 He taught school for two years, studied law, was admitted to the Georgia bar later in 1849 and became a practicing lawyer in Cumming, Georgia.Bell was a member of the Georgia secession convention, voting against secession as imprudent, but then signing the Ordinance of Secession.He believed that "the Northern States were astonished that the Southern States would secede; the Southern people were surprised that the government would attempt to hold the States together by force"**.