Date
8-9-2024
Department
College of Arts and Sciences
Degree
Doctor of Philosophy in History (PhD)
Chair
Aaron Palmer
Keywords
Colonial Georgia, Slavery, Colonial America, Antebellum South, Mercantilism, American Revolution, James Oglethorpe, Georgia Trustees, Georgia's Trustee Period, Georgia's Royal Period
Disciplines
History
Recommended Citation
Thornton, Charles, "The Case of Slavery in Colonial Georgia: The Failure of the Trustee Period and Georgia’s Peculiar Approach to Revolution, 1732-1782" (2024). Doctoral Dissertations and Projects. 5826.
https://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/doctoral/5826
Abstract
Few historical works underscore the founding of Georgia and its path to success as the thirteenth and final British North American Colony. How did Georgia economically survive as the southernmost British North American Colony without allowing slavery, as well as other categories that economically benefited colonies in British North America? This dissertation highlights colonial survival in the British North American Colonies. The Trustees’ vision for Colonial Georgia contradicted with the vision of the settlers of the colony. Settlers believed that land ownership without the tail male restriction and allowance of slavery to be essential components for the economic existence and survival of the colony, meanwhile the Trustees viewed Georgia as an experimental colony, and included elements that were distinctive from the other twelve British North American Colonies. The colonial period of Georgia began under the leadership of the Georgia Trustees in 1732 and the colony experienced an official transformation in 1752 that obliterated the desires of the Trustees. This work utilizes a multidisciplinary approach extracted from economic, social, environmental, political, educational, religious, and cultural histories pertaining to Colonial Georgia and underscores how economic development through land ownership and utilization of slave labor proved vital for success in the American colonies.
