Georgia, state, United States: Government, Politics, and Higher Education

Georgia's constitution provides for an elected governor who serves for a term of four years. The legislature, called the general assembly, is made up of a senate with 56 members and a house of representatives with 180 members. Members of both houses are elected to terms of two years. Georgia sends 14 representatives and 2 senators to the U.S. Congress and has 16 electoral votes. From 1872-2003, Democrats held the governor's seat in Georgia and dominated local politics; over the past two decades, Republicans have held power but the state is trending "blue," narrowly electing the Democratic candidate for president in 2020.

Leading educational institutions include the Univ. of Georgia, at Athens; Georgia Institute of Technology, Georgia State Univ., Emory Univ., Clark College, Morehouse College, Spelman College, and Morris Brown College, all at Atlanta; Agnes Scott College, at Decatur; and Mercer Univ. and Wesleyan College, at Macon.

Sections in this article:

• Introduction
• The Struggle for Racial Equality
• The Long Aftermath of the Civil War
• Cotton and the Confederacy
• Statehood
• Oglethorpe's Colony
• Early Exploration and Conflicting Claims
• Government, Politics, and Higher Education
• Economy
• Geography
• Facts and Figures

The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2024, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.

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