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THE

COMMONWEALTH OF GEORGIA.

PART II.-THE PEOPLE.

CHAPTER I.

ORIGIN AND CHARACTERISTICS OF THE PEOPLE.

THE DOMINANT RACE.

In order to have a perfect understanding of the character of a people, it is very important to know their origin-the race from which they sprang.

As the dominant race-both in numbers, intelligence, moral qualities and general importance-the white people are entitled to first and chief consideration. The history of Georgia—of her achieve. ments in the arts of peace and war, her intellectual and moral development, her political influence and status-is the history of her white people. What may be said in the first part of this chapter will relate to the WHITE PEOPLE of Georgia, the origin and characteristics of the negro race being reserved for separate discussion.

Several centuries ago the revolutions of European governments, the religious reformations and persecutions, and wholesale prescriptions and expatriations of large communities of people, resulted in the crystallization of kindred elements of blood, religious beliefs, and political creeds, through the medium of common sympathy and a common cause, into certain definite types of civilization. Among these consolidations of different off-shoots of the same original, none has resulted in a more homogeneous compound than that of the Anglo-Saxon. Without going into the history of this race, it being unnecessary to our purpose, it is sufficient to point, with the just

pride of an individual member, to the achievements in art, science, philosophy, literature, morals, territorial development, and last, though not least, in fulfilling the scriptural injunction, "to in crease, multiply and replenish the earth," that have characterized the history of the English race since the days of the Norman Conquest.

To this great race Georgia owes her origin as a commonwealth and as a people. With a moderate admixture of Scotch and Irish immigrants, the colony of Georgia began its career in the year 1732◄ Fresh installments of colonists, in limited numbers, followed the first brave settlers under General Oglethorpe, the social character and standing increasing, perhaps, with successive arrivals.

In the meantime, as the natural advantages of the infant colony became manifest, immigrants from the older colonies, eastwardVirginia and North and South Carolina-began to arrive within the borders of Georgia, whose territory then stretched westward to the banks of the Mississippi river. Immediately following the American Revolution, which resulted in the separation of the original colonies from Old England, the movement of population became more and more decided, until it finally became a tidal wave of restless immigrants seeking for homes in the then West. In obedience to natural laws, this movement followed, more or less closely, the parallels of latitude. Georgia was then the extreme south western State of the Federal Union. There being no mountain chains, or other natural impediments to the easy progress of the pioneer, between Georgia and the States east and northeast, a larger percentage of inter-state immigration, than would have otherwise occurred, was diverted from the lines of latitude, and the State became the new home of thousands of the hardy sons of Maryland, Virginia and the Carolinas. The original colonial population of these States differed little from that of Georgia, being, perhaps, of a little higher social origin. The infusion was a decided benefit. The aristocratic blood of Maryland and Virginia, and the impulsive, independent, liberty-loving stream from the Carolinas, mingled harmoniously with the more recent current from the Old Country, and readily combined to form the life-blood of the typical Georgian. We say typical; yet the population of the mountain section of the State appears radically different from that of the coast region. This difference, however, is due more to the results of culture and leisure

that comparative wealth renders possible than to any inherent or original differences. The population of Northeast Georgia is largely made up of immigrants and their descendants from the mountain regions of the States lying eastward. These, in their turn, had an unusual sprinkling of Scotch blood, due to another natural law that impels emigrants from an older country to seek the counterpart of their own familiar mountains, dales or plains, as the case may be, in the Eldorado of their future. The rough, hardy Scotch, inured to hardship, accustomed to their cold mountain springs and clear streams of water, upon landing on the coast regions of the Old Dominion and the Old North State, would naturally seek the Piedmont region. From thence, along the valleys, they have crossed over into Georgia, still finding a congenial home and a thousand reminders of bonny Scotland. Thus the people of Northeast Georgia are largely of Scotch descent, as is otherwise indicated by the prevalence of the prefix, "Mac."

Northwest Georgia has received considerable accessions of population, by way of reflex, from East Tennessee, whose rich valleys extend into the northwestern counties of Georgia. Many of these were also of Scotch descent. The seacoast counties, on the other hand, received their principal accessions of population from a class who were blessed with more wealth and corresponding culture-a class that were more strongly wedded to the traditions of England and France. The wealthy rice and Sea Island cotton-planters of the coast regions of the two Carolinas very naturally tended to the corresponding region of Georgia. The culture of rice and Sea Island cotton, in the damp, malarial, tidewater country, was uncongenial to the white laborer. Indeed, the culture of these crops seemed to demand large organized gangs of negroes, under the control of one intelligent head; and the machinery necessary required large capital for its construction and operation. So this portion of the State was quickly converted into large estates, cultivated almost entirely with slave labor, the proprietors generally fixing their residences, or at least spending a large portion of their lives, in the cities of Savannah and Augusta. The habit of command, in connection with abundant wealth and the leizure to enjoy it, very naturally tended to develop luxury, refinement and exclusiveness, which are usually attributed to the educated classes of Southeast Georgia, particularly of the city of Savannah. Middle Georgia-the most

densely populated section of the State-the western portion of Southeast Georgia, and the eastern portion of East Georgia comprise a population whose characteristics are a mean between extremes. The average Middle Georgian is the average Georgian, and gives character to the people at large.

Finally, as regards origin, the present white population of Georgia is pre-eminently of British extraction, being descended from the original English colonists and immigrants from the States eastward, themselves of equally pure English stock. The infusion of blood, foreign to English veins, has never been sufficient to make any decided impression on the original stock, except in very confined localities. If all the sources could be blended equally and uniformly throughout the whole population, the result would be, practically, pure English, so slight would be the effect of other blood.

THE CHARACTERISTICS of the people of Georgia are not essentially different from those of the people of Virginia, from whence the most controlling influence in our civilization was derived. Middle Georgia, especially, is Virginian in modes of life, speech and manners. In common with her sister States of the old South, the ruling class have been the wealthy slave-owners and others in full sympathy with them. Wealth furnishes facilities for mental and social culture, and leisure for the study of politics. The habit of command and the power to enforce obedience naturally tend to develop a disposition to leadership and control in the affairs of state. These causes conjoined made the South prolific of statesmen and leaders of public opinion, and pre-eminent, through a long series of years, for the influence exerted in national affairs. The results of the War between the States, though especially disastrous in a financial sense to the leading class, were not sufficient to crush entirely the disposition to leadership, which had become so strongly fixed, nor could they effect natural qualifications for statesmanship.

As the years roll by, and material prosperity begins once more to crown with success the efforts of a struggling people, the South gradually resumes her ancient position of power and influence. Of these qualities that have been mentioned, the people of Georgia have enjoyed and manifested more than an average degree. First to recover from the devastations and apparent ruins of war, and the dismay which paralyzed for a time the energies of the whole

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