Untitled - the Digital Library of Georgia

GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 413
well informed. It is not used on all papers, issuing from the secretary
of state's office, but only on documents of an extraordinary character,
such as charters, land-grants, and commissions to public servants, in
cluding governors, state house officials, judges of the Superior Court
and solicitors general. It is also used in attesting all interstate and in
ternational documents. Every paper going out of the state, for which
Georgia's official attestation is required, must carry the great seal; but
for ordinary official transactions what is known as the seal of the sec
retary of state is employed.
Continuously until 1915 the great seal adopted at this time fulfilled
the solemn purposes for which it was designed, but in the year above
mentioned a new seal of the same design superceded this emblem of
Georgia's sovereignty; and the old seal of 1799, in the presence of the
secretary of state and by authority of the General Assembly was defaced
by Governor Slaton. What remains of this old seal—two mutilated
discs of silver—are still preserved as sacred relics of Georgia's historic
past, in the secretary of state's office at. the state capitol.
On December 14, 1799, the great Washington died at Mount Ver-
non, his country-seat on the Potomac River. Profound sorrow was felt
in Georgia, where the memories of his recent visit still lingered. On
every hand the sables of grief were displayed and mass meetings were
held at which appropriate resolutions were adopted. The first town in
the United States to be named for the Father of His Country was
Washington, Georgia, founded in 1782.
Georgia's four electoral votes in 1800 were given to Jefferson and
Burr. As we have already seen; each state was required at this time
to vote for two candidates. The candidate receiving the highest vote
was declared to be elected President, the one receiving the next highest
vote, Yice-President, The contest of 1800 resulting in a tie, the elec
tion was thrown into the national House of Representatives, ending
finally in Jefferson's election as President, with Aaron Burr as Vice-
President.