Rufus Bullock

Political life Bullock entered politics as a Republican delegate to the Georgia Constitutional Convention of 1867–1868. Despite serving in the Confederate Army, Bullock was nominated by the Republican Party for the 1868 Georgia gubernatorial election, and defeated Democratic nominee and former Major general of the Confederate States Army John B. Gordon on 20 April 1868. Bullock was sworn into office as the 46th governor of Georgia on 21 July 1868, becoming the first Republican governor of Georgia.

After Georgia ratified the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution, the Omnibus Act declared that states were entitled to representation in Congress as one of the states of the Union. Georgia again lost the right to representation in Congress because the General Assembly expelled twenty-eight black members and prevented blacks from voting in the 1868 presidential election (see Original 33). In response to an appeal from Bullock, Georgia was again placed under military rule as part of the Georgia Act of December 22, 1869. This made Bullock a hated political figure. After various allegations of scandal and ridicule, in 1871 he was obliged by the Ku Klux Klan to resign the governorship, and felt it prudent to leave the state. Bullock introduced the speaker, Booker T. Washington, who gave his famous "Atlanta Compromise" speech.

Death and legacy Bullock died in Albion, New York, in 1907 and was buried in Mt. Albion Cemetery nearby.

Bullock has had both detractors and admirers. According to the New Georgia Encyclopedia, he was the last progressive governor of Georgia until Jimmy Carter.