Untitled - the Digital Library of Georgia

GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 353
of the delegates were not present when the convention assembled, but
those who attended first and last and who signed the instrument formally
attesting its ratification were: James Powell, John Elliott and James
Maxwell, from Liberty; Henry Osborne, James Seagrove and Jacob
"Weed, from Camden; Edward Telfair, Dr. Todd and George Walton,
from Burke; George Handley, Charles Hillery and John Milton, from
Glynn; Robert Christmas, a Mr. Daniel and a Mr. Middleton,
from Greene; George Mathews, Florence Sullivan and a Mr. King, from
Wilkes; and Jenkin Davis, Nathan Brown and Caleb Ho well, from
Effingham. There appear to have been no delegates present from either
Franklin or Washington counties. John Wereat signed the ratification
as president and also as delegate from Richmond. Isaac Briggs was also
from this county; but the name of any other delegate from Richmond is
not to be found in the records.
Journalism as exemplified by the Georgia Gazette at this time was
neither an exact science nor a fine art. Its lack of enterprise in dealing
with one of the great history-making events of the state is exasperating. .
We look in vain for any synopsis of these debates upon which hinged the
destiny of a commonwealth. But the editor is considerate enough to
keep us in no suspense as to his own mental state in announcing the
result. Says he:* "We have the pleasure to announce to the public
that on Wednesday last the convention unanimously ratified the Federal
Constitution." This bulletin sounds more like the marriage announce
ment of a runaway couple than it does like the proclamation of a great
fact destined to reverberate in Georgia's history down to the last syllable
of recorded time. But this same alert newspaper informs us that just
as the last name was signed to the ratification a party of Colonel Arm
strong's regiment quartered in Augusta proclaimed the joyful tidings
opposite the court house by a salute of thirteen guns.
There were only two other states whose action in ratifying the Fed
eral Constitution was unanimous. These were Delaware and New Jer
sey. Georgia's importance as a state at this time, due«to her remoteness
from the seat of government and to her scant population, was almost
insignificant, but her prompt action in ratifying the. Federal Constitu
tion, without a vote cast in oposition and without an amendment offered
to the instrument, was an eye-opener to the nation and it produced a
thrill of excitement even in far-away New England, f For a state on the
extreme southern frontier to take such action was well calculated to put
to blush those states in closer touch with Philadelphia. When Georgia
startled the Atlantic seaboard by the announcement of her decision, nine
states were poised in an attitude of uncertainty, some in fact openly
hostile to the proposed compact of Union; and, in no small degree, was
Georgia's influence felt at this critical moment in shaping the future of
the nascent republic.
* Georgia Gazette, January 5, 1788.
t "History of Georgia," W. B. Stevens, II, p. 387.
Vol. 1—23