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Button Gwinnett signature Declaration
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Button Gwinnett, a bullet, and bestowed blessings

On this day in 1777, signer of the Declaration of Independence Button Gwinnett receives a bullet wound in a duel with political rival Lachlan McIntosh. He would die three days later.

The Georgia Patriot served as a member of the Continental Congress in 1776. As such, he was one of three Georgians to sign the Declaration of Independence.

Gwinnett’s Georgia

Lastly, in 1777 Button Gwinnett helped draft Georgia’s first State Constitution. Here is a portion:

ART. LVII. The great seal of this State shall have the following device: on one side a scroll, whereon shall be engraved, ” The Constitution of the State of Georgia; ” and the motto, “Pro bono publico.” On the other side, an elegant house, and other buildings, fields of corn, and meadows covered with sheep and cattle; a river running through the same, with a ship under full sail, and the motto, “Deus nobis haec otia fecit.”

Translation: “God has bestowed these blessings on us.”

Button Gwinnett signature Declaration

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University of Georgia
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University of Georgia: The first, and the “first objects”

On this day in 1785, or in their words, “this twenty seventh day of January in the Year of our Lord One thousand seven hundred & eighty five” the Georgia General Assembly charters the University of Georgia, making it the first state-funded institution of higher learning in the United States.

Two early leaders of the University of Georgia also signed the Constitution. They did so on behalf of Georgia at the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia in 1787. The first was William Few, a member of the Board of Trustees. The second was Abraham Baldwin, who wrote the University’s charter and was also its first president.

Suitably forming

Here’s a foundational excerpt of said charter:

“[The People’s] public prosperity and even existence very much depends upon suitably forming the minds and morals of their Citizens. When the Minds of people in general are viciously disposed and unprincipled and their Conduct disorderly, a free government will be attended with greater Confusions and with Evils more horrid than the wild, uncultivated State of Nature. It can only be happy where the public principles and Opinions are properly directed and their Manners regulated. This is an influence beyond the Stretch of Laws and punishments and can be claimed only by Religion and Education. It should therefore be among the first objects of those who wish well to the national prosperity to encourage and support the principles of Religion and morality, and early to place the youth under the forming hand of Society that by instruction they may be moulded to the love of Virtue and good Order.”

 

University of Georgia

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Flag of the State of Georgia
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The Firm Foundation of the State of Georgia

On this day in 1788, Georgia ratifies the U.S. Constitution to become the fourth state in the Union.

First, here is the Preamble of the Constitution of the State of Georgia:

“To perpetuate the principles of free government, insure justice to all, preserve peace, promote the interest and happiness of the citizen and of the family, and transmit to posterity the enjoyment of liberty, we the people of Georgia, relying upon the protection and guidance of Almighty God, do ordain and establish this Constitution.”

Strong Supports

Second, this is the Georgia Law description of the State Seal, featured on the State Flag, pictured below:

“[T]hree pillars supporting an arch, with the word ‘Constitution’ engraved within the same, emblematic of the Constitution, supported by the three departments of government, namely the legislative, judicial, and executive. The first pillar has engraved upon a scroll ‘Wisdom,’ the second, ‘Justice,’ the third, ‘Moderation’; between the second and third pillars a man stands with a drawn sword, representing the aid of the military in the defense of the Constitution…”

The Georgia State Mott is, appropriately, “Wisdom, Justice, and Moderation.”

Finally, all of this is supported by the firmest of foundations, and Our National Motto: “In God We Trust.” 

Wisdom, Justice, and Moderation — In God We Trust; these make a great basis for resolutions heading in to a new year.

Flag of the State of Georgia

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