Post on 20-Jan-2018
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Life in Trustee GeorgiaAugust 25, 2015
Trustee Georgia
▪ Georgia was founded on 3 principles: charity, economics, and defense▪ Charity: helping former convicts and debtors start a new life▪ Economics: producing goods and raw materials to export to England▪ Defense: acting as a buffer colony between Spanish Florida and the
rest of the English colonies
▪ In keeping with those principles, the motto of the new colony was Non sibi sed aliis, which is Latin for: Not for self, but for others
▪ Many Georgia colonists found life in the new colony difficult ▪ New settler groups arrived as the years passed▪ Many colonists were unhappy with James Oglethorpe’s rules
and regulations▪ The constant threat of attack from the Spanish in Florida was
stressful for many settlers
A Settler’s Life
▪ The first group of English settlers to arrive in Georgia in 1733 faced daily hardships▪ Out of the original 114 settlers, nearly 50 of them did
not survive the first year▪ The humid, hot climate was too harsh for people used to the cooler
climate in England▪ Early farming did not produce many crops causing many to go hungry▪ Medical care was almost non-existent; people who got sick often died
and women died while trying to have babies▪ Most of the settlers, including children, spent their
days working in their gardens and working on their farms▪ There was no education system▪ Boys might be taught to read and write at home▪ Girls were often only taught “home” skills: cooking, sewing, gardening
New Settlers
▪ In March 1734, a group arrived from Germany called the Salzburgers▪ They were granted a piece of land about 25 miles from Savannah▪ They called their town Ebenezer▪ However, Ebenezer’s soil was too swampy to grow crops so they
had to move▪ They moved to a new spot in 1736 and named it New Ebenezer
▪ In 1736, Oglethorpe traveled to Scotland to recruit new settlers▪ Scottish people who lived in the Highland area of Scotland had a
reputation for being good soldiers▪ He recruited a group of about 175 Highland Scots to move to
Georgia to help defend the colony from Spanish threats in Florida▪ They established a town south of Savannah called Darien▪ They were hard workers that raised cattle and harvested trees to
help the colony survive
War with Spain
▪ England and Spain had been arguing over land claims in North America for many years
▪ Once England colonized Georgia, the arguing got worse▪ In 1739, the Spanish colonists in Florida tried to invade
Georgia▪ The Georgia colonists defeated the invasion, but
several more attempts were made as the years passed▪ Oglethorpe, as directed by King George II, continued
the conflict with Spanish Florida▪ The colonists, however, were unhappy with having to
fight a war that they didn’t want to fight▪ The conflict was finally settled in 1748, but the damage
had already been done with angering the colonists
Unhappy Colonists
▪ In 1736, Oglethorpe made several new rules▪ No Rum, no trading alcohol with the Native Americans, and no
slaves▪ These were not popular among the colonists▪ The ongoing war with Spanish Florida also caused anger among
the colonists▪ Many things were also going wrong with agriculture▪ The Mulberry trees were the wrong kind so silk worms weren’t
producing, and they were not allowed to grow many other things they wanted
▪ Their neighbors in South Carolina, who had all the things Oglethorpe banned, were doing really well
▪ Many Georgia settlers left Georgia for different colonies that had less restrictive rules
▪ These people formed a group called the Malcontents (a person who is dissatisfied and rebellious)
Oglethorpe leaves Georgia
▪ In 1743, Oglethorpe was called back to England after the Malcontents wrote to King George complaining about the rules in the colony
▪ While in England, Oglethorpe met the woman that he decided to marry
▪ His new wife didn’t want to live in Georgia so Oglethorpe decided to remain in England
▪ A new leader of Georgia was named, Williams Stephens▪ Oglethorpe continued to act as a trustee of Georgia, but
he no longer lived there
William Stephens
▪ Stephens had lived in the Georgia colony since 1737▪ After the Trustees appointed him leader of the colony,
he began to reverse Oglethorpe’s rules▪ The ban on rum was lifted▪ Slavery was allowed in the colony beginning in 1751▪ Many of the Malcontents and other colonists who had
left the colony began to slowly return and the population grew
The End of the Trustee Period
▪ As the population grew, the colonists demanded to have a voice in the running of the colony
▪ The Trustees, instead of giving in to the colonists’ demand and working with them, decided to turn over the running of the colony to the King
▪ Even though the original Charter of 1732 was set to expire in 1753, the Trustees returned it early in 1752
▪ After this, Georgia was known as a Royal Colony and was under the direct leadership of King George II.