Born during the American Revolution in what is now Alabama, George Troup graduated from Princeton University in 1797. He was admitted to the bar in Savannah, Georgia in 1799. He served as a state legislator in Augusta from 1803 until 1805, when he was elected to the U. S. House of Representatives.

After serving as both a Representative and Senator from Georgia he returned to run for Governor as hand-picked successor to William Crawford, but Troup lost to Crawford's bitter rival, John Clark. From this point on, the factions were named Clarkites and Troupites.

Clark's supporters were generally frontier settlers while Troup's supporters were elitist plantation owners. Clark had twice beaten Troup for Governor, but in 1823 Troup sensed victory (Clark could not run). A major plank on both factions platforms was the removal of the Creek Indians from West Georgia.

In 1825, in Georgia's first popular election, Troup won by a razor-thin margin. He then negotiated a treaty for the removal of the Creek Indians with his cousin William McIntosh, a mixed-blood Creek chief. McIntosh was executed for his role in this treaty. Troup returned briefly to the Senate after completing his second term as governor, where he ironically served on the Committee on Indian Affairs.