Peter Early was an American lawyer, jurist and politician.
Background
Peter Early was born on June 20, 1773 in Madison County, Virginia, United States. He belonged to that generation of Virginians who migrated to the frontier state of Georgia late in the eighteenth and early in the nineteenth century and left a deep impress on the young commonwealth.
Education
He was graduated from Princeton in 1792, studied law in Philadelphia.
Career
He went with his father, Joel Early, to Greene County, Georgia, in 1795. As a young lawyer at a bar noted for its ability, he soon made a reputation by virtue of his native talent and unusual preparation.
He entered politics in 1802, upon his election to Congress, and was a member of the House Committee appointed to conduct proceedings against Samuel Chase, the Federalist Supreme Court judge, whose impeachment he ardently favored. The only other matter of importance with which his name was associated seems to have been the bill to outlaw the African slave-trade, a measure which he supported. He was reelected to the Eighth and Ninth Congresses and served until 1807.
On the expiration of his third term he did not seek reelection, but returned to Greensboro where he was appointed first judge of the Ocmulgee Circuit, just then created. This position he held from 1807 to 1813.
Elected governor in 1813 for a two-year term, Early was confronted with the problem of seeing that Georgia did her part in the war with Great Britain.
In 1815 Early was elected to the state Senate, serving until his death which occurred in Greensboro.
Achievements
Politics
His administration was signalized by his courageous act in vetoing a stay-law for the relief of debtors. This law had already been in force six years and when the legislature sought to renew it. Early greeted the bill with a stinging veto.
He opposed it not only as an unwise and inexpedient measure, but as an unconstitutional impairment of the validity of contracts. He called attention to the fact that the war demand had enabled the people to dispose of their products at good prices and that all who were so minded had been ftble to pay their debts; dishonest people were taking advantage of the law to defraud their creditors.
The law “accustoms men to consider their contracts as imposing no moral obligations, and, by making fraud familiar, destroys the pride of honesty. ”
He cordially supported the American cause and took great interest in various campaigns against the Indians on the frontier, who, under British instigation, harried the settlements.
Membership
He was a member of the House Committee.
Personality
He was a model judge, unbending, inflexible, upright, always turning a deaf ear to demagogic appeals.
Quotes from others about the person
One of his friends said, “I never saw him smile his lips were forever compressed and firm . .. his mind was in perfect correspondence with his body; and it never hesitated or faltered. ”
Connections
In 1793 he had married Anne Adams Smith, daughter of Francis Smith, and sister of Gen. Thomas A. Smith.