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The Georgia Colony was based on the illusion of Philanthropy. Founding: According to the charter of Georgia. No Trustee could own land, make a profit, receive a salary or make income because of their work on the trust. The Trustees must labor for the good of the colony.1 This was indeed a new and bold experiment. On the other hand, the impetus to create a new colony south of the Carolinas was based on the desire to create a buffer between the British colonies and the Spanish in Florida, and a fear that the French would disrupt the Indian trade. So Georgia was created as a sacrificial colony to protect the Carolinas. James Oglethorpe was the motive force behind the founding of the Georgia Colony. He had made a name for himself while serving as a member of the House of Commons by organizing an investigation into the conditions in debtor’s prisons. This resulted in the release of ten thousand prisoners2 On February 12, 1733(February 1, new style) the colonists arrived at the site of what would grow to be Savannah. The leader of the group, James Oglethorpe, and 114 passengers, or 91 heads, children under 12 being counted as less than one head, departed from the Ann. Natives: Oglethorpe was very a capable negotiator and established good relations with the Creeks. He was able to develop a very good relationship with the local chief Tomo-Chi-Chi. In 1739 Oglethorpe traveled three hundred miles through the wilderness to attend a meeting of the Creek Nation. He was able to establish a clear boundary between Georgia and the Creek Nation. The Creeks also helped in the war against the Spanish, though after Oglethorpe departed the relationship deteriorated. Ethnic Make-Up: The first settlers were English. They were followed my both Salsburgers, Lower Scots, Highland Scots, and 92 Jews. The Lower Scots quickly discovered that they couldn’t make a living farming and moved to Savannah. Most of the colonists were British and quite of few paid their own way. There was a group of Morovians who came as indentured servants and settled in Savannah. They refused to accept military duty, and so were unpopular. In 1738 and 1740 they moved to Pennsylvania. Though many groups came to Georgia the majority of the colonists were English. After 1738, the Trustees sent few charity colonists; instead they sent indentured servants who were sold to colonists, or who worked for the trustees. Indentured servants were easier to control. In the end the Trustees sent about 1,100 indentured servants to Georgia. Economy 1733 – 1750: The Trustees pushed silk and wine production, nether of which proved a success. The Trustees only expected to supply the food for the colonists for the first year, but food production lagged, and they supported many colonists for several years. Early food crops were corn, Indian peas, potatoes and rice. Corn was the most important. There were several reasons for this agricultural failure, sandy soil, swamps that flooded, and hot dry summers, late spring frosts, and lack of experience. These coupled with the townspeople’s’ reluctance to do hard manual labor, made for poor agricultural success. Surprisingly, cattle ranching was successful, but it was ignored because it would not produce a defensive colony. The reason the Trustees promoted silk production was their hope that they could create cheep supply of raw silk for England. Economy 1750 – 1175: As a royal colony Georgia started to exploit its natural resources: land, timber, and deerskins. When slavery was introduced, rice production became viable.
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