AKS 32d & 32e - Georgia Becomes a Royal Colony
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21 questions
The Malcontents
Not everyone was happy with the Trustees’ policies. From the beginning, there were those who complained. A passenger on the Anne named Thomas Causton noted in his journal, “though we want for nothing we have some grumbletonians here.”
The Trustees’ laws regarding landownership and slavery were designed to protect against the growth of large plantations requiring slave labor. Since the land belonged to the Trustees in the name of the king, titles (official claims or rights to property) could not be bought or sold. Land could only be passed on to male heirs. Furthermore, the Trustees also restricted trade with the Indians. Planters from South Carolina who came to settle in Georgia found these laws too restrictive. Those who remained in South Carolina but viewed Georgia as a good site for their own expansion encouraged these dissenters. Unlike the charity settlers, they
could afford to buy land and enslaved Africans, and they considered these things necessary to success. Many freeholders (mainly Lowland Scots from Glasgow and Edinburgh) shared the same complaints. Together they became known as Malcontents. A malcontent is a person who is dissatisfied, rebellious, and likely to complain or make trouble.
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Who were known as Malcontents?
Who were known as Malcontents?
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Why were the Trustees’ policies unpopular with some settlers?
Why were the Trustees’ policies unpopular with some settlers?
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Who were likely to become Malcontents?
Who were likely to become Malcontents?
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What does a Malcontent mean?
What does a Malcontent mean?
Petitions from Both Sides
Back in 1735, Oglethorpe had persuaded the House of Commons (part of Parliament) to pass antislavery laws for Georgia despite the efforts of those who favored slavery. Now the proslavery colonists launched a campaign to reverse these laws. They sent letters and petitions to the king and the Trustees, arguing that slavery would benefit the colony. They wrote that enslaved people were the most profitable labor source available, and that they would easily adapt to the climate of Georgia since it was similar to African climates.
When the complaints reached the Trustees, they appointed William Stephens as their representative and secretary to the Georgia Colony. He supported the Trustees' rules. Soon the Malcontents began to protest in print. Patrick Talifer, who had relocated to Charleston, wrote a pamphlet titled A True and Historical Narrative of the Colony of Georgia. Thomas Stephens (William's son, who became a Malcontent) followed with The Hard Case of the Distressed People of Georgia. He argued vigorously that slavery was necessary for Georgia to prosper. The irony of these petitions was that the Malcontents stated they felt like “slaves to the Trustees,” and wanted the "liberty" of having enslaved people. Some groups continued to support the ban on slavery, especially the Highland Scots and Salzburgers. In a petition of 1739, Highland Scots pleaded with the Trustees in opposition to the Malcontents. Their petition was one of the first antislavery documents in American history, and it forecast the passionate sentiments the nation would hear from abolitionists (people who worked to end slavery) before the Civil War. The Scots at New Inverness wrote, It is shocking to human nature, that any Race of Mankind and their Posterity should be sentanc’d to perpetual Slavery; nor in Justice can we think otherwise of it, than that they are thrown amongst us to be our Scourge one Day or other for our Sins: And as Freedom must be as dear to the mastous, What a Scene of Horror must it bring about! And the longer it is unexecuted, the bloody Scene must be the greater. The Salzburgers at Ebenezer signed a similar antislavery appeal. Although these early efforts succeeded in delaying the legalization of slavery in Georgia, as time passed the demands of the proslavery settlers increased.
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Who persuaded the House of Commons to pass antislavery laws for Georgia in 1735?
Who persuaded the House of Commons to pass antislavery laws for Georgia in 1735?
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Who was the appointed representative and secretary to the Georgia Colony by the Trustees?
Who was the appointed representative and secretary to the Georgia Colony by the Trustees?
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Who wrote 'A True and Historical Narrative of the Colony of Georgia'?
Who wrote 'A True and Historical Narrative of the Colony of Georgia'?
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Which groups supported the ban on slavery and continued to advocate against it?
Which groups supported the ban on slavery and continued to advocate against it?
Changing the Laws
As a result of the Malcontents' efforts to change the rules of the colony, the Trustees made some changes. They repealed, or revoked, some of the laws under fire. The first to go was the ban on rum, which had never been effective. Still, Georgia failed to prosper. Some colonists left, and new settlers were reluctant to come. As a result, the Trustees changed the laws about the size of land grants, land use, and inheritance. Instead of just 50-acre lots, they permitted larger landholdings of 200 acres. In 1741, the Trustees divided Georgia into two counties. Savannah and northern Georgia became Savannah County, with William Stephens as its leader. Frederica County included southern Georgia and was led by Oglethorpe. He continued to voice his opposition to slavery. In 1742, Stephens was put in charge of the entire colony (both counties). With Stephens as their leader, the push to legalize slavery grew. Furthermore, in some people’s eyes, the victory over the Spanish at Bloody Marsh had weakened the antislavery arguments. The Spanish—and the numbers of escaped slaves who fought with them— were no longer a threat.
Slavery Becomes Legal
By the mid-1740s, the Trustees realized they could no longer prevent slavery in the colony. Some settlers had already begun illegally importing enslaved Africans through the Augusta area. Seeing that the ban could not be maintained, the Trustees attempted to control the conditions of slavery. In 1751,they repealed the law against slavery and tried to keep the ratio of blacks to whites a small one. However, their control was very short-lived. As South Carolina planters and their enslaved Africans streamed into Georgia, they expanded their rice-based economy. They soon dominated Georgia’s colonial government as well, and the slave codes were “updated” in 1765 and 1770 to resemble those of South Carolina. The migrants soon set up a social structure similar to South Carolina’s, with about 60 planters owning half the colony’s enslaved people and dominating the low country’s rice economy.
Toward a Slave Economy
By the mid-1760s, Georgians were importing enslaved Africans directly from Africa, mostly from Angola, Sierra Leone, and the Gambia. Most enslaved people worked in the rice fields, although some worked as craftsmen in Savannah. Georgians who had a skilled trade were known as “mechanicks.” When slavery was legalized, the Trustees sought to protect the jobs of white mechanicks by restricting enslaved Africans to agricultural jobs, except for allowing them to be coopers (who built barrels). As plantations grew, planters wanted enslaved people for many other jobs, so it was hard to maintain this restriction. Enslaved people struggled to re-establish patterns of family and religious life that they had known in Africa. This was difficult when they had no legal rights and little autonomy (freedom from another person’s control). Despite the restrictive conditions, enslaved people resisted their owners and asserted their rights in a number of ways. Some ran away or resisted verbally and physically. Some deliberately destroyed crops or other property, while others feigned illness. In some cases, there was open rebellion, which met with severe punishment or death. After the 1750s, most of the white antislavery voices were silenced in Georgia. The colony’s days without slavery had ended.
Free Blacks in the Colony
Not all African Americans in the colony were enslaved. There was a small number of free blacks. A few had been freed for acts of high service. Others who were hired out to do extra labor were sometimes able to save enough money to purchase their freedom. A few enslaved Africans had been freed by their masters. However, after a major slave rebellion in South Carolina, new laws put enslaved people under even tighter control. It became harder and harder for enslaved people to get a chance at freedom.
A First Attempt at Self-Government
The Trustees began to allow a representative group of colonists to advise them on matters in the colony. In 1751,a group of 16 elected delegates met in Savannah to share their concerns. Although these men could not make laws, it was the first attempt at self- government in Georgia. The delegates talked about how to improve trade. They also agreed that Georgia should not become part of South Carolina. However, before they could meet more than a few times, Georgia began its transition to a royal colony.
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What did the Trustees do to try to control slavery?
What did the Trustees do to try to control slavery?
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What did the Trustees change regarding land laws for colonists?
What did the Trustees change regarding land laws for colonists?
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What happened in Georgia after victory over the Spanish at Bloody Marsh?
What happened in Georgia after victory over the Spanish at Bloody Marsh?
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Who were the “mechanicks” mentioned in the passage?
Who were the “mechanicks” mentioned in the passage?
A Royal Colony
The Charter of 1732 had been limited to 21years. That was because the king, after trouble with proprietors running other colonies, had learned not to issue longer charters. All of the colonies eventually shifted to royal charters, which gave the king control. In 1752, one year before Georgia’s charter was due to expire, the Trustees returned control to the Crown. The expenses of supporting the colony had exceeded their expectations, and they were frustrated that their economic and social ambitions had not been met. When the charter was returned to the king, the government of the colony was reorganized. Not knowing that Georgia would be Britain’s last colony in North America, they wanted its new charter to serve as a model. A committee in Parliament chose a royal governor (with the king’s approval) to manage the colony. The royal governor could establish an assembly and court system, approve land grants, and enforce the laws.
A Colonial Assembly
The new charter provided for a colonial assembly. Georgians could elect two representatives from each county to makeup this “Commons House of Assembly.” They could also establish a court system with elected officers. These changes transformed and expanded civic participation in the colony. Those who were allowed to vote (male landowners, for the most part) could now have more of a say in their own government. While the colonial assembly was a step toward self-government, it was still limited—in Georgia and in all of the colonies. The king or the royal governor could strike down any laws they did not approve of.
Royal Governors
Georgia was run by a succession of royal governors. The first was John Reynolds, a navy captain who had little experience in the political sphere. He ruled for only a few years, from 1754 to 1757. He was ordered to return to England after a series of political blunders stirred up hostilities with both the Indians and colonists.
Henry Ellis, the next royal governor, who served from 1757 to 1760, furthered the establishment of self- government in the colony and set it on a path to greater stability. Although Ellis had spent five years as a slave trader, he tried to pass a law that would free not only mulattoes (people of mixed race) but all enslaved people when they turned 30 years of age. His attempt was unsuccessful. Ellis did succeed at dividing Georgia into eight parishes (small administrative districts, which became counties) and worked effectively with the Creeks during a war with the Cherokees. He also helped to form Georgia’s modern boundaries. He would be instrumental in taking Cuba from the Spanish during the French and Indian War, then trading it back to Spain in exchange for moving Georgia’s border to the St. Mary’s River.
James Wright was the third and final royal governor. He served from 1760 to 1776 and again from 1779 to 1792. Wright was a popular governor up until the American Revolution. He expanded Georgia by encouraging further settlement and gaining Creek territory through two land cessions. The Treaty of Augusta and other agreements secured more than 2 million acres of Creek and Cherokee land for the colonists. In the meantime, Wright made a fortune as a rice and indigo planter.
Growth & Change
The royal period was one of growth and change. The colony gained land from treaties with the Indians and with Spain, and the population grew from both the influx of settlers and the rapid growth of slavery. Although the king's Church of England was now the official church, Georgia continued to be a place of religious diversity. There were still active Lutherans and Presbyterians, and Quakers and Congregationalists came and started churches. New immigrants who lived on the frontiers were given the derogatory nickname “Crackers.” This term is often used to refer to rural, lower class whites in South Georgia and North Florida. Historians believe it may have come from the habit of cracking corn rather than milling it, or it may relate to the whips that farmers used to drive cows, which had “cracker” tips to herd cattle. A more likely source of the term is the Gaelic word craic, used to characterize Scots-Irish settlers of the southern frontier who were described as boastful rascals who moved about frequently.
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Why was Georgia's charter converted into a royal charter in 1752?
Why was Georgia's charter converted into a royal charter in 1752?
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Who was the first royal governor of Georgia?
Who was the first royal governor of Georgia?
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What was significant about Georgia's colonial assembly?
What was significant about Georgia's colonial assembly?
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What contributed to Georgia's growth during the royal period?
What contributed to Georgia's growth during the royal period?
Expanding the Economy
Georgia’s climate and geography played an important part in the initial plans for the colony and in the ways in which that plan was altered over time. Although things did not go as the Trustees planned, the humid subtropical climate helped make Georgia an agricultural success story.
The Trustees expected the colony to have a Mediterranean climate, but silkworms had trouble surviving cold spells, and the grapes and soils were not ideal for winemaking. Settlers in New Ebenezer continued to produce some silk.
While many colonies boasted a lively trading business, trade was slow in early Georgia, often because of the Trustees’ restrictions on rum and land ownership. The goods the colonists exported (sent out) could not keep up with what they wanted to import. According to historian James C. Cobb, “the young colony languished, remaining the smallest and poorest British royal possession in North America. ”This only added to the Malcontents’ arguments for large plantations with cash crops to export.
New Crops and Products
After 1750, planters put the climate and land to use growing rice, indigo, and tobacco. Indigo is a tropical plant that was cultivated as a source of dark blue dye. Land was easier to get, and there was a lot of it, so more settlers came. Hoping to expand plantation agriculture, colonial officials granted vast plots of land along the rivers and outer edges of the colony.
Rice and Indigo
Planters brought the cultivation of rice, or “Carolina gold,” to Georgia’s tidewater areas along the Savannah, Ogeechee, and Altamaha Rivers. With its swamps and tidal rivers, the Georgia coast was ideal for producing rice. Enslaved West Africans brought valuable knowledge from their homelands about how to grow and harvest rice, and the growth of rice and slavery grew hand in hand. The more successful planters became, the more enslaved people they purchased and the more rice they grew.
Other planters from South Carolina and other places brought indigo, which also grew well along the coast. Before long, Georgia was home to wealthy land owners like John Graham, who owned 25,000 acres. Governor James Wright owned 11 plantations and held more than 500 enslaved people.
Trade and Commerce
Up river near the fall line, Augusta also expanded. It had been a successful frontier trading post, and Oglethorpe had supported its economy by having a road built to connect Augusta and Savannah. As more British merchants and Indian traders came, Augusta became a center of commerce. Governor Wright negotiated with the Indians for more land, and new towns such as Wrightsborough were founded on the western frontier. With the increase in exports and trade, the seaports grew. A group of Puritans from Massachusetts founded Sunbury, which became an important seaport. The shipping trade grew there as it did on Savannah’s waterfront, where shipbuilding companies began to open their doors. As more settlers came, commerce expanded as well.
Lumber and Naval Stores
Lumber and naval stores were other important contributors to the colonial economy. Naval stores are products such as tar, rosin, pitch, and turpentine, made from the sticky sap of pine trees. These products were critical to the British Empire, particularly its navy. Workers turned tall pines into ship masts and burned them to make tar and pitch, which made ships waterproof. They fashioned live oaks into ships’ rudders.
Signs of Prosperity
By the 1760s, Georgia had finally achieved economic prosperity. This began to show in several ways. The first newspaper, the Georgia Gazette was started in Savannah. Cultural events became more common in the cities and larger towns, and a new class of planters and merchants emerged. They were part of a new aristocracy (the upper or highest social class) that developed across the tidewater region. As we shall see, developments in the 1790s would cause a new crop to prosper in Georgia—one that would bring more wealth and further entrench the slave economy. But before that, Georgia would have to face the trouble that was brewing between England and her 13 colonies. Both the Trustee period and the royal period were motivated by mercantilism, the idea that colonies exist to bring profit to the mother country. The mother country—in this case England—supported and controlled the colony, and was the place of the origin for many of its settlers. As the colony grew and prospered, many grew to question the costs and benefits of mercantilism.
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What two crops were cultivated in Georgia after 1750?
What two crops were cultivated in Georgia after 1750?
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Why was trade slow in early Georgia?
Why was trade slow in early Georgia?
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Which two products were crucial to the British Empire's navy?
Which two products were crucial to the British Empire's navy?
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What was the purpose of colonies according to mercantilism?
What was the purpose of colonies according to mercantilism?
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- Economics: Indigo, Lumber, & Rice
- Slavery is prohibited
- Economics: Wine, Silk, & Tobacco
- Women could not own land
- Women can inherit land from their dead husbands
- Slavery is legalized
- Rum is prohibited
- No limits to how much land a colonist could own
- Strict limits to how much land each colonist could own
- Rum sales are legal
- Trustee Colony
- Royal Colony