His father, a well-to-do planter, died in 1827; George, after briefly participating in mercantile activities, began studying law in the office of a Fayetteville, Tennessee, lawyer.

[4] The legislature elected him to a full six-year term that December, and he served until his resignation in 1849, at which time he took up the practice of law in Hayneville.

Citing cases such as Martin v. Hunter's Lessee (1816) and Sturges v. Crowninshield (1819)—pro-federal-government Marshall-Court decisions that Southerners had long hated—Stone demonstrated support for a strong central Confederate government, although the opinion also contained language sympathetic to states' rights.

[3] Stone's pro-Confederate attitudes led to his removal from the bench once Reconstruction began, but his reputation as a lawyer remained unblemished even among Unionists; in 1865, the legislature tasked him with drafting a new criminal code for the state.

He held in McManus v. State (1860) that individuals could not claim self-defense when they had an opportunity to withdraw (the duty to retreat), rebuking those who sought to settle disputes by resorting to "notions of chivalry or personal prowess".