Province of Georgia
1732–1776
Flag
Map of the Province of Georgia, 1732–1782
Status	Colony ofGreat Britain
Capital	Savannah
Official languages	English
Minority languages	Mikasuki,Cherokee,Muscogee,Shawnee,Yuchi
Religion	Church of England (Anglicanism)
Government	Proprietary colony (1732-1755) Crown colony (1755-1782)
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	1776
Currency	Georgia pound
Succeeded by State of Georgia
Today part of	United States Alabama Georgia Mississippi

TheProvince of Georgia^[1] (alsoGeorgia Colony) was one of theSouthern Colonies incolonial-eraBritish America. In 1775 it was the last of theThirteen Colonies to support theAmerican Revolution.

The original land grant of the Province of Georgia included a narrow strip of land that extended west to thePacific Ocean.^[2]

The colony'scorporate charter^[3] was granted to GeneralJames Oglethorpe on April 21, 1732, byGeorge II, for whom the colony was named. The charter was finalized by the King'sprivy council on June 9, 1732.^[4]

Oglethorpe envisioned a colony which would serve as a haven for English subjects who had beenimprisoned for debt and "the worthy poor." General Oglethorpe imposed very strict laws that many colonists disagreed with, such as the banning of alcoholic beverages.^[5] He disagreed withslavery and thought a system ofsmallholdings more appropriate than the largeplantations common in the colonies just to the north. However, land grants were not as large as most colonists would have preferred.^{[citation needed]}

Another reason for the founding of the colony was as abuffer state and a "garrison province" which would defend the southern British colonies fromSpanish Florida. Oglethorpe imagined a province populated by "sturdy farmers" who could guard the border; because of this, the colony's charter prohibitedslavery.^[1] The ban on slavery was lifted by 1751 and the colony became aroyal colony by 1752.^[6]

Although many believe that the colony was formed for the imprisoned, the colony was actually formed as a place of no slavery. Oglethorpe did have the vision to make it a place for debtors, but it transformed into a royal colony. 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 investigatingcharacter, circumstances and antecedents.^[9]: 16

Thirty-five families, numbering one hundred and twenty persons, were selected.^[9]: 21

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.^[9]: 21

Oglethorpe continued up the river to scout a location suitable for settlement. On February 12, 1733, Oglethorpe led the settlers to their arrival atYamacraw Bluff, in what is now the city ofSavannah, and established a camp with the help of a local elderlyCreek chief,Tomochichi. AYamacraw Indian village had occupied the site, but Oglethorpe arranged for the Indians to move. The day is still celebrated asGeorgia Day.

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

ThePrivy 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 annualsubsidies from Parliament. However, after many difficulties and the departure of Oglethorpe, the trustees proved unable to manage theproprietary colony, and on June 23, 1752, they submitted a deed of reconveyance to thecrown, one year before the expiration of the charter. On January 2, 1755, Georgia officially ceased to be a proprietary colony and became a royalcolony.

From 1732 until 1758, the minor civil divisions were districts and towns. In 1758, withoutIndian 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 ofSavannah was namedChrist Church Parish.^[10] The District of Abercorn and Goshen, plus the District of Ebenezer, was named the Parish of St. Matthew.^[10] The District of Halifax was named the Parish of St. George.^[10] The District ofAugusta was named theParish of St. Paul.^[10] The Town of Hardwick and the District of Ogeechee, including the island ofOssabaw, was named the Parish of St. Philip.^[10] FromSunbury in the District ofMidway and Newport to the south branch of Newport, including the islands of St. Catherine and Bermuda, was named the Parish of St. John.^[10] The Town and District ofDarien, to theAltamaha River, including the islands ofSapelo and Eastwood and the sea islands north of Egg Island, was named the Parish of St. Andrew.^[10] The Town and District of Frederica, including the islands of Great and LittleSt. Simons, along with the adjacent islands, was named the Parish of St. James.^[10]

Following Britain's victory in theFrench and Indian War, King George III issued theProclamation of 1763. One of its provisions was to extend Georgia's southern boundary from the Altamaha River to theSt. Marys River. Two years later, on March 25, 1765, Governor James Wright approved an act of the General Assembly creating four new parishes – St. David, St. Patrick, St. Thomas, and St. Mary – ^[10] in the recently acquired land, and it further assignedJekyll Island to St. James Parish.^[11]

The Georgia colony had had a sluggish beginning. 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.^[12] Discontent grew in the colony because of these restrictions, and Oglethorpe lifted them.^[13] With slavery, liquor, and land acquisition the colony developed much faster.Slavery had been permitted from 1749.^[14] There was some internal opposition to slavery, particularly from Scottish settlers,^[15] but by the time of theWar of Independence, Georgia was much like the other Southern colonies.

During theAmerican Revolution Georgia's population was at first divided about exactly how to respond to revolutionary activities and heightened tensions in other provinces. After violence broke out in Massachusetts in 1775, radicalPatriots stormed the royal magazine atSavannah and carried off its ammunition, took control of the provincial government, and drove manyLoyalists out of the province. In 1776 aprovincial congress had declared independence and created a constitution for the newstate. Georgia also served as the staging ground for several important raids into British-controlled Florida.^[16]

In 1777 the original eightcounties of the state of Georgia were created. Prior to that Georgia had been divided into local government units called parishes. Settlement had been limited to the near vicinity of theSavannah River; the western area of the new state remained under the control of theCreek Indian Confederation.^[17]

James Wright, the last Royal Governor of the Province of Georgia, dismissed the royalassembly in 1775. He was briefly aprisoner of the revolutionaries before escaping to a British warship in February 1776. During theAmerican Revolutionary War Wright was the only royal governor to regain control of part of his colony after British forcescaptured Savannah on December 29, 1778. British and Loyalist forces restored large areas of Georgia to colonial rule, especially along the coast, while Patriots continued to maintain an independent governor, congress, andmilitia in other areas. In 1779 the British repelled an attack of militia,Continental Army, and French military and naval forces onSavannah. The 1781siege of Augusta, by militia and Continental forces, restored it to Patriot control. When the war was lost for Britain, Wright and British forces evacuated Savannah on July 11, 1782. After that the Province of Georgia ceased to exist as a British colony.^[16]

The new state of Georgia was a member of theSecond Continental Congress, a signer of theDeclaration of Independence, the tenthstate to ratify theArticles of Confederation on July 24, 1778,^[18] and the fourth state to be admitted tothe Union under theU.S. Constitution, on January 2, 1788.^[19]

On April 24, 1802, Georgia ceded to theU.S. Congress parts of its western lands, that it had claims for going back to when it was a province (colony). These lands were incorporated into theMississippi Territory and later (with other adjoining lands) became the states ofAlabama andMississippi.^[20]

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• Georgia Experiment
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• List of colonial governors of Georgia
• Oglethorpe Plan
• Thirteen Colonies

• Cashin, Edward J.Guardians of the valley: Chickasaws in colonial South Carolina and Georgia (U of South Carolina Press, 2009)online.

• Coleman, Kenneth (1976).Colonial Georgia: A History. Scribner.ISBN 0-684-14555-3.
• Greene, Evarts Boutell.Provincial America, 1690-1740 (1905)ch 15 online pp 249-269 covers 1732 to 1763.

• Harrold, Frances. "Colonial Siblings: Georgia's Relationship with South Carolina During the Pre-Revolutionary Period."Georgia Historical Quarterly 73.4 (1989): 707-744.online

• Hillman, Arye L. "Philanthropy as politics: The precolonial Georgia project for a new start in life for England's poor."European Journal of Political Economy (2023): 102429.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejpoleco.2023.102429

• Hawke, David F. (1966).The Colonial Experience. Bobbs-Merrill Company.ISBN 0-02-351830-8.
• Jennison, Watson W.Cultivating Race: The Expansion of Slavery in Georgia, 1750-1860 (University Press of Kentucky, 2012)online

• McIlvenna, Noeleen. The short life of free Georgia: Class and slavery in the colonial south (Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 2015).online

• Reese, Trevor Richard (1963).Colonial Georgia : a study in British imperial policy in the eighteenth century. Athens: University of Georgia Press.ISBN 9780820335537. RetrievedFebruary 20, 2018.

• Russell, David Lee.Oglethorpe and Colonial Georgia: A History, 1733-1783 (McFarland, 2006)online.

• Sullivan, Buddy.Georgia: A state history (Arcadia Publishing, 2010)online.

• Wax, Darold D. " 'New Negroes Are Always in Demand': The Slave Trade in Eighteenth-Century Georgia." Georgia Historical Quarterly 68.2 (1984): 193-220.online

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 papersArchived March 3, 2016, at theWayback Machine, also called: The Egmont Papers, 1732–1745. University of Georgia Hargrett Library.
• Diary of Viscount PercivalArchived March 3, 2016, at theWayback Machine 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

31°45′40″N82°21′25″W / 31.761°N 82.357°W /31.761; -82.357

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