1839 Charles J. McDonald was sworn in as Georgia governor. Born in Charleston, South Carolina, on July 9, 1793, he was elected governor by Georgia voters in 1839 and served two two-year terms.

Later, McDonald served four years on the Georgia Supreme Court (1854-59), but resigned because of declining health. He died at his home in Marietta on Dec. 16, 1860.

1857 Joseph E. Brown was sworn in as Georgia governor. Born at Long Creek, South Carolina on Apr. 15, 1821, he attended Yale Law School for two years. He practiced law in Georgia before serving one term in the Georgia Senate (1849-51) and two years as a superior court judge (1855-57). In 1857, he was elected governor of Georgia – an office he would hold for four two-year terms. With the election of Abraham Lincoln as president in 1860, Brown became a strong proponent of secession. During the Civil War, Brown generally placed the needs of Georgia over those of the Confederacy, and he clashed frequently with Pres. Jefferson Davis. At the end of the Civil War, Brown was arrested and taken to Washington. However, he was paroled and returned to Georgia, where he resigned as governor.

Brown became an advisor to provisional governor James Johnson, which earned him a full pardon in Sept. 1865. Three years later, he was named chief justice of the Georgia Supreme Court. Brown returned to the practice of law in 1870 and became very successful – and wealthy. In 1880, he was appointed to fill the unexpired term of Senator John B. Gordon. Reelected in 1884, Brown six more years before retiring from public office. He returned to Georgia, where he died in Atlanta on Nov. 30, 1894. Brown was one of two Georgia governors whose son would also serve in this office.

1860 Republican Abraham Lincoln was elected president of the United States.

Reaction in Georgia and other southern states was immediate. Believing Lincoln and the Congress were committed to the containment – and eventual elimination – of slavery, and that the North and allied free states would now control the federal government, talk of secession spread quickly throughout Georgia and other southern states.

For more, see This Week in Georgia Civil War History.

1861 Voters of Georgia and other southern states went to the polls to cast to officially elect Jefferson Davis as president and Alexander Stephens of Georgia as vice president of the permanent Confederate government. Both had been elected to head the provisional government in February 1861.

Jefferson Davis

Alexander Stephens

For more, see This Week in Georgia Civil War History.

1873 Former Confederate major general William J. Hardee died at Wytheville, Va. Born Oct, 12, 1815, near Savannah, Hardee was a well-respected authority on military tactics whose infantry manual was used by both Confederate and Union armies. Hardee was in charge of the defense of Savannah during Sherman's March to the Sea, evacuating his troops just before capture by the Union Army in December 1864.

1895 The Cotton States and International Exposition experienced an unexpected and inexplicable jump in attendance. Some 40,000 people came out to see the exhibits and festivities. This was nearly double the previous average attendance and more than any other day to that point except President's Day, Liberty Bell Day, and Atlanta Day. The crowds would continue to pour in as Georgia Day approached on November 19.

1906 Georgia voters ratified a constitutional amendment creating Ben Hill County as Georgia's 146th county.

At the time, Georgia's constitution provided that there could be a maximum of 145 counties. Rather than raise that limit to 146, Georgia lawmakers chose to add language stating that in addition to the counties provided for by the constitution there would be a new county. Because of this approach, language also had to be added to the constitution spelling out the name, boundaries, and government organization of Ben Hill County. This set the precedent for how each of the next 15 counties would be created. Created from portions of Irwin and Wilcox counties, Georgia's newest county was named for former Confederate senator, U.S. congressman, and U.S. senator Benjamin H. Hill.

1928 William.A. Scott II founded the Atlanta Daily World. Four years later, the black-oriented publication became a daily newspaper with sixty full-time employees. By 1933, Scott Newspaper Syndicate consisted of 50 black newspapers and was one of the largest black-owned corporations in the nation.

1932 Ford Motor Company announced that twenty-six plants nationwide were to be shut down indefinitely, including the plant in Atlanta, putting 400 more people out of work as the Great Depression deepened.

1932 Country music singer Stonewall Jackson was born in Tabor City, North Carolina. He grew up in poverty on a sharecropping farm near Moultrie, Georgia. After an enlistment in the Navy, he returned to Georgia. Finally in 1956, he packed up his guitar and drove to Nashville, where he became a recording star and member of the Grand Ole Opry. Among his most famous recordings were "Waterloo" and "Don't Be Angry."

1967 The U.S. Post Office issued its 1967 Christmas stamp in first-day-of-issue ceremonies in Bethlehem, Georgia.

1970 Former Atlanta Braves catcher Javier Lopez was born in Ponce, Puerto Rico.

1977 Heavy rains caused an earthen dam on the campus of Toccoa Falls Bible College to burst. A wall of water shot through the campus, killing 39 students and faculty.

1993 After losing the World Boxing Council and International Boxing Federation title to Riddick Bowe in a 12-round decision a year earlier, Evander Holyfield defeated Bowe to reclaim the world heavyweight boxing title.

1998 As a result of unexpected Democratic victories nationwide in the Nov. 3 general elections, Newt Gingrich, Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, announced that he would not seek reelection as Speaker. Further, even though overwhelmingly reelected to represent Georgia's 6th Congressional District three days earlier, Gingrich announced that he would resign at the end of his current congressional term in early Jan. 1999, thus necessitating a special election to fill his vacated seat. Gingrich attributed the reason for his departure his belief that he had become a "lightning rod" for opposition to the Republican Party.

2002 Georgia native Alan Jackson won five awards at the 2002 Country Music Awards presentation. Jackson was named Male Vocalist of the Year and Entertainer of the Year. His single "Where Were You When the World Stopped Turning" was named Single of the Year and Song of the Year. His album "Drive" was named Album of the Year.

In Their Own Words on This Day. . .

1737 The Trustees' secretary William Stephens recorded some of the troubles experienced by the young minister attending colonial Georgia:

"Went to Church in the Forenoon . . . but I was concerned to see so thin as Audience, which proceeded from a grown Aversion to the Preacher, since this publick Strife sprung up. Several of the Scotch Gentlemen having hinted to me their Desire of a Conference, I sat with three or four of them over a Cup of Tea towards Evening, for an Hour, when they told me, in the name of all the rest, of Mr. Wesley's informing them lately, that Mr. Causton persuaded him to write to the Trustees and acquaint them, that the Scotch here were a universally turbulent People, who neither regarded Divine or Human Laws, but lived idle, and continually fomented Mischief . . . upon my asking how long since it was, that Mr. Causton said this to the Parson, I was answered, more than a year: From whence it seem'd to me, that Mr. Wesley, who had kept it smothering in his Breast so long, brought it forth now maliciously at this Juncture, when he and Mr. Causton were fallen out, in order to exasperate the Scotch against him. . . ."

1861 From Island Mills, Ga., Ira Woodruf wrote to his cousin Mattie his impassioned view of why he was fighting on behalf of the Confederacy:

". . . It is to perpetuate the liberties and honors you proudly enjoy that I leave the bosom of my friends and especially those who lie near to my heart by the kindred ties of relationship that I leave all behind that is sweet to enjoy and march with proud and rapid steps to the rescue and defense of my suffering country. The land of ours has many sweet and delightful associations that proudly cluster around its imperishable history. I go to contest and plead for the rights of that land that gave me birth, which is sacred to me and will ever be as long as memory holds its position in my brain.

"What that dear land shall be polluted by the filthy tread of our enemies that we are now waging an unjust war upon us, I hope that it will take place after my remains sleep in the lonesome grave of the soldier. If it should ever fall to my lot to face the instruments of death, where perhaps cannon balls may rain around me. I shall think of my own sweet friends that I have left behind me. If I fall while fighting for my country, I want you to honor me as a fallen soldier who fought for the honor of his own dear land. If I never meet you again in this world, I hope that we will meet each other in that land of love where our names will glitter like sparkling diamonds upon the tablets of eternity!"

1998 In explaining his reason for resigning from Congress and his position as Speaker of the House, Georgia congressman Newt Gingrich issued a written statement from Georgia headquarters stating:

"Today I have reached a difficult personal decision. I will not be a candidate for speaker of the 106th Congress. The Republican conference needs to be unified and it is time for me to move forward, where I believe I still have a significant role to play for our country and our party. My party will have my full support and I will do all I can to help us win in 2000. I urge my colleagues to pick leaders who can both reconcile and discipline, who can work together and communicate effectively. They have my prayers and my thoughts as they undertake this task. I want to thank everyone whose friendship and support has made these years enjoyable. Marianne and I are grateful to the citizens of Georgia, who gave us the wonderful opportunity to represent them, and to my Republican colleagues, who became our extended family. Thank you and God bless you."