Province of Georgia

Colony of Great Britain

1732–1777

Flag

A map of the Province of Georgia, 1732–1777

Capital

Savannah

Languages

English, Mikasuki, Cherokee, Muscogee, Shawnee, Yuchi

Government

Constitutional monarchy

King

•

1732–1760

George II

•

1760–1777

George III

Governor

•

1732-1743

James Oglethorpe (first)

•

1760–1782

James Wright (last)

Legislature

Commons House of Assembly (lower)
General Assembly (upper)

Historical era

Colonial Era

•

Established

1732

•

Disestablished

1777

Currency

Pound sterling

Preceded by

Succeeded by

Pre-Colonial America

Georgia (U.S. state)

Today part of

United States

The Province of Georgia^[1] (also Georgia Colony) was one of the Southern colonies in British America. It was the last of the thirteen original American colonies established by Great Britain in what later became the United States. In the original grant, a narrow strip of the province extended to the Pacific Ocean.^[2]

The colony's corporate charter^[3] was granted to General James Oglethorpe on April 21, 1732, by George II, for whom the colony was named. The charter was finalized by the King's privy council on June 9, 1732. Oglethorpe envisioned a colony which would serve as a haven for English subjects who had been imprisoned for debt. General Oglethorpe imposed very strict laws that many colonists disagreed with, such as the banning of alcohol. Oglethorpe disagreed with slavery and thought a system of smallholdings more appropriate than the large plantations common in the colonies to the north. However, land grants were not as large as most colonists would have preferred. Oglethorpe envisioned the province as a location for the resettlement of English debtors and "the worthy poor". Another motivation for the founding of the colony was as a "buffer state" (border), or "garrison province" that would defend the southern part of the British colonies from Spanish Florida. Oglethorpe imagined a province populated by "sturdy farmers" that could guard the border; because of this, the colony's charter prohibited slavery.^[1]

Foundation

Main article: Trustee Georgia

Oglethorpe's original plan had called for Georgia to be established as a safe home for those who had been imprisoned as debtors. The following is an historical accounting of these first English settlers sent to Georgia:

"A committee was appointed to visit the jails and obtain the discharge of such poor prisoners as were worthy, carefully investigating character, circumstances and antecedents."^[4]

"Thirty-five families, numbering one hundred and twenty persons, were selected."^[5]

"On the 16th of November, 1732, the emigrants embarked at Gravesend on the ship Anne ... arriving January 13th [1733] in the harbor of Charleston, S. C. ..."

"They set sail the day following ... into Port Royal, some eighty miles southward, to be conveyed in small vessels to the river Savannah."^[6]

Oglethorpe continued up the river to scout a location suitable for settlement. On February 12, 1733, Oglethorpe led the settlers to their arrival at Yamacraw Bluff, in what is now the city of Savannah, and established a camp with the help of a local elderly Creek chief, Tomochichi. A Yamacraw Indian village had occupied the site, but Oglethorpe arranged for the Indians to move. The day is still celebrated as Georgia Day.

The original charter specified the colony as being between the Savannah and Altamaha Rivers, up to their headwaters (the headwaters of the Altamaha are on the Ocmulgee River), and then extending westward "to the south seas." The area within the charter had previously been part of the original grant of the Province of Carolina, which was closely linked to Georgia.^[1]

Development

Savannah, Georgia Colony, early 18th century

The Privy Council approved the establishment charter on June 9, 1732, and for the next two decades the council of trustees governed the province, with the aid of annual subsidies from Parliament. However, after many difficulties and the departure of Oglethorpe, the trustees proved unable to manage the proprietary colony, and on June 23, 1752, they submitted a deed of reconveyance to the crown, one year before the expiration of the charter. On January 7, 1755, Georgia officially ceased to be a proprietary colony and became a crown colony.

From 1732 until 1758, the minor civil divisions were districts and towns. In 1758, without Indian permission, the Province of Georgia was divided into eight parishes by the Act of the Assembly of Georgia on March 15. The Town and District of Savannah was named Christ Church Parish. The District of Abercorn and Goshen, and the District of Ebenezer, was named the Parish of St. Matthew. The District of Halifax was named the Parish of St. George. The District of Augusta was named the Parish of St. Paul. The Town of Hardwick and the District of Ogeechee, including the islands of Ossabaw, was named the Parish of St. Philip. From Sunbury in the District of Midway and Newport to the south branch of Newport, including the islands of St. Catherine and Bermuda, was named the Parish of St. John. The Town and District of Darien, to the Altamaha River; including the islands of Sapelo and Eastwood, and including the sea islands north of Egg Island, was named the Parish of St. Andrew. The Town and District of Frederica; including the islands of Great and Little St. Simons, and the adjacent islands, was named the Parish of St. James.^[7]

Following Britain’s victory in the French and Indian War, King George III issued the Proclamation of 1763. One of its provisions was to extend Georgia’s southern boundary from the Altamaha River to the St. Marys River. Two years later, on March 25, 1765, Gov. James Wright approved an act of the General Assembly creating four new parishes St. David, St. Patrick, St. Thomas, and St. Mary—in the newly acquired land, and further assigning Jekyll Island to St. James Parish.^[8] In 1777, the original eight counties of the State of Georgia were created.

In practice, settlement in the colony was limited to the near vicinity of the Savannah River. The western area of the colony remained under the control of the Creek Indian Confederation until after the American Revolutionary War.

In the beginning, the colony had a sluggish start. James Oglethorpe did not allow liquor, and colonists who came at the trustees' expense were not allowed to own more than 50 acres (0.20 km²) of land for their farm in addition to a 60 foot by 90 foot plot in town. Those who paid their own way could bring ten indentured servants and would receive 500 acres of land. Additional land could neither be acquired nor sold.^[9]

Discontent grew in the colony because of these restrictions, and so Oglethorpe lifted them. With slavery, liquor, and land acquisition the colony improved much faster. Slavery had been permitted from 1749.^[10] There was some internal opposition, particularly from Scottish settlers,^[11] but by the time of the War of Independence, Georgia was much like the rest of the South.

On April 24, 1802, Georgia ceded to Congress parts of its western territories. These became the Mississippi Territory and later (with other adjoining lands) the states of Alabama and Mississippi.

References

1 2 3 "Charter of Georgia: 1732". Avalon Law. Lillian Goldman Law Library, Yale Law School. 2008. Archived from the original on October 22, 2008. Retrieved 23 February 2016. All which lands, countries, territories and premises, hereby granted or mentioned, and intended to be granted, we do by these presents, make, erect and create one independent and separate province, by the name of Georgia, by which name we will, the same henceforth be called.
↑ "Charter of Georgia : 1732". avalon.law.yale.edu. Lillian Goldman Law Library. Archived from the original on October 22, 2008. ...[from] the Savannah [to] the Alatamaha sic, and westerly from the heads of the said rivers respectively, in direct lines to the south seas.
↑ "Royal Charter of the Colony of Georgia". Trustees, Colony of Georgia, RG 49-2-18. Georgia Archives. Retrieved 18 May 2016.
↑ Cooper, Harriet Cornelia (January 1, 1904). "James Oglethorpe: The Founder of Georgia". D. Appleton – via Google Books.
↑ Cooper, Harriet Cornelia (January 1, 1904). "James Oglethorpe: The Founder of Georgia". D. Appleton – via Google Books.
↑ Cooper, Harriet Cornelia (January 1, 1904). "James Oglethorpe: The Founder of Georgia". D. Appleton – via Google Books.
↑ georgiainfo.galileo.usg.edu "1758 Act Dividing Georgia into Parishes"
↑ "GeorgiaInfo". georgiainfo.galileo.usg.edu. Retrieved 2016-02-16.
↑ Force, Peter. "Tracts and other papers relating principally to the origin, settlement, and progress of the colonies in North America from the discovery of the country to the year 1776." (Web). American Memory. Retrieved 28 September 2013.
↑ "History of the United States of America".
↑ Wikisource: Petition against the Introduction of Slavery

External links

Wikisource has original text related to this article:

Charter of Georgia

LOC: Establishing the Georgia Colony 1732–1750
Carl Vinson Institute of Government, University of Georgia: Georgia History
Sir John Percival papers, also called: The Egmont Papers, 1732–1745. University of Georgia Hargrett Library.
Diary of Viscount Percival afterwards first Earl of Egmont. University of Georgia Hargrett Library.
Charter of Georgia from the Avalon Project
Royal Charter for the Colony of Georgia, 09 June 1732 from the collection of the Georgia Archives.
Original Grantees of the Colony of Georgia, 21 December 1733 from the collection of the Georgia Archives.
1758 Act Dividing Georgia into Parishes
Colonial Will Books, 1754-1779 from the Georgia Archives

The Thirteen Colonies of Colonial America

New England Colonies Middle Colonies Chesapeake Colonies Southern Colonies

Connecticut Colony Delaware Colony Province of Georgia Province of Maryland Province of Massachusetts Bay Province of New Hampshire Province of New Jersey Province of New York Province of North Carolina Province of Pennsylvania Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations Province of South Carolina Colony of Virginia

Territories of the British Empire and the United Kingdom

Legend: Current territory; Former territory; * Now a Commonwealth realm; Now a member of the Commonwealth of Nations; Historical flags of the British Empire

Europe

1542–1800 Ireland (integrated into UK) 1708–1757 Minorca Since 1713 Gibraltar 1763–1782 Minorca 1798–1802 Minorca 1800–1813 Malta (Protectorate) 1813–1964 Malta (Colony) 1807–1890 Heligoland 1809–1864 Ionian Islands 1878–1960 Cyprus 1921–1937 Irish Free State

North America

17th century and before		18th century	19th and 20th century

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1. Occupied jointly with the United States.
2. In 1931, Canada and other British dominions obtained self-government through the Statute of Westminster. See Name of Canada.
3. Gave up self-rule in 1934, but remained a de jure Dominion until it joined Canada in 1949.

South America

1631–1641 Providence Island colony 1651–1667 Willoughbyland (Suriname) 1670–1688 Saint Andrew and Providence Islands⁴ 1831–1966 British Guiana (Guyana) Since 1833 Falkland Islands⁵ Since 1908 South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands⁵

4. Now the one the departments of Colombia. 5. Occupied by Argentina during the Falklands War of April–June 1982.

Africa

17th and 18th centuries	19th century		20th century

Since 1658 Saint Helena¹⁴ 1792–1961 Sierra Leone 1795–1803 Cape Colony	Since 1815 Ascension Island¹⁴ Since 1816 Tristan da Cunha¹⁴ 1806–1910 Cape Colony 1807–1808 Madeira 1810–1968 Mauritius 1816–1965 The Gambia 1856–1910 Natal 1862–1906 Lagos Colony 1868–1966 Basutoland (Lesotho) 1874–1957 Gold Coast (Ghana) 1882–1922 Egypt	1884–1900 Oil Rivers/Niger Coast 1884–1966 Bechuanaland (Botswana) 1884–1960 British Somaliland 1887–1897 Zululand 1890–1962 Uganda 1890–1963 Zanzibar (Tanzania) 1891–1964 Nyasaland (Malawi) 1891–1907 British Central Africa Protectorate 1893–1968 Swaziland 1895–1920 East Africa Protectorate 1899–1956 Anglo-Egyptian Sudan	1900–1914 Northern Nigeria 1900–1914 Southern Nigeria 1900–1910 Orange River Colony 1900–1910 Transvaal Colony 1903–1976 Seychelles 1910–1931 South Africa 1914–1960 Colony and Protectorate of Nigeria (Nigeria) 1915–1931 South-West Africa (Namibia) 1919–1961 British Cameroons (Cameroon)⁶ 1920–1963 Kenya 1922–1961 Tanganyika (Tanzania)⁶ 1923–1965 Southern Rhodesia (Zimbabwe)⁷ 1924–1964 Northern Rhodesia (Zambia) 1979–1980 Southern Rhodesia (Zimbabwe)⁷

6. League of Nations mandate.
7. Self-governing Southern Rhodesia unilaterally declared independence in 1965 (as Rhodesia) and continued as an unrecognised state until the 1979 Lancaster House Agreement. After recognised independence in 1980, Zimbabwe was a member of the Commonwealth until it withdrew in 2003.

Asia

17th and 18th century	19th century		20th century

1685–1824 Bencoolen 1702–1705 Pulo Condore 1757–1947 Bengal (West Bengal (India) and Bangladesh) 1762–1764 Manila and Cavite 1781-1784 Padang (Indonesia) 1786–1946 Penang (Malaysia) 1795–1948 Ceylon (Sri Lanka) 1795-1819 Padang (Indonesia) 1796–1965 Maldives	1812–1824 Banka (Sumatra) and Billiton (Sumatra) 1819–1826 British Malaya (West Malaysia and Singapore) 1826–1946 Straits Settlements (Malaysia and Singapore) 1839–1967 Colony of Aden 1839–1842 Afghanistan 1841–1997 Hong Kong 1841–1946 Kingdom of Sarawak (Malaysia) 1848–1946 Labuan (Malaysia) 1858–1947 British India (India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, Burma) 1874–1963 British Borneo (East Malaysia and Brunei)	1879–1919 Afghanistan (protectorate) 1882–1963 British North Borneo (Malaysia) 1885–1946 Unfederated Malay States 1888–1984 Sultanate of Brunei 1891–1971 Muscat and Oman protectorate 1892–1971 Trucial States 1895–1946 Federated Malay States 1898–1930 Weihai Garrison 1878–1960 Cyprus	1907–1949 Bhutan (protectorate) 1918–1961 Sheikhdom of Kuwait 1920–1932 Iraq⁸ 1921–1946 Transjordan⁸ 1923–1948 Palestine⁸ 1945–1946 South Vietnam 1946–1963 North Borneo (Malaysia) 1946–1963 Sarawak (Malaysia) 1946–1963 Singapore 1946–1948 Malayan Union 1948–1957 Federation of Malaya (Malaysia) Since 1960 Akrotiri and Dhekelia (before as part of Cyprus) Since 1965 British Indian Ocean Territory (before as part of Mauritius and the Seychelles)

⁸ League of Nations mandate. Iraq's mandate was not enacted and replaced by the Anglo-Iraqi Treaty

Oceania

18th and 19th centuries		20th century

1788–1901 New South Wales 1803–1901 Van Diemen's Land/Tasmania 1807–1863 Auckland Islands⁹ 1824–1980 New Hebrides (Vanuatu) 1824–1901 Queensland 1829–1901 Swan River Colony/Western Australia 1836–1901 South Australia since 1838 Pitcairn Islands	1841–1907 Colony of New Zealand 1851–1901 Victoria 1874–1970 Fiji¹⁰ 1877–1976 British Western Pacific Territories 1884–1949 Territory of Papua 1888–1901 Kingdom of Rarotonga/Cook Islands Federation⁹ 1889–1948 Union Islands (Tokelau)⁹ 1892–1979 Gilbert and Ellice Islands¹¹ 1893–1978 British Solomon Islands¹²	1900–1970 Tonga (protected state) 1900–1974 Niue⁹ 1901–1942 *Commonwealth of Australia 1907–1953 *Dominion of New Zealand 1919–1942 and 1945–1968 Nauru 1919–1949 Territory of New Guinea 1949–1975 Territory of Papua and New Guinea¹³

9. Now part of the *Realm of New Zealand.
10. Suspended member.
11. Now Kiribati and *Tuvalu.
12. Now the *Solomon Islands.
13. Now *Papua New Guinea.

Antarctica and South Atlantic

Since 1658 Saint Helena¹⁴ Since 1815 Ascension Island¹⁴ Since 1816 Tristan da Cunha¹⁴ Since 1908 British Antarctic Territory¹⁵ 1841–1933 Australian Antarctic Territory (transferred to the Commonwealth of Australia) 1841–1947 Ross Dependency (transferred to the Realm of New Zealand)

14. Since 2009 part of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha; Ascension Island (1922–) and Tristan da Cunha (1938–) were previously dependencies of Saint Helena. 15. Both claimed in 1908; territories formed in 1962 (British Antarctic Territory) and 1985 (South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands).

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Province of Georgia

Foundation

Development

See also

References

Further reading

External links

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