 Many organizers of the confederacy believed in strong state and federal governments, but thought that townships could and should maintain some political and (importantly) ideological sovereignty.Initially, the actions of the towns and tribes of Clay County were overshadowed by another set of events in Western Georgia.Governor George Mathews, egged on by his base of land speculators and plantation owners, who each wanted a piece of the Western-pie, signed The Yazoo Land Act in 1795.