Ed Jackson and Charles Pou

Carl Vinson Institute of Government

The University of Georgia

October 30

1629 England's King Charles I granted a charter to his attorney general, Sir Robert Heath, for land south of Virginia to create a new colony in America. The boundaries of the new colony would lie between the 31st and 36th parallel of latitude--an area that includes much of present-day Georgia. Named Carolana (from the Latin version of Charles--"Carolus"), the new colony never materialized and Heath sold his interest in the colony. Interestingly, legal rights resulting from this sale would later give Lord Carteret claim to one-eighth of the land granted to the Georgia Trustees in 1732.

1798 Noted judge and writer Garnett Andrews was born in Wilkes County, Georgia. Andrews early became interested in law and studied it at Washington (Ga.) Academy. He began his fifty-year law career in the early 1820s. From 1836 until 1855, Andrews was judge of the northern circuit of Georgia (which included his home county of Wilkes and surrounding counties). He entered the political fray in 1855 when he ran for governor, but was defeated by Herschel Johnson. Andrews did serve as a state representative briefly in 1860, when he argued vehemently against secession. He returned to the same northern circuit judgeship in 1868 and continued to serve in this position until his death in Washington, Georgia on August 14, 1873. Besides being a very well respected jurist, Andrews also authored Reminiscences of an Old Georgia Lawyer and a number of articles for Southern Cultivator magazine. During the Civil War he hosted many people left homeless by the war, which helped inspire his daughter, Eliza Frances Andrews, to pen her famous work The War-Time Journal of a Georgia Girl.

1860 Presidential candidate Stephen Douglas brought his campaign to Atlanta. Douglas's vice-presidential nominee was former Georgia governor Herschel Johnson.

1871 Republican governor Rufus Bullock's resignation from office became effective, resulting in Benjamin F. Conley -- then president of the Senate and also a Republican -- becoming acting governor. (At the time, Georgia did not have a lieutenant governor, and Georgia's constitution provided that the president of the Senate fill any vacancy in the office of governor.) In the Dec. 1870 elections, Democrats had won large majorities in both houses of the General Assembly, and it was clear that Conley would not be reelected as president of the Senate once the new legislature formally convened on Nov. 1, 1871. However, because Bullock's resignation took effect on Oct. 30, Conley technically was still president of the Senate -- even though he had not been reelected to a new term. Conley took the oath of office on Oct. 30, 1871. Two days later, the new General Assembly convened and elected a new Democratic president of the Senate, but Conley refused to give up the office. The General Assembly then passed a law over Conley's veto to hold a special election for governor on the third Tuesday in December. In that election, Democratic House speaker James M. Smith defeated Conley and assumed office Jan. 12, 1872.

1897 In a football game played between the University of Georgia and the University of Virginia in Atlanta, Georgia standout Richard Vonalbade ("Von") Gammon was fatally injured in a play. His death stunned the state, and Georgia, Georgia Tech, and Mercer disbanded their football teams. Headlines in the Atlanta Journal proclaimed "Death Knell of Football." Nationwide, newspapers and clergy had joined to call for the abolishment of football. At the time, the Georgia General Assembly was in session and quickly passed a bill to outlaw football at state institutions. The bill only awaited Gov. Atkinson's approval. At this point, a letter that Von Gammon's mother had written her state representative was made public. in the letter Rosalind Gammon wrote:

It would be the greatest favor to the family of Von Gammon if your influence could prevent his death being used for an argument detrimental to the athletic cause and its advancement at the university. His love for his college and his interest in all manly sports, without which he deemed the highest type of manhood impossible, is well known by his classmates and friends, and it would be inexpressibly sad to have the cause he held so dear injured by his sacrifice. Grant me the right to request that my boy's death should not be used to defeat the most cherished object of his life."

When Gov. Atkinson saw the letter, he decided that he would not approve the legislation--and the movement to ban football died.

1967 The Alabama Supreme Court upheld contempt-of-court convictions of Martin Luther King Jr. and seven other black leaders who led 1963 marches in Birmingham. The eight then began serving four-day jail sentences.

1976 Campaigning in New Orleans, Jimmy Carter continued to hammer away at President Gerald Ford's economic plan, focusing on Ford's proposed $10 billion tax cut, calling it a "boondoggle" designed to benefit the wealthy at other's expense. Carter said "let's look at the reality of his $10 billion tax cut. The truth is that there is no tax cut for average American families under Mr. Ford's plan. If one reads the fine print, you'll see that this is merely a tax shift."

1983 Lillian Carter, mother of former president Jimmy Carter, died at age 85.

In Their Own Words on This Day. . .

1738 Trustees secretary William Stephens noted the traits which would make George Whitefield one of the leading evangelists of his era:

". . . For Mr. Whitfield being a man of peculiar Eloquence in the Pulpit, had captivated his Hearers very much; and withal after reading the second Lesson, was wont generally to expound on the whole Chapter extempore, with great Volubility; to make Room for which, he laid aside the use of the first Lesson, and the Psalms, which undoubtedly carry in them the highest Spirit of Devotion. . . ."

Source: William Stephens, A Journal of the Proceeding in Georgia ([no city cited]: Readex Microprint Corporation, 1966), Vol. I, p. 315.

1847 Atlanta schoolmaster William White, who was active in the movement to make Atlanta an official city, wrote in his journal:

"Was present this evening at the meeting of the citizens of Atlanta to petition for a City Government. . . . A committee of Colonel [John] Collier, Dr. [Benjamin F.] Bomar, Dr. [George G.] Smith, Jonathan Norcross, and [Wm. H.] Thurmond were appointed to draft a bill of incorporation for the city. Atlanta now contains 2000 inhabitants, yet everyone does what is right in his own eyes. There is no government [the commissioners of the town of Atlanta apparently no longer met] and it is wonderful that they are as stead as they are at present; no minister, no church and little preaching; a Sabbath school is in successful operation and that is almost the only religious privilege that is enjoyed.

"I may consider myself one of the fathers of the City; -- being present at its birth. A meeting could not be conducted with a more complete disregard to order than the one last night. Half a dozen motions were at once before the house."

Source: Franklin M. Garrett, Atlanta and Environs: A Chronicle of Its People and Events (Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1969 reprint of original 1954 volume), Vol. I, p. 259.

1860 In Gwinnett County, planter Thomas Maguire wrote of Democratic presidential candidate Stephen Douglas's visit to Atlanta:

"Up at 5:30, got breakfast and off for Atlanta. Got to Lithonia and put up our horses in Masonic lot and got Mr. George Graham to attend to them. Got to Atlanta midst a crowd, there was a great number of persons at the city. At twelve o'clock Douglas and Stephens [Alex. H.] arrived at the stand. Douglas with a reporter. Mr. Stephens introduced him with a brief history of Douglas' labors for the South and fully endorsing his doctrine of territory sovereignty. He spoke about 15 minutes, then Douglas commenced and spoke about 2 1/2 hours. He is a strong man and made many good points, but some of his speech I did not like, particularly his secession doctrine in revolution and many other things I did not like. There was good order kept, and all broke up. We then went to Mescalin's [John H. Mescalin] and took a snack of crackers and cheese, then out to see the family, and then to the wood and water station to get on the freight train which was crowded with passengers. We left at 5 1/4 o'clock and got safe to Lithonia at 7 1/2 and home at 9 1/2. All well, got supper and to bed."

Source: Franklin M. Garrett, Atlanta and Its Environs: A Chronicle of Its People and Events (Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1969 reprint of original 1954 volume), p. 474.

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© Carl Vinson Institute of Government, University of Georgia

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