Many of those who had the good fortune to draw prizes in the land-lottery scheme paid the necessary amount of money, and received titles to their land lots; but many others neglected to pay in the money, and thus forfeited their titles.
It has been said that the land hunger of the people at this time was both selfish and sordid; but if we come to look at the matter closely, selfishness is behind much of the material progress that the world has made. The selfishness of individuals is not more conspicuous than the selfishness of communities, commonwealths, and nations. In history we find the rumseller, the land grabber, and the speculator following hard upon the heels of the missionary. The selfishness of nations is frequently given the name of "patriotism," and rightly so, since it is a movement for the good of all.
When Georgia had fairly begun to recover from the disastrous results of the War for Independence, the troubles that resulted in the War of 1812 began to make themselves felt. France and England were at war; and the United States Government tried to remain neutral, giving aid to neither the one nor the other. But this was not pleasing to either of these great powers. Both were interested in the trade and commerce of this country, and both issued orders affecting American affairs. The United States resented the interference, and protested against it Great Britain, with an arrogance made bitter by the remembrance of her humiliating defeat at the hands of a few feeble Colonies, replied to the American protest, declaring that American ships would still be searched, and American sailors impressed into the service of the British, wherever found on the high seas. In 1807 a British man-of-war fired on an American merchant vessel as it was leaving harbor. Three men were killed, eighteen wounded, and four sailors seized. This outrage inflamed the whole country, and in December of that year Congress passed a law preventing American vessels from leaving their ports to trade with foreign nations. This law was deeply resented by the New England States, and they held at Hartford, Conn., the first secession convention that ever met in this country.
Georgia was foremost among the States to denounce and resist the aggressive acts of Great Britain. In 1808 the Legislature sent an address to the President of the United States, approving the measures he had taken, and declared that the people of Georgia were strong in their independence, and proud of their government, and that they would never wish to see the lives and property of their brethren exposed to the insult and rapacity of a foreign power; but if the war should come, they would, in proportion to their number and resources, give zealous aid to the government of their choice.
The British, meanwhile, made arrangements to force a cotton trade with Georgia and South Carolina, and for the purpose fitted out a number of vessels of from ten to fifteen guns each. These vessels were to be employed in opening the ports of Georgia and Carolina. A war brig anchored at Tybee, and two of its officers went to Savannah. When they had made known their purpose, they were peremptorily ordered away. They returned to their vessel and put to sea; but as they were leaving, they fired at a pilot boat in the harbor, and committed other outrages.
This incident and others aroused the indignation of the people. The Legislature passed resolutions, addressed to the President of the United States, declaring that all hope of a peaceful termination of the difficulty had been lost, that the duty of the United States was to maintain its sovereign rights against the despots of Europe, and that the citizens of Georgia would ever be found in readiness to assert the rights and support the dignity of the country whenever called on by the General Government. By the time the treaty of peace was made, the day before Christmas in 1814, the war spirit in Georgia had been roused to the highest pitch by the numerous outrages committed by the Indian allies of the British.
But the story of the Indian troubles belongs to a chapter by itself.