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522 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS
in the field. One of these was Gen. John Clark'. He stood at the head
of the great political faction known by his name as the Clark party and
was a man of powerful influence in the state at this time, especially
among the uplanders. Opposed to him was George M. Troup, who had
lately resigned his seat in the United States Senate. Mr. Troup belonged
to the Crawford party, an organization whose leader was the great Wil
liam H. Crawford. As a young man, Mr. Troup had been a protege of
old Governor James Jackson, of Savannah. On the death of Jackson in
1806 Mr. Troup assumed the leadership of the Crawford party in South
Georgia; and when Mr. Crawford withdrew from state politics he be
came the recognized champion of the entire aristocratic element. So
uncompromising a fighter was Mr. Troup—so pronounced his convic
tions on public issues—so bold his advocacy of State Rights—that the
faction to whose leadership he was called at once took his name and
became known as the Troup party of Georgia.
Mr. Troup had served for eight years in Congress (1807-1815), and
for two years in the United States Senate (1816-1818), when he entered
the race for governor; and he possessed some prestige, therefore, in
national politics. General Clark was not unknown in military circles
outside the state as a soldier who had served his novitiate in the Revolu
tion, under an illustrious father and who had later achieved some note
as an Indian fighter, but his reputation was in no sense national. Mr.
Troup was a man of culture, eccentric perhaps, but well educated. Gen
eral Clark, on the other hand, could lay claim only to the rudiments of
an education. He was far more skillful with the sword than with the pen:
But he was a man of hard common sense and of strong will power. Mr.
Troup was an aristocrat, stiff as a poker in his manners, peculiar in his
style of dress, pompous, haughty, almost imperious, in his personal bear
ing. General Clark was a plain man of the people, blunt of speech, but
honest, outspoken and fearless, Governor Gilmer to the contrary not
withstanding. The frontiersmen looked upon General Clark with an
awe akin to veneration. In the upcountry his word was law. Every
old soldier was his sworn friend and every man who came from North
Carolina or whose ancestors came from North Carolina was a supporter
of General Clark by virtue of this fact. Moreover, the small farmers in
the lower belt were also allied with the Clark faction. It will be remem
bered that in a former chapter of this work we discussed at some length
the earliest division of the state into parties. One of these was composed
largely of Virginians who followed Crawford; while the other was made
up chiefly of North Carolinians who adhered to the Clarks.
These contrasted characteristics will serve to throw some light upon
the campaign of 1819. It was a stubbornly contested fight; and, though
the stump speaker had not arrived as yet in Georgia, the partisan editor
was on hand and wielded a rancorous pen in the bitter controversies of
this period.
Georgia was becoming impatient for a removal of the Indian tribes.
Eighteen years had elapsed since the cession of 1802, at which time the
state had relinquished its western lands to the Federal Government with,
the express understanding that all Indian titles to the remaining terri
tory were to be extinguished. Several bodies of land had been acquired
from both the Creek and the Cherokee Indians; but in each instance