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Georgia_Legislators
I



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Julian Bond

Paul Coverdell

George Gilmer

Grace Towns Hamilton

Thomas Hardwick

John Milledge

Tom Murphy

Carl Sanders

James Milton Smith

Alexander Stephens

Herman Talmadge

Edward Telfair

Joseph M. Terrell

James Milton Smith

Politician James Milton Smith was born in Twiggs County, Georgia in 1823. Smith began his political career by serving in the Confederate Congress after being severely wounded in the Battle of Cold Harbor. After the war he and his partner Peter Alexander began a thriving law firm in Columbus, Georgia.

He was elected to the Georgia General Assembly in 1870 as an outspoken opponent of Radical Reconstruction. He was elected Speaker of the House on 1871, then nominated and elected to fill the unexpired term of Governor Rufus Bullock. Smith was elected to his own four-year term the following year.

Smith's term as governor was marked by many impressive appointments to high state offices, most notably Gustavus Orr as state school commissioner, who received national notoriety for his work. Smith also retired the state debt and left office with a surplus in the Treasury.

After an unsuccessful run for the U.S. Senate, Smith was appointed first chairman of the Railroad Commission, where he served a six year term. Then-governor John B. Gordon appointed him as judge of the Superior Court of the Chattahoochee Judicial Circuit in 1887 - to fill an unexpired term. As with the governorship, he did so well that he was appointed to another full term in 1888. But he could not complete this term. He suffered a stroke in 1890 and died after several weeks on November 25, at his home in Columbus.

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