Georgia Colony

1. Georgia Colony By John Hinson

2. Motivation • James Oglethorpe, who was a British Member of Parliament establised the Colony of Georgia for two reasons. • At that time, tension between Spain and Great Britain was high, and the British feared that Spanish Florida was threatening the British Carolinas. • Oglethorpe populated the Georgia Colony with debtors who would otherwise have been imprisoned according to standard British practice. This plan would both rid Great Britain of its undesirable elements and provide her with a base from which to attack Florida

3. Colonial Rule/Political Structure • Georgia was a proprietary colony for the first 9 years. • After the nine years as a proprietary colony, Georgia was passed over to the Crown in 1752. • So in 1752 Georgia became a royal Colony. • The people now elected an assembly and the king appointed the governor. The right to vote was extended to Protestant freemen, with certain property restrictions.

4. Rights • Only men could own land. Land belonging to male colonists who died without male heirs reverted to the Trust for regranting to male citizens. • If people bought land from another person and they did not pay the person for the land, the person who sold the land to that person would have the right to throw the purchaser in jail. • Women were able to prove a liability in the military operations.

5. Types of Settlements • First settlement in Georgia was Savannah. • OnFebruary 1, 1733, during the mid-afternoon 116 men, women and children made their way up the flight of steps and into a partially cleared and fortified compound. The rise afforded an excellent view of the surrounding area including the Yamacraw village a short distance away.

6. Economic Activities • Had 2 major cash crops which were tobacco and rice. • Indingo was also another cash crop but the ones that were most important were tobacco and rice. • They exported these products off to Europe and some of the rice to South East Asian Peasantries.

7. Labor • Slave women played an integral part in Georgia's colonial and antebellum history. • A few slaves had been brought from South Carolina during the early years of the new colony, when the institution was banned, but only after 1750, when the ban was lifted, did black men and women arrive in Georgia in significant numbers. • From 1750 until the first census, in 1790, Georgia's slave population grew from approximately 1,000 to nearly 30,000.

8. Religious/Social Issues • There were many different religions and types of colonies.   • Two that had a lot of conflicts were Puritans and Quakers.