James Jackson (politician, 1757)

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James Jackson

James Jackson (born September 21, 1757 in Moretonhampstead , Devonshire , Great Britain , †  March 19, 1806 in Washington, DC ) was an English- American politician . From 1798 to 1801 he was governor of Georgia . From 1793 to 1795 and from 1801 until his death he was a US Senator for the state.

Youth and political advancement

Young Jackson came to Savannah in 1772 and studied law. When the War of Independence broke out , he joined the Americans. He participated in several battles for Savannah and Augusta . In the 1780s he became a member of the Georgia Parliament and a lawyer in Savannah. In 1789 he was for the first legislative session of the US Congress to the House of Representatives elected. There he appeared as a staunch opponent of Alexander Hamilton . This automatically made him an ally of Thomas Jefferson , whose partisan he became. Nevertheless, he was defeated in the next election in 1791 Anthony Wayne . Jackson believed, however, in election fraud and achieved that Wayne had to give up his seat. In 1793 he was elected to the US Senate. He stayed there until his resignation in 1795.

The Yazoo scandal

The official task in Washington took place against the background of the so-called Yazoo Land scandal in Georgia, which Jackson wanted to clear up on the spot. To this end, he was elected to the Georgia House of Representatives. There he worked on resolving the crisis. This was triggered by illegal land sales by the previous government under Governor George Mathews . The land in question in the west of the state, also known as Yazoo land, had been sold through bribery and corruption. This process, involving government leaders, sparked a heated discussion in Georgia. Jackson campaigned for the sales to be canceled. Parliament and the new governor, Jared Irwin , approved a motion to this effect in 1796; the sales were canceled. The illegal sales contracts were publicly burned.

Georgia Governor

Jackson used the scandal twice for his own purposes. On the one hand, many of the politicians involved in the scandal were members of the federalists , i.e. supporters of Alexander Hamilton. He used this fact to pull Georgia in majority on the side of Thomas Jefferson and his Democratic Republican Party . He is considered the founder of this party in Georgia. On the other hand, he himself became very popular through his use in this case. For this reason he was elected governor himself in 1798. For the rest of his life he remained committed to Jefferson's political goals. In Georgia, William Harris Crawford and George Troup became his closest allies. These mainly represented the interests of the rich plantation owners, while an opposition inner-party faction under John Clark was supported by the small farmers and the settlers in the border area. These two factions fought bitter internal battles at times.

Old age and death

Jackson resigned as governor in 1801 to become a senator in Washington again. David Emanuel has just finished his term in Georgia. He remained in the Senate until his death in 1806. Throughout his life he stood out because of his sometimes unbridled temperament. He was often involved in duels and fights.

Jackson was married to Mary Charlotte Young. Four of the couple's sons reached adulthood. Jabez Jackson , born in 1790, sat for Georgia in the House of Representatives. Jackson's grandson, who, like himself, was named James Jackson , later became a member of Congress.

After Jackson is Jackson County named in Georgia.

literature

  • William Omer Foster Sr .: James Jackson, Duelist and Militant Georgia Statesman, 1757-1806. University of Georgia Press, Athens GA 1960.
  • George R. Lamplugh: "Oh the Colossus, the Colossus". James Jackson and the Jeffersonian Republican Party in Georgia, 1796-1806 . In: Journal of the Early Republic . 9, 1989, ISSN  0275-1275 , pp. 315-334.
  • George R. Lamplugh: Politics on the Periphery. Factions and Parties in Georgia, 1783-1806. University of Delaware Press et al., Newark DE 1986, ISBN 0-87413-288-6 .

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personal data
SURNAME Jackson, James
BRIEF DESCRIPTION English-American politician
DATE OF BIRTH September 21, 1757
PLACE OF BIRTH Moretonhampstead , Devonshire , UK
DATE OF DEATH March 19, 1806
Place of death Washington, DC