The newspaper says Georgia is 290 years old today. So I’m marking the day.
James Oglethorpe and 114 colonists set up camp on the Savannah River and founded the colony on Feb. 12, 1733.
The settlers arrived with a peculiar blend of ideals and prejudices.
Slavery and large landholdings were prohibited because Oglethorpe did not want another plantation economy. He saw the new colony as a place where poor people who were being imprisoned for debt in England would get a fresh start on small, independent farms.
Slavery was banned. So were lawyers, Catholics and rum.
Georgia was the last English colony. It was settled to protect the increasingly wealthy colony South Carolina from the Spanish in Florida.
Much of that wealth came from the brutal plantation system. Oglethorpe had visions of a better society. But the crown was less interested in his ideals than in a buffer state protecting one of its wealthier colonies.
Oglethorpe’s vision didn’t last long. Instead, the policies that made South Carolina wealthy — a plantation system based on slavery and explosive growth at the expense of Native American communities — prevailed.
The Georgia of today looks a good deal better than the Georgia of the past.
• Sources: The New Georgia Encyclopedia is always good. You can find an overview of the state’s history here:
https://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/history-archaeology/georgia-history-overview/
The Library of Congress has some interesting materials here:
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