Augustus O. Bacon

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BiographyEdit

Augustus Octavius Bacon was born in Bryan County, Georgia. He graduated in 1859 from the University of Georgia (UGA) in Athens, Georgia, and from the University of Georgia School of Law in its inaugural class of graduates in 1860. While at UGA, he was a member of the Phi Kappa Literary Society.

He was a soldier in the army of the Confederate States of America during the American Civil War. Following the end of the war, he served in the Georgia State House of Representatives from 1871 to 1886, for much of that time as House speaker.<ref name="Marquis Who's Who 1975. P. 22">Marquis Who's Who, Inc. Who Was Who in American History, the Military. Chicago: Marquis Who's Who, 1975. P. 22 Template:ISBN Template:OCLC</ref> He made his home in Macon.<ref name=":0" />

Bacon was elected as one of Georgia's United States senators in 1894 and was re-elected to three subsequent terms.<ref name="Marquis Who's Who 1975. P. 22"/><ref name="cd">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Bacon held several committee chairmanships (Committee on Engrossed Bills, Committee on Private Land Claims, Committee on Foreign Relations).<ref name="Marquis Who's Who 1975. P. 22"/> He considered himself an Anglophile, once remarking that "all the blood in me comes from English ancestors," but he did not want America to become an imperial power along the same lines as the United Kingdom; he opposed the Spanish–American War and the subsequent occupation of the Philippines on those grounds.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }} page 1339</ref>

He served as one of several alternating presidents pro tempore of the United States Senate during the 62nd Congress (1911 to 1913), as part of a compromise under which Bacon and four senators from the Republican majority rotated in the office because no single candidate in either party was able to secure a majority vote.<ref name="SenPPT">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

While in the Senate, Bacon was one of a number of members of Congress who tried to get "better" streets in Washington, D.C., named after their home states. Although most of these efforts failed, in 1908 Bacon succeeded in having Brightwood Avenue (or Brookeville Pike) renamed Georgia Avenue.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The old Georgia Avenue became Potomac Avenue.<ref>John Kelly, "The Mud Really Flew Over The First Georgia Avenue", The Washington Post, October 26, 2008.</ref>

Bacon died of a coronary occlusion on February 14, 1914, in Washington, D.C., at the age of 74.<ref name=obit>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="Marquis Who's Who 1975. P. 22"/> He was buried at Rose Hill Cemetery in Macon, Georgia.

LegacyEdit

After his death, Senator Bacon's 1911 will established a "whites only" park in Macon which was to be held in trust by the city. During the Civil Rights Movement, the use of the park, known as Baconsfield Park, was the subject of two related Supreme Court cases.

The first, Evans v. Newton, was decided in 1966.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The Court held that the use of the park for "whites only" was invalid under the Fourteenth Amendment Equal Protection Clause. Because the park was held in trust by a public entity, the Court held that it could not exclude non-white persons. Although the city tried to maintain the segregationist intentions of Senator Bacon by transferring the trust to private trustees, Justice Douglas’ majority opinion explained that a park is public in nature and may not exclude non-white persons from using the park for recreation.

A subsequent Supreme Court case, Evans v. Abney, was decided in 1970.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> After the Court held that Baconsfield Park was unable to perform a segregationist function, the state court held that "Senator Bacon's intention to provide a park for whites only had become impossible to fulfill and that accordingly the trust had failed and the parkland and other trust property had reverted by operation of Georgia law to the heirs of the Senator." The decision involved the doctrine of cy pres, and it was necessary for the court to determine Senator Bacon's probable intention in the matter. The Court concluded that, if Senator Bacon had been able to know that his objective was impossible or illegal, he would have preferred that the land revert to his heirs. The Supreme Court of the United States affirmed the decision of the Supreme Court of Georgia, holding that refusing to apply the doctrine of cy pres did not violate the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. Bacon's heirs then sold the property to private developers, who converted the land near North Avenue and Nottingham Drive to commercial use.<ref>Stephanie Barron, Jessica Carrier, Chad Moore, William Sanders, and Andrew Smith, "The Case over Baconsfield Park," Remembering the Civil Rights Movement, c. 2012.</ref>

Bacon County, Georgia, established shortly after his death in 1914, is named in his honor.<ref name=":0">Template:Cite book</ref>

ReferencesEdit

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Augustus O. Bacon

Contents

BiographyEdit

LegacyEdit

See alsoEdit

ReferencesEdit

Further readingEdit

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