Charles James McDonald

Charles James McDonald ( born July 9, 1793 in Charleston, South Carolina, † December 16, 1860 in Marietta, Georgia ) was an American politician and governor of Georgia.

Early years

Born in Charleston Charles McDonald came from an immigrant family from Scotland. When he was still in childhood, his parents moved with him to the Hancock County in Georgia. After the usual elementary schools studied the young Charles Jura at the South Carolina College. After his admission to the bar he opened a thriving law practice. This enabled him to acquire a plantation in Bibb County own.

Political rise

In 1822 he became a prosecutor in Henry County in the Civil Service. Three years later he became a judge in the same district. This office he was in 1830 again. The now living in Macon McDonald expanded in the following years, his business base. In addition to his law firm and the plantation he also participated in the railroad business and land speculation. At that time he was a member of the House of Representatives of Georgia for one year. He spent two more years in the state Senate. In addition, he was active in the militia as a brigadier general. After he had become both rich and famous, he decided in 1839 to apply for the post of governor of Georgia. As a candidate of the Democratic Party, he managed a narrow victory against challenger Charles Dougherty of the Whig party. His lead was less than 2,000 votes.

Governor of Georgia

McDonald's tenure lasted until 1843. Between 1841 was a successful re-election. At the time of his inauguration Georgia was still suffering from the effects of the economic crisis of 1837. The price of cotton, one of the main products of the country, had fallen sharply and the trade came almost to a standstill. The national debt was crushing with a million dollars and the public coffers were empty. The aim of the new governor was to improve this situation quickly. But He came across the resistance of the Parliament, which was dominated by the opposition party, the Whigs. Nevertheless, he managed to recover in the four years of his two terms of office, at least the public's confidence in the government and its financial policy.

Evening of life and death

After leaving office, McDonald again devoted his private business interests. He erected in what is now Douglas County a cotton mill with an attached residence, which employed up to 60 workers. The factory together with residential settlement was burned down in 1864 by order of General Sherman, but the ruins are still a famous tourist attraction in Sweetwater Creek State Park. Early 1850s was a McDonald advocate for the rights of the individual states against the federal government in Washington. The Compromise of 1850 he refused. He advocated the secession of individual states of the Union. This issue was the subject of debate in 1851 on an extraordinary Convention, which, however, both the Compromise of 1850 and the secession of Georgia agreed to by the Union rejected. An attempt McDonalds 1851 to be re- elected governor, failed. Then he retired from politics. From 1855 to 1859 he was a judge of the Supreme Court of Georgia. He sold his old plantation and acquired a greater Cobb County. At the time of his death he had 53 slaves and a fortune of $ 127.800. He was a classic representative of the Southern aristocracy before the Civil War. He died in December 1860, shortly before the outbreak of the American Civil War.

McDonald was married to Anne Franklin since 1825. The couple had three daughters and two sons. After the death of his wife in 1835 he married four years later Elizabeth Roane Ruffin.