Untitled - the Digital Library of Georgia

GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 397
Jefferson did not think these claims valid but on grounds of policy fa
vored some plan of conciliation. John Randolph, of Roanoke, took the
ground that any interference by the Federal Government in the matter
would constitute an infraction of the rights of Georgia; and in this con
tention he was upheld by a majority sentiment. Georgia's delegation in
Congress, led by the dauntless Troup, stubbornly fought the claims of
the Yazooists.
But, on February 16, 1810, Chief Justice John Marshall rendered
a decision in the case of Fletcher versus Peck, in which the validity of
the Yazoo sale was held. As a result of this decision the rights of claim
ants were established. Randolph, with a majority behind him, still de
layed matters but in 1814 an act was passed appropriating $5,000,000
with which to quiet the Yazoo claims; and so at last this hideous night
mare was ended. General Jackson, the relentless foe of the Yazooists,
had been in his grave for eight years, dying, while a senator, at the seat
of government. He passed away, on March 19, 1806, at the age of forty-
nine, and his ashes lie entombed in the Congressional Cemetery, on the
banks of the Potomac. Enfeebled by wounds received on the field of
honor, Senator Jackson paid with his life the penalty attaching to his
fiery crusade against the Yazooists; but he did not reckon with conse
quences when Georgia's honor was at stake. Life's fitful fever o'er, here
peacefully until the resurrection sleeps Georgia's modern Prometheus.