John Wereat

John Wereat

John Wereat (born around 1733 in Somerset , England , † January 25, 1799 on his plantation in Bryan County , Georgia ) was an American politician and governor of Georgia.

resume

Wereat grew up in England and in 1759 emigrated to what was then the British colony of Georgia. There he became a successful trader and planter. During the American Revolutionary War , he represented Georgia's interests towards the Continental Congress . In 1779 he was de facto governor of Georgia, when the actual government under Governor John Houstoun had fled from the British who occupied Savannah and other parts of the country. In 1780 he was captured by the British and imprisoned for a year in Charleston , South Carolina . Between 1782 and 1793 he helped rebuild the state. Among other things, it was about the elimination of the consequences of the war and the financial and economic new beginning. In 1787 he was chairman of the convention that ratified the US Constitution for Georgia. From 1790 to 1793 he represented Georgia in negotiations with the federal government to clarify claims that still arose from the war. In 1795/96 he took part in the fight against the so-called Yazoo Land scandal, which had occurred under the government of Governor George Mathews . Wereat died on his Bryan County plantation in 1799.

literature

• George R. Lamplugh: "The Duty of Every Good Citizen". John Wereat and Georgia. 1782-1793. In: Atlanta Historical Journal. 27, Spring 1983, pp. 87-94.
• George R. Lamplugh: John Wereat and Yazoo. 1794-1799. In: Georgia Historical Quarterly. 72, Herbst 1988, ISSN  0016-8297 , pp. 502-517.
• George R. Lamplugh: To Check and Discourage the Wicked and Designing. John Wereat and the Revolution in Georgia. In: Georgia Historical Quarterly. 61, Winter 1977, ISSN  0016-8297 , pp. 295-307.

Web links

• The New Georgia Encyclopedia (History of the State of Georgia in Biographies )
• John Wereat in the National Governors Association (English)