It was known the
railroad was coming through Skint Chestnut…..these men and others on the north
side of the Chattahoochee River were not part of the power base for Campbell
County. They rarely show up in political discussions, meetings, etc.
prior to 1870, but once they got their county….BANG! Lots of money
was made for most of these men due to the power they would hold in the new county.
If you read the
original act for Douglas County you see it does more than just provide for a
new county. It provides for Campbell County to move their county seat from
Campbellton to Fairburn.
I believe that was part of the deal.
The
men on the north side of the river got their new base of power to run as they
wished being Douglas County with the plans for a new railroad to come through
that section at some point, AND the men of Campbell County got to move their
county seat from Campbellton which had no railroad to Fairburn where the
business opportunities looked much brighter for the future.
Media Claims
The third and final source
for the stories surrounding the naming of Douglas County is a news story a few months ago where
a relative of Frederic Douglass says the Radical Republican legislature named
the county for Frederick Douglass and once Reconstruction was over the extra
“S” disappeared, so let’s examine the events going on in Georgia from 1868 to
1870 which is the period of time that is sometimes labeled as the “Radical
Republican Legislature”.
First of all we
already know there was a law that created the county, and we know how the law
read. We also know the ONLY way to change a law is to AMEND it via the
legislative process.
The law that
created Douglas County has been amended at least twice. The only reasons for those amendments had to
do with boundary lines.
In 1871, the
amendment had to do with the Caroll County boundary. As these clippings shows from the "Atlanta Daily Sun".
The transcription from the “Atlanta
Daily Sun” dated December 2, 1871:
Friday’s Session,
December 1, 1871
Bills read for the third time:
to change the line between the counties of
Douglas and Carroll
Mr. Head presented a petition from a large
number of citizens and moved to disagree to the report of the committee which
was adverse to the passge of the bill, urging that the citizens who desire this
change, were cut off from Carroll County without their consent.
Mr. Goodman (Douglas County had no representative, Mr. Goodman represented Campbell County) favored the report of the
committee, and said that part of the persons affected by the bill, were
formerly in Campbell County. He also
presented a petition from over 200 citizens of Douglas County asking that the
bill may not pass
The motion to disagree with the report of
the committee prevailed and the bill was passed.
The 1874 Amendment
is seen in this "Atlanta Daily Herald" newspaper account of the legislative
history:
The transcription of the "Atlanta Daily
Herald", February 26, 1874 states:
Senate bills on
their third reading......
A bill to change
the lines between Carroll and Douglas Counties so as to include lands of AB
Davis, passed.
Now, let's examine the Radical Republican Legislature (1868-1870)....
In 1868, the state
of Georgia remained in military control headed by General George C. Meade. In
January, 1868 General Meade installed a military governor by the name of
General Thomas Ruger. He held office
until July, 1868. In March of that year
169 delegates met in Atlanta from all across the state to approve a new state
constitution that met the demands of the First Reconstruction Act including
provisions for black voting, free public school system, provided for debt
relief, gave wives control of property, increased the governor’s term to four
years, and moved the state’s seat of government to Atlanta.
I need to note here that of the 169 delegates
who framed this state constitution 37 of them were African American. This new constitution was ratified by the
General Assembly in April, 1868, and Rufus Bullock, a Republican became the
state’s governor.
The General
Assembly make-up was as follows: In the
House were 84 Republicans (29 black), but they fell three seats short of a
majority of the 172 seats. In the Senate
there were 27 Republican seats (3 blacks) to 17 Democrats.
Some of the black Republicans included Henry McNeal Turner – Union chaplain during the war and
minister of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, Tunis Campbell – New Jersey
native who settled in McIntosh County after the war and organized a group of black
landowners along the coast registering black voters. Both men served as delegates to the
Constitutional Convention in 1867 and then were elected to the Georgia
legislature in July, 1868.
Also in July, 1868
the General Assembly Democrats and White Republican allies began a campaign to
expel black legislators. This would
happen in September, 1868 resulting in prolonging military control in the
state. These black legislators would not
be allowed back until 1870 during a period known as Terry’s Purge.
Alfred H. Terry, the
third and final commanding general of the District of Georgia took control in
January, 1870. He removed 24 Democrats
from the legislature who had served in an official capacity during the
Confederacy or who had not taken the oath to the United States. Terry replaced these men with their
Republican runner-ups and then reinstated the expelled black legislators – this
in turn created a heavy Republican majority, but it would only last until
November, 1871 when a new election resulted in heavy wins for the Democrats.
It is important to
remember that while there were Republican majorities during some of this
period, a Republican majority was not an African American majority. White Republicans outnumbered black
Republicans, and often they disagreed.
Historian
Kenneth Coleman in his “A History of Georgia” states, “The role of blacks in
the Radical Republican legislature of Georgia was a very limited one, more so
than in most of the southern states. This was due mainly to the fact that after
two months in office they were removed from and denied their seats for almost a
year and a half, from September, 1868 to January, 1870.”
The idea that the Radical Republican legislature was full of African Americans and they passed any legislation they wished is a misnomer. It is a myth....especially when you look at the body of legislation passed during this time.
There was no reason
for any supposed delegation from Campbell County to let it be known the new
county would be named for Frederick Douglass because there weren’t enough black
members to create a block.
In fact,
black members once they retook their seats were more interested in getting the
14th amendment re-ratified and the 15th amendment
ratified so their people could be citizens and then be allowed to vote.
Legislation regarding new counties was just a blip on the map regarding the hundreds of things that were deliberated and
passed during the 1868 to 1870 term.
Finally, Frederick
Douglass was a rock star in the 1870s and rightly so. Every move of his was recorded
daily in the all newspapers across the country. Where he went, what he
ate, who he saw, and honors that were bestowed upon him were recorded in the
newspapers every day. Go to newspapers.com which is a national data base and do a
search…..thousands of hits…..or the Library of Congress national newspaperdatabase. I’ve used various keywords to attempt to isolate an article on
a county in Georgia being named for him. I've found nothing.
Had a county in
the deep south full of ex-slave owners and ex-Confederates been named for a
black man in 1870…..it would have gone viral, right? Ten years
of research, and I’ve found nothing.
While I can understand someone arguing the official records could have been cleaned up at a later date, I don't see how the newspaper records could have been hidden when it was published daily in real time.
My best expert
opinion: Douglas County was named for Stephen A. Douglas as proven above.
The men in
Campbell were happy to get their new county seat at Fairburn. The men in
Douglas were happy to have their new county, and all were happy to allow W.S.
Zellars, a non-Democrat, to give the new county a name for someone he
admired: Stephen A. Douglas.
To keep putting
the myth out there that there was a group of people who wanted Douglas County
to be named for Frederick Douglass, that it passed the legislature, and then
quietly went away without referencing any supporting documentation from
official state documents, authenticated letters, journals, newspaper stories,
etc. from the time period speaks volumes to me as a dedicated historian.
It would appear a
political agenda is more important than historical truth and in my personal opinion as a Douglas County citizen, a historian, and as an educator with a Master degree in curriculum that is a dangerous thing indeed when local, state, or national governments, as well as
some members of the media seek to change written and valid history on unproven myths and
folklore.
The wonderful legacy of
Frederick Douglass deserves better treatment than that.