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Rice was a popular crop along coast; further inland they
grew wheat and other products whose hulls needed to be "cracked"
before use, hence "Cracker," a derogatory name for poor upcountry
farmers.
Colonial
Georgia
Georgia
History 101
The colony of Georgia was truly the
vision of James
Edward Oglethorpe. His plan to use the new colony as a haven for people in
debtors prison grew out of his committee work while a member of Parliament.
Although Oglethorpe did not conceive the idea, he did seize it and attempted to
act upon it. However, by the time he received the charter for Georgia (June 9,
1732) Oglethorpe had dropped his plan to use debtors and hand-selected the 116 men and
women who would travel to South Carolina on The Ann.
On February 12, 1733 (February 1,
old style) a group of six small ships landed at Yamacraw Bluffs and set up on a
site Oglethorpe had chosen earlier. It would become Savannah.
Defense was an early concern of the new colony. Oglethorpe established a
perimeter around the colony including Fort Augusta, Fort Fredrica and Fort St.
Simon (List of
Georgia forts) and had slavery and liquor banned from the colony.
Over the first six years the
struggles of the new colony came from inside. Many did not like the lack of
land ownership; others were angry over the lack of slaves; some just wanted rum
and beer. Slavery was an extremely divisive issue, with the people of Savannah
wanting Negroes while the Highlanders along the coast and the Saltzburgers at
Ebenezer wanting to be slave-free.
Before the end of the first year of the
colony's history the population was increased by the arrival of a vessel with
forty Israelites who, while not under the care of the Trustees or coming with
their consent, proved to be thrifty and industrious people and were allowed
to remain.
Georgia had always been a
"melting pot," welcoming the persecuted and prosecuted of Europe
including large groups of Puritans, Lutherans, and Quakers (Wrightsboro). The
only group not welcome in Georgia were Catholics, which is not surprising
considering the religious wars that were fought a century earlier in England.
The diversity of religion brought Georgia an unexpected strength - an
willingness to accept others regardless of religion.
The first test of the new colony
came in 1739 during the War of Jenkins Ear. Southern Georgia and Florida were
battlegrounds over the next four years, most notably the siege of St. Augustine
(1740) and the Battle of Bloody Marsh (1742). When peace finally settled on the
colony Oglethorpe was gone, never to return, and William Stevens was president.
The War of Jenkins Ear was a minor
war that fueled a much larger conflict known as the War of Austrian Succession
(1742-1748). Because of the cost involved in fighting the war the English
Parliament had little money to support the colonies it helped fund over the
past 80 years. Georgia came under increasing pressure in the late 1740's to
become self-sufficient.
Georgia was not prosperous under the
trustee system. In 1749, 16 years into the trustee system, the colony exported
goods for the first time. James Habersham petitioned for slavery to be allowed
and the request was granted the following year.
The Southern States of America
The History of Georgia
- Chapter I - The Colony of Georgia, 1732 - 1776
Georgia
a Part of Carolina.
THE land which, in 1732, was
granted to the "Trustees for establishing the Colony of Georgia in
America" was originally granted to the Lords Proprietors of Carolina;
but as no act of settlement beyond the right shore of the Savannah River was
exercised by the proprietors, Sir Robert Montgomery obtained from them, in
1717, the right to the use of the territory between the Savannah and the
Altamaha rivers for a settlement to be called the Margravate of Azilia. It
was expected that the Montgomery colony would at once take steps to improve
the land so secured, and that the prosperity of the new undertaking would be
assured. Such was the prediction of those who were directly interested in the
project, but their efforts were not properly guided, and it remained for a
man of greater ability and of more decided energy to carry to a successful
issue the scheme proposed by Sir Robert Montgomery. James Oglethorpe was the
man who was to be the leader in this great work, and the circumstances which
led to his taking charge of it may be said to be providential.
Georgia
a Distinct Proprietary-Oglethorpe's Settlement.
The story of the investigation by
a committee of Parliament, headed by General Oglethorpe, of the methods
pursued in the matter of the imprisonment of unfortunate Englishmen, has been
so often told that it need not be here fully rehearsed. The result of the
investigation brought about the needed reform in the prison system, but the
most far-reaching and fruitful result was the founding of the Colony of
Georgia. Oglethorpe, who had been the chief instrument in bringing about the
great change, was chosen as the leader of the band to prepare the way for
departure to the new country which they were to develop and change into a
great state among a sisterhood of states forming the grand Union which is one
of the world's powers. For an accurate and true account of the reasons for
establishing the colony, succinctly stated, no better can be found than that
given by Gov. Robert Johnson, of South Carolina, in the preamble to a
proclamation issued by him Jan. 13, 1733, calling on his people to assist
their new neighbors in Georgia. In it occurs this statement : "I have
lately received a power from the Trustees for establishing a colony in that
part of Carolina between the rivers Altamaha and Savannah, now granted by his
Majesty's charter to the said Trustees, by the name of the Province of
Georgia, authorizing me to take and receive all such voluntary contributions
as any of his Majesty's good subjects of this province shall voluntarily
contribute towards so good and charitable a work as the relieving of poor and
insolvent debtors, and settIing, establishing and assisting poor Protestants
of what nation so ever as shall be willing to settle in the said
Colony." It maybe well for our readers to have before them also the
words of the charter granted by George IL, giving the reasons as follows:
"Many of our poor subjects are, through misfortune and want of employment,
reduced to great necessity, insomuch as by their labor they are not able to
provide a maintenance for themselves and their families; and, if they had
means to defray their charges of passage and the expenses incident to new
settlements, they would be glad to settle in any of our provinces in America,
where, by cultivating the lands at present waste and desolate, they might not
only gain a comfortable subsistence for themselves and families, but also
strengthen our colonies and increase trade, navigation and wealth of these,
our realms."
James Oglethorpe, the
philanthropist and Christian gentleman, was also by choice a soldier, leaving
college to take up arms in defense of a cause which he considered right. His
character was right in every respect, and in undertaking the establishment of
a colony under such circumstances he was literally carrying out the noble
sentiment expressed in the motto adopted for the seal of the Province: Non
sibi, sed alliis. Whether he foresaw the success of his scheme, or not, cannot
be determined, but certainly true was the statement made by a newspaper not
long before his death: "General Oglethorpe can say more than can be said
by the subject of any prince in Europe, or perhaps that ever reigned; he
founded the Province of Georgia in America, he has lived to see it flourish
and become of consequence to the commerce of Great Britain ; he has seen it
in a state of rebellion, and he now beholds it independent of the mother
country, and of great political importance in one quarter of the globe."
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James
Edward Oglethorpe ( 22 December 1696 - 30 June 1785) was an English general and philanthropist,
a founder of the state of Georgia.
Other
Settlements.
Before the end of the first year of the
colony's history the population was increased by the arrival of a vessel with
forty Israelites who, while not under the care of the Trustees or coming with
their consent, proved to be thrifty and industrious people and were allowed
to remain.
Following these came a band of religious exiles, called Salzburgers, who were
warmly welcomed and who made their settlement at a place they named Ebenezer,
up the Savannah River, about twenty-five miles from Oglethorpe's town.
He
was born in Godalming, Surrey,
the son of Sir Theophilus Oglethorpe (1650-1702) of Westbrook Place, Godalming. He
entered Corpus
Christi College, Oxford, in 1714, but in the same year joined the army of
Prince Eugene. Through the recommendation of John
Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough, he became aide-de-camp to the prince,
and he served with distinction in the campaign against the Turks, 1716-17,
more especially at the siege and capture of Belgrade. After his
return to England he was elected as member of parliament for Haslemere in 1722.
He campaigned for the improvement of the circumstances of poor debtors in
London prisons; for the purpose of providing a refuge for persons who had
become insolvent, and for oppressed Protestants on the
continent, he proposed the settlement of a colony in America
between Carolina and Florida. He laid the groundwork for the colonization of
the state, proposing that it be colonized with debtor In economics a
debtor (or a borrower) owes money to a creditor Accounting.s released from
the abominable conditions of England's debtors' prisons.
The first
company of the colonists, comprising 130 individuals, or thirty-five
families, came over in the latter part of the year 1732, in the ship Anne,
which set sail on November 17. Oglethorpe was one of the party. They reached
Charleston, S. C., Jan. 13, 1733, and were there cordially welcomed by
Governor Johnson, who assisted them in getting to the place where the first
settlement was to be made - Savannah. Leaving the others at Beaufort, on the
way, the General, guided by some of his Carolina friends, proceeded on his
way in order to select a spot for the permanent location of his followers. He
found what he sought, and a better selection than the site of the present
prosperous and flourishing city of Savannah could not have been made. Indeed,
no one would now wish for a change. On the spot he found a village inhabited
by Indians, of whom Tomochichi was the chief, and who soon discerned the true
character of Oglethorpe. The two men at once became friends and the Indians
and Englishmen remained friendly as long as the General lived in Georgia. A
treaty was afterwards made which was strictly observed, and the Colony of
Georgia had scarcely any troubles with the aborigines. The plan of the city
of Savannah has been greatly admired, and it would seem that it had been
carefully prepared before the colonists ever set foot upon the soil.
Oglethorpe, having chosen the spot, went back for his followers, reaching
Yamacraw Bluff Feb. 1 (old style), 1733 (Feb. 12, new style), and, after
landing, they united in a prayer of thanksgiving and praise to God, lodging
that night in tents. The work of building houses for the people began the
next day, and the settlement was called Savannah. In the work of making homes
for themselves the colonists were greatly assisted by their neighbors of
Carolina, who even then exhibited that social spirit for which they have ever
since been noted.
Other
Settlements.
Before the end of the first year of the
colony's history the population was increased by the arrival of a vessel with
forty Israelites who, while not under the care of the Trustees or coming with
their consent, proved to be thrifty and industrious people and were allowed
to remain.
Following these came a band of religious exiles, called Salzburgers, who were
warmly welcomed and who made their settlement at a place they named Ebenezer,
up the Savannah River, about twenty-five miles from Oglethorpe's town.
In a
little more than a year the following places, in addition to Savannah, were
settled: Highgate, Hampstead, Abercorn and Fort Argyle. In the meantime other
ships, with emigrants, arrived at Savannah, one of them, commanded by Captain
Yoakley, bringing supplies of tools, clothing and provisions, winning the
prize of a gold cup offered by the Trustees to the first vessel to enter the
river and unload a cargo at the public dock. She was followed by one bringing
the large addition of 150 souls to the population of the colony.
