GEOrGIa: thE fInal COlOny Quiz

PDF page 239: Georgia was the last of the original thirteen colonies to be established. As British settlement spread to the south and west, it came into increasing contact with the Spanish in Florida and the French in the Mississippi River valley. From an imperial viewpoint, Georgia functioned as buffer zone between British settlements and their imperial rivals; the new colony was to be a garrison province that would defend the British, especially from Spanish Florida. James Oglethorpe, English politician, social reformer, and the founder of the colony, envisioned an additional purpose for the Georgia: a haven for the “worthy poor” and an alternative to debtor’s prison for some English. In the years before the founding of the Georgia colony, both the English and the Spanish sought to control the border area at the limits of Carolina

PDF page 239: Georgia was the last of the original thirteen colonies to be established. As British settlement spread to the south and west, it came into increasing contact with the Spanish in Florida and the French in the Mississippi River valley. From an imperial viewpoint, Georgia functioned as buffer zone between British settlements and their imperial rivals; the new colony was to be a garrison province that would defend the British, especially from Spanish Florida. James Oglethorpe, English politician, social reformer, and the founder of the colony, envisioned an additional purpose for the Georgia: a haven for the “worthy poor” and an alternative to debtor’s prison for some English. In the years before the founding of the Georgia colony, both the English and the Spanish sought to control the border area at the limits of Carolina

PDF page 239: Georgia was the last of the original thirteen colonies to be established. As British settlement spread to the south and west, it came into increasing contact with the Spanish in Florida and the French in the Mississippi River valley. From an imperial viewpoint, Georgia functioned as buffer zone between British settlements and their imperial rivals; the new colony was to be a garrison province that would defend the British, especially from Spanish Florida. James Oglethorpe, English politician, social reformer, and the founder of the colony, envisioned an additional purpose for the Georgia: a haven for the “worthy poor” and an alternative to debtor’s prison for some English. In the years before the founding of the Georgia colony, both the English and the Spanish sought to control the border area at the limits of Carolina

PDF page 239: Georgia was the last of the original thirteen colonies to be established. As British settlement spread to the south and west, it came into increasing contact with the Spanish in Florida and the French in the Mississippi River valley. From an imperial viewpoint, Georgia functioned as buffer zone between British settlements and their imperial rivals; the new colony was to be a garrison province that would defend the British, especially from Spanish Florida. James Oglethorpe, English politician, social reformer, and the founder of the colony, envisioned an additional purpose for the Georgia: a haven for the “worthy poor” and an alternative to debtor’s prison for some English. In the years before the founding of the Georgia colony, both the English and the Spanish sought to control the border area at the limits of Carolina

PDF page 240: and Florida through trade and alliances with Indians, as well as through warfare. Throughout the southeast, a large and lucrative Indian slave trade developed alongside European, and especially British, colonization. The growing need for labor in the Americas, especially in the Caribbean sugar islands, meant that there was a new market for people taken as captives in intertribal warfare and raids. The British used this Indian slave trade to establish greater power and presence in the southern colonies and in the borderlands between British and Spanish settlements as they negotiated and formed alliances with many groups selling captives into slavery through ports such as Charles Town. To the south, the Spanish laid claim to the area through a different means of interacting with native peoples, by establishing a chain of religious mission villages among the Guale, Timucua, and Apalachee Indians. The two most important centers of the mission system were located in St. Augustine in the east and Tallahassee, Florida in the west, but mission outposts pushed north as far as the present cities of Valdosta and Folkston, as well as St. Catherine’s Island on the coast. These missions not only served to Christianize and acculturate southeastern Indians, but also as a source of labor and food and a buffer between British Charles Town

PDF page 240: and Florida through trade and alliances with Indians, as well as through warfare. Throughout the southeast, a large and lucrative Indian slave trade developed alongside European, and especially British, colonization. The growing need for labor in the Americas, especially in the Caribbean sugar islands, meant that there was a new market for people taken as captives in intertribal warfare and raids. The British used this Indian slave trade to establish greater power and presence in the southern colonies and in the borderlands between British and Spanish settlements as they negotiated and formed alliances with many groups selling captives into slavery through ports such as Charles Town. To the south, the Spanish laid claim to the area through a different means of interacting with native peoples, by establishing a chain of religious mission villages among the Guale, Timucua, and Apalachee Indians. The two most important centers of the mission system were located in St. Augustine in the east and Tallahassee, Florida in the west, but mission outposts pushed north as far as the present cities of Valdosta and Folkston, as well as St. Catherine’s Island on the coast. These missions not only served to Christianize and acculturate southeastern Indians, but also as a source of labor and food and a buffer between British Charles Town

PDF page 240: Georgia colony. The British were not entirely successful in their Indian relations. The growing Indian slave trade contributed to the outbreak of the invasion of the Carolinas known as the Yamasee War in 1715. The Spanish and French

PDF page 241: used the war as an opportunity to push further into the frontier. Spain reestablished some of the Guale missions to the north; the French built Fort Toulouse near the present city of Montgomery, Alabama. Georgia and the southern frontier remained contested ground, and the British emerged from the Yamasee War in 1717 with the realization that they were losing ground in the region. In 1721, they began construction of Fort King George, a permanent outpost at the mouth of the Altamaha River. The fort established a British presence, albeit a tenuous one, deep within the frontier. Soldiers stationed at Fort King George lived on the edge of starvation, and may have deliberately set fire to the fort in hopes that it would be abandoned. Ultimately, the British recalled most of the force and left a skeleton crew at the fort to act as lookouts to warn of Spanish activities in the contested area of the frontier.

PDF page 241: 5.5.1 trustee Georgia In London, Parliamentary representative James Oglethorpe chaired a Parliamentary committee on prison reform in England. His experiences and the findings revealed by this committee convinced him that poverty in London and Great Britain as a whole was linked to urbanization: as people came in from the countryside, they became members of the working poor and fell into debt, sometimes resorting to criminal activity. In 1730, Oglethorpe and like-minded politicians formed the Trustees for the Establishment of the Colony of Georgia in America. The plan called for the formation of a colony that would serve as a place for the insolvent to go to escape poverty, setting themselves up as smallholding farmers. Land would be parceled into fifty acre bundles, made up of a town plot, a small garden area near town, and a 45 acre farm in the country. Thus, the family farm would be the centerpiece of the colonial system. Wealthy colonists would be able to buy more than one fifty acre parcel, but the amount of land they were able to buy was directly related to the number of indentured servants they brought to the colony. Finally, the indentured servants themselves would receive a land grant after they had completed their term of service. Oglethorpe and the Trustees gained support for the Georgia colony by promoting it as a military buffer between the Carolinas and the Spanish holdings in Florida. The colonists, including small farmers, merchants, and artisans, would serve as a militia force against Spanish and Indians alike. Parliament would have to provide an initial investment in the colony, but Oglethorpe and the Trustees argued that Georgia would quickly become self-sufficient. Their plans called for the colony to become a source of luxury items such as wine and silk. Both colonial industries failed; the silk industry failed to produce even one profitable crop. In 1732, the Trustee’s plans were

PDF page 241: 5.5.1 trustee Georgia In London, Parliamentary representative James Oglethorpe chaired a Parliamentary committee on prison reform in England. His experiences and the findings revealed by this committee convinced him that poverty in London and Great Britain as a whole was linked to urbanization: as people came in from the countryside, they became members of the working poor and fell into debt, sometimes resorting to criminal activity. In 1730, Oglethorpe and like-minded politicians formed the Trustees for the Establishment of the Colony of Georgia in America. The plan called for the formation of a colony that would serve as a place for the insolvent to go to escape poverty, setting themselves up as smallholding farmers. Land would be parceled into fifty acre bundles, made up of a town plot, a small garden area near town, and a 45 acre farm in the country. Thus, the family farm would be the centerpiece of the colonial system. Wealthy colonists would be able to buy more than one fifty acre parcel, but the amount of land they were able to buy was directly related to the number of indentured servants they brought to the colony. Finally, the indentured servants themselves would receive a land grant after they had completed their term of service. Oglethorpe and the Trustees gained support for the Georgia colony by promoting it as a military buffer between the Carolinas and the Spanish holdings in Florida. The colonists, including small farmers, merchants, and artisans, would serve as a militia force against Spanish and Indians alike. Parliament would have to provide an initial investment in the colony, but Oglethorpe and the Trustees argued that Georgia would quickly become self-sufficient. Their plans called for the colony to become a source of luxury items such as wine and silk. Both colonial industries failed; the silk industry failed to produce even one profitable crop. In 1732, the Trustee’s plans were

PDF page 242: approved, and the first group of colonists departed for Georgia aboard the ship Anne, founding the city of Savannah in 1733 after negotiation with the Yamasee, and later the Creek. Families were assigned lots within the town for their houses, a five acre garden at the edge of town, and a 45 acre farm

PDF page 242: in the countryside. Over the next decade, Oglethorpe and the Georgia colonists worked to ensure that Georgia could defend itself against the encroachment of the Spanish, realizing Georgia’s role as military buffer zone. They began construction of a chain of forts on the Georgia’s coast. The most important of these fortified outposts was by far Fort Frederica, located on St. Simon’s Island. Built in 1736, the fort housed several hundred regular British troops, sent by the Crown on advice of Oglethorpe, and a growing settlement of colonists. The forts and the garrison soon after saw action when the War of Jenkins’ Ear (part of the larger conflicts of King George’s War or the War of Austrian Succession) broke out in 1739. Oglethorpe and a force of about 1,500 sailed for St. Augustine, laying siege to the city in conjunction with a blockade by the Royal Navy. The expedition was initially successful, capturing several Spanish outposts, including the settlement of Gracia Real de Santa Teresa de Mosé (renamed Fort Mose by Oglethorpe), populated by runaway slaves from the British colonies. These men and women were granted freedom by the Spanish in an attempt to undermine the plantation economy of the British colonies. Oglethorpe’s force was eventually expelled from Georgia because of the failure of the blockade to prevent the resupplying of St. Augustine and the defeat of Oglethorpe’s forces at Fort Mose, known as “Bloody Moosa.” Black militiamen from the settlement of Mosé were among the Spanish forces that expelled the Georgians from Florida. Border warfare between Georgia and Florida continued through 1743, with an invasion of Georgia and another of St. Augustine, to little overall effect and the imperial outpost colonies resumed their stalemate for the duration of the war. From 1732-1752, Georgia was governed by a Board of Trustees based in London. Unlike the other British colonies, there was no governor in the colony, nor was there a governing legislative body. The Trustees in London were barred from holding office or owning land in Georgia. In many ways, the Trustees conducted a social experiment in the new colony through its population and through the Georgia charter. Although few colonists were the debtors envisioned by Oglethorpe, many were indeed among the “deserving poor.” However, rather than finding relief from debt in the colony, most colonists found themselves further indebted for their passage to the colony. In most cases, the colonists were indebted to the Georgia Trust itself, Adults typically served terms of five years of indentured servitude to the Trust, but children were often bonded for much longer terms; some were bound to service for terms of seventeen or even twenty-one years. Some of the