The 1867–1868 Georgia State Constitutional Convention was held for the purpose of constructing a constitution for the state following the end of the American Civil War. Held in Atlanta, the convention started on December 9, 1867 and ran through March 1868.Journal of the proceedings of the Constitutional Convention of the people of Georgia : held in the City of Atlanta in the months of December, 1867, and January, February and March, 1868, and ordinances and resolutions adopted / published by order of the Convention. Augusta, Georgia: E. H. Pughe Book & Job Printer, 1868. Accessed January 18, 2023.
Its delegates included 137 white men and 33 African American men. It was the first constitutional convention to involve the participation of African-American delegates. It created a new constitution for Georgia that included suffrage for African-American males; this was a mandate of the congressional Reconstruction Acts.
Final draft The new state constitution aimed to provide rights for African Americans and promote racial equality in the state. Its bill of rights incorporated the 14th Amendment into the state constitution, and suffrage was granted to all males over the age of 21 regardless of race. The state government also was tasked with creating a system of public education. Additionally, the governor's term of office was extended to four years, with no limit, and the practice of electing judges was ended. The document also required amendments to be approved by popular vote rather than just by the state legislature and moved the state capital to Atlanta.
Delegates Delegates to the convention were elected by district. Its members included the following:
First Election District M. H. Bentley Aaron Alpeoria Bradley Walter L. Clift A. L. Harris C. H. Hopkins W. H. D. Reynolds Isaac Seeley James Stewart
Second Election District Tunis G. Campbell William A. Goulding
Third Election District A. M. Moore
Fourth Election District F. M. Smith
Fifth Election District P. B. Bedford
Sixth Election District Levi J. Knight Lewis H. Roberts
Seventh Election District W. C. Carson J. L. Cutler M. C. Smith
Eighth Election District John Higden B. F. Powell Richard H. Whiteley
Ninth Election District H. H. Christian William W. Dews Charles C. Martin
Tenth Election District Philip Joiner John Murphy Benjamin Sikes F. O. Welch
Eleventh Election District Robert Alexander J. A. Jackson W. H. Noble John Whitaker
Twelfth Election District J. E. Blount G. W. Chatters Thomas Crayton
Thirteenth Election District) Jesse Dinkins J. E. Hall Robert Lumpkin H. K. McCoy F. Snead
Fourteenth Election District J. M. Buchan S. F. Salter Simeon Stanley J. W. Trawick
Fifteenth Election District A. J. Cameron
Sixteenth Election District E. W. Lane George Linder
Seventeenth Election District Malcolm Claiborne H. H. Glisson J. A. Madden J. M. Rice Robert Whitehead
Eighteenth Election District Simeon Beaird Foster Blodgett J. E. Bryant Rufus B. Bullock Benjamin Conley John Neal Alexander Stone
Nineteenth Election District Joseph Adkins D. P. Baldwin John W. T. Catchings Robert Crumbley Henry Strickland
Twentieth Election District William Henry Harrison Daniel Palmer Charles H. Prince C. C. Richardson W. C. Supple George Wallace
Twenty-first Election District Thomas Gibson Samuel Gove William Griffin Charles Hooks
Twenty-second Election District F. Wooten A. Bowdoin M. Cooper W. J. Howe M. A. Potts T. J. Speer Henry McNeal Turner G. G. Wilbur
Twenty-third Election District J. H. Anderson S. A. Cobb William P. Edwards Posey Maddox O. H. Walton
Twenty-fourth Election District George W. Ashburn J. C. Casey Thomas Gilbert Van Jones J. G. Maul
Twenty-fifth Election District T. J. Costin William Guilford E. J. Higbee L. L. Stanford Samuel Williams
Twenty-sixth Election District S. T. W. Minor W. H. Rozar W. H. Whitehead
Twenty-seventh Election District James C. Barton J. W. Christian C. D. Davis John Harris N. P. Hotchkiss
Twenty-eighth Election District A. G. Foster H. S. Glover J. R. Hudson William F. Jordan T. P. Saffold
Twenty-ninth Election District D. G. Cotting James Knox Romulus Moore Lewis Pope Josiah Sherman
Thirtieth Election District Amos T. Akerman J. Bell E. S. Cobb J. McWhorter
Thirty-first Election District William F. Bowers S. W. Crawford Philip Martin
Thirty-second Election District Milton Moore J. A. Woody
Thirty-third Election District Madison Bell Benjamin Dunnigan William L. Marler
Thirty-fourth Election District J. R. Bracewell Shadrick Brown S. E. Dailey J. Mathews B. D. Shumate
Thirty-fifth Election District Nedom L. Angier H. G. Cole James L. Dunning J. H. Flinn David Irwin W. C. Lee H. V. M. Miller
Thirty-sixth Election District J. S. Bigby J. C. Bowden P. W. Chambers J. W. Key W. C. Smith
Thirty-seventh Election District John H. Caldwell A. H. Harrison George Harlan E. B. Martin Robert Robertson
Thirty-eighth Election District T. J. Foster R. B. Hutcherson J. D. Waddell
Thirty-ninth Election District A. W. Holcombe S. T. Houston J. G. Lott
Fortieth Election District John Bryson W. T. Crane
Forty-first Election District C. A. Ellington Wilkey McHan
Forty-second Election District George B. Burnett William A. Fort W. L. Goodwin J. R. Parrott Wesley Shropshire
Forty-third Election District S. E. Fields John H. King Leander Newton Trammell
Forty-fourth Election District John M. Shields Presley Yates
See also Constitution of Georgia (U.S. state) Original 33
References