Georgia

Involved from the Start: Georgia’s Role in America’s Birth | Atlanta History Center

Published

2 years ago

July 3, 2024

Involved from the Start: Georgia’s Role in America’s Birth | Atlanta History Center

Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness — these rights were enshrined in the Declaration of Independence and secured with the signatures of delegates from each of the 13 colonies. As the United States grew, the founders faced the contradictions and challenges that independence presented, including the limited power of the federal government. Eleven years after the Declaration of Independence was signed, delegates convened once more to draft and ratify the U.S. Constitution.

These two documents continue to shape and inform the country today. The Georgia delegates who signed them were dedicated to the betterment of both the nation and the state. As the United States celebrates 248 years of democracy, let us remember the Georgia signers who resolutely ushered in independence and were instrumental in establishing the political system we have today.

Button Gwinnett (1735–1777)

Often described as the most notorious of Georgia’s declaration signers, Button Gwinnett was born in Gloucestershire, England. He moved to Savannah in 1765, hoping to escape financial hardship. In Savannah, Gwinnett tried and failed at becoming a merchant before pivoting to planting, purchasing St. Catherine’s Island and enslaved people. When this venture also failed, Gwinnett shifted his focus to politics.

Before signing the Declaration of Independence, Gwinnett played a notable role in organizing and rallying backcountry and coastal Whigs in revolutionary efforts. In 1776, his success in local politics led to his election as a representative of Georgia at the Second Continental Congress. There he joined George Walton and Lyman Hall in signing the Declaration of Independence.

After signing the Declaration of Independence, Gwinnett returned to Georgia, where he held high-ranking military positions and briefly served as governor from March to May 1777. Gwinnett became entangled in ongoing conflicts with his rival, Lachlan McIntosh. Their rivalry reached a head in May 1777 after McIntosh publicly called Gwinnett “a scoundrell [sic] and lying rascal.”

Offended by the public insult, Gwinnett challenged McIntosh to a pistol duel. He was shot during the duel and died from his injuries. Less than a year after signing the Declaration of Independence, Gwinnett became the second signer to die. His signature, considered one of the rarest and most valuable due to his relative anonymity before signing the declaration and his death shortly after, has been valued at more than $500,000.

Lyman Hall (1724–1790)

Described by his peers as a “friend of human rights,” Lyman Hall was perhaps the most vocal advocate for national liberty in Georgia at the time. Born in Connecticut, Hall graduated from Yale College (now Yale University) before joining a group of New England Puritans who had relocated to the Southeast. Hall and the Puritans settled in St. John’s Parish and founded the town of Sunbury in Georgia’s Midway District (present-day Liberty County). In the parish, Hall served the community as a physician before turning to politics.

Hall and other members of the parish maintained strong family ties to New England, making them more sympathetic than most Georgians to the Patriots’ outrage at British policies such as the Intolerable Acts. . Frustrated with the colony’s decision to abstain from the First Continental Congress in 1774 and eager to show their support for national independence, St. John’s Parish independently elected to send Hall to Philadelphia, where he was admitted to Congress without voting ability. When Georgia formally aligned with the other colonies, they officially elected Hall as one of the delegates, allowing him to vote for, ratify, and sign the Declaration of Independence along with Gwinnett and Walton.

Upon his return to Savannah in 1777, Hall revived his medical practice before being elected governor from 1783 to 1784. As governor, Hall advocated for the establishment of courts and education by calling on the legislature in Augusta to grant plots of land and endow institutions of learning. His proposal paved the way for the establishment of Franklin College, later the University of Georgia.

George Walton (c. 1749–1804)

Despite his humble beginnings, George Walton went on to hold the most offices of the three signers of the Declaration of Independence. Born in Virginia, Walton was orphaned by the age of 12 and worked as a carpenter’s apprentice until his 1767 move to Savannah, where he successfully studied and practiced law. Like Gwinnett, Walton attended early meetings among fellow revolutionaries and secured election to the Second Continental Congress.

Although there is no record of Georgia’s delegates giving speeches in Congress, Walton was deeply moved by John Adams’ speech in support of independence. In a letter to Adams, he wrote, “Since the first day of July 1776, my conduct, in every station in life, has corresponded with the result of that great question which you so ably and faithfully developed on that day. … It was then I felt the strongest attachments and they have never departed from me.” Walton’s sense of devotion to the new nation is evident in the many offices he held upon returning to Georgia in 1778. He immediately resumed his political career at the state level. As colonel of the First Regiment of the Georgia Militia, Walton fought in the Siege of Savannah, was captured, and then, held as a prisoner of war. After being released, Walton was elected governor in 1779 and again in 1789. Between gubernatorial terms, Walton served as chief justice of Georgia from 1783 to 1789 and as a member of the Augusta Board of Commissioners from 1784 to 1785. He also served as a delegate to Georgia’s Constitutional Convention and as a U.S. Senator.

In addition to the many positions Walton held, he stood apart as the only one of Georgia’s signers of the Declaration of Independence who did not enslave people. Walton even spoke out against what he called the “barbarian” attacks by local white citizens on an African American Baptist congregation in Yamacraw, Georgia. Walton finally retired to his Augusta home, Meadow Garden, where he died. Meadow Garden now operates as a museum.

Abraham Baldwin (1754–1807)

Born in Connecticut, Abraham Baldwin graduated from Yale College and served as a chaplain during the Revolutionary War. After the war, Baldwin declined a professorship at Yale, instead choosing to relocate to Georgia.

Aware of the high value Baldwin placed on education, Governor Lyman Hall encouraged him to create a plan for secondary and higher education. Baldwin believed that an educated public was the cornerstone of a successful republic, and to this end, he crafted a plan that would advance not only the educational system in Georgia but also serve as a blueprint for public higher education across the country. Baldwin’s plan eventually led to the establishment in 1785 of Franklin College (later the University of Georgia), the nation’s first state-chartered university. Baldwin served as UGA’s first president from 1786 to 1801.

During this time, Baldwin also served as a delegate at the 1787 Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. One of the main concerns at the convention was how each state would be represented in the federal government. Larger states advocated for representation based on population, while smaller states, fearing inadequate representation, voted for equal representation.

Although Georgia was considered a larger state, Baldwin empathetically voted with the smaller states, resulting in a tie that led to a compromise. The Great Compromise, also known as the Connecticut Compromise, established the bicameral legislature: the House of Representatives and the Senate. Described as an intentional listener, Baldwin’s efforts helped create the legislative system we have today and paved the way for public higher education across the nation.

William Few Jr. (1748–1828)

William Few Jr. arrived in Georgia in the mid-1770s after abandoning a drought-stricken tobacco farm in his birth state of Maryland and fleeing political trouble in North Carolina. During the Revolutionary War, Few joined the Richmond County regiment and served as a lieutenant colonel. Like other Georgia signers, Few’s military success opened the door to political service.

In 1786, Few was elected to represent Georgia at the 1787 Constitutional Convention where he lobbied his fellow congressmen to vote in favor of the new U.S. Constitution. After signing the Constitution, Few continued to hold office in the newly formed legislature, serving as one of Georgia’s first senators.

When his congressional term ended in 1793, Few returned to Georgia and served as a federal judge for the Georgia circuit. Few was also an advocate for education and a founding trustee of the University of Georgia in 1785. Although Few spent his final years in New York, his remains were reinterred at St. Paul’s Church in Augusta.

Hope and promise characterized the early years of the newly independent United States. Founding fathers wrestled with optimism and frustration as they laid the foundations of the country. Georgia’s signers met this challenge with passion and devotion. Their belief in the value of public service is evident in how they lived their lives. Their contributions to the state are honored through the naming of counties, schools, memorials, and roads throughout Georgia.

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Georgia

Georgia basketball rises in latest NCAA Tournament projections

Published

12 hours ago

March 7, 2026

Press Room

Georgia basketball rises in latest NCAA Tournament projections

An updated version of ESPN’s bracketology for the NCAA Tournament has been released, per Joe Lunardi.

Georgia is currently listed as a 8 seed in the NCAA Tournament. The Dawgs have been red hot as of late, as Georgia was able to defeat No. 16 Alabama in Athens in what was a massive upset. Star sophomore Kanon Catchings was great in the win over the Tide, as the talented forward recorded an extremely impressive 32 points.

Georgia currently holds an overall record of 21-9 with just one game on the regular season schedule remaining. The Dawgs could make a run in both the SEC and NCAA Tournament later this month, as Georgia finds themselves listed as a No. 8 seed in March Madness projections following the upset over Alabama. Georgia is projected to play No. 9 seed NC State in the San Diego region with the winner likely playing No. 1 seeded Arizona.

The Dawgs will face Mississippi State on the road in Starkville on Saturday afternoon, as Georgia is widely considered to be a lock for the NCAA Tournament following an impressive string of victories throughout the second half of SEC play.

Georgia’s win over Alabama improved their SEC record to 9-8, as the Dawgs will look to end the regular season on an authoritative note against the other Bulldogs.

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Georgia

Billionaire Rick Jackson shakes up Georgia’s governor race with a play for the MAGA base

Published

1 day ago

March 7, 2026

Press Room

Billionaire Rick Jackson shakes up Georgia’s governor race with a play for the MAGA base

It’s been a month since billionaire Rick Jackson unexpectedly entered the Republican primary for governor in Georgia.

He’s quickly shaken things up.

Jackson, a health care executive, is pumping millions of dollars of his own money into an already crowded race and aggressively courting supporters of Donald Trump — even though the president has backed a different candidate.

Prior to Jackson’s late entrance, the May 19 primary had seemed to be shaping up as a three-way race among Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, who is the Trump-endorsed front-runner, Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and state Attorney General Chris Carr.

But after launching his campaign in early February with a pledge to spend at least $50 million, Jackson has vastly outspent his opponents on the airwaves and has rapidly seen dividends in some early public polling. He’s even leading in some of them, though most of those surveys also show a plurality of voters undecided.

It’s all scrambled the contest to succeed term-limited Republican Gov. Brian Kemp in the battleground state into a slugfest for MAGA voters as Jackson attempts to paint himself in the mold of Trump against a field of better-known rivals and maintain his early jolt of momentum.

President Donald Trump has endorsed Georgia Lt. Gov. Burt Jones for governor.Jabin Botsford / The Washington Post via Getty Images file

“You can’t get into the race promising to spend $50 million and not see a significant impact, which is exactly what has happened,” said Katie Frost, an Atlanta-based Republican political strategist not currently working with any of the campaigns. “This effort means he thought there was an opening.”

Another X-factor in the race is that the primary would head to a runoff between the top two vote-getters if no one gets 50% of the vote — an outcome that is likelier now that it’s a four-way race.

Since Jackson’s Feb. 3 campaign announcement, he has spent nearly $16 million on ads, according to the ad-tracking firm AdImpact — almost six times as much as Jones and nearly twice the amount of the next closest spender in the race. An outside group called Georgians for Integrity, which has spent nearly $9 million over the same time span, has been running attack ads targeting only Jones for month.

During that period, Jones’ campaign has spent $2.7 million on ads, according to AdImpact, with a Jones-aligned outside group spending another $900,000. The Raffensperger campaign spent $12,000 on ads over the same time period, while Carr’s campaign dropped only $1,500.

Brad Raffensperger. — Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger has drawn President Donald Trump’s ire in the past.Nathan Posner / Anadolu via Getty Images file

Jackson’s ads have mostly leaned into introducing himself to voters, while also making overt comparisons between himself and Trump.

The spots with the most money behind them mostly feature him talking about his experience in his youth in the foster care system, after having fled abusive parents before becoming a business owner. He so draws on Trump’s background as a political outsider and businessman, while also taking a veiled jab at the experienced statewide officials he’s running against.

“Like President Trump, I don’t owe anybody anything, and like you, I’m sick of career politicians,” Jackson says in one TV ad. In another, Jackson casts himself as “the straight-talking, Trump-supporting self-made outsider” who “tells it like it is.”

Another ad — part of a much smaller buy — rips into Raffensperger, who as Georgia’s secretary of state rejected Trump’s plea to overturn the 2020 election results after Joe Biden won, accuses him of having “turned on his own kind” and invokes the word “Judas.”

Unlike Jackson’s other ads, which ran almost entirely in Georgia markets, this spot also ran in media markets in Washington, D.C., and West Palm Beach, Florida, where Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home is located.

It’s part of a broader strategy, GOP operatives said, to flatter Trump while also not crossing him by going after his preferred candidate in Jones. At his campaign launch event, Jackson even descended to the stage in a glass elevator, drawing comparisons to Trump’s escalator entrance to announce his 2016 presidential bid.

Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr. — Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr said businessman Rick Jackson’s entrance into the race would cut into Lt Gov. Burt Jones’ support.Megan Varner / Getty Images file

“He clearly is trying to get the attention of the Trump administration and the president himself,” Frost said.

In an interview, Carr said Jackson’s entrance was more of an issue for Jones than him.

“It hasn’t changed things for me,” Carr said, “but it’s been disruptive and devastating to the lieutenant governor, because they are fighting for the same voter. The lieutenant governor’s whole pitch was, ’I’m going to have the most money and I’m going to have one endorsement, and that’s all I need.’ Well, that was a flawed argument.”

Jackson declined an interview request, but campaign spokesperson Mike Schrimpf further leaned into comparisons between Jackson and Trump.

“I think Republican primary voters were eager for a businessman and an outsider to enter the race, and Rick Jackson, like President Trump, is a businessman outsider,” he said. “This is their response to that message of being an outsider and fighting,” he added, referring to Jackson’s dent in recent polling.

Schrimpf declined to say whether the campaign’s strategy was to split Trump-aligned Republican voters in Georgia to force a runoff with Jones, noting only that, “that is not how I would think about it — the strategy is to appeal to all Republican primary voters.”

Jones declined to be interviewed, but campaign spokesperson Kayla Lott highlighted Trump’s endorsement, which the president doubled down on last month during a visit to a Georgia steel plant. Jones’ own ads have focused almost entirely on Trump’s endorsement.

“Trump-endorsed Lt. Governor Burt Jones is the only common-sense conservative in this race fighting for the issues Georgians care about,” Lott said in a statement. “Georgians have a clear choice — a Trump-endorsed proven workhorse with a record of results, or a bunch of Never-Trump RINOs pretending to be something they’re not.”

Despite Jackson’s early momentum, Georgia Republicans emphasized that it’s too early in the race to draw any lasting conclusions and that the state’s runoff system has produced unexpected results in recent election cycles.

For example, in the run-up to the Republican gubernatorial primary election in 2018, Kemp trailed his competitors in many major polls. But he managed to advance to the runoff, which he won with the help of a Trump endorsement and a secret recording that sank his opponent.

And Trump’s endorsements and big spending by self-funders haven’t always guaranteed victories in Georgia — a fact cited by both Carr and Raffensperger.

In 2022, former Sen. David Perdue, who partly self-funded his campaign, lost his gubernatorial primary challenge to Kemp, while Rep. Jody Hice failed to defeat Raffensperger in the secretary of state primary. Both Perdue and Hice were backed by Trump.

“We’ve had people that have had a lot of money. We’ve had people with a Trump endorsement — and they didn’t win,” Carr said in an interview, referring to both Jackson and Jones in the current race.

Carr said that “self-funders have a terrible win-loss record in the state of Georgia” and that he remained optimistic about his chances of advancing to a runoff. He added that Jackson has “totally cut the legs out from Lt Gov. Jones in this race.”

Raffensperger also said there will “probably” be a runoff. Asked about the attack ad from Jackson, Raffensperger said that “some of the folks in this race are just obsessed with the past, and I’m solely focused on George’s future.”

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EV battery maker SK lays off nearly 1,000 workers at Georgia Plant

Published

2 days ago

March 6, 2026

Press Room

EV battery maker SK lays off nearly 1,000 workers at Georgia Plant

Battery company SK Battery America Inc. laid off nearly 1,000 workers at a manufacturing plant northeast of Atlanta on Friday amid automakers’ changing electrification plans and uncertain consumer demand for EVs.

The company said Friday marked the last working day for 958 plant employees, about 37% of its workforce, according to a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification, or WARN, notice filed by human resources chief Chuck Moore. Impacted workers will be paid through May 6. The plant will continue to employ about 1,600 workers.

SK opened the $2.6 billion battery plant in Commerce, Georgia, in January 2022. The Korean company notably supplied the Ford F-150 Lightning electric pickup truck. Ford announced plans to cancel the fully electric version of the truck in December.

The news comes as the U.S. electric vehicle market is at a standstill amid the Trump administration steering federal support away from electrification in favor of more lax automotive emissions policies and a broader agenda supporting the oil and gas industries.

SK Americas spokesperson Joe Guy Collier said in a statement that the workforce reduction was made to align operations to market conditions.

“SK Battery America remains committed to Georgia and to building a robust U.S. supply chain for advanced battery manufacturing,” Collier said. “We are pursuing a range of future customers, including the Battery Electric Storage System arena.”

The City of Commerce and the Jackson County commission chair did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Ford said in December that it would scrap the fully-electric version of its iconic pickup truck and opt for an extended-range version of the vehicle. A Ford spokesperson said it could not comment on supplier personnel actions.

SK and Ford had together previously invested $11.4 billion in joint battery plants in the U.S. The battery maker ended the joint venture in December.

SK is also a supplier to Volkswagen.

“Let’s be clear: these were battery manufacturing jobs and now they’re gone,” Georgia U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff, a Democrat, said in a statement. “As predicted, Trump’s war on electric vehicles is hurting Georgia’s economy. We were booming and building new plants. Now Georgians are losing their jobs.”

SK has invested significantly in Jackson County in Georgia in recent years as automakers shored up plans to spend billions to develop and build EVs and the federal government under former President Joe Biden supported efforts to build out a domestic EV supply chain.

It had also announced in June 2020 plans to pour $940 million to expand its battery manufacturing presence in Atlanta. At the time, Gov. Brian Kemp’s office said the expansion would create 600 jobs.

SK and Hyundai are still jointly building a $5 billion battery factory near Cartersville, northwest of Atlanta.

The state has also attracted other massive EV manufacturing investments; Rivian’s $5 billion factory and Hyundai’s own $7.6 billion factory complex among them.

Few states benefited more than Georgia from Biden’s signature climate law, the Inflation Reduction Act, which accelerated a rush of green energy projects. The 33 additional projects announced by the end of 2024 were the most nationwide, according to E2, an environmental business group. Exact figures differ, but projects in Georgia topped $20 billion, pledging more than 25,000 jobs. Some of those companies are still pushing on. Qcells, a unit of South Korea’s Hanwha Solutions, said Friday that it had resumed normal production. The company had temporarily reduced hours and pay for some workers last year because U.S. customs officials had been detaining imported components needed to make solar panels.

EV demand, while still growing, has not met automakers’ ambitious expectations in recent years. EVs accounted for about 8% of new vehicle sales in the U.S. in 2025, much the same as a year earlier.

Automakers have been reevaluating their multibillion-dollar electrification plans as financial losses mount and demand shifts.

Manufacturers including Ford, General Motors, Stellantis and others — along with others across the EV supply chain — have reneged on factory, investment and product plans, laid off workers and, instead, pivoted some of those efforts to hybrid and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles.

Hybrids and more efficient gasoline-powered vehicles are seemingly more palatable for mainstream buyers concerned about EV driving range and charging infrastructure availability.

Under President Donald Trump, meanwhile, Congress has eliminated tax credits of up to $7,500 for consumers’ purchases of new or used EVs.

The administration has also announced plans to weaken fuel economy and greenhouse gas emissions rules for automakers, essentially eliminating any federal incentive for auto companies to make their vehicle fleets cleaner.

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St. John reported from Detroit.

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