Land Fever in GeorgiaManifest Destiny-the belief that U.S was destined to reach from east to west coastLand was taken from Indians and given to settlers through the Headright SystemThe Headright System - Head of family receives 200 acres and 50 acres for each family member (distributes land)Louisiana Purchase - 1803 President Jefferson bought the Louisiana Territory from France for $15 million The LA Purchase was the largest land gain in U.S. history.The Louisiana Territory’s western and eastern boundaries were the Rocky Mts. and the Mississippi

Yazoo Land Fraud

Land companies bribed Gov. George Matthews and members of the General Assembly .

a) bribed them to pass a law allowing land companies to

buy western land below market price

b) companies bought b/t 35 and 50 million acres of land for

$500,000 – about 1 ½ cents per acre

The public learned of deal and began to protest

* the legislators involved were voted out ofoffice

The Federal Gov. paid over $4 million in settlement claims and disputed GA right to the land

Georgia ceded its land in Mississippi & Alabama to the federal gov. for $1.25 million

Western boundary became the Chattahoochee River

Yazoo Land Fraud

The Yazoo Land Fraud

James Jackson and the Yazoo Land FraudAn old school textbook depicts Georgia senator James Jackson destroying records connected with the Yazoo land sale

The Yazoo Land Fraud scheme was the states worst political scandal because land speculators bribed members of The General Assembly to sell public land for low prices

Economic Growth in Georgia

After the war cotton and tobacco became the major cropsMany inventions after the war that advanced farming and the economyCyrus McCormick- Invented the mechanical reaperSamuel Slater - Invented the textile millEli Whitney - Invented the cotton gin (the most important invention to GA in the early 1800’sCash Crops are grown for the purpose of sellingSubsistence Farming – growing crops to feed the familyPanic of 1837 led to a downturn in GA’s economy and caused a depression

Henry BlairCorn Harvester

Samuel SlaterTextile Mill

Inventors

Cyrus McCormickThe Mechanical Reaper

Eli Whitney Cotton Gin

Inventors

Appalachian Mountains

Natural Barrier forcing population south and to the west

EducationUniversity of Georgia was the 1st state chartered institution in the United States

1784 Government set aside 40,000 acres of land for the creation of University of Georgia

A land grant university: land for the college was donated by the federal government

GA’s earliest women’s college was Georgia Female college (Wesleyan)

In 1786 GA legislature passed a law requiring each county to open academies.

ChurchesBaptist and Methodist Churches spread during this time.

Methodist circuit riders founded churches in the frontier region and had revivals

Circuit riders – ministers who went from district to district.

Churches were essential parts of town life, town meetings and social events were held here.

Georgia Baptist Convention was created – largest group of Baptists in the state.

Transportation Georgia’s main railroad companies Western Railroad and Atlantic RailroadTurnpike - private roadway in which travelers had to pay a toll to crossPrivate companies - approved by the government to help build roads/turnpikesFarmers moved their products by riverboats, ferries, and wagon trainsIn the late 1700’s GA’s capital moved from Augusta to Louisville, but in 1807 the capital would move to MilledgevilleAtlanta-not a planned city, its original name was Terminus then Marthasville