Georgia began as an idea, the brainchild of James Oglethorpe and several other Englishmen who wanted to establish a new British settlement between the Savannah and Altamaha Rivers, on land claimed by both South Carolina and Spain. The new colony needed official blessing, and Oglethorpe and his associates—who became the Georgia Trustees—petitioned the Privy Council, […]

Vocabulary – Georgia Charter Issued to Trustees Brainchild Noun Somebody’s original plan or idea Trustees Noun A group of people responsible for administering a territory Petitioned Noun an appeal or request to a higher authority or being Executive Body Noun a committee or group in a political organization that makes decisions and has the authority […]

Learn More – Georgia Charter Issued to Trustees Kenneth Coleman, Colonial Georgia: A History (New York: Scribner, 1976). Amos Aschbach Ettinger, James Edward Oglethorpe: Imperial Idealist (Oxford, Eng.: Clarendon Press, 1936). James Ross McCain, Georgia as a Proprietary Province: The Execution of a Trust (Boston: R. G. Badger, 1917). Robert G. McPherson, ed., The Journal […]

Daily Activities -Georgia Charter Issued to Trustees The daily activities created for each of the Today in Georgia History segments are designed to meet the Georgia Performance Standards for Reading Across the Curriculum, and Grade Eight: Georgia Studies. For each date, educators can choose from three optional activities differentiated for various levels of student ability. […]

The colony he founded is now the largest of the United States east of the Mississippi. James Edward Oglethorpe was born in 1696 in London and was educated at Oxford. He gained valuable military experience in the Austrian army fighting the Turks. Oglethorpe chaired a parliamentary committee charged with prison reform. It inspired him and […]

At a time when slavery thrived in the American colonies, Georgia, you may be surprised, was alone in banning it. But it wasn’t a moral decision. The Georgia Trustees prohibited slavery because it conflicted with their vision of small landowners prospering from their own labor. They also wanted Georgia to serve as a military buffer […]

One of the most popular preachers in England and America in the 18th century first arrived in Savannah on this day in 1738. George Whitefield was born in 1714 in England, and educated at Oxford, where he met John and Charles Wesley; together they were the first leaders of the Methodist movement. After the Wesleys […]

Georgia Indians traveling to London in 1734 was hardly an everyday thing. One year after James Oglethorpe founded the Georgia colony, he returned to London to report to the Trustees—and took a group of Georgia’s Yamacraw Indians with him. Led by Chief Tomochichi, they wanted to make requests for education and fair trade directly to […]

After years of planning and two months crossing the Atlantic, James Oglethorpe and 114 colonists climbed 40 feet up the bluff from the Savannah River on this day in 1733 and founded the colony of Georgia. George II granted the Georgia trustees a charter for the colony a year earlier. The trustees’ motto was Non […]

Vocabulary – James Oglethorpe Parliamentary Committee Noun A group of legislatures that have a specific duty such as approving charters to start colonies. Reform Noun the reorganization and improvement of something such as a political institution or system that is considered to be faulty, ineffective, or unjust Trustees Noun A country or group of people […]