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men of Madison County, Georgia held a Convention on Dec. 17, 1860 to
elect delegates to the state Convention to be held in Milledgeville on
Jan. 16, 1861. A committee was formed, and after hearing speeches
from future Confederate General T.R.R. Cobb (mortally wounded at
Fredericksburg) and Mr. T.M. Daniel, the committee returned with the
following set of resolutions, which were approved by the Convention as
a whole. This text is taken from a scan of the December 27, 1860
edition of the Southern Banner, a newspaper published in Athens,
Georgia. The scan was provided to me by Mr. Jeff Carithers, for
whose help I am very grateful (especially in deciphering a sketchy
portion of the scan). | |
We the people of Madison county, in convention assembled, not being willing to submit to the rule of abolitionism, free negroes, nor unconstitutional action, do therefore, Resolve 1st, That in the opinion of this Convention, a political crisis is now upon us that threatens the overthrow of the institution of slavery in Georgia, and fourteen other sister states of the South, and that we, as free men and patriots, ought and will co-operate with the people of Georgia in resisting its overthrow at all hazards and to the last extremity. Resolve 2nd, That we are willing to co-operate in any proposition agreed upon by the Convention to assemble in Milledgeville on the 16th day of January next, Provided, if that proposition is not accepted by the free States complained of, that Georgia stand out of the Union, absolving herself from the country on or about the 20th of January, 1861. Resolve 3d, That we view with gratitude, and contemplate with pleasure, the position taken by that noble band of patriots in the free States, in favor of the equality and constitutional rights of the South.
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