Georgians and indeed Americans throughout the country who know history and the history of jurisprudence rank T. R. R. Cobb of Athens, Georgia, a giant in annals of Georgia and United States history.

His achievements are exemplified and practiced every day in any court in the country that hears cases. You see, it was he who first codified the English Common Law into what we know today as the legal code practiced throughout the United States.

Mr. Cobb's work is the continual precedent for legal practices virtually everywhere that newer laws have not replaced it. Judges all the way to the Supreme Court cite his work as the precedent for existing law.

The University of Georgia's School of Law was founded by T. R. R. Cobb.

When the War Between the States ignited, Mr. Cobb joined the Confederate Army and rose through the ranks to General.

Among many roles, he was the architect of the Constitution of the Confederate States of America. As author Thomas DiLorenzo points out in his book, The Real Lincoln, the Confederate constitution included several marked improvements over the U.S. Constitution, including more stringent requirements to pass new federal taxes, limiting presidents to one six year term, and prohibitions against special interest subsidies from the federal (Confederate) treasury. It was a Constitution more true to the Framers' vision of states' rights and strong limits on consolidated central powers. He died defending the system he so dearly loved at the battle of Fredericksburg (December 13, 1862).

In recent years, a few who place little value on American history and more on intolerance have tried to diminish, if not erase, the contributions of this great American. The good news is: General Cobb lives again.

Recent newspaper reports (see links below) have played heavily on the restoration of the old original Cobb mansion in Athens, truly one of the most outstanding in an area of beautiful Southern homes. Sometime back, plans to restore the Cobb mansion at Stone Mountain were put in place, but never materialized. Its deteriorated remnants remained in decay for nineteen years.

The victory for General Cobb and the preservationists in Athens-Clarke County did not come easy. Southern history revisionists popped up all over the place, trying to stop the project. Three trustees on Athens-Clarke Heritage Foundation resigned in protest. They were not and never have been affiliated in any way with the Georgia Heritage Coalition where the policy of restoring and preserving all Georgia history and heritage reigns supreme.

J. A. Davis
Chairman, Georgia Heritage Coalition
Gainesville, GA