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Executive Hands Fettered: Governor Jackson and Secretary McHenry

During the entire history of the United States there has been tension between the federal government and the governments of the states. The federal system created in the U.S. Constitution, in which power is shared by the states and the central government, made these tensions inevitable. The bloodiest and most costly manifestation of this strife was of course the Civil War. During the presidential administration of John Adams (1797–1801), however, this animosity was manifested by the struggle between officials of the State of Georgia and the General Government in Philadelphia. The source of much of the conflict was Georgia’s hostile relations with the southern tribes, particularly the Creek Nation, whose claims to land on the western frontier of Georgia were bitterly contested by Georgia and its citizens.

In the Papers of the War Department, there is a collection called “State of Georgia, Executive Minutes” that consists of seven letters from James Jackson, Governor of Georgia, to James McHenry, Secretary of War. Many of Jackson’s comments in these letters show the latent hostility that existed between  state and federal officials. In the first  letter, Jackson questions Adams’ judgement in calling the State Militia of Georgia into service outside the state because this would leave the state and its citizens defenseless against “invasion.” He also implies that Adams of Massachusetts has no appreciation of conditions in Georgia. To leave a State more exposed than any other in the Union at a time of impending war with its Executive hands fettered in case of invasion while the pleasure of the President who might be in Massachusetts would certainly be unpleasant to its inhabitants if not impolitic as it respects the Government. In another letter, the Governor complains that the current “force of the United States” in Georgia “is inadequate to the protection of twenty miles of frontier” and suggests that he should be furnished with discretionary powers to call up the Militia “at the Expense of the Union.” In other words, Jackson wanted to call up the Militia but also wanted the federal government to pay for it. A careful reading of these letters reveals the suspicion, if not outright hostility, that existed between state officials and their federal counterparts.