Blackwell Reference Online

Extract

On 20 June 1732, G eorge II issued a charter to 21 trustees, who were responsible for overseeing the colony of Ga. for 21 years. On 12 February 1733, James O glethorpe founded Savannah. The trustees planned to populate Ga. with parolees from British debtors’ prisons and Protestant refugees from continental Europe, and also to create a large silk industry (without slavery ), but the colony languished under their direction. Ga. was a major battleground in the war of J enkins ’ E ar . It became a royal colony on 4 July 1752, when it had about 5,500 residents. Initially limited to 1,800 square miles bought from the C reek I ndians between 1733 and 1743, the area open to settlement grew by another 8,700 square miles during 1763–73 to include about 18 percent of modern Ga. After the legalization of slavery in 1750, Ga. became a major center of rice production and by 1775 its population was 33,000, including 15,000 slaves. In the R evolutionary W ar , it was badly divided between W higs and T ories . It furnished one of the 80 Continental regiments and was the site of 60 military actions. The British captured S avannah in 1778 and occupied much of the state until 1782. Frontier expansion was slow because of opposition by the Creeks, especially under Alexander McG illivray , but accelerated after 1800, when Creeks and C herokee I ndians sold large tracts. The final removal of ... log in or subscribe to read full text