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456 GEOEGIA AND GEOEGIANS
famous Irish capital. The man who donated the land for this purpose
to the state was an Irishman, who claimed the privilege of naming the
town, in return for his deed of gift.
For several years a bone of contention between Georgia and North
Carolina was the matter of locating exactly the 35th parallel of north
latitude, recognized as the boundary line between the two states. In
1806 surveyors representing both states, having failed to agree, Georgia
in 1807 made a second effort to secure an adjustment, at which time the
surveyor-general, re-enforced by two expert surveyors, with the .finest
instruments to be secured, undertook to run the line; but North Carolina
refused to take any part in these proceedings or to recognize the finality
of the line fixed by these surveyors. The issue between the two states
remained unsettled for several years when the line was finally established
by commissioners under appointment from the Federal Government.
The Legislature at this session created a new judicial circuit—the
Ocmulgee—of which Peter Early became the first judge, an office which
he held until his elevation to the governorship six years later.
In August, 1807, the Clermont, a steamboat constructed by Eobert
Fulton and operated by means of paddle wheels, made a successful trial
trip on the Hudson. But as we have already seen, William Longstreet, on
the Savannah, had already successfully applied steam to navigation by
contriving a boat propelled by a series of poles, for which he had received
a patent from the state in 1787.
Georgia's presidential electors in the campaign of 1808 were: John
Eutherford and David Meriwether, from the state at large; and John
Twiggs, Christopher Clark, Henry Graybill and James B. Houston, from
the congressional districts.* James Madison, of Virginia, and George
Clinton, of New York, were given the state's six electoral votes.
On December 15, 1808, an act was approved creating a new county
to be called Pulaski, in honor of the gallant Polish nobleman who lost
his life at the siege of Savannah. It was to be formed out of lands
detached from the County of Laurens.f Hartford was subsequently
designated as the county seat, a town which has long since disappeared
from the map. It was located on the east side of the Ocmulgee Eiver,
opposite the present Town of Hawkinsville.
To the Eleventh Congress (1809-1811) Georgia re-elected all four
of her representatives: Dr. W. ~W. Bibb, Howell Cobb, Dennis Smelt and
George M. Troup. $
On November 14, 1809, John Milledge resigned his seat in the United
States Senate and to succeed him, the Legislature, which was then in
session, elected Judge Charles Tait,'of Elberton.
This same Legislature chose David B. Mitchell to succeed Jared
Irwin as governor. On assuming the duties of office, Governor Mitchell
addressed to the General Assembly a strong document in which he
stressed the importance of improving the public highways of the state
and of opening new roads through the territory recently acquired from
the Indians. An era had now arrived for inaugurating works of public
*Lanman's Biog. Annals of U. S. Government, p. 516-517.
t "Clayton's Compilation," p. 470. :
t '' Biog. Gong. Directory,'' p. 68.