Through my research, I am looking at how Georgians responded to the new concept of sovereignty being located in the people in early Georgia constitutions. I am specifically looking at Georgia’s first two constitutions: 1777 and 1789. First I will compare and contrast the language of the constitutions as it pertains to the idea of the peoples’ sovereignty; second I will compare and contrast the reaction of “the people” to these documents that delineated a new political role for the people.
As for sources, unfortunately much of the primary sources I was hoping to find are located in Savannah at the Georgia Historical Society. However, I have found a few primary sources at the Georgia State University Special Collections department (Library South 8th floor); although they mostly pertain to the minutia of the Revolutionary war in the south, they give an overall sense of the mood of the people in Georgia towards the idea of a country independent of Great Britain. For example, the letters contained in the memoirs of General William Moultrie reveal that the desertion rate was high in the revolutionary regiments and the correspondences between military leaders concerned the issues of mutiny, desertion, and enslaved peoples defecting to the British. This suggests that “the people” whom American revolutionary political leaders were attempting to ascribe sovereignty to - and thus a level of power - were either unaware of this intention or did not believe any transfer of power would take place if independence was won.
Additionally, I found a letter written to the Continental Congress explaining that the delegates from Georgia would not be attending because of lack of the peoples’ participation in electing delegates, only a few parishes (out of twelve) elected delegates. This also suggests a limited interest and/or belief in the concept of “the peoples’ sovereignty” and the necessity of their participation.
I have a lot left to do and will continue to add to this post. Please feel free to ask questions, make criticisms, comments and/or suggestions.
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2 comments:
Great topic. What was the new concept of sovereignty? How was it like? Was this concept helpful to common people? I cannot wait to learn about "the new political role" some people created for other people. I hope your research paper is well underway in meeting its goal. Good luck!!
It sounds like you are beginning to locate the fissures between the fiction of the people and the people themselves. I'd like to know more about your letter written to the Continental Congress. Georgia didn't send a state delegation? When was this? And if the people weren't interested in sending delegates, wouldn't that actually indicate a more local understanding of sovereignty? Remember, under the Articles of Confederation, there was no surrender of sovereignty to the Congress.
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