page_title: Georgia General Assembly
section_title: The Assembly arrives in Milledgeville
hierarchical_section_title: Georgia General Assembly / History / The Assembly arrives in Milledgeville
caption_attribution_description: English: The official document of the U.S. State of Georgia's secession from the Federal Union of states.
context_page_description: The Georgia General Assembly is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is bicameral, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives.
  Each of the General Assembly's 236 members serve two-year terms and are directly elected by constituents of their district. The Constitution of Georgia vests all legislative power with the General Assembly. Both houses have similar powers, though each has unique duties as well. For example, the origination of appropriations bills only occurs in the House, while the Senate is tasked with confirmation of the Governor's appointments.
  The General Assembly meets in the Georgia State Capitol in Atlanta.
context_section_description: In 1804, the state government decided that yet another capital, would be needed. Subsequently, an act was passed authorizing construction of a new capital city on 3,240 acres (13 km²) in the area currently known as Baldwin County. The city was named Milledgeville in honor of Governor John Milledge.
  The new Capitol took two years to complete and was a brick construction in the Gothic Revival style. The legislature convened The Georgia Secession Convention of 1861 in the Milledgeville statehouse on January 16, 1861. On January 19, delegates voted for Georgia to secede from the Union—208 in favor with 89 against—drafting a new constitution, and declaring the state an independent Republic.
  On January 21, Assembly delegates (secessionists finishing with a slight majority of delegates) celebrated their decision by a public signing of the Ordinance of Secession outside of the State Capitol. Later that year, the legislature also voted to send $100,000 to South Carolina for "the relief of Charlestonians" who suffered a disastrous fire in December 1861. With General Sherman's approach, the members of the General Assembly adjourned in fall 1864, reconvening briefly in Macon in 1865. As the American Civil War came to a close with the federal government in military control of Georgia, the legislature reconvened at the Capitol in Milledgeville.
caption: Facsimile of the 1861 Ordinance of Secession signed by 293 delegates to the Georgia Secession Convention at the statehouse in Milledgeville, Georgia January 21, 1861.
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