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Statehouse Square Historical Marker
- Troup-Clarke Political Feud State
Historical Marker
- Located at Jefferson and East Greene Streets in Milledgeville,
Ga.
(Text)
TROUP-CLARK POLITICAL
FEUD
In the street near this site in
June 1807, occurred the horse-whipping of Superior Court Judge
Charles Tait by his political enemy John Clark, later Governor
of Georgia. Clark was fined $2,000 for the assault. The incident
illustrates Georgia politics in the 1800-1830 period when family
and personal loyalties formed the unifying theme. Pistol duels
and other violence were frequent and often fatal.
John Clark (Gov., 1819-1823) led
the frontier settlers who stood for greater political democracy,
while William H. Crawford and George M. Troup (Gov., 1823-1827)
led the opposing conservative and aristocratic faction consolidated
earlier by James Jackson (Gov., 1789-1801). For years the Troup
and Clark parties contended in state politics, differing not
so much in principles but in personalities. Under Clark's leadership
the governor became elective by popular vote in 1824. Thus Georgia
led other states in removing the chief executive from legislative
appointment and control.
005-27 GEORGIA HISTORIC
MARKER 1989
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