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CHAPTEE XIV
NEW LANDS ACQUIRED AT INDIAN SPRINGS OPENED TO SETTLEMENT
UNDER THE LOTTERY ACT OP 1826—FIVE GREAT COUNTIES FORMED—
LEE, MUSCOGBE, TROUP, COWETA AND CARROLL—THE CHATTAHOOCHEE
CIRCUIT Is FORMED—"WALTER T. COLQUITT ITS FIRST JUDGE—GOV
ERNOR THOUP'S ADMINISTRATION CLOSES AMIDST TRIUMPHANT PLAU
DITS—DUE TO His SUCCESSFUL INDIAN POLICY AND TO His BOLD CHAM
PIONSHIP OP STATE RIGHTS—JOHN FORSYTE SUCCEEDS MR. TROUP AS
GOVERNOR—DIPLOMAT, STATESMAN AND ORATOR—THE PRESIDENTIAL
CAMPAIGN OF 1828 PUTS ANDREW JACKSON IN THE WHITE HOUSE—
CALLS MR. BERRIEN INTO THE CABINET AS ATTORNEY-GENERAL—
GEORGE M. TROUP SUCCEEDS MR. BERRIEN IN THE FEDERAL SENATE—
OLIVER H. PRINCE AWARDED THE TOGA AS SUCCESSOR TO THOMAS W.
COBB, RESIGNED—SEVEN CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICTS—NEW RULES OF
ELECTION ADOPTED—NEW COUNTIES CREATED—HARRIS, MARION,
MERIWETHER, TALBOT, RANDOLPH AND HEARD—GEORGE R-. GILMER Is
ELECTED GOVERNOR IN 1829, DEFEATING JOEL CRAWPORD—PARTIES
SOMEWHAT DIVIDED IN THIS ELECTION—TROUBLES WITH THE CHERO-
KEE INDIANS—GOVERNOR GILMER's MESSAGE—AN ACT PASSED EX
TENDING GEORGIA'S JURISDICTION OVER THE CHEROKEE LANDS—GOES
INTO EFFECT JUNE 1, 1830—THE DISCOVERY OF GOLD BRINGS MAT
TERS TO A CRISIS—THE WHITES COVET THESE INDIAN HOLDINGS, SUP
POSED TO CONCEAL FABULOUS TREASURES.
NOTES : VILLA RICA—GOLD DISCOVERED.
Five great counties were created out of the lands acquired from the
Creek Indians under the last treaty at Indian Springs, to wit: Lee,
Muscogee, Troup, Coweta and Carroll. These were organized tinder an
act approved December 11, 1826, which act provided for a distribution
of lands in these counties according to the lottery system which had been
in vogue for more than twenty years. It was most appropriate that
two of the counties should have been given names commemorative of the
Creek Indians—Muscogee and Coweta. The former of these names com
memorated the nation at large; the latter was a memorial to the Lower
Creeks, a tribe of which Gen. William Mclntosh was the head. Troup
was most fittingly named for Georgia's courageous governor, then occu
pying the executive chair. Lee and Carroll were named for distin
guished Revolutionary patriots, the first "Light-Horse Harry" Lee,
whose ashes then reposed at Dungeness; the second for Charles Carroll
of Carrollton, who lived to be the last survivor of the immortal band
who signed the Declaration of Independence at Philadelphia in 1776.
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