Blairsville's Namesake
and it's Designation as the County Seat
1834 Map showing Blairsville,
County Seat of Union County,
Georgia
"The 1832 act creating
Union County authorized the justices of the county's new inferior
court to select the county seat. Until such action was taken,
elections and court sessions were to be held at the house of Isaac
N. Greer. It is not clear how long Greer's house served as
temporary county seat, but in an act of Dec. 26, 1835, the General
Assembly designated 'lot No. 273 of the ninth district and first
section of, originally Cherokee, now Union county, and at a place
now known by the name of Blairsville' as the permanent county seat
of Union County and incorporated it as a town (Ga. Laws 1835, p.
113)."1
"The town was named for Francis P. Blair, Sr. [originally from
Kentucky], newspaper editor of the Washington Globe and a strong
supporter of Pres. Andrew Jackson's reelection campaign."
1
"He was a
political journalist of the first rank, a skillful party organizer,
and a member of the 'Kitchen Cabinet' during Jackson's presidency.
(1829–37)."2
"In 1836, Francis
Preston Blair, Sr., a member of Andrew Jackson's 'Kitchen Cabinet'
and copublisher of the Globe, the influential mouthpiece of the
administration, purchased [the house that was to become known as]
the Blair House."3
The "Blair
House" across the street from the White House is now the official
guest house of the President of the United States.
Why was a new town in
Georgia named for Francis Blair, a man with connections far away in
Washington, D.C.?
Between 1827 and 1831 the Georgia legislature
extended the state's jurisdiction over Cherokee territory, passed
laws purporting to abolish the Cherokees' laws and government, and
set in motion a process to seize the Cherokees' lands, divide it
into parcels, and offer the parcels in a lottery to white
Georgians. In 1828 Andrew Jackson was elected president of the
United States, and he immediately declared the removal of eastern
tribes a national objective. In 1830 Congress passed the Indian
Removal Act, which authorized the president to negotiate removal
treaties.
The primary political objective of the Union Party was the
annexation of land (Indian land, Mexican land and all of Cuba) to
the United States. The Union Party strongly supported Andrew
Jackson even though he was of a different party. The Union Party
and President Jackson were of one mind.
Francis P. “Frank” Blair , a prominent and influential man of the
era who was a political ally of President Andrew Jackson and a
strong supporter of the Union Party. Since the Union Party is the
basis for the county’s name, the argument is strong for the town
being named after a prominent supporter of that party.
Another bit of evidence is that a small community between
Blairsville and Young Harris is “Jacksonville,” possibly a
connection to Andrew Jackson, our 7th president, whose terms of
office coincided with the early years of the county’s founding. At
the time Jacksonville was on the main road linking western and
eastern Union County. This road was between Track Rock Gap and the
Unicoi Turnpike.
Another connection
between Jackson and the Union Party is the following. In
1831 Wilson Lumpkin, longtime
U.S. Representative, was so prominent with his party - the old
Union Party, as it was then termed - that he received the
nomination for governor, and his election followed. Having served
the State for two years, he was triumphantly re-elected in 1833. On
retiring from the gubernatorial chair he received, from Gen.
Jackson, an important commission in connection with Indian affairs,
after the discharge of which duty he became, in 1838, a United
States Senator. Lumpkin County, Dahlonega, is named for Governor
Lumpkin.4
The
End of the Union Party
The 25th Congress had to contend with the unpopular Indian war in
Florida, and at the convention of 1838, the entire Union Party,
with the exception of George W. B. Towns (Governor 1847-51 and for
whom Towns County is named,) withheld their names for reelection.
Southern politics had changed.5
1
Carl
Vinson Institute of Government, University of
Georgia
2
Encyclopedia
Britannica
3
The
National Register of Historic Places, National Park
Service
4
The
Baptist Encyclopedia (1883)
5
New
Georgia Encyclopedia
Union County Historical Society of Georgia, Copyright 2006