When was atlanta named the capital of georgia

Civil rights leaders moved forward; they were the visionaries who saw a new South, a new Atlanta. They believed in peace. They made monumental sacrifices for that peace. And because of them, Atlanta became a fast-paced modern city which opened its doors to the Olympics.

Die-hard southerners view Atlanta as the heart of the Old Confederacy. Atlanta has become the best example of the New South, a fast-paced modern city proud of its heritage. A good measure of this growth is the ever-changing downtown skyline, along with skyscrapers constructed in the Midtown, Buckhead, and outer perimeter fringing I business districts.

Georgia has had five different state capitals. Almost every state has moved its state capital at least once. Only Massachusetts, Nevada, North Dakota, Vermont, Washington, and Wyoming have had a single capital city since their creations as colonies, territories, or states.

In February James Oglethorpe and the first Georgia colonists landed at Yamacraw Bluff, where they laid out the new settlement of Savannah.

Three months later, Oglethorpe and the Yamacraw chief Tomochichi signed a treaty, which ceded Creek lands from the Savannah to the Altamaha rivers, inland from the coast as far as the tide flowed, to the Trustees.

By virtue of their charter, the Trustees were given control of the new colony for twenty-one years, after which Georgia would become the responsibility of the British crown. Instead of designating a governor to administer the colony, the Trustees instead retained much of the control themselves. Concern over the Spanish forces at St. Augustine in Florida led Oglethorpe to return to England and plead for a British military presence south of Savannah. In Oglethorpe returned to Georgia with the regiment and additional colonists, with whom he established a new settlement on St.

Simons Island. However, in the Trustees had designated William Stephens , who lived in Savannah, as secretary of the colony of Georgia, meaning that for the following six years, Savannah could also make a claim to the seat of government for the colony. He was impressed with a bluff located about fourteen miles from the mouth of the Ogeechee River.

Reynolds named the site Hardwick and began a campaign to designate it the capital of the colony. Such action would require approval by the Board of Trade back in England. There are many objections to this town of Savannah being so, besides its being situated at the extremity of the province, the shoalness of the river, and the great height of the land, which is very inconvenient in the loading and unloading of ships.

Plans for a large fort were also drafted, and a few people actually settled there. Two decades later, as the Revolutionary War approached, Savannah became the center of the movement for independence from Great Britain; during both the newly convened provincial Congress and the royal Commons House of Assembly met in Savannah. By the end of , however, the royal government no longer controlled the colony. As the largest city of the new state, and by virtue of the tradition of the past three decades, Savannah remained the seat of government.

Just after Christmas in , Savannah fell to British forces. After the capture of Savannah, British and Tory sympathizers attempted to reinstitute royal government in the city. In January an attempt was made to convene the revolutionary legislature in Augusta, but representatives from only three counties were present, and thus no quorum could be assembled.

A temporary governing executive council was named, but it had to flee later that month as the British arrived in Augusta. The council later returned when the British abandoned the city in February. Other attempts to organize a government in Augusta were made that year, but the revolutionary forces were split into two factions.

This fortification , named after Stephen Heard , president of the executive council, was located eight miles from the present-day city of Washington. Likely, it kept on the move in Wilkes County and may even have moved into South Carolina. By April , a new offensive was under way by Continental forces against the British, and Augusta was soon recaptured. An effort was again made to reassemble a state government for Georgia in Augusta, and in August a newly elected legislature was convened.

This body elected a new governor and other state officials and proceeded to enact a variety of laws. Augusta served as the capital from August 17, , until May 4, By this time, the tide of war had changed in favor of the American forces, and by July , the British had evacuated Savannah. As Georgia state officials prepared to return to Savannah, one other city served temporarily as the unofficial seat of government until the British evacuated. On July 4, the legislature also convened here but adjourned to meet in Savannah.

Following the recapture of Savannah from the British, the state legislative assembly convened in the coastal city on July 13, However, a rift between coastal and upland Georgia, which had been growing before the Revolutionary War, surfaced. The increasing importance of Augusta led the executive council to spend part of the year in that city, and the capital subsequently rotated between Savannah and Augusta until In January the General Assembly met in Savannah, but in February the council resolved to move the capital to Augusta so that it would be nearer the growing backcountry.

On May 15 lawmakers attempted to convene in Augusta, but no quorum was present until July 8. Once the session began, however, it remained under way for about a month. On January 6, , the General Assembly returned to Savannah, adjourning that session in February with a motion to meet in Augusta the following July. On July 5, , lawmakers attempted to convene in Augusta, but for a week no quorum could be assembled, and the members present asked the governor to call the assembly, and name a time and place, when a meeting of the legislature should become necessary.

Such a meeting was called for on October 6, , in Savannah. Again a quorum could not be assembled, and the session adjourned on October Where precisely the assembly met in Savannah is uncertain, as there was no statehouse building.

The legislature likely followed the earlier example of various revolutionary assemblies, which met in taverns including that of Peter Tondee , private homes, and perhaps other meeting halls. As large inland areas neighboring the coastal area of the state had been obtained from Native American groups and opened to white settlers, the center of population began shifting from Savannah and the coast.

Additionally, the legislature approved land grants, bridges and ferries, pardons, excusals from paying taxes, authorizations to practice law , and a number of other things, which made living near the meeting site of the legislature important. Thus, by there was growing concern among the new settlers that the capital would revert to Savannah. Augusta thus became the official capital, and the first session of the legislature convened there on January 3, For the session, lawmakers rented the Augusta house of Abraham Jones, which was located on the southwestern corner of Broad Street and Lincoln Street later Third Street.

Needing a larger facility, the General Assembly negotiated with the trustees of Richmond Academy for the rental of its building on the eastern corner of Lincoln Street and Elbert Street later Fourth Street. George Galphin had established a trading post at the site two decades earlier. The commission was authorized to purchase 1, acres for the new capital, which would be patterned after Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the first capital of the United States.

The legislature also directed that the new capital site be called Louisville in honor of Louis XVI of France, in appreciation for French assistance during the Revolutionary War. The actual site selected for the capital was at the intersection of three roads—one leading to Savannah, one to Augusta, and one to now-forgotten Georgetown—where a market, built in , still stands today. Despite the designation of the new capital city, Augusta continued to serve as the state capital for ten more years, until The building of the capital at Louisville was delayed by a lack of funds, the death of the contractor, and the rush to obtain and disburse Creek and Cherokee lands.

Finally in , a special constitutional convention was held, in part to correct for land speculation during the infamous Yazoo Land Fraud. In , Milledgeville, named after Georgia governor John Milledge, became the new capital of Georgia. It remained the capital until , including during the American Civil War. After the Indian Removal Act, the Muscogee among others were forcibly removed from their land by the federal government.

This paved the way for white settlers to take over land in the northeastern part of Georgia. Atlanta would be established in as a rail link between the Chattahoochee River and the Tennessee River. The industrial growth of Atlanta would lead to almost immediate calls that it should be the capital.

Following the American Civil War, much of Atlanta, and the entire state, had to be gradually rebuilt. Jobs in Atlanta attracted an even greater wave of new residents. With a superior rail and transportation network, the Reconstruction government voted to move the capital of Georgia from Milledgeville to Atlanta in Last Updated On: December 7, Sometimes, it may seem like there is no rhyme or reason for how a state capital is chosen.

What we might think sounds logical — the city with the […]. Last Updated On: June 25, We understand that talk about Palestine, Israel, and their capital cities can be a sensitive topic.

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