When the prohibition of slavery was abolished in 1750, many of Oglethorpe's followers emigrated to Western territory controlled by the Creek and Cherokee.

The Treaty of Augusta in 1773 forced the native Cherokee and Creek[6] to cede almost 2 million acres of land east of the Appalachians to the royal colony of Georgia.

This also led to a strong connection between the Natives and the small townships on the western face of the Georgian and South Carolinian Appalachians, including Bluffton.

The Coweta, who had not secured any territory rights from the Treaty of Augusta, sent a delegation to meet with the newly formed, self named “Constitutional Committee of Georgia” (leaders of several towns in the Clay County).

They drafted 2 documents: A Statement of Grievances to the Governor of Georgia Standard for Anglo-Creek Confederacy (The latter originally titled The Treatise of Bluffton was changed 1792 as part of the Treaty of Chattahoochee that brought most of the Creek confederacy into the fold of the Georgian Revolt) They sent their letter of grievances to the governor of Georgia, Edward Telfair, who had been sympathetic to the land rights of the Creek during the Cherokee-American Wars.

However, Telfair was voted out in 1793[7] and replaced by George Mathews, who represented the pro-slavery plantation owners and was far less sympathetic to the rights of the Creek.

They drafted the Document of Administration for Clay County which had seven key points: A loose confederation between the towns and tribes was to be set up.

Would organize a local institution to send letters to surrounding towns to promote support for a restructuring of government at the 1798 Constitutional Convention.

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.

The deal faced significant push back from the people of Georgia as well as many Jeffersonian politicians fueled by the Federalist-Jeffersonian rivalry that had spread across the country in the late 1700s.

In the wake of what the people of Clay County saw as aggressive and illegal government overreach, as well as a potential threat to their own liberty, the growing confederacy of native tribes and Georgian townships met again in Bluffton in 1795 to consider their response to the Yazoo Act.

The Eastern tribes and townships, closer to the threat of aggressive Georgian settlers, favored formally declaring independence and writing a constitution to affirm the confederacy's liberty, while the original signers of The Articles of Constitutional Sovereignty saw the danger of catching the negative attention of the state government.

With their agreement on paper, many of the founding officials from Bluffton realized that their county was no longer just a liberally independent territory.

But, when the town of Morgan refused to be absorbed into the DCC, the confederate government scrambled to deal with what was potentially their first military encounter.

An emergency meeting of the Bluffton town council was called on May 5, 1795, and a messenger was sent to the border to request any military action against Morgan be halted.

Although the self named “Constitutional Army of Georgia” met little resistance from the townsfolk, many of whom welcomed the bandits with cheers, the few official who had refused the DCC's request to join, fled to Savannah to inform the government of the insurgency in the Yazoo territory.

The small DCC force collected battle-hungry stragglers [needs verification] and began to march on the Town of Leary, 7 miles outside of the boundaries drawn by the 3rd Anglo-Creek convention.

The two small armies met outside of Leary on May 12, where many among the indolent band from Edison were rallying to push on the large settlement of Albany.

In the coming weeks after the new legislature convened in September 1795, the newly elected officials attempted to pass legislation that would lead to further expansion.

After weeks of growing tension, the leader of the new coalition, Thomas Bailey, managed to squeak through a bill that stationed the majority of the militia on the eastern border.

Although the proposal was met with ridicule, Bailey sent a message to the military forces on the eastern border led by Generals Menewa and Oliver Herald that the bill had in fact passed, that they were to March on Albany immediately.

In July, King George III sent a personal letter to the Bluffton council offering financial assistance if the DCC declared its independence.

Whitfield and Jones succeeded in basing the language of their declaration on The Articles of Constitutional Sovereignty, including a clause offering to rejoin the union if their requests were met.

On January 10, 1797, the DCC's declaration reached the Governor's desk; the next day a force of approximately 500 men marched on Albany.

Unable to organize their militia, Bailey sent a letter (it is questionable whether or not at the behest of the military council) to Menewa's forces stationed at Leary and Shellman to reinforce Onetiwa at Albany.

The initial battle lasted six days in the area surrounding Leary; given the Creek's military strategy the fighting quickly descended into pseudo-guerilla warfare.

In 1798 Jackson was elected Governor; he began to push for Georgia to sell the land including the DCC to the federal government.

When they arrived in Clay County, they found a beleaguered and disorganized militia, unprepared to battle such a large, well trained force.

Jones, Bailey and Creek leader Talof Harjo met with US generals Jamison T. Williams at Fort Gaines.