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202. Mississippi 1818 House of Representatives, Adams County, Special
203. Mississippi 1819 House of Representatives, Adams County, Special
204. Mississippi 1822 House of Representatives, Jackson County
205. Mississippi 1818 House of Representatives, Amite County
206. Mississippi 1817 House of Representatives, Franklin County
207. Mississippi 1824 Sheriff, Simpson County
208. Mississippi 1817 Coroner, Marion County
209. Mississippi 1823 Coroner, Pike County
210. Mississippi 1817 Coroner, Claiborne County
211. Mississippi 1823 Sheriff, Franklin County
212. Mississippi 1817 House of Representatives, Lawrence County
213. Mississippi 1821 House of Representatives, Lawrence County
214. Mississippi 1822 House of Representatives, Hancock County
215. Mississippi 1823 House of Representatives, Franklin County
216. Mississippi 1817 Coroner, Warren County
217. Mississippi 1822 State Senate, Covington, Monroe and Wayne Counties
218. Mississippi 1822 House of Representatives, Wilkinson County
219. Mississippi 1821 Sheriff, Monroe County, Special
220. Mississippi 1823 House of Representatives, Hinds County
221. Mississippi 1818 House of Representatives, Warren County
222. Mississippi 1823 Coroner, Warren County
223. Mississippi 1821 Sheriff, Warren County
224. Mississippi 1822 House of Representatives, Covington County
225. Mississippi 1817 House of Representatives, Jackson County
226. Mississippi 1821 House of Representatives, Wayne County
227. Mississippi 1819 Coroner, Lawrence County
228. Mississippi 1821 Coroner, Greene County
229. Mississippi 1824 House of Representatives, Lawrence County
230. Mississippi 1819 House of Representatives, Lawrence County
231. Mississippi 1821 House of Representatives, Hancock County
232. Mississippi 1820 Sheriff, Perry County
233. Mississippi 1817 Coroner, Franklin County
234. Mississippi 1822 House of Representatives, Perry County
235. Mississippi 1817 Sheriff, Marion County
236. Mississippi 1821 Sheriff, Monroe County
237. Mississippi 1817 Coroner, Lawrence County
238. Mississippi 1823 State Senate, Wilkinson County
239. Mississippi 1822 Sheriff, Covington County
240. Mississippi 1824 House of Representatives, Wilkinson County, Special
241. Mississippi 1823 House of Representatives, Hinds County, Special
242. Mississippi 1824 Sheriff, Covington County
243. Mississippi 1817 House of Representatives, Hancock County
244. Mississippi 1821 Coroner, Lawrence County
245. Mississippi 1824 House of Representatives, Simpson County
246. Mississippi 1817 Sheriff, Greene County
247. Mississippi 1824 Sheriff, Wayne County, Special
248. Mississippi 1817 House of Representatives, Greene County
249. Mississippi 1824 House of Representatives, Warren County
250. Mississippi 1818 House of Representatives, Pike County
251. Mississippi 1817 House of Representatives, Warren County
252. Mississippi 1817 Sheriff, Jackson County
253. Mississippi 1826 U.S. House of Representatives, Special
254. Mississippi 1822 House of Representatives, Lawrence County
255. Mississippi 1824 State Senate, Copiah, Hinds, Jefferson, Simpson and Yazoo Counties
256. Mississippi 1824 Coroner, Simpson County
257. Mississippi 1817 Sheriff, Claiborne County
258. Mississippi 1817 Coroner, Greene County
259. Mississippi 1817 U.S. Senate, Second Senator, Ballot 4
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The Mississippi Territory was established on April 7, 1798 from land ceded by Spain to the United States in 1795. The original area comprised about half the present states of Alabama and Mississippi. The size of this Territory grew substantially in 1804 with the cession of land from Georgia, and again in 1812 with annexation of the Mobile District from Spanish West Florida. With this final land acquisition the territory would encompass the entire present day states of Alabama and Mississippi.
Members of the Territorial Legislature were elected by popular vote, but other State and Federal officials were appointed either by the President, Congress or the Territorial Legislature. The first popular election for a Territory Delegate to Congress took place in October 1808.
The first Territorial Governor, appointed by President Adams was Winthrop Sargent, a Federalist from Massachusetts. With the election in 1801 of Thomas Jefferson as President, Winthrop Sargent was replaced by William C. Claiborne, a Republican from Tennessee.
During the term of Winthrop Sargent, Natchez was the Territorial capitol. It was moved to nearby Washington shortly after the appointment of William C. Claiborne, and in 1822 to accommodate the rapidly expanding population; the capitol was permanently moved at Jackson.
By Federal statues of March 1, and 3, 1817, a plan to divide the Mississippi Territory into two separate entities was set in motion. After setting boundaries, the western area began the process of organizing for statehood.
On July 7, 1817 a Convention of 48 delegates convened at Washington, Mississippi to write a State Constitution, which was adopted on August 15, 1817. The first state elections were held on September 1 and 2, 1817. Mississippi was admitted to the Union on December 10, 1817.
Under the State Constitution, future state elections would take place in early August. The Governor and Lieutenant Governor were chosen by popular vote, serving for two years. Members to the House of Representatives were elected annually and State Senators for three years. Local officials like Sheriff and Coroners were also chosen at this time. Various other state officials were chosen by the Legislature. On the federal level, Mississippi’s one Congressman was also elected in August and their Presidential Electors were to be chosen at large by popular vote.
For the first decade of statehood, much of Mississippi was still Indian land, and with the exception of northern Monroe County, which had been cut off from Madison County, now in Alabama, all the organized counties were in the southern part of the state or along the lower Mississippi River.
Although the state was politically Republican, there still may have been some lingering Federalist influence around the Natchez area from the days of Winthrop Sargent. It is interesting to note that in the 1824 election for President, two thirds of the vote for John Adams, came from the five oldest counties in the state, being Adams, Claiborne, Jefferson, Warren and Wilkinson, all of which were along the Mississippi River.
Bibliography
- Bettersworth, John K.
Mississippi: A History. Austin: The Steck Company, 1959. - Bettersworth, John K. and James W. Silver, eds.
Mississippi in the Confederacy. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1961. - Bunn, Mike and Clay Williams, "Capitals and Capitols:The Places and Spaces of Mississippi’s Seat of Government"Mississippi History Now
- Clark, Thomas D. and John D.W. Guice.
The Old Southwest, 1795–1830. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1996. - Cox, James L.
The Mississippi Almanac. Yazoo City: Computer Search and Research, 2001. - Cross, Ralph D., Robert W. Wales, and Charles T. Traylor.
Atlas of Mississippi. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 1974. - Gleason, David K., Mary Warren Miller, and Ronald W. Miller.
The Great Houses of Natchez. Jackson: University of Mississippi Press, 1986. - James, D. Clayton.
Antebellum Natchez. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1968. - Lowry, Robert and William H. McCardle.
A History of Mississippi . Spartanburg, SC: The Reprint Company, 1978. - McCain, William D.
The Story of Jackson. Jackson: J.F. Hyer, 1953. - McLemore, Richard A., ed.
A History of Mississippi, Vol. 1. Jackson: University & College Press of Mississippi, 1973. - Rowland, Dunbar.
History of Mississippi. Spartanburg, SC: The Reprint Company, 1978. - ________.
Mississippi Territorial Archives, Vol. 1. Nashville, TN: Press of Brandon Printing Company, 1905. - Sansing, David G., Sim C. Callon, and Carolyn V. Smith.
Natchez: An Illustrated History. Natchez, MS: Plantation Publishing Company, 1995. - Skates, John Ray.
Mississippi’s Old Capitol: Biography of a Building. Jackson: Mississippi Department of Archives and History, 1990. - Sydnor, Charles S.
A Gentleman of the Old Natchez Region: Benjamin L. C. Wailes. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1938.