1. Jeopardy Final Jeopardy Cotton Gin and Railroad Louisville
UGA
Louisville
Methodist and
Baptist
Land Policies
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Final Jeopardy

2. 1 - $100 When was UGA first established?
The University of Georgia (UGA) was established on January 27, 1785, when Georgia’s General Assembly approved the charter.

3. 1 - $200 What was first state supported public University?
UGA is America’s first publically supported institute of higher learning. Though the University of Georgia was the first public university to be chartered, the University of North Carolina actually held classes first. Today there is a spirited debate between the two institutions about which one is actually the Nation’s first state sponsored University.

4. 1 - $300 Who was chosen to draft the charter for the University?
The future signer of the U.S. Constitution, Abraham Baldwin, was chosen by Governor Lyman Hall (a singer of the Declaration of Independence) to draft the charter for the University. Baldwin was president of the University from 1785 until 1801.

5. 1 - $400 When did UGA finally open its doors?
The University finally opened its doors to students in September, The University’s first permanent building, Franklin College, did not open until For many years, the University had only one college (the College of Arts and Science) and struggled with financial difficulties. Nevertheless, many important Georgia political and business leaders graduated from UGA during this time period

6. 1 - $500
After the Civil War, the University was designated as a “land grant institution” under what act?
After the Civil War, the University was designated as a “land grant institution” under the Morill Act of 1872 and expanded its size and academic reputation dramatically over the next 130 years.

7. 2 - $100 What town was Georgia’s third state capital?
Louisville was Georgia’s third state capital following Savannah and Augusta. The city, named after French King Louis XVI for his support during the American Revolution, was the capital from 1796 until 1807.

8. 2 - $200 Why was Louisville selected as Capital?
Located in Jefferson County, Louisville was selected as the capital due to, what at the time was its location as the center of Georgia population. This was driven by the state’s westward expansion. The state’s legislators hoped that the town would also serve as a trading center due to its location on the Ogeechee River. Once it was established, Louisville developed both socially and financially.

9. 2 - $300 Why did Louisville’s time as capital end?
However, Louisville’s time as capital ended in 1807 due several factors including the malaria outbreaks the occurred in the city every year, the difficulty of using the Ogeechee River as a trade route, and most importantly, the continual Northwestern movement of Georgia’s population.
The primary reason that students should know about Louisville is it illustrates Georgia’s population growth and movement from the coast to the Northwestern part of the state.

10. 2 - $400 What was one of the most famous events in Louisville?
One of the most famous events in the city was when the state legislators publically set fire to the Yazoo Land Act with a magnifying glass.
One of the most famous images in Georgia’s history is the “Burning of the Yazoo Act” which shows James Jackson and others standing around the Yazoo document set ablaze. It is said that they used a magnifying glass to bring “fire from heaven” to destroy the act.

11. 2 - $500 What does S.A.L.M.A. stand for?
S.A.L.M.A. stands for Savannah, Augusta, Louisville, Milledgeville, and Atlanta.
It is an easy acronym to remember all of Georgia’s capitals.

12. 3 - $100 When did Georgians begin identifying themselves as Methodist?
Though the founder of the Methodist church, John Wesley, preached in colonial Georgia, Georgians did not begin identifying themselves with the denomination until the Second Great Awakening ( ).
The Second Great Awakening was a Protestant religious revival movement during the early 19th century in the United States. The movement began around 1790, gained momentum by 1800 and, after 1820, membership rose rapidly among Baptist and Methodist congregations whose preachers led the movement.

13. 3 - $200
What two religious denominations became the largest in the state?
During the same time period as the Methodist church increased, the Baptist Church also dramatically increased its numbers as well. By the 1830’s, the Methodist and Baptist denominations became the largest in the state.

14. 3 - $300 The churches gained popularity amongst which people?
Both churches gained popularity amongst working class Georgians in the frontier and small towns of the state. In addition, due to these denominations’ mission work on plantations, many slaves converted to either the Baptist or Methodist churches.

15. 3 - $400 What did the churches use to help increase their membership?
Both the Baptists and Methodists used revivals and camp meetings to help increase their membership. These meeting were all day affairs where famers and other townspeople could listen to the sermon but also get together and socialize with their friends and family after weeks of laboring on their farms.

16. 3 - $500 Who were circuit riders?
The Methodist church also incorporated the use of circuit riders, ministers who would ride from small town to small town and preach. These circuit riders were instrumental in bringing new converts to the church.

17. 4 - $100
After the Revolutionary War, Georgia gained access to a large amount of land from who?
After the Revolutionary War, Georgia gained access to a large amount of land from the Native Americans who sided with the British. The land Georgia claimed stretched all the way to the Mississippi River. In turn, Revolutionary War veterans, amongst others, believed that all citizens had the right to land ownership. Due to the ideas espoused by the Declaration of Independence, Georgia’s political leadership agreed. Though the people and their leaders were in agreement about the people’s need for land to support a healthy democracy, the question became what was the best way to allocate land to the people of the state.

18. 4 - $200 What was the first land policy ?
The first approach was called the headright system. Under this system, Georgia gave thousands of acres of land to soldiers who had fought during the Revolution. An example of one of these land recipients is Austin Dabney. Under this system, men who did not fight in the Revolution also received free land. Heads of households (white men over the age of 21) could receive up 200 acres of land. Those men who had families or slaves received even more. This system ended when there were too many claimants and not enough land to offer.

19. 4 - $300 What was the second land policy?
The second approach was called the Yazoo Act (1795) which was named after a river in the present state of Mississippi. This act sold much of the land that would become Alabama and Mississippi to four land companies for $500,000. Soon after Georgia governor, George Mathews, singed the Yazoo Act into law, it was discovered that the land companies bribed members of the Georgia General Assembly to sell the land. Almost immediately, Georgians protested the sale.

20. 4 - $400 The controversy surrounding the Yazoo Act is known as what?
Nevertheless, the legislators chose to continue with the arrangement. Upon hearing about this, one of Georgia’s U.S. senators, James Jackson, was so outraged he resigned from his seat and returned to the state. Once back, he and his political allies took control of the Georgia General Assembly and nullified the Yazoo Act. In 1802, Georgia ceded the land to the U.S. government for 1.25 million dollars and the promise that the U.S. would relinquish Indian land claims in the state and remove the Creek Indians from Georgia. The controversy surrounding the Yazoo Act is known as the Yazoo Land Fraud.

21. 4 - $500 What was the third and final land policy?
The final approach Georgia used to allocate land was the land lottery system. From , Georgia had eight land lotteries. These lotteries gave the average Georgian the opportunity to gain a large amount of land for pennies on the dollar. To take part in a land lottery, a person would simply have to submit their names to the state and pay for a ticket. On the day of the lottery, the participants’ names were placed in one drum while the lots bearing a number would be placed in a second drum. Participants could have their name placed in the drum more than once based on characteristics such as their age, marital status, and war service. According to the New Georgia Encyclopedia, the land lotteries gave three quarters of Georgia’s land to 100,000 families.

22. 5 - $100
Who is considered the inventor of the cotton gin and why did they invent it?
The cotton gin had an immense impact of Georgia’s economic and population growth, but this growth came with a terrible cost, the expansion of slavery. According to some, the idea for the cotton gin was conceived by Eli Whitney, a northerner who moved to Georgia in During this time period, tobacco, which at the time was one of Georgia’s most important crops, was destroying the soil. As an alternative to tobacco the state was looking for ways to make growing cotton profitable.
As referred to above there is some debate about if Eli Whitney actually “invented” the cotton gin. Some argue that versions of the cotton gin had been invented long before or that Whitney received the idea for someone else. Additionally, Whitney also dealt with several patent court cases later in life.

23. 5 - $200 How many pounds of cotton to the cotton gin deseed a day?
Until that point, cotton had to be, for a lack of a better word, “deseeded” by hand. This process took a long time to accomplish, and most farmers could not “clean” more than one pound of cotton a day. Eli Whitney “invented” a machine that was capable of removing the seeds from up to 50 pounds of cotton a day. Due to the machine’s efficiency the growth of cotton became profitable in Georgia and the rest of the South. This led to westward expansion as farmers began to seek out land capable of producing the crop. With the focus on growing cotton due to its profitability, the South grew a large majority of the world’s cotton by the end of the nineteenth century. =

24. 5 - $300 What were the two negative effects of the cotton gin?
Nevertheless, there were two negative effects concerning the invention of the cotton gin. First, it made the South overly dependent on one crop. This dependence on cotton was true of the South before and after the Civil War. In fact, it took the devastating effects of the Boll Weevil early 1900s to diversify much of the south’s agricultural production. More importantly, due to the cotton gin’s effectiveness, slavery increased in Georgia and the Deep South. Due to cotton’s profitably more slaves were need in its production. This of course led to the South’s support and defense of the institution of slavery and later the Civil War.

25. 5 - $400
What was the other important technological innovation along with the cotton gin?
Another important technological development that had a major impact on the state of Georgia was the invention of the railroad. Many of Georgia’s cities and towns were created due to the railroad, including the city of Atlanta. The first Georgia railroad was chartered in It was created in part by businessmen in Athens, who needed a better way to transport cotton to Augusta due to poor road conditions. In the 1840s and 1850s, railroads had spread across so much of the state, that Georgia ranked in the top 10 for railroad track millage. Georgia had the most miles of track in the Deep South.

26. 5 - $500
Due to the invention of the railroad, Atlanta became the first major American city to be built without what?
The city of Atlanta was created as a railroad hub for the Western and Atlantic Railroad. This track ran from Chattanooga, Tennessee to a small hub called “Terminus,” which means “end of the line.” Later, two other railroad lines combined with this point, causing the city to grow even more. Terminus changed its name in 1843, to Marthasville, after the former governor Wilson Lumpkin’s daughter. Its name was changed again in 1845 to Atlanta, which many claim was simply a feminization of the name Atlantic. Due to the invention of the railroad, Atlanta became the first major American city to be built on a location without a navigable river.

27. Final Jeopardy
What 3 Georgia representatives signed the Declaration of Independence?
What 2 Georgia representatives signed the Constitution?
Button Gwinnett, Lyman Hall, and George Walton signed the Declaration of Independence.
Abraham Baldwin and William Few signed the Constitution.