It was at this time that the national republican party, in quest of a name, went back to Revolutionary days and chose one whose meaning was full of defiance to kingly oppression—that of whig. To this organization belonged such men as Henry Clay, Daniel Webster, Gen. Zachary Taylor, Gen. William Henry Harrison, John Tyler and others. It arose out of a coalition of the various elements antagonistic to Andrew Jackson. The old state rights party of Georgia fell into line and from this time on displayed a whig banner. Some of the leading men of the state adopted its tenets, among them, Alexander H. Stephens, Robert Toombs, John MacPherson Berrien, William C. Dawson, and others. The adherents of Jackson styled themselves Jackson democrats, but traced political descent back to Thomas Jefferson.

In the campaign of 1840 the whigs nominated William Henry Harrison, of Ohio, for President, and John Tyler, of Virginia, for Vice President. The Jacksonian democrats nominated Martin Van Buren for re-election.

This was one of the most dramatic campaigns in the history of American politics. General Harrison was a successful Indian fighter, with the prestige of a brilliant military career. "Tippecanoe and Tyler, too!" became a popular slogan. It was even set to music and inspired a host of campaign songs. General Harrison's home on the frontier was a log cabin, where, in hours of relaxation, his favorite pastime was making hard cider. Log cabin buttons and badges were used in this campaign with tremendous effect. Hence, too, the descriptive phrase, "hard cider," sometimes applied. But the log cabin device was a master stroke. It carried a powerful appeal to the average voter's heart and home.

During the summer of 1840 a great Harrison convention was held at Macon. It brought together an immense crowd, perhaps the largest up to this time ever assembled in Georgia. Says a writer: "There were not then many miles of railroad leading into Macon and people came long distances on horseback and in carriages and wagons. Some made log cabins, mounted them on wheels and drove fifty to eighty miles, living in them while on the way.' Harrison and Tyler swept the state by 8,000 majority and were given Georgia's eleven electoral votes, to cast which the following electors were chosen: From the state at large, George R. Gilmer and Andrew J. Miller; district electors, D. L. Clinch, William Ezzard, J. W. Campbell, C. B. Strong, Joel Crawford, E. Wimberly, Charles Dougherty, J. Whitehead, and Seaton Grantland.†

But General Harrison died within a month after taking the oath of office and was succeeded by Vice President John Tyler, of Virginia.

Governor McDonald was a Jacksonian democrat. This whig victory, therefore, was not an omen from which he derived much comfort as a candidate for re-election to the governorship, especially since his competitor was William C. Dawson, one of the leaders of the whig party in Georgia, then a member of Congress. But in the fall of 1841 Governor McDonald's vigorous administration was given a superb endorsement. He was re-elected to office by a handsome majority, in the face of what seemed to be a pronounced whig sentiment in the state.

"History of Georgia," L. B. Evans, p. 244.

+ Lanman's "Biographical Annals of the U. S. Govt.,'' pp. 526-528. ·

But there were breakers ahead. In his message to the Legislature of 1841, Governor McDonald sounded an unequivocal note. But we will let a former Supreme Court judge tell the story of this episode. Says Judge Spencer R. Atkinson, a grandson of Governor McDonald, and himself a man of distinguished attainments in Georgia's public life: *

"Governor McDonald came into office under trying circumstances. The State treasury was empty. The evil effects of the great panic of 1837 were still pressing upon the people, like a nightmare. The great work of building the Western and Atlantic Railroad was languishing. The public debt had been increased to one million dollars-an enormous sum in those days. Worst of all, the State credit was at a low ebb, because of the protest of an obligation of three hundred thousand dollars, which had been contracted by the Central Bank under authority of the General Assembly of Georgia. Commerce and business generally were paralyzed. In 1837 the Legislature had passed an act allowing the counties of the State to retain the general tax, the same to be applied by the inferior courts to county purposes. expected, the counties frittered away the money. The bank was nearly destroyed by putting upon it a burden which did not belong to it, and the State was left without resource or credit.

As might have been

"Governor McDonald had inherited from his Scotch ancestors a hard head and a sound judgment. Never did he need his inherent qualities more than he did in the situation which then confronted him. He first recommended that the State resume the entire amount of the State tax which had been given to the counties, with but little benefit to them and greatly to the injury of the State. This recommendation prevailed, and a law was enacted ordering the State tax to be turned into the treasury. Almost immediately following this necessary action, the Legislature, in 1841, passed an Act reducing the taxes of the State: twenty per cent. This Act Governor McDonald promptly vetoed, with an argument brief and pointed, and a statement which made his veto, message unanswerable. He had been re-elected in 1841 and, on November 8, 1842, in his annual message urging upon the Legislature the only effective remedy for relieving the State from its difficulties, he used these words: 'The difficulty should be met at once. Had there been no Central Bank the expense of the government must have been met by taxation. These expenses have been paid by the Central Bank and have become a legitimate charge upon taxation: This must be the resort,. or the government is inevitably dishonored. The public faith must be maintained, and to pause to discuss the question of preferences between: taxation and dishonor would be to cast a reflection upon the character of the people, whose servants we are.'

"The issue was joined. The Legislature had rejected a measure call-ing for additional taxation to meet these just claims. The session was: near its close. It was evident that unless some drastic action was taken the Legislature would adjourn, leaving an obligation of one hundred thousand dollars unmet. Governor McDonald acted with firmness and' promptness. He shut the doors of the treasury in the face of the members of the General Assembly of Georgia. Great excitement followed..

"Men of Mark in Georgia," Northen. Sketch of Governor McDonald..

The members of the Legislature denounced him as a tyrant worse than Andrew Jackson, who had gone beyond the limits of reason. Even his political friends, alarmed at the storm which had been raised, urged him to recede from his position and to rescind his order to the Treasurer. He absolutely refused. As a result, the necessary bill was finally passed, and at the next session he was able to report an improved condition of the finances and a revival of confidence in the Central Bank. It was without doubt a most fortunate thing for Georgia at this critical period in the history of the State that a man of Governor McDonald's firmness, prudence, and business sagacity was at the head of affairs."

In 1840 a new judicial circuit was created, called the Southwestern, of which William Taylor was the first judge elected.

Episcopacy was at a low ebb in Georgia at the close of the Revolution, due to the surviving animosities of a protracted war with England. Nor was it until sixty years had elapsed that the Episcopal Church in Georgia, though identified with the colony's infant struggles, became sufficiently strong to form a separate and independent jurisdiction. But in 1841 the Episcopal diocese of Georgia was organized with Dr. Stephen Elliott, a native of South Carolina, as its first bishop. This beloved prelate came of a family renowned for its contributions to scientific thought. Possessing rare gifts as an organizer, he grounded the activities of the church upon a firm basis and by his magnetic personality, eloquence and holiness of life made converts of thousands. He retained his oversight of the diocese for twenty-five years.

One of the tall landmarks of Georgia Methodism at this time was Bishop James O. Andrew, whose ownership of slave property was a bone of contention in the famous General Conference of 1844 at Baltimore. Here occurred the unfortunate schism which split the great Methodist Church in twain, sixteen years in advance of the Civil war. Dr. George G. Smith, in his excellent life of Bishop Andrew, narrates the story as follows:

"Before Bishop Andrew went to the West, he had made an engagement to marry Mrs. Leonora Greenwood, of Greensboro, Ga. The condition of his family, and his long absences from home, made this a necessary act; so, without undue haste, and, with great discretion, he had selected a second companion. She was very attractive in person, beautiful in manners, gentle in spirit, and deeply though undemonstratively pious. After the marriage, he conveyed to his wife, in due form of law, all the rights in her property which the fact of marriage had given him as her husband. When Mrs. Andrew died, in 1854, the law reinvested him with rights in this same property, but he promptly dispossessed himself the second time, and turned it all over to her children. Bishop Andrew did not expect trouble from this marriage, and there were good reasons why he did not; for he himself had been a slaveholder for several years prior to this, in the very same way that he was now-through his wife.

"Dr. Olin, who was highly esteemed at the North and even in New England, had owned slaves and, having sold them, had the proceeds of the sales still in his possession. The General Conference appointed slave

holders, such men as Dr. Capers, to positions of distinction and trust; and only eight years before had strongly condemned the societies of Abolitionism; and many of the extreme men of New England had actually left the Church and formed another connection. Neither the spirit nor the letter of the law of the Church had been broken. On what ground, then, could he suppose that this marriage with an elegant and pious lady, who happened to own a few slaves, would call forth a tempest of such violence as to destroy the unity of the Church?

"The fact is, he did not dream of such a result. Nor was he aware of any excitement on the subject until he reached Baltimore in April, when on his way to the General Conference in New York in May. Here he learned of the intense excitement caused by the news that one of the Bishops of the Methodist Episcopal Church owned slaves, and received the first intimation that it would be a matter for investigation. He possessed a woman's delicacy of feeling, and to have his private affairs discussed by the General Conference was abhorrent to his very soul. He resolved to resign, and so expressed himself, both in Baltimore and in New York. This resolution, however, he did not execute, for the reason that the Southern delegates demurred in formal resolutions and urged him not to do so, on the ground that it would inflict an incurable wound on the whole South, and inevitably lead to division.

"Resignation now became almost an impossibility; and when it was intimated that he had broken faith and must either resign or be deposed, then resignation was entirely out of the question. The issue had to come. The mass of the Northern preachers were opposed to slavery, but they were not abolitionists. They found themselves hard put to defend themselves; and when it was known that a Bishop was a slaveholder they felt that they were in a sad predicament. Accordingly, Alfred Griffith and John Davis, two members of the Baltimore Conference, were put forward to lead the attack. They introduced a resolution declaring, among other things, that Bishop Andrew was nominated by the slave-holding States in the Conference because he was not a slaveholder; and that, having become one,* "Therefore be it Resolved, That James O. Andrew be affectionately requested to resign.'

"This precipitated the issue. The discussion was Christian in spirit and courteous in language, to which, however, there were some exceptions. To ask him to resign was so painful to many who did not wish a slaveholder in office that Mr. Finley, of Ohio, introduced his famous substitute, declaring that it was the sense of the General Conference that he desist from the exercise of the office of Bishop so long as the impediment remained. Mr. Finley was Bishop Andrew's personal friend and offered the substitute, believing it to be less offensive to the Southern delegates than the original resolution. But it was really more offensive, because, since it could not consistently remove the impediment, it amounted to permanent deposition. No man in the Conference was more strongly attached to Bishop Andrew, perhaps, than Dr. Olin. The night before he was to speak he visited the Bishop and told him the course

* Several years previous an old lady of Augusta bequeathed to Bishop Andrew a mulatto girl in trust until she was nineteen, when, with her consent, she was to be deported to Liberia. But the girl refused to go or to accept freedom.

he intended to take, and why he would take it. He would advocate the substitute; for if it were not passed New England would withdraw, and there would be division and disintegration everywhere in the North. But, if it were passed, the South would depart, and there would be union and peace throughout her borders.

"The debate continued for several days. Among the Southern delegates who participated in the discussion were Dr. Winans, of Mississippi, Dr. Pierce and Judge Longstreet, of Georgia, and Dr. William Capers, of South Carolina. Others took part, but these were the giants. On the opposite side were also arrayed men of strong intellect, including Dr. Olin. Strong efforts were made to stay the tide, but all in vain. On the first of June the vote was taken on the substitute of Mr. Finley, and 111 were for, while only 69 were against it. This was virtual deposition. Grieved, but not surprised, Bishop Andrew left for his home in Georgia. One man from the North, who was a tower of strength, stood by him shoulder to shoulder in all this conflict. It was Joshua Soule, the senior Bishop of the Church. Born and reared in Maine, living in Ohio, never a slave-holder, nor a pro-slavery man, with every interest to bind him to the section in which he lived, he yet came to the South, because he believed the South was right.

"Before the General Conference adjourned the question of division was virtually settled; and with great unanimity the Annual Conference at the South appointed delegates to meet in convention at Louisville the following May. The South did not really desire division, but after the course of the General Conference it was evident that separate organization was the only way of preserving Methodism in this sectionthe only way of holding the Master to the Church and of carrying the Gospel to the slave. It was division or death. At the appointed time the convention met. Bishops Andrew, Soule, and Morris were all there; action was unanimous; and a call was issued to elect delegates to a General Conference to meet in Petersburg, Va., the following May. No doctrine was changed, no policy altered, no usages, rites, or customs modified; and after this convention the Bishops of the Methodist Episcopal Church resolved to withdraw from the South and leave the whole territory to the new organization. Thus the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, came into existence; and the General Conference at Petersburg did but little more than adjust itself to the changed condition of affairs, elect an agent for its publishing interests, editors for its papers, and two additional Bishops, Robert Paine and William Capers."*

Thus the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, arose in 1844, placing first on its long honor roll of dignitaries the name of its martyr-bishop, James Osgood Andrew.

Georgia was well represented in the Twenty-fifth Congress (18371839). Her delegation at this time was composed of the following strong men: Jesse F. Cleveland, Wm. C. Dawson, Thomas Glascock, Seaton Grantland, Charles E. Haynes, Hopkins Holsey, Jabez Jackson, George

* Condensed from Dr. George G. Smith's "Life of James Osgood Andrew."