Edward Telfair

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Edward Telfair (born 1735 in Kirkcudbright , Scotland , † September 17, 1807 in Savannah , Georgia ) was an American politician and governor of Georgia.

Early years

Born in Scotland in 1735, Telfair only received elementary schooling before joining a trading company. In 1758 he sailed on behalf of his company with his brother William and a cousin to what was then the British colony of Virginia . Via North Carolina he came to Savannah, Georgia in 1766, where he founded one of the most flourishing trading companies in colonial Georgia with his brother and another Scotsman named Basil Cowper. Little by little he also acquired real estate. With that he created a second economic mainstay. He became a successful planter who also employed many slaves. Telfair was a lifetime advocate of slavery and everything related to it. He also ran a thriving sawmill, where the wood from his forests was processed.

Political career

His political career began just two years after he settled in Savannah. In 1768 he was elected to the so-called “Common House Assembly”, a kind of parliament in colonial Georgia. With the outbreak of the War of Independence in 1775, he joined the American freedom movement. He participated in the looting of the British ammunition depots, which resulted in the loss of 600 pounds of powder. Between 1778 and 1783 Telfair was a member of the Continental Congress . As the sole representative of Georgia, he was a signatory to the Articles of Confederation , the first American constitution that remained in force until the current US Constitution was passed in 1788. In 1786 he was elected Governor of Georgia for one year. Using the same principles that made him a rich man, he was trying to get Georgia's finances in order. He campaigned for the reduction of the national debt; other problems were Indian issues in the west and border problems with South Carolina in the northeast.

1787 Telfair was replaced by George Mathews as governor. But he remained politically active. In the same year he was a member of a convention that ratified the new US Constitution. Between 1790 and 1793 Telfair was again governor of Georgia. In 1791 he was able to receive President George Washington splendidly on the occasion of his visit to Georgia on his plantation near Savannah. The main problems of his new term of office included the distribution of power between the state government and the federal government, judicial reform and tax legislation. The Indian problem in the west of the country was another permanent challenge to the Georgia government. A legal dispute with a South Carolina citizen who had sued Georgia in the US Supreme Court resulted in the 11th Amendment to the US Constitution in 1794 which prohibits citizens of one state or foreign power from filing lawsuits against other US states.

Old age and death

After leaving office, Telfair withdrew into private life. He died in Savannah in September 1807.

According to him, Telfair County named in Georgia.

literature

  • Ellis Merton Coulter (Ed.): Edward Telfair. In: Georgia Historical Quarterly , Vol. 20 (1936) June, pp. 99-124. ISSN  0016-8297 .
  • Carroll Proctor Scruggs: Georgia during the Revolution. Bay Tree Grove, Norcross GA 1975.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Telfair, Edward
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American politician
DATE OF BIRTH 1735
PLACE OF BIRTH Kirkcudbright , Scotland
DATE OF DEATH 17th September 1807
Place of death Savannah , Georgia