforestation
programs.
The Georgia game and fish commission is
responsible for the protection and development of wildlife resources in the
state. The commission operates a system of game management areas where hunting
and fishing are regulated to help protect the state’s wildlife. In 2006 the
state had 15 hazardous waste sites on a national priority list for cleanup due
to their severity or proximity to people. Between 1995 and 2000, the amount of
toxic chemicals discharged into the environment increased by 2 percent.
III | ECONOMIC ACTIVITIES |
During the 18th century, indigo (a source
of blue dye), rice, and sugarcane were grown on plantations in Georgia. Cotton
was introduced in 1786. Indigo and sugar cultivation all but vanished early in
the 19th century, and rice production had gravely declined by 1870. Cotton,
however, remained to dominate the Georgian farm economy until the 1920s.
Beginning in the 1890s, agriculture in the state was diversified. Manufacturing
was of minor importance in the state before the Civil War. The textile industry,
Georgia’s oldest, began to develop in the 1830s and again in the 1880s after the
Reconstruction period. Modern large-scale development of the textile industry
dates only from the 1920s. World War II (1939-1945) greatly stimulated both the
growth and the diversification of manufacturing in the state. Manufacturing now
ranks as the most valuable branch of the economy and is a leading source of
jobs.
Georgia had a work force of 4,742,000 in
2006. The largest share of those, 34 percent, were employed in the diverse
services sector, doing such jobs as giving legal advice or working in
restaurants. Another 20 percent worked in wholesale or retail trade; 16 percent
in federal, state, or local government, including those in the military; 10
percent in manufacturing; 19 percent in finance, insurance, or real estate; 21
percent in transportation or public utilities; 5 percent in construction; 2
percent in farming (including agricultural services), forestry, or fishing; and
just 0.3 percent in mining. In 2005, 5 percent of Georgia’s workers were members
of a labor union.
A | Agriculture |
In 2005 there were 49,000 farms in
Georgia. Only 35 percent had annual sales of $10,000 or more. Many of the rest
of the farms were sidelines for operators who held other jobs. Farmland occupied
4.2 million hectares (10.5 million acres). Crops were planted on 44 percent of
all farmland. The rest was mostly pasture or woodland.
The sale of livestock and livestock
products accounts for 67 percent of total annual farm income. The sale of crops
accounts for the rest. Poultry, and especially broilers (young chickens raised
for meat), are the state’s most valuable farm product, earning four-fifths of
the income from livestock sales. The state’s other major farm products include
eggs, hogs, milk, vegetables, greenhouse seedlings, tobacco, soybeans, corn,
pecans, and cotton. Georgia leads all other states in the production of
broilers, peanuts, and pecans.
During most of the 19th century, cotton
was the chief crop. Until the Civil War, nearly all the cotton was grown on
plantations by black slaves, who picked it by hand. After slavery was abolished
most blacks, having no land of their own, became sharecroppers, who got their
farm and household supplies on credit from the planters and were in theory paid
a share of the crop income. Under this system, cotton dominated the economy more
than ever.
However, during the 1920s the boll
weevil, a tiny beetle that feeds on the growing cotton boll, destroyed much of
the cotton crop and infested great areas of the cotton-growing lands of the
South. Moreover, at about that same time, crop yields began to decline, and it
became clear that nearly 200 years of continuous cotton cultivation had
impoverished the soil. Efforts were made to diversify the state’s farm economy.
As a result, many cotton lands were planted in other crops or converted to
pasture. Cotton cultivation was resumed after methods were found to control the
boll weevil, but cotton acreage was greatly reduced.
Beginning in the 1940s, thousands of
farms were consolidated and mechanized and the demand for farm workers
decreased. As farms consolidated their size increased, and by the mid-1990s each
averaged 114 hectares (281 acres). In the late 1990s a new trend toward more
farms each with smaller acreage was noticeable. In 2005 the average Georgian
farm operated on 87 hectares (214 acres) of land.
A1 | Crops |
Peanuts, one of the state’s chief
crops, are raised as a rotation crop on many cotton farms, and they are also a
specialty on other farms. Peanuts are grown in Georgia for human consumption,
for hog feed, and for a variety of industrial and commercial uses. Tobacco
cultivation is concentrated in central and southern Georgia. Corn, used mainly
for livestock feed, is grown throughout the state. Cotton is grown on the
Coastal Plain and in the Piedmont. Formerly the primary crop, cotton is now
planted in rotation with other crops important to the state’s economy. Cotton
production increased rapidly in the 1990s, reaching levels not seen since the
late 1920s. Recent harvest levels are attributed to a growing demand for cotton
as well as the higher costs of production on irrigated lands in the West.
Machinery has replaced much of the hand labor once needed in the cotton fields.
Pecans are grown around Albany, and tung nuts, used in making paints and
varnishes, are produced from tung trees grown around Thomasville.
Watermelons are a specialty of farmers
in the warmer coastal areas, and Macon and Fort Valley are the centers of a
prosperous peach-growing industry, the state’s principal fruit-growing activity.
Other fruit and vegetables grown in Georgia include apples, grapes, pears,
plums, strawberries, asparagus, beans, celery, cucumbers, onions, peas, peppers,
and tomatoes.
A2 | Livestock and Livestock Products |
Poultry raising, centered on
Gainesville and other parts of the Piedmont and the Appalachians, has expanded
rapidly since the 1930s. Most of the poultry farmers specialize in the
production of broilers. Beef and dairy cattle are raised in the Ridge and Valley
province and the Piedmont. Some hogs are also raised on dairy farms in these
regions. However, most hogs are raised in peanut-growing areas in the Coastal
Plain, where they are fattened on peanuts and peanut vines.
B | Fisheries |
Georgia has only a minor commercial
fishing industry, compared with most other seaboard states. However, Brunswick
ranks as one of the foremost seafood-processing centers in the Southeast.
Shrimps, crabs, and oysters are processed at the port and also at Darien and
Savannah. In 2004 the value of the fish catch was $12 million.
C | Forestry |
Forestry is a wide-spread activity in
Georgia and provides raw materials for numerous industries. Georgia is a leading
state for production of turpentine and rosin. It is also the leading state east
of the Mississippi in the production of lumber (logs and boards) and pulpwood.
Longleaf pine and slash pine are the principal sources of lumber and wood pulp.
Pulp and paper companies own vast tracts of forest, and pulpwood production is
an important industry because of the rapid regeneration of pine forests in
favorable growing conditions. Many an abandoned cotton field is now forested and
supplies its owners with valuable income from lumbering.
D | Mining |
Mining contributes less than one percent
of Georgia’s overall economy as measured by the gross state product. However,
several minerals are of national importance. Clays and clay products and stone
are the most valuable minerals produced. Georgia ranks first among the states in
kaolin output and second in the production of barite. Kaolin, a type of white
clay used in making paper, paint, plastics, rubber, and hundreds of other
products, is mined in great open pits near Macon and Augusta. One-fourth of the
nations’s clay production–much of it kaolin–came from Georgia in the late 1990s.
Mined and processed by multinational firms for the world market, Georgia’s clay
is exported from the Port of Savannah. Fuller’s earth and ocher, both of which
are used in refining vegetable and mineral oils, are also produced in great
quantity. Georgia is among the nation’s leading producers of ocher and fuller’s
earth. The marble is quarried near Tate City and Elberton. Georgia marble is a
popular building material and widely used for gravestones. Georgia also quarries
a considerable amount of granite for use as dimensional stone. Other valuable
minerals include mica and bauxite. Some coal is mined in northwestern
Georgia.
E | Manufacturing |
Manufacturing is the state’s leading
economic activity. In 1996 the leading industrial activity, in terms of its
contribution to income in the state, was the production of textiles, including
the manufacture of apparel. The manufacture of transportation equipment,
including automobiles and aircraft, also was important to the state. Other
leading activities were food processing, the production of chemicals, paper and
pulp milling, printing and publishing, lumber and wood production, and the
manufacture of rubber and plastic items. Georgia is a leading national producer
of paper and board, tufted textile products, and processed chicken. Atlanta and
Savannah are the major industrial centers, but a noteworthy feature of industry
in Georgia is the dispersal of factories in small centers throughout the
state.
Augusta, Columbus, Macon, and Rome are
the leading centers of the textile industry in Georgia. In addition, there are
mills and factories in many smaller towns and cities throughout the state. In
the early days of the textile industry, Georgia specialized in the production of
coarse cloths, such as duck and drill. To those traditional lines have been
added more specialized kinds of textiles. These include velvets, corduroys,
denim, terry cloth, rugs, carpets, and synthetic fibers. Some woolen cloth is
also produced. While many smaller textile plants closed in recent years, others
have expanded. Employment levels have declined as production facilities have
become more automated and require fewer workers.
A wide variety of foodstuffs is processed
in Georgia. Among the leading processed food products are beverages, frozen
shrimp, oven-ready broilers, canned vegetables and fruits, biscuits and
crackers, peanut butter, pecan pralines, and other candy. Gainesville ranks
among the leading poultry-processing centers. Brunswick is a leading center for
the canning and freezing of seafood and vegetables. Savannah has large sugar
refineries, and in Atlanta soft drinks and a variety of foodstuffs are produced.
Local farm produce is processed in trade centers throughout the state.
There are shipyards and boatyards at
Savannah and Brunswick, and two automobile assembly plants in the Atlanta area.
At the large Lockheed-Georgia aircraft plant at Marietta, jet transports are
manufactured for the United States Air Force. The manufacture of paper,
paperboard, kraft paper (a paper made from wood pulp), and containers is
centered chiefly in Atlanta, Savannah, and Macon. Chemical plants and related
industrial facilities are located mainly in the Atlanta and the Savannah areas,
as well as in other cities. The hardwood forests of the Blue Ridge province
support a furniture industry in Toccoa. In addition, small wood-processing
factories are scattered throughout the state’s forested areas.
F | Electricity |
In 2005 Georgia generated 72 percent of
its electricity in steam plants fueled by fossil fuels. Another 23 percent came
from nuclear power plants, and the remainder came from hydroelectric power
plants. Hydroelectric power is generated by plants on the Chattahoochee,
Savannah, Tallulah, and other major rivers. Georgia has 4 nuclear power plants.
Most of the power plants in the state are owned and operated by private
companies, notably the Georgia Power Company. A few hydroelectric facilities are
under the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA).
G | Tourist Industry |
Tourism is a major economic activity,
with visitors spending $15.3 billion in the state. Tourists contribute
significantly to Georgians’ incomes in the popular resorts of the sandy coastal
areas, the scenic Blue Ridge area, and around Atlanta.
H | Transportation |
The early Georgian colonists relied
mainly on water transportation. By 1812 a primitive system of roads had been
built, but the roads were little more than streaks of red mud or dust across the
land. Most of the roads converged on Savannah, which has always been the chief
port of Georgia. Railroad construction was begun early in the 1830s, and by
1850, Georgia had a more extensive railroad network than any other Southeastern
state.
Today, Atlanta is the focal point of
railroad, highway, and air transportation routes in Georgia and in most of the
Southeast. In 2005 Georgia had 189,330 km (117,644 mi) of roads, including 2,000
km (1,243 mi) of interstate highways. The rail system included 7,691 km (4,779
mi) of track. Georgia had 10 civilian airports, only one of which, in Atlanta,
was in the largest classification category. Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta
International Airport ranked as the chief airport of the Southeast and the
busiest airport in the country. The number of international flights through
Atlanta rapidly expanded in the 1990s.
I | Trade |
The sheltered passage between the Sea
Islands and the mainland is part of the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway. Savannah
and Brunswick handle Georgia’s foreign trade, with the leading exports being
clay, wood pulp, and paper products. Savannah is the nation’s leading port for
the shipment of naval stores and is an important trade outlet for Tennessee.
Savannah now boasts one of the largest ocean port facilities on the South
Atlantic Coast, which is having a tremendous impact on opening Georgia to
international markets. Among ports in the region, the Port of Savannah ranks
second, after Charleston, South Carolina, as the largest container port and
first in terms of overall tonnage handled. More than 1,700 ships call at the
port annually. Kaolin, wood pulp, linerboard (a thin paperboard used as a
lining), and machinery are major exports while iron, steels, food products,
petroleum, and chemicals are major imports.
IV | THE PEOPLE OF GEORGIA |
A | Population Patterns |
According to the 2000 federal census,
Georgia ranked 10th among the states, with a total population of 8,186,453. This
represented an increase of 26.4 percent over the 1990 census figure of
6,478,216.
The population density for the state as a
whole was 62 persons per sq km (162 per sq mi) in 2006. However, the population
is not evenly distributed. About one-half of the population lives in
metropolitan Atlanta while the other half is widely dispersed throughout the
state. Atlanta ranks among the largest urban areas in the country.
The 1960 census was the first to record
more people living in urban than in rural areas. In 2000 some 72 percent of the
state’s total population lived in towns and cities.
Most white Georgians are of British
descent. The first settlers in Georgia came mainly from England but also
included some Germans, Austrians, and Swiss. They settled mainly along the
coast. Northern Georgia was settled during the 1830s, mostly by people of
Scottish and Irish descent, who came mainly from North Carolina, Virginia, and
Pennsylvania.
By 1860, blacks, most of them slaves,
accounted for nearly one-half of the state’s population. They lived mainly on
plantations in the Coastal Plain and the Piedmont. After the Civil War many
blacks were unable to survive as farmers and moved to Northern cities. The black
portion of the population of Georgia declined, until they represented only about
one-quarter of the people. By the 1970s, however, a trend of reverse migration
began, with many blacks returning to the cities of Georgia seeking industrial
and service employment, and the percentage of blacks in the state began
increasing.
In 2000 whites made up 65.1 percent of the
population and blacks 28.7 percent. The percentage of black residents is much
higher in some cities. In Atlanta they are nearly two-thirds of the people, in
Savannah more than one-half. Asians are 2.1 percent of the population, Native
Americans 0.3 percent, Native Hawaiians and othe Pacific Islanders 0.1 percent,
and those of mixed heritage or not reporting race 3.8 percent. Hispanics, who
may be of any race, are 5.3 percent of the people.
B | Principal Cities |
Atlanta, with a population of 486,411
(2006) in the city and 5,138,223 (2006) in the metropolitan area, is the
capital, largest city, and leading commercial center of the state. It is also
the principal city of the entire southeastern United States. Growth in the
white-collar service economy, led by expansion of corporate headquarters and
services such as giving legal advice, computing, and advertising, accounts for a
large part of Atlanta’s recent expansion. The metropolitan area centered on the
city now contains three suburban cores in addition to the original central
business district. These suburban cities, sometimes called edge cities, each
possess an impressive skyline of tall buildings and major retail shopping
centers. The Atlanta region’s economy was also boosted when the city hosted the
1996 Summer Olympic Games.
Georgia’s second largest city is Columbus,
with 188,660 (2006) people, which grew initially as an industrial city. Fort
Benning, a large United States Army infantry base, is near the city. Savannah,
with a population of 127,889, was the largest city in Georgia until the rise of
Atlanta in the 20th century. A bustling industrial center and seaport, Savannah
is the oldest city in the state and has retained much of the aura of its
gracious past. Other major cities include Macon, with 93,665 inhabitants,
Albany, with 75,335 people, and Augusta, with 195,769 inhabitants.
C | Religion |
Protestant faiths have predominated in
Georgia since colonial times. In 1733 a congregation of the Church of England
was organized at Savannah. By 1735, Presbyterians from Scotland and Lutherans
and other German Protestants had settled in Georgia. Although Jews and Roman
Catholics were to be excluded from the colony, a small group of English Jews
organized a synagogue at Savannah in 1733. Near the end of the 18th century a
Roman Catholic church was founded by English settlers from Maryland. Georgia’s
first Baptist church was organized in 1772. Methodism flourished in the state
after the American Revolution.
Today, more than half the church members
in Georgia are Baptists. Methodists are the second largest religious group.
There are Roman Catholic churches and Jewish synagogues in most of the larger
communities in Georgia.
V | EDUCATION AND CULTURAL INSTITUTIONS |
A | Education |
The Georgia constitution of 1777 provided
for state-supported schools in each county, but no funds were appropriated to
implement the plan. In the 1780s a few academies were established with state
endowments of land. In the 1830s religious groups founded manual labor schools
where students worked to help pay for their education. A system of public
education was finally organized in 1872 by Gustavus John Orr, the state school
commissioner. State-supported education was limited to elementary schools and
the state university until 1912, when high schools were included. In 1949 a
foundation program was authorized to expand educational facilities. Some 8
percent of the state’s students attend private schools.
School attendance is compulsory for
children between the ages of 6 and 16. The public school system is supervised by
the state board of education. There are also numerous private educational
institutions in Georgia.
Until the 1960s whites and blacks had to
attend separate schools. In 1954, however, the Supreme Court of the United
States had outlawed segregation in public schools. After several years of
officially-sanctioned resistance, integration of high schools was begun in
Atlanta in 1961 and in Athens, Macon, and Savannah in 1964. Integration spread
slowly thereafter.
In the 2002–2003 school year Georgia spent
$9,041 on each student’s education, compared with a national average of $9,299.
There were 15.7 students for every teacher (the national average was 15.9
students). Of those older than 25 years of age in the state, 82.2 percent had a
high school diploma, compared to the nation’s average of 84.1 percent.
A1 | Higher Education |
The state university system includes four
research universities, two regional universities, many four-year colleges,
several junior colleges, agricultural experimental stations, and an agricultural
extension service. The University of Georgia, in Athens, is the largest school
in the system and the oldest state-chartered university in the United States.
The university was incorporated in 1785, although classes were not begun until
1801. Other major state-supported schools include Georgia Institute of
Technology, in Atlanta; Medical College of Georgia, in Augusta; Georgia State
University, in Atlanta; and Georgia Southern University, in Statesboro.
Georgia also has a number of
distinguished private colleges and universities. Wesleyan College in Macon,
founded in 1836, is the world’s oldest chartered women’s college. Atlanta
University Center, a consortium of historically black institutions, is comprised
of Clark Atlanta University, Morehouse College, Morehouse School of Medicine,
Morris Brown College, Spelman College, and the Interdenominational Theological
Center, all in Atlanta. Other private colleges and universities in Georgia
include Emory University, in Atlanta; Mercer University, in Macon; and
Oglethorpe University, in Atlanta. In 2004–2005 Georgia had 74 public and 54
private institutions of higher learning.
B | Libraries |
Georgia’s 58 public library systems serve
numerous communities and rural areas. One of the largest public libraries in the
state is the Atlanta-Fulton Public Library, which was first opened to the public
in 1902 as the Carnegie Library. Other notable libraries include the state
archives, in Atlanta; the Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library of the
University of Georgia, at Athens; and the Georgia Historical Society Library at
Savannah. The Office of Public Library Services in Atlanta functions as the
state library. Public libraries each year circulate an average of 4.8 books for
every resident.
C | Museums |
The noted High Museum of Art, in Atlanta,
has an important collection of works by European masters, in addition to
paintings by early and contemporary American artists. There are also collections
of American paintings in the Georgia Museum of Art of the University of Georgia
and in the Telfair Academy of Arts and Sciences, in Savannah. Other notable
museums in the state include the Atlanta History Center and SciTrek, a science
and technology museum, both in Atlanta, and the Augusta Museum of History, in
Augusta. The Atlanta History Center maintains one of the largest urban museums
in the country, with permanent exhibits on the Civil War and the history of the
city. Atlanta is also home to the Carter Presidential Center, dedicated to the
presidency of Jimmy Carter. The center includes a library and museum.
D | Communications |
In 2002 there were 256 newspapers published
in Georgia. Most of them were weeklies, but 32 of them were published daily. The
first newspaper published in Georgia was the Georgia Gazette, which was
founded in Savannah in 1763 by James Johnston, the official printer of the
colony. In 1783, after the American Revolution, Johnston published another
newspaper, the Gazette of the State of Georgia. Today the oldest
continuously published newspaper in Georgia is the Augusta Chronicle,
which was begun as the Georgia State Gazette or Independent Register in
1785. The Christian Index, a weekly newspaper published in Atlanta, dates
from 1822 and is the South’s oldest Baptist publication. The state’s most widely
circulated newspaper is the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Georgia’s first radio station, WSB, was
founded in Atlanta in 1922. The first television station, WSB-TV, began
operations in Atlanta in 1948. In 2002 there were 127 AM and 130 FM radio
stations located in the state and 32 television stations. Atlanta is the
headquarters of Turner Broadcasting System, a cable-television company reaching
an international audience. Established by Ted Turner, the cable system includes
the Cable News Network (CNN).
E | Music and Theater |
The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra is one of
the leading orchestras in the South. In addition, several of the larger cities
and most of the colleges and universities in the state support symphony
orchestras. The Atlanta Ballet performs at the Fox Theatre. Many community and
university theaters are active in the state, and midtown Atlanta has numerous
live performance theaters.
VI | RECREATION AND PLACES OF INTEREST |
Georgia’s scenic mountains, lakes, rivers,
and coastal areas offer a wide range of recreational opportunities. Many of the
recreational facilities are located in the numerous state parks. There are also
a number of historic places of interest in Georgia, many of them associated with
the American Civil War (1861-1865). Other tourist attractions include the
picturesque Sea Islands, the Blue Ridge, and the health resort of Warm
Springs.
A | National Parks |
The National Park Service administers
several units in Georgia. Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park
lies in northwestern Georgia and in southeastern Tennessee. The Georgia section
marks the site of the Civil War Battle of Chickamauga in 1863. Another Civil War
engagement, the Battle of Kennesaw Mountain, in 1864, is commemorated in
Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park, near Atlanta. Fort Pulaski National
Monument, near Savannah, contains the restored walls of a Confederate
stronghold. Andersonville National Historic Site, in west-central Georgia,
commemorates the thousands of Union soldiers who were imprisoned and died at the
infamous Andersonville prison during the Civil War. In 1998 the National
Prisoner of War Museum was opened at the Andersonville National Historic Site.
The new museum examines the experiences of prisoners in the Civil War as well as
many other conflicts.
In Ocmulgee National Monument, near Macon,
are the ruins of Native American villages and prehistoric ceremonial mounds.
Fort Frederica National Monument, on Saint Simons Island, one of the Sea
Islands, contains the ruin of an early 18th-century British military post. The
Martin Luther King, Jr., National Historic Site, in Atlanta, contains the
birthplace, church, and grave of the civil rights leader. A visitor center at
the site offers films and exhibits on Dr. King and his involvement in movements
for racial justice. The Jimmy Carter National Historic Site, in Plains, contains
the 39th president’s residence, boyhood home, and high school in addition to
exhibiting rural southern culture.
Other areas within the state that are
administered by the federal government include the Okefenokee National Wildlife
Refuge, a wilderness tract 1,600 sq km (620 sq mi) in area in Okefenokee Swamp.
Seven wildlife refuges are administered under the umbrella of the Savannah
Coastal National Wildlife Refuges, protecting wildlife environments from Hilton
Head, South Carolina, to Wolf Island near Darien, Georgia. Wassaw Island and
Little Wassaw Island, situated at the mouth of the Savannah River, is a wildlife
refuge restricted to those doing scientific observation. Piedmont National
Wildlife Refuge, near Round Oak, is a reforested tract near the center of the
state containing a complex environment of wetlands. The Cumberland Island
National Seashore, accessible only by tour boat, preserves a large section of
coastal island, including unspoiled beaches, marshes, and freshwater lakes.
B | National Forests |
The two national forests in Georgia
contain numerous recreational areas, many of them with facilities for swimming,
picnicking, and camping. Chattahoochee National Forest is a scenic area of
mountains, lakes, and forests in northern Georgia. Within the park lies
Brasstown Bald Mountain, which is the highest peak in the state. Oconee National
Forest is situated in central Georgia.
C | State Parks |
Georgia has 59 state parks and historic
sites. Most of the parks have been developed as recreational areas with
picnicking sites, cottages, bathhouses, and playgrounds. The largest state
parks, each with an area of more than 2,000 hectares (5,000 acres), are Hard
Labor Creek State Park in north central Georgia and Franklin D. Roosevelt State
Park in western Georgia. Vogel State Park, which is within Chattahochee National
Forest, is crossed by the Appalachian Trail. It lies in a scenic area of the
Blue Ridge that was once inhabited by the Cherokee. Indian Springs State Park in
north central Georgia is the site of a mineral spring once used by the Creek and
from which people still collect water daily.
Alexander H. Stephens Memorial State
Historic Park, in north central Georgia, was named in honor of a famous Georgian
statesman who was vice president of the Confederacy during the Civil War. Among
other state parks are Magnolia Springs State Park, and Georgia Veterans Memorial
State Park. Kolomoki Mounds State Park centers on a huge Native American mound
and is the site of other mounds. There is also a museum in the park (see
Mound Builders).
D | Other Places to Visit |
The Cyclorama Building, in Atlanta,
contains a three-dimensional painting-in-the-round some 109 m (385 ft) long of
the Battle of Atlanta. The painting, said to be one of the largest murals in the
world, depicts a panoramic view of the Civil War battle and forms the background
for lifelike models of soldiers arranged in a battle setting. Stone Mountain
Memorial Park, northeast of Atlanta, is the site of a huge memorial to the
Confederacy, with images of Confederate leaders carved on the face of Stone
Mountain. Also in the park are a museum and a scenic railroad.
The African-American Panoramic Experience
(APEX) is a museum dedicated to black American history. It is noted for its rare
collection of records and documents on black history.
Jefferson Davis Memorial Park, north of
Irwinville, marks the site where Davis, president of the Confederacy, was
captured by Union troops in 1865. In addition to the home of native Jimmy
Carter, Georgia also contains another well-known site associated with a U.S.
president. The Little White House, at the city of Warm Springs, was built for
the use of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. He died there, and the structure and
grounds, including a museum, now serve as a memorial in his honor. The Carter
Presidential Center in Atlanta includes a full-size replica of the White House’s
Oval Office.
Other sites associated with famous people
include the Juliette Gordon Low Birthplace in Savannah, which is maintained by
the Girl Scouts as a memorial to the organization’s founder. Wren’s Nest, in
Atlanta, was the home of Joel Chandler Harris, author of the popular Uncle Remus
stories. Zoo Atlanta was completely renovated in the 1980s and now features
animal exhibits in natural settings. Callaway Gardens is a botanical garden open
year-round for educational as well as recreational use. The large garden complex
is located north of Columbus in Pine Mountain.
Dahlonega, in northern Georgia, was the
site of one of the country’s first important gold discoveries. It is now the
site of a museum where gold-mining equipment is displayed. Visitors may try
panning for gold.
Etowah Indian Mounds, near Cartersville,
is the site of at least six large mounds and other remains of a Native American
village. One mound, covering about 1.2 hectares (about 3 acres) is one of the
nation’s largest known.
E | Annual Events |
The birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr.,
nationally commemorated on the third Monday of January each year, has become a
day of celebration and volunteer work in the state. Georgia Day, February 12, is
a legal holiday in the state. It marks the anniversary of the founding of
Savannah in 1733. The birthdays of Robert E. Lee (January 19) and Jefferson
Davis (June 3) are also legal holidays. One of the most famous U.S. golf events,
the Masters invitational tournament, is held at the Augusta National Golf Course
every April. Other spring events include Riverfest Weekend in Columbus, in
April, and the Andersonville Historic Fair, in May. Each July Polk County
organizes the Homespun Festival, while the Barnesville Buggy Days are held each
September. Helen, an alpine-village re-creation, celebrates Oktoberfest with
German food and music, while the barbecue is honored each October at the Big Pig
Jig in Vienna. The Georgia National Fair is held in Perry in October.
F | Sports |
Georgia is home to several professional
sports teams, including the Atlanta Falcons (football), the Atlanta Braves
(baseball), and the Atlanta Hawks (basketball). Atlanta also hosted the 1996
Summer Olympic Games. Some of the events were held in the new Olympic Stadium,
which is now the home of the Atlanta Braves.
VII | GOVERNMENT |
Georgia has had ten state constitutions.
They were adopted in 1777, 1789, 1798, 1861, 1865, 1868, 1877, 1945, 1976, and
1982. The constitution of 1976 had so many amendments, many of which affected
only localities, that it became unwieldy. The constitution adopted in 1982,
which became effective in 1983, prohibits the passage of merely local
amendments. All constitutional amendments require a two-thirds majority vote in
each house of the legislature and ratification by a majority of the voters.
A | Executive |
The governor of Georgia is the state’s
chief executive, elected for a four-year term, and who may not serve more than
two consecutive terms. The governor may veto proposed legislation, but the
legislature can override the veto by a two-thirds majority vote. The principal
officers of the executive branch are the lieutenant governor, secretary of
state, attorney general, comptroller general, treasurer, commissioner of
agriculture, commissioner of labor, and state superintendent of schools. All are
elected for four-year terms. The heads of several other state departments are
appointed by the governor. The public service commission, one of the state’s
eight executive boards, is elected. The other seven boards are appointed by the
governor. The state auditor is chosen by the state house of representatives but
its choice must be approved by the senate.
B | Legislative |
The state legislature, which is called
the General Assembly, is composed of a Senate, with 56 members, and a House of
Representatives, with 180 members. Both the senators and the representatives are
elected for two-year terms. The general assembly meets annually at Atlanta,
beginning on the second Monday in January. This regular session lasts for no
longer than 40 days. However, special sessions of up to 30 or 70 days may be
convened by the governor or by a three-fifths vote of the legislature.
C | Judicial |
The supreme court of Georgia is the
highest court in the state. It is the final court of appeal in all cases except
those in which state law and federal law conflict. The seven supreme court
justices are elected for six-year terms. The justices elect one of their members
to be chief justice. The state’s second highest court is the court of appeals.
The court’s judges are also elected for six years. Judges are elected to
four-year terms in the state’s superior courts and in the county-wide probate
courts. Justices of the peace are elected for four years and juvenile court
judges for six years. There are also county courts and juvenile courts.
D | Local Government |
Georgia is divided into 159 counties,
most governed by boards of elected commissioners. In the others, local
government is the responsibility of the probate court judge. The most common
type of municipal government in Georgia is the mayor and council plan.
Government by council and manager has become increasingly popular. A few cities
still use a modified version of the commission form of municipal
government.
E | National Representation |
Georgia elects 13 representatives to the
U.S. House of Representatives and two senators. The state has 15 electoral
votes.
VIII | HISTORY |
A | Early Inhabitants |
Native Americans are known to have
lived in Georgia for more than 10,000 years. About 4,000 years ago they began
making pottery vessels, which allowed them to store food year round. Agriculture
began in the area about 3,000 years ago. About 1,200 years ago the people of the
Mississippian culture, also called Mound Builders, were building great temple
mounds, as can be seen today at Ocmulgee National Monument or Kolomoki Mounds
State Park. By the time Europeans arrived in the 1500s, more than 1 million
people lived in the American South. Unfortunately, the newcomers brought
diseases against which the residents had no immunity. The death toll from
smallpox, diphtheria, measles, and other illnesses was tremendous. It is
estimated that the Native American population dropped by at least half between
1500 and 1700. By the time the British colonized Georgia in the 1730s the
Cherokee and Creek, who then occupied it, were much fewer in number than their
predecessors.
B | European Discovery and Exploration |
The Spanish were the first Europeans in
Georgia. Explorer Hernando de Soto landed in Florida in 1539, and in 1540 his
expedition crossed the Savannah and Ocmulgee rivers. In 1566 Pedro Menéndez de
Avilés founded a mission and fort on Saint Catherines Island. Over the next 100
years the Spanish built forts and missions along the coast of Georgia, which
they called Guale.
Franciscan friars, members of a Roman
Catholic religious order, were the central agents of Spanish civilization. In
the mid-1590s a dozen priests and lay brothers, supported by a few Spanish
soldiers, established missions to convert the Native Americans along the
Atlantic Coast from Florida to South Carolina. About half were located in the
principal villages of Guale. Their efforts were rewarded with many converts, but
also the first major conflict with Native Americans in Georgia. In 1597 a young
Guale man named Juanillo, angry that a priest had blocked his selection as
mico (chief), killed the meddling cleric. He then launched a war that
left most of the Franciscans dead. The war continued about ten months and ended
only after a Spanish army arrived from Florida. Afterward the Franciscans
returned, and in the first half of the 17th century they were highly successful.
At one time they had 25,000 converts in 38 missions. This was the golden age of
Spanish influence in the South.
Spain claimed the right to govern
Guale, but its claim was contested. England asserted a claim in 1629, when King
Charles I included the area in a land grant of “Carolana” to Sir Robert Heath.
However, because Heath failed to establish a settlement there, King Charles II
regranted Carolana—changing its name slightly to Carolina—to eight lords
proprietors in 1663. After founding a colony at Charleston (now in South
Carolina) in 1670, the Carolinians pushed southward along the Atlantic coast. In
1680, with Native American allies, they attacked the Spanish missions and
outposts and forced the Spanish to give up Saint Catherines Island. By 1686 the
Spanish abandoned Guale, but for more than 70 years they continued to fight for
possession from their bases in Florida.
C | The 18th Century |
C1 | Founding of the Colony |
As England’s power grew, the
countries of Scotland and Wales were united under the English king in a nation
called Great Britain, which continued the policy of granting proprietary
colonies in America. In 1732 Great Britain’s king, George II, granted to James
E. Oglethorpe, John Perceval, and others a charter for a colony to be called
Georgia. Georgia was to include all the land between the Savannah and Altamaha
rivers, extending west to the Pacific Ocean. Oglethorpe and his associates, who
were called the “trustees” of Georgia, planned to found a refuge for the poor,
especially those in debtors’ prisons, and the victims of religious persecution
in Europe. In addition, the king wanted a buffer colony to protect the Carolinas
from the Spanish in Florida and the French in Louisiana. It was also hoped that
the colony would produce silk, wine, and other goods for the British
market.
Early in 1733, Oglethorpe sailed up
the Savannah River and landed at Yamacraw Bluff, 27 km (17 mi) upstream. There
he met the Yamacraw people, a friendly Native American band of outlaw Creek, who
ceded the site to him. On February 12, 1733, he returned with more than 100
colonists and laid out the town of Savannah, the first permanent European
settlement in Georgia. In 1736 Oglethorpe founded Augusta at the Fall Line, the
southern end of the Piedmont Plateau, 320 km (200 mi) up the Savannah River.
Next Oglethorpe journeyed to the southern border, where he built Fort Frederica
on Saint Simons Island to defend against the Spanish in Florida.
In 1739 the War of Jenkins’s Ear
broke out between Great Britain and Spain, and there was skirmishing on the
southern frontier. In 1742 a Spanish force invaded Georgia. In the subsequent
Battle of Bloody Marsh, near Fort Frederica, Oglethorpe and his troops defeated
the invaders. This ended Spanish attempts to capture Georgia.
Over the next two decades the
colonists were joined by German Lutherans and members of other persecuted
religious groups from central Europe, as well as by Scots, Welsh, northern
Italians, and Swiss. Oglethorpe hoped to create a model society, where none
would be rich or poor. Those sent to Georgia at the trustees’ expense received
20.2 hectares (50 acres) of land and supplies to get them started. Individuals
paying their own way received up to 202 hectares (500 acres). But no family was
allowed to sell, lease, or even will the land away. They were expected to
support themselves off the land through their own labor. To ensure that everyone
was a sober, hard worker, the trustees in 1735 prohibited strong drink and
outlawed slavery. Georgia was the only British colony in North America to have
such laws. Although many of Georgia’s first settlers were poor or otherwise
unfortunate, few of them came from debtors’ prisons.
C2 | Change to a Royal Colony |
The objectives of the trustees were
soon called into question. The settlers were less interested in the security the
trustees provided than in the opportunity to grow rich. “Clamorous malcontents”
maintained that the colony would never grow until people could buy and sell all
the land they wanted and have slaves to work the fields. They asserted they
could not compete successfully against other colonies because wage labor cost
the farm owner much more than slave labor. The trustees countered that the
presence of slavery would make free workers lazy and would make defense more
difficult. A few who sided with Oglethorpe also raised the issue of human
rights, declaring it “shocking to human Nature, that any Race of Mankind, and
their Posterity, should be sentenced to perpetual Slavery.”
In the end the malcontents won and
the trustees had to abandon their plans. By 1750 slavery was legal, land could
be transferred, liquor could be made and sold, and Georgia had lost the features
that made it unique. In 1752 the trustees surrendered their charter to the king,
and two years later Georgia became a royal colony. The government now consisted
of a governor and royal council, appointed by the king, and a legislature
elected by the colonists.
The colony began to prosper. A
profitable plantation economy developed, based on slavery. Rice, indigo, and
wheat were cultivated, and cattle and hogs were raised. The fur trade with the
Native Americans flourished, lumber was cut, and naval stores (pitch and tar)
were produced. Georgia exported food and other goods to Great Britain in return
for British manufactures and for slaves, sugar, rum, and molasses from the West
Indies. The settler population, which was less than 5,000 in 1752, grew rapidly
after the French and Indian War ended in 1763.
After that war, which ended French
competition in North America and transferred Florida to British control,
Georgia’s western limit was set at the Mississippi River; its southern boundary
with Florida was extended to the Saint Marys River. However, only the eastern
part of the colony was settled. All the area west of the Appalachians was set
aside by the king’s proclamation as a Native American reservation. By 1776
Georgia’s settler population was about 40,000, half of them black slaves.
C3 | Colonial Women |
In the colonial era women had far
fewer rights than men and were generally expected to stay out of the public eye.
Nonetheless, a few women gained respect for their achievements. Mary Musgrove
was a half-Creek, half-English merchant who ran a trading post near Savannah
when Oglethorpe arrived. As a broker in the fur trade, she played a major role
in preserving the peace between the Native Americans and the colonists. She
helped Oglethorpe as an interpreter and negotiator. She also extended supplies
on credit to the colonists, and even helped recruit Native American warriors for
Oglethorpe’s battles with the Spanish. Musgrove was rewarded when the colony
recognized her title to Saint Catherines Island.
One of the wealthiest white settlers
was Abigail Minis, a Jewish resident of Savannah, who arrived in 1733 with her
husband Abraham. Their son Philip was born a year later, one of the first white
babies born in Georgia. Abraham died in 1757 after building a modest fortune
from agriculture and trade. His widow lived another 37 years and greatly
increased the family holdings. She strongly supported the patriot cause in the
American Revolution (1775-1783), assisting the patriots’ Continental Army with
provisions and supplies. By the time she died in 1794, she owned 20 slaves and
several thousand acres of land spread through at least four counties. In
addition to an active involvement in trade, she owned a tavern in Savannah.
Mary Musgrove and Abigail Minis could
not vote or hold office and had few civil rights. They were widely respected,
however, for the extraordinary talents they employed in service to early
Georgia.
C4 | The American Revolution |
Before the revolution, Georgia
depended more than any of the other 12 rebelling colonies on financial aid and
protection from Great Britain. The last royal governor, James Wright, was widely
admired as an effective administrator who negotiated Native American treaties in
1763 and 1773, opening 2.4 million hectares (6 million acres) of land to
settlement. Thus, many Georgians believed that British rule was to their
advantage and were less opposed than other colonials to British taxes and
regulations. For example, when Great Britain imposed the Stamp Act tax in 1765,
many Americans objected because they had had no voice in the legislative
process. In 12 colonies the Sons of Liberty, a secret patriotic society, were so
effective in terrorizing British officials that the measure was never enforced.
The one exception was Georgia, where for a short time Governor Wright was able
to collect the tax.
Due in part to Native American
troubles, Georgia was the only colony not to send delegates in 1774 to the First
Continental Congress, where the colonies pondered strategies of resistance to
Great Britain. However, after resistance turned into battle at Lexington and
Concord, Massachusetts, in April 1775, pro-independence Georgians seized control
of their government and chose delegates to the Second Continental Congress. At
the Continental Congress in 1776, Lyman Hall, George Walton, and Button Gwinnett
signed the Declaration of Independence for Georgia. In the same year, Georgia’s
revolutionary government adopted a temporary constitution, the Rules and
Regulations, and elected a president, Archibald Bulloch, and a council of
safety. Early in 1777 a permanent state constitution was adopted. It provided
for a unicameral (single-house) legislature and for a governor and executive
council elected by the legislature. John A. Treutlen was elected as the first
governor. In 1789 a new constitution changed the legislature to a bicameral
(two-house) body.
In 1778 the British captured
Savannah, and within a few months they overran most of Georgia and reestablished
British rule. The Continental Army failed to dislodge them from Savannah, but
bloody guerrilla fighting continued in outlying areas. Augusta was finally
liberated in 1781, and the British troops evacuated Savannah in 1782.
C5 | After the Revolution |
On January 2, 1788, a state
convention meeting at Augusta voted unanimously to adopt the Constitution of the
United States; Georgia was the fourth state and the first Southern state to do
so. Most Georgians supported a strong, central federal Union to protect them
against the Native Americans and the Spanish, who had repossessed Florida in
1783. Within a few years, however, conflicts arose between the state and federal
authorities. Georgia became a leading advocate of states’ rights, the doctrine
that federal powers over the states are strictly limited. Nevertheless, the
state supported the Union.
In the early years of the Union,
thousands of settlers from Virginia, North Carolina, and other nearby states
migrated to Georgia. Between 1790 and 1810 the state’s population tripled, from
82,548 to 252,433. Most of the newcomers settled north and west of Savannah. In
1783 Augusta succeeded Savannah as the state capital. As settlement pushed
westward, the capital was moved west to Louisville in 1796 and to Milledgeville
in 1806.
C6 | Land Speculation |
During the 1790s there was widespread
speculation in land in Georgia. Corrupt state and local officials made grants of
millions more acres than actually existed in the state. Much of the nonexistent
land was then sold to outside speculators and companies. The most infamous land
scam was the Yazoo Fraud of 1795. The legislature authorized the sale of a vast
tract near the Yazoo River to four land companies in which most of the
legislators held shares. There was a public outcry, and a new legislature,
elected in 1796, canceled the sale and offered refunds to the land companies.
However, much of the land had already been resold, and the new buyers insisted
on keeping it. In 1802 Georgia ceded the territory to the federal government,
which agreed to settle the claims. After the Supreme Court of the United States
declared the Yazoo sale valid, Congress in 1814 authorized payment of $4.3
million to the claimants.
D | The 19th Century |
D1 | The War of 1812 |
Georgians saw the War of 1812,
between the United States and Britain, as an opportunity to open up more land.
On the eve of the war a former governor, George Mathews, led a private army on
an abortive invasion of Florida. Despite the fact that the war was with Britain,
not Spain, Georgia’s Governor David Mitchell used the excuse of war to lead the
Georgia militia on another unauthorized attack on Saint Augustine, Florida, in
1812. The invasion failed, however, and the troops withdrew to Georgia
soil.
Meanwhile, the Upper Creek, living
mainly in Alabama, joined the British against the United States. Georgia
volunteers under General John Floyd rushed into the Creek country of southwest
Georgia. At the same time, General Andrew Jackson led an army into Alabama and
defeated the Upper Creek at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend in 1814. Jackson was
supported by 500 Cherokee, who swam the Tallapoosa River to attack the Creek
forces from the rear. After the victory Jackson forced the Upper Creek to sign a
treaty giving up a large portion of Alabama and Georgia.
D2 | Acquisition of Native American Lands |
After the revolution, the United
States had made treaties with the Creek and Cherokee recognizing their right to
occupy their lands in Georgia forever. At the same time, the federal government
sent agents to encourage these nations to adopt white lifestyles. Nevertheless,
the administration of President Thomas Jefferson in 1802 made a compact with
Georgia that seemed to contradict the treaties. In exchange for Georgia’s claims
to Alabama and Mississippi, Georgia was given $1,250,000 and a promise that the
federal government would remove the Native Americans as soon as this could be
done peacefully and on reasonable terms. When the federal government moved too
slowly for impatient Georgians, Governor George Troup in 1825 threatened to
remove the Creek by force. By 1827 the Creek signed treaties ceding their
remaining lands in Georgia. They then moved west across the Mississippi River to
Indian Territory (now Oklahoma).
With the Creek gone, Georgians turned
their attention to the Cherokee nation of north Georgia. The Cherokee had
transformed their society to emulate many practices of the whites. In 1821
Sequoyah, a Cherokee scholar, invented a syllabary (alphabet) for writing the
Cherokee language. Within a few years the nation adopted a constitution,
creating a government that was at least as democratic as that of the surrounding
states. They then started a national newspaper, the Cherokee Phoenix,
printed in both Cherokee and English. Commerce and agriculture flourished, and
the wealthier Cherokee even used black slaves in their fields.
Nonetheless, when gold was discovered
in north Georgia in 1828, whites rushed into Cherokee country to try to get
rich. The Georgia government illegally extended its authority over north
Georgia, and in 1832 held a lottery distributing the Cherokee lands among white
citizens of the state. In 1835 the administration of President Andrew Jackson
produced a fraudulent treaty, signed by a handful of Cherokee but repudiated by
the great majority of the nation. According to this Treaty of New Echota, the
Cherokee were to move west to Indian Territory. They refused to go, so federal
troops were sent in 1838 to move them out. About 4000 out of more than 18,000
Cherokee forced from their homes died in stockades or during the journey to the
west, known as the “Trail of Tears.”
D3 | Economic Development |
The cotton gin, invented by Eli
Whitney in Georgia in 1793, stimulated the extensive cultivation of cotton. The
cotton plantation system and slavery spread throughout the state, especially
into central and southwest Georgia. In the northern part of the state,
subsistence agriculture predominated, with individual farm families doing their
own labor. Most commonly they grew corn, wheat, and other food crops. Relatively
little cotton was grown in this part of the state before the Civil War. The
slave proportion in these counties ranged from about one-quarter of the
population to as low as 4 percent in the Blue Ridge Mountain counties. In
contrast, by 1860 most of the region between Atlanta and Macon and most of
southwest Georgia had majority black populations and grew cotton as well as corn
and other staples. Not all of Georgia was highly developed at the time of the
Civil War. South-central Georgia, known as the Wiregrass Country, was largely a
cattle frontier. In contrast, the Atlantic coast and the Sea Islands had
Georgia’s largest plantations, growing large quantities of rice and cotton.
For the state as a whole in 1860,
four of every nine persons were slaves. While the treatment of slaves varied,
all were oppressed by a system that denied them basic rights and liberties.
Slavery was perhaps at its worst in its impact on the family, where slave
marriages had no legal standing, sexual abuse of women was frequent, and
families could be broken up on the master’s whim. Many white families also lived
a spartan existence in that era. It is estimated that in 1860 about half of the
free families owned no land and three-fifths owned no slaves. Property became
increasingly concentrated in a few hands and, by the time of the Civil War,
about one-tenth of the people held nine-tenths of the wealth.
Georgians not only grew cotton, they
also turned it into cloth. The first cotton mill in Georgia was built in 1829 on
the Oconee River at White Hall. By the Civil War, Georgia was the South’s
leading producer of cotton goods with almost 3,000 workers, 60 percent of whom
were women. In addition to cotton cloth, Georgia produced woolen and leather
goods, pig iron, paper, shoes, carriages, and a variety of other products.
Slavery moved from the field to the factory. In 1860 about 5 percent of the
slave labor force was used in industry.
Transportation facilities were also
expanded throughout the state. Georgia’s first rail line, the Georgia Railroad,
chartered in 1833, ran about 160 km (100 mi) from Athens to Augusta. Atlanta
began as the starting point of the state-owned Western & Atlantic (W&A)
Railroad, chartered in 1836 to run through the old Cherokee country from Atlanta
to Chattanooga. Soon the W&A was linked to three other lines: the Georgia
Railroad ran a branch from Union Point to Atlanta; the Central of Georgia came
up from Savannah through Macon to Atlanta; and the Atlanta and West Point
Railroad carried passengers and freight to Alabama.
Georgia’s booming economy fueled a
population explosion. Between 1820 and 1840 the population more than doubled,
from 341,000 to 691,000. In the 1840s and 1850s it grew by almost half again,
passing 1 million by the time of the Civil War. In per-capita wealth, Georgia in
1860 was one of the ten richest states in the Union.
D4 | The Civil War |
Slavery was one of the most divisive
political issues in Congress in the 19th century. Many Congress members from the
Northern states pressed to end slavery, both because it was considered immoral
and because white labor could not compete with unpaid black labor. Members from
the Deep South (North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi,
Louisiana, and Florida) believed that slavery was essential to their
cotton-based agricultural system and that the North was trying to dominate the
national economy.
By the 1850s, the Southern states
were united in bitter opposition to proposed congressional legislation barring
slavery from the country’s new Western territories. Many in the South were
coming to believe that secession from the Union was the only way to protect
“Southern rights,” including the right to own slaves. Yet many of Georgia’s
leaders urged compromise. Largely through the efforts of three Georgians,
Representatives Alexander H. Stephens, Robert Toombs, and Howell Cobb, the
Southern states accepted the Compromise Measures of 1850, a series of acts that
temporarily settled the issue.
In 1860 Abraham Lincoln was elected
president as the candidate of the Republican Party, which opposed the spread of
slavery. South Carolina had threatened to secede if the Republicans won, and in
December 1860 it did so. Georgia Governor Joseph E. Brown immediately advocated
secession on the basis of the states’ rights doctrine. Stephens argued against
it. While he conceded that Georgia had been treated poorly, he asserted that
there was nothing to fear from Lincoln. Stephens had known Lincoln for years and
argued that he was no enemy of the South. Moreover, Stephens pointed out that
Lincoln as a Republican could do little to interfere with slavery because the
Democratic Party controlled Congress and did not agree with the Republicans on
the issue. Finally, Stephens pleaded for caution, since Georgia was doing well
economically within the Union and might do worse if secession led to civil
war.
Despite Stephens’s best efforts,
Georgians voted narrowly for secession in January 1861 and joined other Southern
states in forming the Confederate States of America. Stephens pledged to support
his state regardless of its decision, and was chosen as vice president of the
Confederacy. The American Civil War began officially on April 12, 1861, when
South Carolina militia bombarded a federal fort in Charleston harbor.
During the war, Georgia was a major
source of food, arms, and other supplies for the South until 1864. During the
early part of the war the only military action in Georgia occurred along the
coast, which was blockaded by Union gunboats. In 1862 Union troops captured Fort
Pulaski. The first major battle in Georgia was in September 1863, when Union
troops were routed at the Battle of Chickamauga.
At Andersonville Prison, near
Andersonville, captured Union Army soldiers were confined between February 1864
and April 1865. Out of a total of 49,485 prisoners, about one-fourth of them
died from constant exposure to the elements, inadequate food, impure water,
congestion, and filth. After the war the prison superintendent, Major Henry
Wirz, was tried for war crimes by a U.S. military court and hanged.
In the spring of 1864 a Union force,
led by General William T. Sherman, invaded Georgia from Tennessee. Sherman and
his men took Atlanta in September. After setting fire to the city in November,
they resumed their famous march to the sea. Houses in their path were looted,
and bridges, railroads, factories, mills, and warehouses were dismantled or
burned. Sherman captured Savannah in December and then turned northward and
marched into the Carolinas. The Confederacy finally surrendered in April
1865.
With men gone off to war, women
successfully ran farms and plantations and supported the Confederacy in a
variety of other ways. Women as well as men suffered from the invasion of their
homes by conquering armies. Writing shortly after the war, Frances Howard of
Bartow County noted that: “By the light of their burning homes, Southern women
saw their children die of cold and hunger, and they heard the incendiaries laugh
as they quoted the words of one of their leaders: ‘The seed of the serpent must
be crushed from the land.’ Are these things easily forgotten?”
The Civil War brought profound change
to Georgia. The most positive result was the end of slavery. Blacks were still
denied opportunity at every turn, however, and most found their economic
condition only slightly better than under slavery. The war had a devastating
effect on white Georgians. Thousands of men failed to return home. The abolition
of slavery and destruction of factories and fields wiped out much of the South’s
capital.
D5 | Reconstruction |
Within a few months of the surrender,
white Georgians regained their political rights: President Andrew Johnson
permitted them to elect delegates to a state constitutional convention.
Johnson’s plan of restoration, or Reconstruction, of the Union was to
reestablish the state governments and then readmit the states to Congress. The
delegates duly repealed the 1861 ordinance of secession and recognized the
abolition of slavery. They failed, however, to give blacks the right to vote or
to testify against whites in court. In general, the new constitution maintained
white supremacy. Constitutions drafted in the other Confederate states were
similar. The legislatures of Georgia and the other states also passed black
codes, a series of laws severely restricting the liberties of the newly freed
blacks.
Partly because of these acts by the
Southern states, the radical wing of the Republican Party in Congress wrested
control of Reconstruction from President Johnson and imposed the harsher regime
called Radical Reconstruction. In March 1867 Congress put all the ex-Confederate
states except Tennessee under military rule. Readmission to the Union was made
conditional on their adoption of new constitutions acceptable to Congress. They
were required to extend the vote and basic civil rights to all men, regardless
of race. The Republican Party now gained control in Georgia, based on a
coalition of blacks, businessmen, and white small farmers from the northern
mountain counties. This coalition in 1868 elected a Republican governor, Rufus
B. Bullock, and a legislature that ratified the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S.
Constitution. The amendment extended citizenship to anyone born in the United
States and promised all people the equal protection of the laws. Georgia was
readmitted to the Union in 1870.
Republican rule was soon undermined,
however, by the violence of a secret terrorist organization, the Ku Klux Klan,
which acted as a clandestine arm of the state Democratic Party. In 1868 alone,
more than 300 Georgia blacks were murdered or assaulted by white terrorists. It
was soon apparent that most white Republicans in Georgia were not strongly
committed to equal rights. Several months into the 1868 legislative session,
many Republicans joined with the Democrats in expelling black legislators
although they had been fairly elected. The following year the legislature failed
to ratify the 15th Amendment, which prohibited race from being used as a
requirement for voting.
Despite a feeble attempt by the U.S.
Army to restore order, the Republican Party in Georgia was finished. When a new
legislature took office in 1871, Governor Bullock fled the state to avoid being
impeached. Despite charges of corruption against the Republicans, it is clear
that Democrats were also involved in dirty dealings; and corruption did not end
with the return of Democratic rule. The state was under one-party rule by the
Democrats for almost the next 100 years.
D6 | Recovery and Growth |
Economically as well as politically,
Georgia was greatly disrupted by the war and its aftermath. The state slowly
recovered during the latter part of the 19th century. With the aid of Northern
as well as Southern capital, new banks and businesses were founded, and railroad
and business facilities were restored. After Reconstruction, almost all
prominent politicians in Georgia were Democrats. One faction was known as the
New Departure, or Bourbon, Democrats, who encouraged industrialization. The
cotton textile industry was expanded; the production of cottonseed oil, cattle
feed, and fertilizer was undertaken. In the 1870s, Georgia became a major source
of naval stores, and other natural resources were developed. Atlanta, which
became the state capital in 1868, grew into a prosperous manufacturing and
commercial center.
The hands of the Bourbons were tied,
however, by a new constitution in 1877, which prohibited state debt, limited
state funding of public schools to the elementary grades, prevented most forms
of aid to business, and guaranteed rural control of the legislature. In general,
farmers wanted low property taxes and few government services, so the state was
prevented from doing much to attract industry. Southern businesses were further
handicapped by discriminatory railroad rates, which favored Northern over
Southern shippers. Not surprisingly, Georgia and the South lagged far behind the
rest of the country economically.
Agriculture remained the chief
economic activity, but many large cotton and rice plantations, formerly
dependent on slave labor, were broken up into smaller farms operated by tenant
farmers or sharecroppers. Rice production ceased, but the production of cotton,
emphasized under the sharecropping system, continued to increase. A modest trend
toward diversified farming began in the 1890s with the introduction of peach
trees. Soon Georgia was noted for its peach, apple, and pecan orchards. Still,
Georgia remained dependent on the cotton crop. A symptom of Georgia’s
agricultural stagnation was the high rate of sharecropping and tenant farming.
By 1910 half the white farmers and 87 percent of the blacks did not own the
farms they operated.
Sharecropping and tenant farming were
substitutes for paid farm labor where little cash was available to pay wages. A
sharecropper raised part of the landlord’s crop and was paid a share of the
profits after deductions for living expenses and the cost of tools and supplies.
A tenant farmer sold what he raised and paid the landlord a share of the profits
as rent. The landlord chose the crop to raise and either owned it (in
sharecropping) or had a lien on it (in tenant farming). If the profit was low,
the landlord’s share was paid first. The cropper or tenant took what was left
or, if none was left, got an advance to keep going for another year.
In the effort to recover financially,
landowners relied almost exclusively on their traditional cash crop, cotton.
However, the price of cotton was low through the rest of the century, while
living costs rose. Mounting debt forced small farmers to give up their land and
become tenants or sharecroppers. Once in that system, they were forced to remain
because they could seldom earn enough to pay off their yearly advances. Not
until World War II (1939-1945), when widespread mechanization of agriculture
made sharecropping unprofitable, did the system begin to disappear.
Some impoverished whites were able to
escape from the fields to the factories. However, Georgia industry demanded low
skills and paid low wages. Company paternalism protected workers to some degree,
as mill owners typically provided housing, schools, hospitals, and churches.
Nonetheless, even young women in the Georgia mills were described in 1891 by an
observer as carrying “the weight of a century on their bowed backs ... a
slouching gait; a drooping chest ... yellow, blotched complexion; dead-looking
hair; stained lips, destitute of color and revealing broken teeth—these are the
dower of girlhood in the mills.” During the 19th and the first half of the 20th
centuries, industry offered little opportunity for Georgia workers to rise in
society.
D7 | The Agrarian Revolt |
As elsewhere in the nation, small
farmers suffered as wealth created by commerce and manufacturing was
concentrated in the hands of a few business barons. Among the causes of unrest
were the declining prices of farm products, the growing indebtedness of farmers
to merchants and banks, and discriminatory freight rates imposed on farmers by
the railroads. In the 1870s and 1880s American farmers in the Midwest formed
self-help groups such as the Grange and Farmers’ Alliance. The movement spread
nationwide and was called populism. When these organizations decided that
agricultural grievances had to be addressed with political action, they formed
an important third political party, the People’s Party.
A leading spokesperson for both the
Alliance and the People’s Party was Congressman Thomas Watson of Georgia. His
radical views, his willingness to appeal to black farmers, and his outspoken
attacks on the two major parties made the 1892 election in his Tenth District a
focus of national attention. The dominance of the state Democratic Party, which
stood for white power, was seriously threatened, and they stole the election
using a variety of methods. Watson’s opponent, Major James Black, publicly
warned of the specter of black “domination.” Newspapers inveighed against
“anarchy and communism.” Ballot box stuffing, intimidation, and bribery were
used flagrantly. In one county the election judges accepted a total vote,
overwhelmingly for Black, that was far beyond the number of registered voters in
the county. Watson fought through several bitter losing campaigns for the
People’s Party, running for vice president and president, among other offices,
before the party faded in 1908. Ironically, in his embittered old age, when he
had turned into an anti-Semitic, anti-Catholic white supremacist, he was finally
elected a Democratic U.S. senator from Georgia in 1920. He died in office in
1922.
The populists’ coalition of black and
white farmers had fallen apart after 1896 as a result of intimidation and white
susceptibility to racist Democratic appeals. Segregation of the races, through
separate public facilities for whites and blacks, became a basic rule in Georgia
and all Southern society in the last two decades of the 19th century. Blacks had
to live in different parts of towns, go to separate schools, eat at separate
restaurants, and use different laundries, restrooms, and even drinking
fountains. The facilities provided for blacks were never as good as those
provided for whites. The poll tax and other devices were instituted to prevent
most blacks from voting.
E | The 20th Century |
E1 | World War I and After |
During World War I (1914-1918) the
country’s needs stimulated growth in Georgia’s industries, and Georgia farmers
profited from high wartime prices for their crops. Good times continued into the
1920s for Atlanta, Georgia’s largest city. Atlanta’s growth was largely a
product of Georgia’s excellent network of railroads, which brought trade and
tourist dollars to Atlanta. The Coca-Cola Company, started in the 1880s, was the
city’s best known industrial concern. Under the leadership of Robert Woodruff,
Coca-Cola in the 1920s began to expand its markets throughout the world. Atlanta
was also a banking and insurance center. During the early part of the 20th
century, Atlanta became a premier cultural center for the Deep South. It was the
home of a symphony orchestra, numerous blues and country music performers, and a
number of colleges for blacks and whites.
In rural areas, however, prosperity
did not last long after the war. During the early 1920s much of the state’s
cotton crop was destroyed by the boll weevil. In addition, the soil in many
areas was exhausted by overproduction and erosion. Thousands abandoned the farms
and migrated to cities and towns. So many blacks left the region for Northern
cities that their exodus is called the Great Migration. The hard times of the
1920s were followed by the even harder times of the Great Depression, which
lasted through the 1930s. By the 1940s, the old plantation system was gone. The
number of farms had declined and the remaining farmers consolidated their
holdings and began to operate increasingly with machinery. Diversification
became a necessity, with peanuts, soybeans, cattle, poultry, and tree farms
replacing cotton.
E2 | Political Developments, 1930s-1940s |
During the early 1930s, Governor
Richard B. Russell, Jr., was instrumental in reorganizing some branches of the
state government. One major change was the placing of all of the separate
state-supported institutions of higher learning under the administration of a
single state board of regents. Eugene Talmadge, who succeeded Russell as
governor in 1933, was the major figure in Georgia politics for the next 12
years. In his first two terms he strenuously opposed the attempt of President
Franklin D. Roosevelt’s administration to establish its New Deal programs of
economic relief in the state. However, Talmadge’s successor, Eurith D. Rivers,
was a Roosevelt supporter, and various federal and state relief programs were
carried out in Georgia during his two terms. The state’s revenues failed to meet
the cost of its relief services, however, and Talmadge was elected again in 1940
on a platform of economy in state government. He continued most of Rivers’s
programs despite his past opposition to them.
After Governor Ellis Arnall took
office in 1943, Georgia entered a period of progressive change. It became the
first state in the nation to lower the voting age to 18. Before most Deep South
states, Georgia in 1945 abolished the poll tax. A merit system was instituted
for jobs in state government, and a new constitution was adopted. Arnall went to
the U.S. Supreme Court with a case against the railroads, forcing them to charge
the same freight rates in the South as they did in other parts of the nation.
Between 1943 and 1947, Arnall achieved the most remarkable record of progressive
reform that Georgia had seen to that time.
Rapid change, however, was not
favored by all, and provoked a backlash in “Gene Talmadge country,” the rural
areas of south Georgia. Talmadge was elected governor for the fourth time in
1946, but died before inauguration. The legislature then chose his son, Herman,
as governor on the grounds that he had received the largest number of write-in
votes in the election. Arnall, maintaining that the governorship should go to
the lieutenant governor-elect, Melvin E. Thompson, refused to leave his office
on inauguration day. Talmadge then forcibly occupied the office. Thompson set up
a government in exile in downtown Atlanta, and for 67 days Georgia had two
governors. Finally the state supreme court ruled in favor of Thompson, and he
was sworn in. In a special election in 1948, however, Herman Talmadge defeated
Thompson and served the last two years of his father’s term. Talmadge was
reelected in 1950, and later represented the state in the U.S. Senate for 24
years.
E3 | Economic Growth During World War II and the 1950s |
From the Civil War to the mid-20th
century, Georgia was one of the poorest states in the Union; the only states as
poor were other Southern states. Indeed, during the Great Depression, President
Roosevelt made a speech in Georgia declaring the South to be “the Nation’s No. 1
economic problem.” In 1940 the average Georgia family earned only 57 percent as
much as the typical family nationwide. The American entry into World War II in
1941 began the economic revival of Georgia and the South. Military bases were
created or expanded near virtually all sizable Georgia towns. Federal dollars
poured into the region to build airplanes, ships, and munitions for the war
effort. Suddenly there were more good jobs at decent pay than Georgians had ever
known.
A good example of the economic impact
of the war is the Bell Aircraft Company, which converted Marietta from a sleepy
town to a booming industrial center. Bell built a plant in Marietta in 1942 to
build B-29 bombers for the war effort. A town of about 8,000 in 1940, Marietta
became the home of a business employing almost 29,000 workers, and at much
higher wages than Southerners were accustomed to earning. With a large number of
men off fighting, a significant part of the workforce consisted of women.
Despite Southern customs of segregation, Bell also provided some opportunities
for blacks. Although the Bell plant closed at the end of the war, it was
reopened by Lockheed Corporation in 1950 with the outbreak of the Korean War. In
the 1990s, Lockheed continued to be a major employer, relying primarily on
government contracts.
When the war ended, soldiers returned
home to households with much more spending money than in the past. By 1950 the
average Georgia family income was 70 percent of the national average, and
Georgians continued to narrow the income gap during the next several decades.
National corporations, noting the healthier economy of the South, established
regional headquarters in cities such as Atlanta. The availability of air
conditioning made the hot, humid Southern summers less of a deterrent to
Northerners. The war also improved the training of Georgia’s industrial
workforce. A number of Northern industries moved south, attracted by the large
labor pool, low wage scale, lack of unions, low taxes, and favorable climate.
National migration patterns began to reverse. For decades many of the South’s
brightest young people had deserted the region for the greater opportunities of
the North. By the mid-1950s more whites were moving into Georgia each year than
were departing, and by the mid-1970s the same was true for blacks. Moreover,
those arriving tended to be better educated and skilled than those leaving, so
that the net gain for Georgia was large.
Some sluggish older industries became
more dynamic as they moved to the South. For example, for more than 100 years,
carpet manufacturers had made beautiful, high-quality woven rugs in Northern
plants. The floor coverings were so expensive, however, that only the affluent
could afford wall-to-wall carpeting. The typical prewar house had a hardwood
floor because wood was cheaper than carpets. But in the Dalton area of north
Georgia, local entrepreneurs in the 1940s built machines to produce carpeting by
a new, cheaper technique called tufting. After they discovered in the 1950s that
durable, inexpensive rugs could be made with nylon thread, the carpet industry
experienced unparalleled growth. Within a generation of the war’s end, United
States home builders had virtually stopped installing hardwood floors, and
wall-to-wall carpeting was nearly universal. In the late 1990s north Georgia
continues to be the center of the world carpet industry.
E4 | The Civil Rights Movement |
The transformation of the South’s
economy was coupled with an even more remarkable alteration of society in the
area of race relations. Black soldiers returning home from World War II were
often in the forefront in demanding change. In general, young people were no
longer willing to tolerate the indignities their parents had suffered. Soon the
white politicians found themselves confronted with a movement demanding an end
to racial segregation and discrimination.
In 1946 a federal court knocked down
Georgia’s white primary law, a device to ensure white control of party
machinery. That February the vote of Atlanta blacks made the difference in
sending to Washington a white liberal, Helen Douglas Mankin, the first Georgia
woman elected to Congress. Police departments began to hire black officers,
first in Savannah in 1947, then in Atlanta the next year; at that time, however,
black police were only allowed to arrest fellow blacks.
The U.S. Supreme Court in 1954
decided, in Brown v. Board of Education, that segregated schools
were unconstitutional. Soon Georgia blacks filed a number of cases in federal
courts to force public schools and colleges to abide by the Brown decision. In
January 1961 two students, Hamilton Holmes and Charlayne Hunter, forced the
University of Georgia to open its doors to black students. That fall, following
a federal court order in the case of Calhoun v. Latimer, the
Atlanta public schools began to desegregate. Over the next decade the tradition
of segregated education was fundamentally altered.
The civil rights movement in the
United States was centered in Atlanta, which was the home of Martin Luther King,
Jr., the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, and the Student Nonviolent
Coordinating Committee. In March 1960 black college students in Atlanta, and
soon other Georgia cities, began holding sit-ins at segregated restaurants,
lunch counters, parks, and churches. The nonviolent protests also included
marching, picketing, and occasional boycotting of stores. While demonstrators
were usually met with hostility, they sometimes got results. In Atlanta, for
instance, business leaders feared the negative publicity the city received when
it arrested or harmed peaceful demonstrators. Progressive mayors such as William
B. Hartsfield and Ivan Allen, Jr., had worked hard to build Atlanta into the
commercial and transportation center of the South. They advertised Atlanta as
“the city too busy to hate.” By 1961 they were willing to end segregation at
lunch counters and negotiate with civil rights leaders on other reforms.
At the same time, many Georgia
politicians in the 1950s and 1960s engaged in massive resistance to integration
of public facilities. Following Brown v. Board of Education the
state threatened to cut off public funding to any school that integrated. In
1956 the state flag was changed to include the Confederate battle flag. For some
this was merely a way to honor the memory of the brave soldiers who fought for
the Confederacy, but for others it represented resistance to federal attempts to
change the racist laws and customs of the past. In 1964 Congress passed a civil
rights act that ended segregation in public places. Lester Maddox became a folk
hero to some whites by closing his Atlanta restaurant rather than admit black
customers. Two years later he was elected governor. While his record as governor
was more progressive than his image, he nevertheless symbolized a defiant
Georgia that stood outside the national mainstream.
In 1971 Maddox was succeeded by a man
who projected a much different image—Jimmy Carter. In his inaugural address
Carter said something that Georgians had not heard a governor utter since
Reconstruction. The achievement of the civil rights movement in transforming
attitudes was apparent when Carter announced: “I say to you quite frankly that
the time for racial discrimination is over. Our people have already made this
major and difficult decision, but we cannot underestimate the challenge of
hundreds of minor decisions yet to be made.” Carter went on to call for equal
opportunity for all. Five years later, he was elected president of the United
States. Carter himself has often credited the civil rights movement with making
it possible for statesmen from the Deep South to ascend to the presidency. He
represented a new generation of Southern leaders who no longer had to defend
segregation and thus could appeal to the majority of Americans outside the
region.
Carter was perhaps correct that the
majority of Georgians, sometime in the 1960s and 1970s, stopped trying to defend
segregation and white supremacy. A change in practices, to some degree, led to a
change in attitudes. Yet a backlash against the civil rights movement was also
apparent. The integration of the Atlanta public schools, a high crime rate, high
taxes, and the high cost of housing, were contributing factors to white flight,
the movement of white residents from the city to the suburbs. Atlanta went
quickly from being a majority-white to a majority-black city, encircled by a
ring of white communities. In 1968 Georgians were so disenchanted with both the
Democrats and the Republicans that they cast their presidential ballots for
third-party candidate George Wallace of Alabama, the onetime symbol of Southern
resistance to school integration.
E5 | Modern Georgia After 1970 |
Georgia in the last quarter of the
20th century has continued to be a place of contrasts and contradictions. On one
hand it is a state of remarkable promise, an economic powerhouse with a thriving
economy. On the other hand it remains a state with immense social problems,
where opportunity is often far from equal for those in rural areas or inner
cities.
Atlanta has continued to symbolize
modern, progressive Georgia. As far back as the 1920s, visionary Atlantans
promoted the development of the city’s airport as the key to future growth.
Following World War II, as air traffic increasingly supplanted passenger trains,
the Atlanta airport grew into one of the nation’s busiest. The end of
segregation allowed Atlanta in the 1960s to become the home of major league
sports teams, first in baseball, then football and basketball. In the 1970s
blacks rose to political power. In 1972 Andrew Young, one of Martin Luther
King’s chief lieutenants, became the state’s first black congressman since
Reconstruction, and he was elected from a majority-white district. The next year
Maynard Jackson became Atlanta’s first black mayor. When Carter became
president, he named Young to represent the United States at the United Nations,
where the former civil rights leader gained international influence.
The most visible example of modern
Atlanta business leadership has been Ted Turner, who inherited a small outdoor
advertising company and turned it into a communications empire, first through a
cable television station, Turner Broadcasting System (TBS), then through the
Cable News Network (CNN). In the meantime Turner became owner of two of the
town’s sports teams, the Braves and the Hawks. While CNN carried Atlanta’s name
abroad, state and local leaders put much money and energy into attracting
foreign companies to the Atlanta area. In large part due to Atlanta’s success in
becoming an international city and to the prestige throughout the world of
leaders such as Carter, King, and Young, the Georgia capital was able to attract
the 1996 Summer Olympic Games. The event was held during July and August 1996.
The Olympic Games were generally considered a success, despite some logistical
problems and a still-unsolved bombing that killed two people.
While Georgia has grown in
prosperity, it has also experienced with the rest of the South an amazing
political transformation away from one-party rule by the Democratic Party. The
Democratic Party generally dominated state and local politics in Georgia after
Reconstruction. Successful candidates in Democratic primary elections were often
assured of winning office. However, the perceived liberalism of the national
Democrats on race issues was part of white Georgians’ alienation from the party.
The South’s economic recovery
produced a more affluent, better educated population, with more people living in
suburbs. These voters tended to identify with the Republicans’ commitment to low
taxes. They favored limiting the growth of federal welfare programs, and they
considered the Republicans to be more pro-family than the Democrats.
The Republican Party became important
in presidential politics in the state in the 1960s. Republican Barry Goldwater
carried Georgia in the 1964 presidential election and that same year Howard
(“Bo”) Callaway became the first Republican elected to Congress from Georgia
since Reconstruction. In the 1968 presidential election Georgia supported George
C. Wallace of Alabama, the candidate of the ultra-conservative American
Independent Party. Republican Richard Nixon won Georgia in the 1972 presidential
election. In 1976 Jimmy Carter, the Democratic candidate and a former Georgia
governor, carried both the state and the nation, becoming the first native
Georgian to win the presidency. In the 1980 election, however, Georgia was one
of only six states to support Carter. In that election, Republicans achieved
their next major breakthrough in Georgia. Mack Mattingly defeated Georgia’s
senior U.S. senator, Herman Talmadge. Georgia went for Republicans Ronald Reagan
in 1984 and George Bush in 1988 but supported Democrat Bill Clinton of Arkansas
in 1992. Although the Republicans lost their Senate seat in 1986, they won it
back in 1992 with the election of Paul Coverdell. Greater success came in 1994
when Republicans captured 7 of Georgia’s 11 seats in the House. The Republicans
not only seized control in Georgia, but for the first time in 40 years gained
national control of Congress. Georgian Newt Gingrich, who helped mastermind the
Republican takeover, became Speaker of the House.
In 1995 the state’s U.S.
congressional districts were redrawn for the second time in three years after
the U.S. Supreme Court declared that the 11th District, which had been
gerrymandered to produce a black majority, was unconstitutional. The 11th had
been redrawn in 1992 to link black communities after the U.S. Justice Department
told Georgia it was not in compliance with the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The
high court, however, disagreed with the Justice Department and held that race
could not be used as a predominant factor in drawing district boundaries. In
1996 the court upheld Georgia’s new districting map, which reduced the number of
majority-black districts from three to one. Despite the redrawing, Georgia’s
three black U.S. congressional representatives all won reelection in November
1996.
E6 | Georgia at the Millennium |
Toward the end of the 20th century
Georgia was growing much more rapidly than the nation as a whole. The state
added a million residents in the 1980s, then another 723,000 between 1990 and
1995. Georgia’s 1995 population was approximately 7.2 million, making it the
tenth largest state in the nation. People in other states and countries
obviously found Georgia to be an attractive place to live: In the first half of
the 1990s about 360,000 more people moved in to the state than moved away. The
black population at mid-decade was growing slightly faster than the white
population. Some 28 percent of Georgians had black ancestry, compared to 13
percent nationwide. By 1994 per-capita personal income in Georgia was 93 percent
of the national average, while in the metropolitan Atlanta area it was 109
percent.
These positive indicators, however,
masked the fact that not everyone participated in the good times. Georgia in the
1990s had one of the worst records of any state for the percentage of births to
teenage and unwed mothers. The infant mortality rate in 1993 was 10.4 per 1,000
live births, compared to 8.4 per 1,000 nationwide. Twenty-nine percent of all
Georgians age 25 or older lacked a high school diploma in 1990, compared to 25
percent in the rest of the country. The gap between whites and blacks was
especially great. In 1989 per-capita income for Georgia’s black population was
only 51 percent of that for whites, almost unchanged in 20 years and very close
to what it was before the civil rights movement. Nevertheless, as the century
comes to a close, Georgia is much closer to national norms than it once was.
The history section of this article
was contributed by Thomas A. Scott. The remainder of the article was contributed
by Truman A. Hartshorn.
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