George Michael Troup (1780–1856), planter and public official, was born in a section of Georgia that later became Alabama. He studied under private tutors in Savannah; attended Erasmus Hall in Flatbush, New York; graduated from the College of New Jersey (later Princeton University) in 1797; read law; and began practicing in 1799 in Savannah. Troup represented Chatham County as a Republican in the Georgia House of Representatives for three terms beginning in 1801. After moving to Bryan County in the same state, he sat in the United States House of Representatives, 1807–15, with service as chair of the Committee on Military Affairs during the War of 1812. Troup was generally a supporter of TJ and James Madison. He served as a United States senator, 1816–18, and after two unsuccessful gubernatorial races, he won that office in 1823 and again in 1825. As governor, Troup promoted internal improvements and successfully orchestrated the removal of Cherokee and Creek Indians from their native lands. He served again in the United States Senate in 1829–33, where he supported Nullification, and he remained a vocal supporter of states’ rights thereafter (ANB description begins John A. Garraty and Mark C. Carnes, eds., American National Biography, 1999, 24 vols. description ends ; DAB description begins Allen Johnson and Dumas Malone, eds., Dictionary of American Biography, 1928–36, 20 vols. description ends ; Edward J. Harden, The Life of George M. Troup [1859]; Porter L. Fortune, “George M. Troup: Leading State Rights Advocate” [Ph.D. diss., University of North Carolina, 1949]; Troup to TJ, 15 Dec. 1807 [DNA: RG 59, LAR, 1801–09]; Madison, Papers description begins William T. Hutchinson, Robert A. Rutland, John C. A. Stagg, and others, eds., The Papers of James Madison, 1962– , 31 vols.  Congress. Ser., 17 vols.  Pres. Ser., 6 vols.  Sec. of State Ser., 8 vols description ends , Pres. Ser.; Savannah Daily Morning News, 7, 14 May 1856).