Royal Georgia Colony Assignment
Directions: Create a 10 question quiz based on the reading of the Royal Colony. Your quiz can be essay, fill-in-the-blank, or multiple choice format. Answers must be given to your quiz. Turn in your quiz and answers on Monday when you return from fall break. This reading becomes your #4 notes.
Georgia did very well as a royal colony. Georgia added a great deal to the British economy. They exported rice, indigo, deerskins, lumber, beef, and pork.
Georgia officially became a royal colony when the Trustee period ended in 1752. This meant that the Crown of England oversaw the control of Georgia. Parliament had to pass a charter in order for Georgia to become an official royal colony. This process began in 1752, after Parliament dismissed the trustees. It took two years for the charter to go through Parliament. Georgia did not get its first official governor until 1754.
Royal Governors
John Reynolds was Georgia’s first royal governor. He governed from 1754 to 1757. The British Parliament recalled Reynolds in 1756 and said that he was ineffective. John Reynolds was a former naval officer and did not have the political skills to govern well. He angered his cabinet and divided the residents of Georgia. He was not good at interacting with Native Americans. This skill was especially important since his tenure began around the beginning of the French and Indian War. The French and Indian War was the North American phase of a war between France and Britain to control land in the colonies, lasting from 1754 to 1763. During this time, many Native American attacks plagued Georgia settlers. Many Georgians were unhappy with John Reynolds. They wrote to England and asked for his removal. Lord Halifax responded, and appointed a new royal governor.
Henry Ellis governed Georgia from 1757 to 1760. He built a solid foundation forGeorgia. He had skills that Reynolds did not. He set up a budget and regulated tradewith the Native Americans. He also built forts and tried to abolish slavery. Ellis’s mostimportant skill involved his communication with Native American tribes. He held on tothe friendship of the Creek Nation and declared Georgia’s authority to control the Indiantrade. By 1760, an ailing Ellis left Georgia and the governor position.
The next royal governor was James Wright. James Wright was very popular and held thegovernor’s position for sixteen years, from 1760 to 1776. Wright came to Georgia withhis experience as attorney general of South Carolina. That coupled with the benefit ofhaving seasoned Georgians who served in the assembly, helped Wright develop Georgiaduring his term. The peace settlement of the French and Indian War made much moreland available for settlement. This increased the size of Georgia. Georgia now had land allthe way south to the St. Mary’s River, and all the way west to the Mississippi River.
Land Grants
Settlers who came to the colony by way of the Trust’s charity, were limited to fifty-acre land grants. Those who paid their way could have up to 500 acres of land. Those who paid their way were required to have at least one servant or family member for every fifty acres of their grant. This rule helped ensure that enough men were available to defend the colony. At that time, only men could own land, but settlers protested. The men wanted their wives and daughters to be able to inherit their land.
Life in Colonial Georgia
Colonial Georgia was a land of farmers. Most women worked in the home. They prepared food, cared for clothing, and planted and harvested. Children also contributed to the growth of the colony. The trustees hoped families would provide both labor and stability for the new colony. People often lived in homes made from tabby. Tabby is a mixture of mortar and lime that was common as a building material through the colonial period in the coastal Southeast.
English, Salzburgers, Germans, Scots, Irish, and Jews were all early settlers of Georgia. When the slavery ban was lifted in 1750, life changed in the colony. Many plantation owners from South Carolina moved to Georgia to expand their slave-based economy. As a result, tens of thousands of Africans were enslaved and brought to Georgia to work on rice plantations. The beginning of African slavery changed the economy of the region. Plantation owners established socioeconomic structures and relationships that dominated Georgia’s economy and government.
Slavery
During the beginning of Trustee period, Georgia’s state law prohibited slavery. However, wealthy colonists who could afford to buy enslaved people, demanded to be allowed to bring them to Georgia. In 1750, the trustees who governed Georgia at the time lifted the ban on slavery.
Between 1750 and 1775, the number of Africans living in slavery increased from 500 to 18,000. These Africans had no rights. They were not allowed to marry, or live where they wanted, or even learn to read. They had to work and live in the harsh conditions of the Georgia rice fields. Rebellion against slave owners was almost impossible. Punishment included beatings, whippings, separation from friends or family, and even death.
In 1776, at the beginning of the American Revolutionary War, Georgia declared its independence from the British Crown along with other British colonies.