Georgia as a Colony Trustee Georgia The Trustee

Georgia as a Colony

Trustee Georgia • The Trustee period in Georgia began when King George II gave permission to establish the colony in 1732. • For the first twenty years of Georgia’s colonial history, a group of trustees governed the colony. • A trustee is someone who oversees property on behalf of someone else.

Trustee Georgia • Georgia’s trustees managed the colony on behalf of England its ruler during this period, King George II. • The king granted James Oglethorpe a charter, which is written permission to begin an English colony. • The colony was named Georgia after King George.

Trustee Georgia • Before Georgia became a British colony, there was tension between the British and Spanish over the land. • This tension increased after the neighboring area of South Carolina became a British colony in 1670. • Spain maintained control of Florida.

Trustee Georgia • The land between South Carolina and Florida remained virtually unclaimed by Europeans • The original boundaries of South Carolina included the land between the Savannah and the Altamaha rivers. • This land eventually belonged to the Georgia colony.

James Oglethorpe • James Oglethorpe was a British soldier and a member of British Parliament, the legislative branch of British government. • Oglethorpe became interested in prison reform while he was in Parliament. • He saw that many people went to prison simply because they were poor. • These people were called the “worthy poor. ” • Because the worthy poor could not afford to pay their taxes, they often ended up in debtors’ prisons.

James Oglethorpe • Oglethorpe thought these people deserved a chance at a new life. • Oglethorpe believed that their best chance for a new life was in a new American colony. • He hoped Georgia would become a land where the worthy poor could thrive. • He also hoped it would be a place where Protestants could practice their religion.

Charter of 1732 • On April 21, 1732, King George signed the charter to establish the colony of Georgia. • This charter also established a governing board and created the trust to run the colony. • Seventy-one men served as trustees over the course of its period. • The trustees were not paid.

Charter of 1732 • The charter also said that trustees could not hold office or land in Georgia. • The charter did not set up any type of local government, but, it said that colonists had all of the same rights as British citizens.

Reasons for Settlement • James Oglethorpe and his supporters argued that creating Georgia was both charitable and economic. • Their motto was “Non sibi sed aliis”, which means “Not for self, but for others. ” • As an act of charity, the trustees paid for debtors to go to Georgia instead of prison. • They also thought removing debtors would aid the economy of England.

Reasons for Settlement • The trustees hoped the settlers would produce wine and silk to send back to England. • They required new settlers to plant mulberry trees for the raising of silkworms. • The trustees also argued that Georgia could help protect South Carolina from the Spanish.

Tomochichi • Native Americans had lived in Georgia for thousands of years before the arrival of European settlers. • When Europeans came to Georgia, they needed friendly relations with the Native Americans in order to establish a successful colony. • The chief of the Yamacraw Indians, Tomochichi, played an important role in creating peace between the Europeans and Native Americans in Georgia.

Tomochichi • He helped the many different groups in the area communicate with the British. • In 1734, James Oglethorpe brought Tomochichi and his family to England, where he met the royal family. • Tomochichi’s trip proved to be valuable to the Native Americans of Georgia. Tomochichi’s efforts led to the creation of a school for his tribe.

Tomochichi • His contributions in the peaceful negotiations between various Native American tribes and the British settlements in Georgia were celebrated with an English military funeral when he died in 1739. • Tomochichi built relationships between the Native Americans of Georgia and the British.

Mary Musgrove • Mary Musgrove was also a peacemaker. • She was the daughter of an English trader and a Creek Indian. • She was also related to several other Creek leaders. • Musgrove used her connections to both the British and Native Americans to help protect Native Americans and to maintain peace in the Georgia colony.

Mary Musgrove • She was also a trader and worked to expand her deerskin trading business. • Historians have compared Mary Musgrove to other great Native American women in the history of the U. S. , such as Pocahontas and Sacagawea. • Musgrove claimed to have royal heritage, but few scholars have accepted this claim.

Savannah • The city of Savannah, Georgia, was founded in 1733. • It was the last British colonial capital in America. James Oglethorpe designed the city. • It was very different from previous colonial towns.

Savannah • Its organization reflected many new European ideas about cities and buildings. • Great European cities such as Paris, France, were also designed during this time using the same ideas. • Savannah was built using connected neighborhoods and squares. • Each neighborhood, square, ward, and garden lot was of equal size.

Savannah • They were also arranged in a repeating pattern. • This pattern allowed the distribution of land to new settlers to be fair. • Commons surrounded the city. Commons are public lands owned by the city. • The commons allowed the city to expand later.

The Salzburgers • The Salzburgers were a group of Protestants who were expelled from Salzburg in the early 1730 s. • Salzburg is a city in present-day Austria. • The Salzburgers were expelled because they were not Catholic. • All Protestants were expelled at that time from the region.

The Salzburgers • The Georgia trustees and King George II sympathized with the Salzburgers. • They decided to support Protestant Salzburgers by extending an invitation for them to move to Georgia. • The Salzburgers arrived in Georgia in 1734, and established the town of Ebenezer.

The Moravians • Another group of Protestants were the Moravians from Bohemia, which is the present -day Czech Republic. • The Moravians came to Georgia in 1735. • Unlike the Salzburgers, who were expelled from the region, the Moravians came as missionaries. • They wanted to unite Christians and convert non-Christians.

The Moravians • Many other Protestants did not trust the Moravians. • They had many new and different ideas. • One of these ideas was that women could preach and hold religious offices. • The Moravian community was ultimately unsuccessful and eventually dissolved.

The Malcontents • Captain George Dunbar brought the Salzburgers to Georgia. • He also brought a group of Highland Scots. • In 1736, the Highlanders founded Darien, a town on Georgia’s southern border. • Later, the Highlanders would also become a group known as the Malcontents.

The Malcontents • Most of the Malcontents were colonists of Scottish descent. • Although the trustees aided many of Georgia’s settlers, they did not aid the Malcontents. • The Malcontents were wealthy enough to pay for their own voyage to Georgia.

The Malcontents • Because of this, they were not as loyal to the trustees or Britain. • The Malcontents wanted to purchase land enslave people with their great wealth. • They resented limits put in place by the trustees that prevented them from doing this.

The Spanish in Florida • Spanish settlers in Florida were not happy that so many new settlers were coming to neighboring Georgia. • The Spanish had been interested in the land that became the Georgia colony. • The British built Fort Frederica in Georgia in an effort to protect the colony.

The Spanish in Florida • Georgian soldiers made an unsuccessful attack on the Spanish mission of St. Augustine, Florida, in 1740. • Two years later, the Spanish attacked Fort Frederica. • The tension between British Georgia and Spanish Florida came to a head in the Battle of Bloody Marsh.

The Spanish in Florida • The Spanish retreated and never again attacked a British colony on the eastern coast. • Oglethorpe waged one more attack against Spanish Florida. • The attack was unsuccessful.

Royal Colony • During this campaign, Oglethorpe was requested back in England to answer misconduct charges against him. • Oglethorpe was found not guilty; however, he never returned to Georgia. • Oglethorpe remained on the board of trustees until 1750. • At that time, Oglethorpe disagreed with Georgia’s lack of restrictions on land ownership, rum, and slavery.

Royal Colony • In 1752, the British government did not renew funding for the colony. • The trustees turned over control of the colony to the British Crown. • Georgia then became a royal colony.