How Button Gwinnett Became One of America’s Most Controversial Founders

How Button Gwinnett Became One of America’s Most Controversial Founders

This episode explores the dramatic life and legacy of Button Gwinnett, one of Georgia’s signers of the Declaration of Independence and one of the most polarizing figures of the Revolutionary era. Historian Stan Deaton and author Colin Gwinnett Sharp unpack Gwinnett’s ambition, financial failures, political maneuvering, and his bitter rivalry with Lachlan McIntosh that ended in a fatal duel outside Savannah. From colonial politics and military tensions to questions of ego, reputation, and opportunity, this episode reveals how Gwinnett’s rise and fall shaped early Georgia history and why his famous signature remains one of the rarest in America.

Marked! - The Podcast Trailer

With more than 2,000 roadside historical markers spread across our state, we’re zooming in on twelve to explore the people, places, and moments that help to tell the larger Georgia story. As America celebrates its 250th birthday, Marked! looks at the unique, complex, and important role the 13th original colony played during America’s revolutionary period.