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Eli Whitney and the Cotton Gin
Eli Whitney, a Massachusetts native, only spent a few months living in Georgia, but during that time, in 1793, he invented the cotton gin. Whitney's machine expedited the extraction of seeds from upland cotton, making the crop profitable and contributing to its expansion across the South. -
Battle of Antietam
Though Georgians opposed British trade regulations, many hesitated to join the revolutionary movement that emerged in the American colonies in the early 1770s and resulted in the Revolutionary War (1775-83). The colony had prospered under royal rule, and many Georgians thought that they needed the protection of British troops against a possible Indian attack. -
Capital moved to Louisville
The gold-covered capitol dome in the Atlanta skyline signifies that the city is home to Georgia's state government. That would seem to make sense, as Atlanta is the largest and best-known city in the state, but interestingly, the size of a city has nothing to do with its designation as a state capital. -
Yazoo Land Fraud
The Yazoo land fraud was one of the most significant events in the post–Revolutionary War (1775-83) history of Georgia. The bizarre climax to a decade of frenzied speculation in the state's public lands, the Yazoo sale of 1795 did much to shape Georgia politics and to strain relations with the federal government for a generation. -
Freedman's Breau
Athens, home of the University of Georgia (UGA), is located along the north Oconee River in Clarke County, in the rolling Piedmont of northeast Georgia. Athens and Clarke County combined to form a unified government in 1990. -
Dahlonega Gold Rush
There are several popular stories of the beginning of Georgia's gold rush; but in fact, no one is really certain who made the first discovery or when. According to one anecdote, John Witheroods found a three-ounce nugget along Duke's Creek in Habersham County (present-day White County). -
Worcester v. Georgia
n the court case Worcester v. Georgia, the U.S. Supreme Court held in 1832 that the Cherokee Indians constituted a nation holding distinct sovereign powers. Although the decision became the foundation of the principle of tribal sovereignty in the twentieth century, it did not protect the Cherokees from being removed from their ancestral homeland in the Southeast. -
Georgia Platform
With the nation facing the potential threat of disunion over the passage of the Compromise of 1850, Georgia, in a special state convention, adopted a proclamation called the Georgia Platform. The act was instrumental in averting a national crisis. -
Compromise of 1850
On September 18, 1895, the African American educator and leader Booker T. Washington delivered his famous "Atlanta Compromise" speech at the Cotton States and International Exposition in Atlanta. Considered the definitive statement of what Washington termed the "accommodationist" strategy of black response to southern racial tensions, it is widely regarded as one of the most significant speeches in American history. -
Kansas-Nebraska Act
An 1856 political cartoon attacks the proslavery platform of the Democratic Party. In the lower right corner, two slaves kneel before an overseer. One asks, "Is this democracy?" The overseer responds, "We will subdue you." -
Election of 1860
Republican candidate Abraham Lincoln, with running mate Hannibal Hamlin, steams toward a wagon named "Democratic Platform" that is trapped on the tracks between two teams of candidates. Stephen Douglas and Hershel Johnson pull toward the left, while John Breckinridge and Joseph Lane pull toward the right. -
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Sherman's Atlanta Champaign
At the time of the Civil War (1861-65), Atlanta boasted a population of almost 10,000 (one-fifth of whom were slaves), a substantial manufacturing and mercantile base, and four major railroads connecting the city with all points of the South. Although it was neither Georgia's capital nor the largest city in the state, Atlanta was energetic and thriving, and its strategic importance to the Confederate war effort grew as the conflict continued. -
Emancipation Proclamation
Emancipation did not come suddenly or easily to Georgia. The liberation of the state's more than 400,000 slaves began during the chaos of the Civil War (1861-65) and continued well into 1865. -
Battle of Gettysburg
The Battle of Chickamauga, the biggest battle ever fought in Georgia, took place on September 18-20, 1863, during the Civil War (1861-65). With 34,000 casualties, it is generally accepted as the second bloodiest engagement of the war; only the Battle of Gettysburg in Pennsylvania, with 51,000 casualties, was deadlier. -
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Trial of Tears
A play, The Andersonville Trial, and two television films, The Andersonville Trial and Andersonville, have focused on Sumter County's Andersonville, the most notorious prison camp of the Civil War (1861-65). In 1959 dramatist Saul Levitt wrote the play The Andersonville Trial, which was produced that same year by William Darrid, Daniel Hollywood, and Eleanore Saidenberg. -
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Union Blockade of Georgia
The South, last significant military action in Georgia came from Alabama, with Union major general James Harrison Wilson's cavalry force capturing Columbus on April 16, wrecking its industrial center, and moving on to Macon. Wilson's Raid occurred one week after the surrender of the Confederacy at Appomattox. -
Battle of Chickamauga
The Battle of Chickamauga took place on September 18-20, 1863, during the Civil War. Around 34,000 soliders lost their lives in a battle that was declared a decisive Confederate victory. -
Henry McNeal Turner
One of the most influential African American leaders in late-nineteenth-century Georgia, Henry McNeal Turner was a pioneering church organizer and missionary for the African Methodist Episcopal Church (AME) in Georgia, later rising to the rank of bishop. Turner was also an active politician and Reconstruction-era state legislator from Macon. -
Ku Klux Klan Formed
Amos Tappan Akerman was a Georgia lawyer who rose to prominence as U.S. attorney general during Reconstruction. He was born in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, on February 23, 1821. After graduating Phi Beta Kappa from Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire, in 1842, he went south to teach, first in North Carolina, then in Richmond County, Georgia. -
Missouri Compromise
On September 18, 1895, the African American educator and leader Booker T. Washington delivered his famous "Atlanta Compromise" speech at the Cotton States and International Exposition in Atlanta. Considered the definitive statement of what Washington termed the "accommodationist" strategy of black response to southern racial tensions, it is widely regarded as one of the most significant speeches in American history. -
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Andersonville Prison Camp
In largely due to efforts by Clara Barton, founder of the American Red Cross, who worked to have all the graves identified and marked. Andersonville National Historic Site, which lies mostly in Macon County with a small portion in Sumter County, has long been a major tourist attraction. -
Dread Scott Case
As a proponent of civil and human rights, Coretta Scott King helped her husband, the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., lead the modern civil rights movement. During their life together, she was his wife, friend, and partner, raising their four children while supporting his efforts to promote nonviolent social change in race relations during the tumultuous 1950s and 1960s. -
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Sherman's March to the Sea
Established in Marietta and opened to students in July 1851, the Georgia Military Institute (GMI) was the principal source of education for new engineers and teachers in the state during the decade prior to the Civil War (1861-65). Originally funded by private subscription and donations, GMI began its official relationship with the state in 1852, when the legislature chartered the school and presented it with muskets, swords, and a battery of four cannons. -
Thirteenth Amendment
Seminole County is located in the extreme southwestern corner of Georgia. It is bounded by Alabama to the west, Florida to the south, Decatur County to the east, and Early and Miller counties to the north. -
Fifteenth Amendment
Constitutional conventions are a distinctly American political innovation, first appearing during the era of the Revolutionary War (1775-83). Georgia was among the first states to use a meeting of delegates to create a constitution. -
Fourteenth Amendment
State constitutions are best understood with reference to their historical roots. A review of the history of Georgia's ten constitutions provides a synopsis of the political, economic, and social history of the state. -
University of Georgia founded
Kennesaw State University (KSU), a unit of the University System of Georgia (USG), is the third largest university in the state, with a fall 2015 enrollment of roughly 32,000. In January 2015 Kennesaw merged with Southern Polytechnic State University (SPSU), bringing together the schools’ campuses and students under KSU’s name.