The constitution of the United States was ratified by Georgia on Jan. 2, 1788. After the revolutionary war Georgia suffered on her frontiers from the incursions of the Creeks and Cherokees. In 1790 and 179l treaties were concluded with the chiefs of those nations. By the treaty of Fort Wilkinson in 1802 the Creeks ceded to the United States a large tract which has since been assigned to Georgia, and now forms the S. W. counties of the state. In the same year Georgia ceded to the United States all its claims to the lands westward of its present limits. Subsequently serious difficulty arose between the state and national governments respecting the Cherokees, which was terminated by the removal of that tribe in 1838 to the Indian territory, when Georgia came into possession of their lands. In the presidential election of 1860 the vote of Georgia was 51,889 for Breckenridge, 42,886 for Bell, and 11,590 for Douglas. Immediately after the result became known the legislature (Nov. 18) ordered an election to be held on Jan. 4, 1861, for the choice of delegates to a convention to consider the question of withdrawing from the Union. This convention, consisting of 301 delegates, assembled at Milledgeville on Jan. 16, and on the 19th passed an ordinance of secession by a vote of 208 to 89. A proposition to call a congress of the disaffected states, with a view to cooperation, was defeated by a vote of 164 to 133. All the delegates subsequently signed the ordinance except six, who caused an entry to be made in the journal that they acquiesced in the will of the majority.

On the 24th 10 delegates were appointed to the congress of the seceded states, to be held at Montgomery, Ala., Feb. 4, and on March 16 the constitution of the Confederate States was unanimously ratified. Ordinances were also passed resuming jurisdiction over places ceded to the United States, and transferring all forts, arsenals, and munitions of war to the confederate government. On Jan. 3, 1861, Fort Pulaski, on Cockspur island at the mouth of the Savannah river, mounting 60 guns, was seized by order of Gov. Brown, and at the same time Fort Jackson, 4 m. below Savannah, was occupied. On the 24th the arsenal at Augusta, containing two 12-pound howitzers, two cannon, about 20,000 small arms, and large stores of ammunition, was taken possession of by 7OO state troops under Gov. Brown. Georgia, except on the coast, was not the theatre of active hostilities until 1864. On Nov. 25, 1861, Com. Du Pont, who had just taken Port Royal, S. C, occupied Big Tybee island at the mouth of the Savannah, and soon after other points commanding Fort Pulaski were taken possession of, and that fort was reduced, April 11, 1862, by a bombardment from batteries erected on Tybee island.

Early in March Com. Du Pont, with a fleet from Port Royal, took possession of St. Mary's, Brunswick, Darien, and St. Simon's island, and left a small force at each. On Feb. 28, 1863, the Nashville, a confederate ironclad, was destroyed in the Ogeechee river by Commander Worden; and on March 3 an ineffectual attack was made on Fort McAllister on the same river, a few miles S. W. of Savannah, by a federal fleet. On June 11 Darien was burnt, and on June 17 Capt. John Rodgers in the Weehawken disabled and captured in Warsaw sound the confederate ironclad Atlanta, which had just come down from Savannah. A portion of the operations around Chattanooga in the autumn of 1863 took place in X. W. Georgia. On May 6, 1864, commenced the decisive campaign from Chattanooga under Gen. Sherman, which resulted, after a persistent resistance and much severe fighting, in the evacuation of Atlanta by the confederates on Sept. 1. Sherman started, Nov. 11, on his memorable march to the sea. Passing through the heart of Georgia, he entered Milledgeville on the 23d, and reached the vicinity of Savannah on Dec. 10. On the 13th Fort McAllister was taken by storm, and on the 21st Savannah was occupied, having been evacuated the night before by the confederates under Gen. Hardee, who had destroyed the navy yard, two ironclads, several smaller vessels, and much ammunition and stores.

A cavalry force under Gen. Wilson in April, 1865, entered Georgia from Alabama, took Columbus and West Point, arrived at Macon on the 21st, and captured Jefferson Davis, the fugitive president of the confederacy, at Irvinville, May 10. An-dersonville in this state was the seat of the most noted of the confederate military prisons, and there was another at Millen, which was removed upon the approach of Gen. Sherman. After the surrender of the confederate armies, the state was under the control of the military until June 17, 1865, when President Johnson appointed James Johnson, a citizen of the state, provisional governor, with power to call a convention of delegates chosen by the citizens loyal to the United States, who were qualified as voters by the laws in force immediately before the passage of the ordinance of secession, and who should take the oath prescribed in the amnesty proclamation of May 29. The election of delegates took place Oct. 4, and the convention, assembling at Milledgeville on the 25th, remained in session 13 days, during which time it repealed the ordinance of secession and acts in pursuance thereof, declared the war debt void, amended the constitution by abolishing slavery and in other respects, and ordered an election to be held on Nov. 15 for governor, members of the legislature, and congressmen.

The legislature convened Dec. 4, and soon afterward ratified the amendment to the constitution of the United States abolishing slavery, by a unanimous vote. On the 14th Charles J. Jenkins, who had been elected governor, was inaugurated, and on the 19th the provisional governor was instructed to turn over to him the government of the state. These measures not meeting with the approval of congress, the senators and representatives were not admitted to seats; and under the reconstruction acts of 1867 Georgia, with Alabama and Florida, was constituted the third military division, and placed in command of Major Gen. Pope. A registration of those entitled to vote under these acts was subsequently made, when 192,235 voters were registered, viz.: 96,262 white and 95,973 colored. An election was held during the five days commencing Oct. 29, which resulted in a large majority for a constitutional convention (the whites generally refraining from voting), and in the choice of 166 delegates, of whom 33 were colored. The convention met at Atlanta Dec. 9, and adjourned finally March 11, 1868, after framing a constitution, and providing for an election for its ratification or rejection and for the choice of state officers and congressmen, to be held April 20 and the three following days.