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EW YEAR'S day, eighteen seventy-seven was a good day to stay at home. Mr. Richards recorded, on January 1st: "When we arose this morning the ground was all covered with snow three inches deep! » The horse cars struggled with it all day but finally succumbed." The city election, held December 6, 1876, was even more quiet than its immediate predecessors. Commented the Constitution: "There was no electioneering, no crowds, no liquor, and no quarrelling, and there came pretty near being no voting."1 Dr. N. L. Angier, pioneer Atlantan, had no opposition worthy of mention for the post of mayor, and was elected by a total of 189 votes.2 M. T. Castleberry was elected alderman-at-large for the three year term. New councilmen were, Michael E. Maher, first ward; George J. Dallas, second ward; J. M. Buice, third ward; Charles K. Maddox, fourth ward, and James W. English, fifth ward. Alderman J. C. McMillan served as mayor pro-tem for the year.3 Ministerial officers for 1877 were the same as for 1876.4 The mayor and council of 1877 was the first to take cognizance of the street traffic problem. On March 5th an ordinance was adopted regulating traffic which prohibited driving more than five unhaltered mules between 8:30 A.M., and 5:30 P.M. Violation was punishable by a fine not exceeding $100 and/or a month's imprisonment.5 By Act of the legislature approved February 26, 1877, the mayor and council of Atlanta were relieved of any further responsibility and expense in connection with the county alms house. That institution became the ward of the Fulton County ordinary.6 Only two changes were made in Fulton County officials in 1877. On January 20th, William Ezzard succeeded A. G. Grier as receiver of tax returns, and Samuel R. Hoyle became tax collector in lieu of W. S. Walker. In De Kalb County, on January 23rd, H. V. Bayne succeeded John B. Steward as ordinary; W. J. Williams succeeded C. W. Johnson as receiver of tax returns; James T. Veal succeeded J. N. Nash as tax collector, and T. L. Evans succeeded M. A. Veal as coroner.7 Immediately following the fall of the Bullock regime and the return of the Democrats to power in Georgia, an agitation arose for a new State constitution . The method by which the Constitution of 1868 had been formed and imposed upon the people was resented, regardless of its intrinsic merits. The end of the Reconstruction Era did not come, in fact, until after the national election of 1876, when federal soldiers, who had been stationed in the South to support the military government, were finally withdrawn.8 Throughout that year the need of a new constitution was urged by thepress and through the presentments of numerous grand juries. Consequently, in 1877, a bill by Allen D. Candler, then a representative from Hall County, was passed providing for the submission of the question of holding a convention to popular vote. The election, held in June, resulted favorably for the convention.9 N CHAPTER 55 1877 936 ATLANTA AND ITS ENVIRONS On July 11, 1877, the convention, composed of 185 delegates, assembled in the State House on Marietta Street in Atlanta, and were called to order by Lucius J. Gartrell, a delegate from Fulton County. Former governor Charles J. Jenkins was elected permanent president of the convention. The large number of delegates necessitated the use of a system of committees. Thirteen standing committees, representing the thirteen articles of the existing constitution (that of 1868) were appointed, consisting of nine members each.*0 After one month the Convention had spent its appropriation of $25,000, and though its work was incomplete, the State Treasurer refused to honor further drafts, in which action he was backed by Governor Colquitt. Then Robert Toombs, a leading member of the Convention, and chairman of its Committee on Revision came to the rescue and personally advanced some $20,000, which the State later repaid. Finally, on August 25th, the Convention completed its work, and the new document was submitted to the people, who approved it on December 5th, by a vote of 110,442 to 40,947.n At the same time Atlanta was confirmed as the State Capital over Milledgeville by a majority of 99,147 to 55,201. On December 21, 1877, Governor Colquitt proclaimed the new Constitution to be in effect. Both Senators John B. Gordon and Benjamin H. Hill...

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