By Toni Heinzl
Staff Writer
Web-posted June 21, 1996 at 4 p.m.

John Forsyth was considered the most accomplished Georgia politician of the early 1800s and one of the most able men in the young United States.

When he returned home to Augusta in 1821, a diplomat who had just completed difficult negotiations for the acquisition of Florida from Spain, he received a hero's welcome. The Augusta Chronicle praised him, and city and state leaders sponsored a testim onial dinner at the old Planter's Hotel.

At the time, Forsyth was one of the most respected men in Georgia. Not only was he known for his quick mind and superb debating skills, he also was considered handsome, genteel and polite.

Townspeople were obviously proud of the man whose career had risen from that of Augusta lawyer to Georgia attorney general (1808) to the U.S. House of Representatives (1813-1818). He continued his achievements by being named U.S. minister to Spain and finishing the Florida Treaty.

His hometown, however, did not seem to have a hold on him. Even though he was elected Georgia governor in 1827, he returned to Washington after one term to serve in the Senate.

``Forsyth was dissatisfied as a governor because he preferred the Washington limelight,'' biographer Alvin Laroy Duckett wrote in John Forsyth: Political Tactician.

``He considered himself naturally fitted for national politics. Nevertheless, his inclination for efficiency, honesty, and economy resulted in an administration of pronounced success,'' Mr. Duckett wrote.

His wife also seemed unhappy in what was then a rural and isolated region. Her letters to friends in the North are filled with complaints and tribulations.

Forsyth was not an Augusta native. Born in 1780 in Fredericksburg, Va., he was the second son of Maj. Robert Forsyth, then the deputy commissary general of purchases for the Revolutionary Southern Army.

He was 13 when his father, who was appointed the first U.S. marshal of the District of Georgia, was shot and killed while serving a warrant.

Forsyth went to school at Springer Academy in Wilkes County, Ga., a school of choice for Augusta boys. He studied the classics under the gigantic John Springer, a Presbyterian minister reputed to weigh more than 400 pounds. Among his classmates was Wil liam Harris Crawford, a future U.S. senator and secretary of the treasury under President James Monroe.

Later, while he attended Princeton University, tragedy again struck Forsyth's family. His only brother, Robert, a law student in Savannah, died. Shortly after his graduation from Princeton, Forsyth returned to Augusta to practice law with attorney John Y. Noel. He was admitted to the state bar in 1802 and six years later, after a stellar legal career, was elected attorney general by the state Legislature.

He was married in 1802 to Clara Meigs, the oldest daughter of Josiah Meigs, first president of Franklin College in Athens, which became the University of Georgia. The couple had six girls and two boys.

Carl Vipperman, a University of Georgia history professor, says Forsyth was the most accomplished Georgia congressman of his time and became known as a strong advocate for a powerful, national government in the debate about states' rights.

``He easily ranked first among the Georgia congressional delegation,'' said Dr. Vipperman, a specialist on state history. ``He was of an outstanding intelligence. In the debate over states' rights and national strength, he was for national power.''

When South Carolina nullified the federal tariff in 1832 and asked Georgia to follow, it was Forsyth who persuaded fellow Georgia legislators not to support its neighbor.

As a leading nationalist in the 1820s, it was natural that Forsyth became an ally of Andrew Jackson after he was elected president in 1828, Dr. Vipperman said.

Jackson rewarded Forsyth in 1834 with his top Cabinet post, secretary of state, a position he held for six years, through the end of Jackson's term and that of Martin Van Buren, who followed him.

Forsyth did not retire to Augusta. Months after leaving office, he was considering another Senate bid when he died from a fever at his Washington home Oct. 21, 1841. He was buried in the congressional cemetery.

Upon his death, a Washington newspaper reported: ``He possessed qualities which placed him above the level of the mass of mankind.''

In Georgia, an old foe wrote: ``The mental qualities of this gentleman justly merit ... the highest praise that can be awarded.''