Untitled - the Digital Library of Georgia

390 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS
were offered and if the conditions were suitably modified. Later,
Georgia saw fit to adopt this course.
But for the present, without knowing exactly how she could turn
these western lands to profit, she resolved at any rate not to relinquish
them to the general Government. In 1789, four stock companies were
formed for the purpose of acquiring these lands. They were called
Yazoo companies, from the Yazoo River, which traversed a section of
the territory sought to be purchased. The Legislature this year passed
a bill, approved by Governor Walton, conveying to these companies
2,500,000 acres of land in this state, for a total sum of $200,000. Indian
titles were to be extinguished by the purchasers and all money was to
be paid in two years. But the purchasers failed to comply with these
terms and the agreement lapsed.
But the fever for land speculation was rife among the people of
the United States. In 1794 new companies were formed. These sought
to buy a much larger area of land. But Governor Mathews was opposed
to the transaction; and, when a bill was passed, he returned it with his
veto. For a time, this obstacle delayed the Yazooists. But the objec
tions of the governor were finally overcome and he agreed, if certain
changes were made, to approve a sale of Georgia's western lands, if a
majority of the Legislature still favored such a transfer.
Accordingly, on January 7, 1795, an act was passed ceding to four
companies 35,000,000 acres of land for $500,000. The companies re
ceiving this grant were: the Georgia Company, the Georgia-Mississippi
Company, the Tennessee Company, and the Upper Mississippi Com
pany. Under the terms of this act a domain of territory was conveyed
almost as large as the present area of the State of Georgia. Deeming
the sale unwise, on grounds of public policy, William H. Crawford pre
sented a petition to the governor, signed by numerous citizens of Colum
bia County, Georgia. It is said that the governor's secretary—a young
man named Urquhart—was so much opposed to the sale that when
finally the bill was ready for signature ho .adopted a ruse. Making a
pen, he first dipped it in oil and then gave it to the governor, hoping
that when the ink failed to flow the governor would construe it as an
omen and would thereupon refuse to proceed further. But the secre
tary's strategem miscarried. Another pen was ordered and in due
time the bill was approved.
At once there arose an issue between the State of Georgia and the
Federal Government. The former's right to cede these lands was
traversed, in view of the latter's outstanding guarantees and obligations
to the Indian tribes. President Washington, on receiving news of the
Yazoo sale, transmitted copies of the act to Congress, requesting that it
be made a matter of rigid investigation.
But events were already transpiring in Georgia which were des
tined to result in a speedy repudiation of the act. Gen. James Jack
son, then a United States senator, relinquished the toga, returned to
Georgia, and began a campaign which was soon to fire the state into a
blaze of virtuous indignation. In a series of articles, over the pen
name of "Sicillius," he violently assailed the act. These articles ap
peared in the Savannah Gazette and in the Augusta Chronicle.* Blis-
' Story of Georgia and the Georgia People,'' George Gr. Smith, p. 174.