David Brydie Mitchell

David Brydie Mitchell (born October 22, 1766 in Muthill , County of Perth , Scotland , † April 22, 1837 in Milledgeville , Georgia ) was an American politician and governor of the state of Georgia.

Early years and political advancement

Born in Scotland, David Mitchell came to Savannah , Georgia in 1782 , where he inherited from his uncle David Brydie. At the time of his arrival, the War of Independence was still in full swing. He studied law in Savannah and was admitted to the bar in 1789. In the same year he applied for American citizenship.

His political career began in 1794 when the ardent supporter of Thomas Jefferson and his Democratic Republican Party was elected to the Georgia House of Representatives. There he spent two terms until 1798. He was then a judge in the Superior Court of Georgia (1798-1801) and then Mayor of Savannah (1801-1803) for three years . During this time he killed a political competitor in a duel . After a brief stint as a federal attorney, he served in the Georgia Senate from 1804-1806 . Mitchell was also an active member of the Georgia Militia, where he rose to major general in 1806.

Georgia Governor

On November 9, 1809, Mitchell was elected Governor of Georgia against incumbent Jared Irwin . He was the last Georgian governor born outside the United States. In his first term, he promoted economic recovery, expansion of transportation, and expansion of the banking system across Georgia. In 1811 he was elected to a second term, again against Jared Irwin. His second term was overshadowed by the United States' war against Great Britain, the so-called War of 1812 . The governor made national defense a top priority. He ordered the siege of 17 British ships anchored on the St. Marys River.

Also noteworthy is an expedition to the west of the country, which the governor initiated at the request of President James Madison and which was supposed to bother his successor Peter Early because it led to Indian conflicts. In 1813 he did not run for re-election. Two years later, however, he was elected governor for the third time against Early, who had won the election in 1813. In essence, he continued the policy of his previous terms in office. He promoted the expansion of inland shipping and supported the University of Georgia with funds from the state budget. In 1817 he resigned from his office to succeed the late Benjamin Hawkins as federal commissioner for the Creek Indians.

According to him, Mitchell County named in Georgia.

Old age and death

In his function as Indian commissioner, he negotiated two promising contracts with the Creek in 1818 and 1821. However, this was overshadowed by a scandal caused by his political opponent and successor in the office of governor, John Clark . Clark accused Mitchell of illegally smuggling slaves from Africa into Georgia and then reselling them to Alabama . The background to this was the official ban on the slave trade by the US government a few years earlier. This law, which prohibited the slave trade but not slavery itself, was controversial in Georgia from the start. Because of the allegations, Mitchell was dismissed from office by President James Monroe in 1821 . In Georgia itself, that charge didn't hurt him too much. From 1828 to 1837 he was a judge in Baldwin County and in 1836 he was re-elected to the Georgia Senate. He died in April 1837 in Milledgeville, then the state capital.

Since 1792 he was married to Jane Mills, with whom he had at least four known children.

literature

James F. Cook: The Governors of Georgia, 1754-2004. 3rd edition, revised and expanded. Mercer University Press, Macon GA 2005, ISBN 0-86554-954-0 .
Thomas Henry Rentz: The Public Life of David B. Mitchell. Master's thesis, University of Georgia, 1955.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME	Mitchell, David Brydie
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	American politician
DATE OF BIRTH	October 22, 1766
PLACE OF BIRTH	Muthill , Scotland
DATE OF DEATH	April 22, 1837
Place of death	Milledgeville , Georgia