Colonization of Georgia

ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS• What were the reasons for Georgia’s

settlement?• Who contributed to the establishment

of the Georgia colony?• Who were the malcontents and what

affect did they have on the Georgia colony?

STANDARDSSS8H2 The student will analyze the colonial period of Georgia’s

history. • a. Explain the importance of James Oglethorpe, the Charter of

1732, reasons for settlement (charity, economics, and defense), Tomochichi, Mary Musgrove, and the city of Savannah.

• b. Evaluate the Trustee Period of Georgia’s colonial history, emphasizing the role of the Salzburgers, Highland Scots, malcontents, and the Spanish threat from Florida.

• c. Explain the development of Georgia as a royal colony with regard to land ownership, slavery, government, and the impact of the royal governors.

• The English established colonies on North America’s Atlantic coast throughout the 1600s. The goals of the colonists varied, from religious mission, gaining wealth to bettering their lives.

Great Britain wanted raw materials from the New World’s colonies, which it would manufacture into finished goods and sell to other countries. This was mercantilism.

By 1686, as the English colonies reached as far south as South Carolina, the Spanish retreated from Guale to St. Augustine, Florida. Great Britain wanted a “buffer” colony to protect the English colonists from Spanish Florida.

The English Influence in the Georgia Colony

• The French began colonizing the Gulf coast and parts of Alabama. England began worrying about the French and Spanish threats to its colonial claims.

Who Was James Oglethorpe?• Born in London in 1696• Member of an Influential Family• Well Educated• Wealthy• Cared Greatly for People in Trouble• Tried to Find Ways to Help Them • Member of Parliament’s House of Commons

Why did Oglethorpe want to form a new colony?

• James Edward Oglethorpe and 20 other influential men in Great Britain made a plan to create a new colony for the working poor. They envisioned a colony for people who faced jail time for bad debts.

silk, dyes, wine, spices, and semi-tropical fruit

What products did James Oglethorpe promise to send back to England?

Why Was Georgia

Created?

DefenseEconomics

Charity

Religion = Unofficial Reason

CHARTER OF 1732

• WHO: King George II, James Oglethorpe, 20 trustees, total of 115 colonists

• WHAT: Document to start a colony in Georgia• WHEN: 1732• WHERE: All land between Altamaha and Savannah

Rivers to the south seas, Town of Savannah on Yamacraw Bluff

• WHY: 1) protection from Spanish, French, and Native Americans, 2) provide resources for Britain, 3) populate the colony with “worthy poor”

In 1732, King George II created a charter

allowing 21 Trustees, including Oglethorpe,

to create a Georgia colony and oversee it

for 21 years.

King George II

Who was Georgia named

after?

It included the land between the Savannah and Altamaha rivers and extended west to the Pacific Ocean.

Georgia’s Charter

6,000 Words

Many Limits

...document establishing Georgia as a colony

Trustees Could Not...Be Given

Money for their Work

Own Land

HoldPoliticalOffice

WHOCOULD NOT

BECOME COLONISTS?

The Colony Belonged to the Crown!!!!

The First Georgia Colonists

Debtors & Prisoners

The First Georgia Colonists

•Carefully Investigated• Promised 50 acres of land, tools, and enough food for 1 year• If they could pay their own way, received 500 acres of land and permission to take 10 indentured servants.

In Exchange.... They Agreed to...

Defend the New Colony

Land Could Not Be Sold

Farm the Land

Grow Mulberry Trees on Portion of Land

Obey all regulations established by the trustees.

Between 114 and 125 settlers sailed from England on the ship Ann in 1732.

TomochichiOglethorpe befriended Tomochichi, chief of the Yamacraw Indians.

Yamacraw Bluff• Tomochichi led the settlers to Yamacraw Bluff

overlooking the Savannah River. This became the first settlement of the new Georgia colony.

Who was Mary Musgrove?• Daughter of a white trader and an

Indian woman from a powerful family of the Creek nation.

• Served as an interpreter between James Oglethorpe and the Native Americans.

• She and her first husband, John Musgrove, established fur trade with the Creeks.

• Instrumental in the peaceful founding of Savannah.

New Colonists Arrive in Georgia

Forty original settlers died in the first year. In 1733, 42 Jews were allowed to settle in Georgia, including a much-needed doctor.

City of Savannah

•Yamacraw Bluff became Savannah.•Oglethorpe designed the city.•Built using connected neighborhoods and squares•Each lot was of equal size.•The lots were arranged in a repeating pattern.

Soon, other colonists start coming

too…

The SalzburgersA group of German protestants were forced to leave Salzburg, which was controlled by the Catholics. They settled in a town called Ebenezer (Rock of Help), about 25 miles from Savannah.

Why did the Salzburgers move from their original location?

They worked hard, spoke a different language, and stayed to themselves. Three years later, they moved to Red Bluff and settled a new town called New Ebenezer (along the Savannah River) because the land at Ebenezer was marshy with poor soil for crops. They opposed slavery in the colony.

SALZBURGERS

Whatever you forget about the Salzburgers between now and the CRCT, at least remember this…

The Salzburgers were Protestant Christians who were kicked out of Catholic controlled Germany and wanted religious freedom in Georgia.

Highland Scots

• Recruited by Oglethorpe to provide defense for Georgia.

• Very capable soldiers

• Built a fort at Darien –Fort King George

HIGHLAND SCOTS key points• Came to Georgia in 1736 from Scotland• Built the town / fort of Darien south of Savannah

along the Altamaha River• Protected the Georgia colony from Spanish Florida –

helped Oglethorpe push the Spanish out of Georgia in the Battle of Bloody Marsh

• Changed from farming to cattle raising and harvesting timber

• Opposed slavery in the colony

In 1721, the English established Fort King George at the mouth of the Altamaha River, near today’s Darien. The fort was a “warning point” for invaders from Spanish Florida. The fort was abandoned after six years.

HIGHLAND SCOTS SUMMARY

Whatever you forget about the Highland Scots between now and the CRCT, at least remember this…

The Highland Scots were soldiers who colonized Georgia by creating the town of Darien and helped defend the colony from the Spanish during the Battle of Bloody Marsh.

More Settlers...• Oglethorpe and Chief

Tomochichi returned from a trip to England in 1736 with 300 more settlers. Religious leaders John and Charles Wesley also arrived in Georgia.

War of Jenkin’s EarThe War of Jenkin’s Ear broke out between Great Britain and Spain in 1739.Several years earlier, Spanish sailors were said to have cut off the ear of Robert Jenkins, a British seaman, to serve as a warning to British ship captains smuggling goods off the Florida coast.

Oglethorpe welcomed the war! He wanted to invade Florida.

Oglethorpe organized an army of about 2,000 men with plans to capture Spanish forts in Florida.

Spain’s well-organized militia met Oglethorpe and his men in a surprise attack and forced the Georgians, South Carolinians, and their Indian allies to retreat to St. Simon’s Island.

The Battle of Bloody Marsh• Assisted by the Highland Scots, Oglethorpe was able

to defeat the Spanish.

• They waited in the dense woods along the marshes of St. Simon’s Island and took the Spanish by surprise.

• Georgia’s southern border was protected.

Georgia’s Colonists Become Discontent

South Carolina used slave labor to successfully grow rice, tobacco, and cotton on large plantations. Farmers in Georgia wanted the same “success” that South Carolina farmers had.

Regulations enforced by Oglethorpe did not allow:rum tradebuying large tracts of landuse of slave labor

MalcontentsThose who complained about the policies of the Trustees. Arrived without assistance and did not have the same loyalty to the colony's founders. Could afford to purchase slaves and vast tracts of land and felt the policies of the Trustees prevented them from realizing their economic potential.

Why was the vision of the trustees for

Georgia never fulfilled?

Dissension caused many Georgians to move to

places where they could basically live as they

wished.

By 1742, Georgians were allowed to buy and sell rum.

Slavery was introduced in 1750.

The colony named for King George II was

changing.

Oglethorpe left the Georgia colony for

England in 1743 and never returned.

The Post-Oglethorpe

Era Begins

Three different men served as president of the Georgia colony from the time Oglethorpe left the colony until 1754:

William Stephens

Henry Parker

Patrick Graham

In 1752, one year before the initial 21-year charter

was to expire, the trustees returned

Georgia to the authority of King

George II. It became a royal

colony.

Trustee Colony1732 - 1752

Board of Trustees Ruled Colony

Land Ownership Restricted to 50 acres, plus a town lot

for colonists on charity

No Established Church (Freedom of Religion Except

for Catholics)

Slavery Prohibited

Royal Colony1752 - 1776

King Ruled Colony

Limits on Land Ownership Removed. Colonists could buy

and sell land; women could inherit land; plantations began

to grow rice, cotton, and tobacco

Anglican Church (Church of England)

Slavery Allowed

Who became the first royal governor of Georgia?

John Reynolds

• Introduced the idea of self-government• Bicameral legislature was set up• Set up a court system• French and Indian War began while he

was governor• Became unpopular because he tried to

run Georgia by himself• Suggested moving Savannah• recalled at the end of 1756

2nd Royal Governor =Henry Ellis• established a sound foundation for

government • Set up a budget and regulated trade with

the Indians• The colony made economic gains under

him• He helped improve the relationship of the

colony with the Creek Indians

3rd Royal Governor = James Wright• efficient administrator • Most popular governor• Georgia grew in development• The end of the French and Indian War gave

Georgia more land under his leadership• Was governor for 16 years

Colonial Leaders of Georgia

Trustee Period

James Oglethorpe 1733-1743 Resident

Trustee

William Stephens 1743-1751 President

Henry Parker 1751-1752 President

Patrick Graham 1752-1754 President

Royal Period

John Reynolds 1754-1757 Royal Governor

Henry Ellis 1757-1760 Royal Governor

James Wright 1760-1776 Royal Governor

What was Georgia’s 1st Government like?

Idea of self-governmentBicameral(two houses: Common House of Assembly & Governor’s Council representing 8 parishes both church and British government district)Court SystemWhite landowners could vote

• In its first 20 years as a colony, Georgia’s population grew to 5,500 people, of which one-third were slaves. Protestants from Europe found safe haven in Georgia.

• Treaties with Native Americans and victory over the Spanish settlers in Florida provided security to the Georgia colonists.

Early Georgia Colony Accomplishments• The Bethesda Orphans Home was established in Ebenezer.

• The orphanage later became Bethesda House School, where many of Georgia’s early leaders were educated.

• The Methodist Church was founded by John and Charles Wesley.

• The first Sunday School in America is established by the Wesley brothers.

• A successful court system was established and maintained.

• Women were able to inherit property.