Georgia's Thirst Pre-Dates Boundary Dispute with TennesseeGeorgia’s Thirst for Land Pre-dates Boundary Dispute with Tennessee "We, the great mass of the people think only of the love we have to our land for...we do love the land where we were brought up. We will never let our hold to this land go...to let it go it will be like throwing away...[our] mother that gave...[us] birth."
(Letter from Aitooweyah, to John Ross, principal chief of the Cherokees.) Now that the State of Georgia has recklessly overdeveloped sprawling megastar Atlanta to a state of dehydration and built the world’s largest Aquarium in a petty effort to detract a bustling tourist trade away from its Tennessee neighbor to the north, Chattanooga, Georgia lawmakers now want to reclaim their dusty original state line in an effort to gain control of the Tennessee River and its resources. The State of Georgia seems to have developed a case of selective memory. They seem to have forgotten that they have over a hundred miles of coastline. Desalination plants could be an option, of course, but would only solve the water issue. Georgia prefers to spend precious time, planning, and funds pursuing their old pastime of land grabbing. Georgia’s thirst for land predates its thirst for water. The Peach State seems to have forgotten that it, too, played a major role in the shameful Trail of Tears. And Georgia lawmakers who want to re-establish its original borders seem to have forgotten that Georgia’s ‘original’ boundary disputes were not with neighboring Tennessee. Georgia changed its ‘original’ boundaries when it took land by force from the Creeks and Cherokees for a mere pittance, and then held seven land lotteries between 1805 and 1832 to distribute the land it had stolen. The Cherokees of northwest Georgia tried to defend themselves and their land by adopting European ways and establishing legislative government at their capital, New Echota. But after gold was discovered in Dahlonega, sparking the gold rush of 1829 and flooding the area with whites, in spite of their efforts to keep their land and ‘fit in’ with white settlers, federal soldiers eventually forced the last of the Georgia Cherokees out of their ancestral homelands. Almost three-fourths of the land in present day Georgia was distributed to white males over eighteen years of age, orphans, and widows through this land lottery system. If Georgia truly wants to return to its original boundaries, its lawmakers need to be talking to the Creek and Cherokee Nation Tribal Councils about returning their lands. In reponse to the Peach State’s recent resolution , Tennessee’s lawmakers have introduced a resolution criticizing Georgia’s attempts to reopen a 190-year boundary dispute between the two states as an “ill-conceived” and “heinous assault on the sovereignty of Tennessee.” Tennessee’s resolution calls Georgia’s effort an “election-year ploy” and a “veiled attempt to commandeer the resources of the Tennessee River for the benefit of water-starved Atlanta, which is either unable or unwilling to control its reckless urban sprawl.” Rep. Odom stated he is taking drought-stricken Georgia’s effort seriously to move the border 1.1 miles north and take parts of Southeast Tennessee including a section of the Tennessee River at Nickajack Lake in Marion County. “What I thought was a joke has turned out to be rather disturbing,” Rep. Odom said. But one of the Georgia lawmakers who helped engineer the recent resolution has warned that Tennessee would be wise to “join with us in resolving the border dispute in a neighborly fashion.” Hmmmmmmmm? His statement seems to carry threatening overtones. I bet they said those exact words to the Creeks and the Cherokees and we know how that turned out! Although the idea that a state line could change in the year 2008 at first seemed about as ludicrous as a state seceding from the union, Georgia’s boundary dispute with Tennessee should not be taken lightly. Nor will it be settled with bottled water and coonskin cap stunts. There’s a lot at stake here. Copyright 2008 Patricia Paris Contact: PatriciaParis@gmail.com Patricia Paris is an author/columnist from East Tennessee
Member: Tennessee Mountain Writers, Int'l Women Writers Association, Tennessee Writers Alliance, Chattanooga Writers Guild | 
