Bluffton is a town in Clay County, Georgia, United States. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 113.
History The Georgian Revolt
The Royal Colony of Georgia was founded by adventurer, general, and philanthropist James Oglethorpe in 1732. In forming the Colony of Georgia, Oglethorpe set Georgia on an unusual path. He strove to make Georgia a safe haven for petty crime offenders. He cultivated a strong relationship with the local native tribes. During the 18th century, under Oglethorpe's leadership, Georgia was one of the few colonies to expressively outlaw slavery. But the governing body, The Georgia Trustees, which were formed by Oglethorpe himself, began to chip away at his progressive agenda. When the prohibition of slavery was abolished in 1750, many of Oglethorpe's followers emigrated to Western territory controlled by the Creek and Cherokee. This territory is formally known as Clay County.
Articles of Constitutional Sovereignty In 1779, two Oglethorpians and leaders of the small town of Bluffton, Jonathon Jones and Sam Whitfields drafted the Articles of Constitutional Sovereignty as a response to rising federalism. The Articles of Constitutional Sovereignty requested to include language in the state constitution that ensured what they viewed as proportional representation for small municipalities and self governing rights. They sent their document to the state legislature of Georgia.
Native Allies After Clay County's initial proposal was rejected by the state legislature, local leaders approached their local faction on the Creek Confederacy, known as the Coweta, about drafting a joint letter of grievances. The Treaty of Augusta in 1773 forced the native Cherokee and Creek to cede almost 2 million acres of land east of the Appalachians to the royal colony of Georgia. This also led to a strong connection between the Natives and the small townships on the western face of the Georgian and South Carolinian Appalachians, including Bluffton. The Coweta, who had not secured any territory rights from the Treaty of Augusta, sent a delegation to meet with the newly formed, self named “Constitutional Committee of Georgia” (leaders of several towns in the Clay County).
Official Denial to the Articles of Constitutional Sovereignty They drafted 2 documents: A Statement of Grievances to the Governor of Georgia Standard for Anglo-Creek Confederacy (The latter originally titled The Treatise of Bluffton was changed 1792 as part of the Treaty of Chattahoochee that brought most of the Creek confederacy into the fold of the Georgian Revolt) They sent their letter of grievances to the governor of Georgia, Edward Telfair, who had been sympathetic to the land rights of the Creek during the Cherokee-American Wars. They also sent a letter requesting language to be included by the Constitutional Convention of 1798 (the 3rd constitutional convention). However, Telfair was voted out in 1793 and replaced by George Mathews, who represented the pro-slavery plantation owners and was far less sympathetic to the rights of the Creek. And The Articles of Constitutional Sovereignty were officially rejected by a strong Federalist majority, elected in 1794. (It is likely they did not take the petition seriously, taking measures to cement Federalist control).
The Document of Administration for Clay County As a consequence of the official denial to The Articles of Constitutional Sovereignty the representatives of Clay County and the Coweta met again in The 2nd Anglo-Creek Convention (strangely there was no original “Anglo-Creek Convention”) in Bluffton. There were delegates from six towns and eight Creek tribes. They drafted the Document of Administration for Clay County which had seven key points: A loose confederation between the towns and tribes was to be set up. Each town would pay a small tax to fund a well organized militia of citizen soldiers and Creek warriors. The Creek would remain largely independent, but were recognized as citizens of the Clay County state. The convention drafted a detailed economic plan which would bring the towns closer together, integrate the economic potential of the Creek, and hopefully move the confederation towards economic independence The agreement would lay out a plan to disband the military within a decade一never foreseeing a conflict playing out with the state or federal government. Initially would lay out a plan by which the Anglo-Creek Confederacy would send representatives to the state legislature. Would organize a local institution to send letters to surrounding towns to promote support for a restructuring of government at the 1798 Constitutional Convention.
It is revealing that no document was drafted specifying the confederation's status. It is likely that they saw themselves as a prototype for how townships could function in the United States. Many organizers of the confederacy believed in strong state and federal governments, but thought that townships could and should maintain some political and (importantly) ideological sovereignty.
The Yazoo Act and the 3rd Anglo-Creek Convention Initially, the actions of the towns and tribes of Clay County were overshadowed by another set of events in Western Georgia. Governor George Mathews, egged on by his base of land speculators and plantation owners, who each wanted a piece of the Western-pie, signed The Yazoo Land Act in 1795. The Yazoo Act authorized the sale of nearly 35 million acres of Creek and Cherokee land in Western Georgia for $500,000. The four major companies who were to buy land would then be able to deal with the Creeks and Cherokee in the area and open it up to settlement. The deal faced significant push back from the people of Georgia as well as many Jeffersonian politicians fueled by the Federalist-Jeffersonian rivalry that had spread across the country in the late 1700s. In the wake of what the people of Clay County saw as aggressive and illegal government overreach, as well as a potential threat to their own liberty, the growing confederacy of native tribes and Georgian townships met again in Bluffton in 1795 to consider their response to the Yazoo Act. For the first time in its brief history, a divide formed among the representatives who met in Bluffton. Surprisingly and luckily for the young confederacy, the divide was not based on ethnicity, but instead by geography. The Eastern tribes and townships, closer to the threat of aggressive Georgian settlers, favored formally declaring independence and writing a constitution to affirm the confederacy's liberty, while the original signers of The Articles of Constitutional Sovereignty saw the danger of catching the negative attention of the state government. After 2 weeks of debate, as a compromise, the convention passed three amendments to their previous governing document. The first named the confederacy as the District of Clay County (DCC). This definition was an attempt to confine themselves to remain members of the state of Georgia and limit unwanted attention from the legislature. The second more specifically laid out the governing structure of the DCC. Third, and most controversial, the so-called, “Territorial Doctrine” set the boundaries of the DCC and laid out the procedure by which new townships could be added.
Territorial Expansion With their agreement on paper, many of the founding officials from Bluffton realized that their county was no longer just a liberally independent territory. Their experiment now had official boundaries, and they would have to figure out how to govern their land. But, as Jones and Whitefield scrambled to keep the confederacy under control, the towns on the Eastern boundary of the DCC began sending delegations to the small settlements now within the DCC, many of whom were willing participants (as was by the design of the writers of the 3rd Anglo-Creek amendments). But, when the town of Morgan refused to be absorbed into the DCC, the confederate government scrambled to deal with what was potentially their first military encounter. An emergency meeting of the Bluffton town council was called on May 5, 1795, and a messenger was sent to the border to request any military action against Morgan be halted. However, while the council debated, a small force from the town of Edison along with a few native warriors began an assault on Morgan. Although the self named “Constitutional Army of Georgia” met little resistance from the townsfolk, many of whom welcomed the bandits with cheers, the few official who had refused the DCC's request to join, fled to Savannah to inform the government of the insurgency in the Yazoo territory. The small DCC force collected battle-hungry stragglers [needs verification] and began to march on the Town of Leary, 7 miles outside of the boundaries drawn by the 3rd Anglo-Creek convention. The force still met little resistance save for a few confused policemen who initially refused to let the leader of the Edison force into the town hall. Meanwhile, the council was informed of the insolence of the Edison force; they scrambled to put together a segment of the Militia headed by Creek General Onetiwa to stop any further action on the part of the Edison force. The two small armies met outside of Leary on May 12, where many among the indolent band from Edison were rallying to push on the large settlement of Albany. General Onetiwa met privately with the leader of the Edison force, James Walters, who was the mayor of Edison. Onetiwa wanted the combined force to withdraw to Bluffton, but Walters refused to whereby Onetiwa resolved to camp outside of the town limits to watch Walter's force. Thus began a 2-week stand off between the 2 armies, numbering a combined 300 men.
The Rescinding Act As the armies camped at Leary, the DCC's 1st scheduled elections came. Many representatives from the eastern border towns, who wanted succession and further expansion were elected. With the shift in power Onetiwa and Walters were withdrawn from Leary (Walters had to run to keep his mayoral seat). In the coming weeks after the new legislature convened in September 1795, the newly elected officials attempted to pass legislation that would lead to further expansion. However, Whitfield and Jones still chaired the representative body; one by one the bills were rejected. The new officials represented a young, passionate minority; the officials were highly charismatic. After weeks of growing tension, the leader of the new coalition, Thomas Bailey, managed to squeak through a bill that stationed the majority of the militia on the eastern border. 1796 brought a change in the political tide of Georgia as well. Many Democratic-Republicans were elected to the state legislature along with new governor, Jared Erwin. One of those new legislators was former governor and avid opponent of the Yazoo act, James Jackson. In February Jackson pushed through the Rescinding Act which cancelled the Yazoo Act. However, Jackson proceeded to move Georgia in the direction of native extermination from the Yazoo territory. With the legislation of Bluffton in uproar, Thomas Bailey introduced a bill to sanction the capture of Albany. Although the proposal was met with ridicule, Bailey sent a message to the military forces on the eastern border led by Generals Menewa and Oliver Herald that the bill had in fact passed, that they were to March on Albany immediately. The large force of approximately 300 Creek and Clay soldiers were eager to fight and easily defeated the small force of Georgian militia stationed at Albany. Herald and his men wanted to continue to conquer the surrounding towns of Sasser and Dawson. But, one of Menewa's lieutenants convinced him that they should wait for further orders.
The Declaratory Committee of Bluffton