James Oglethorpe founded the colony of Georgia in February of 1733. King George II provided the funding for Oglethorpe’s project with the primary purpose of separating the English colonies from the Spanish military located in what is now present-day Florida. The settlement had some ambitious goals different from other colonies in the Americas. Unfortunately, Oglethorpe was unable to achieve them. After twenty-one years, before the original charter expired, the colony reverted to a royal colony. Georgia became a royal colony (Royal Georgia) in the year of 1752 after terminating the trustee governance agreement.

When Oglethorpe established the settlement in 1733, the consumption of alcoholic beverages (rum specifically) was discouraged and outright not tolerated. Officially alcohol was banned in 1735 by the Trustees. The trustees believed that much of the sickness and disease suffered by the colonists on the way and in settling the coast of Georgia was from the consumption of rum. Barrels of rum were destroyed before they disembarked from the ship. Rum and other similar alcoholic beverages were standard fares on ships as well as an integral part of the colonies. Rum was used to purify the water and as a medicine. So as you might imagine Oglethorpe’s ban was not very popular! The legal prohibition on alcohol ended twelve years later in 1747.

Oglethorpe’s vision for a new colony did not include slavery. Slavery was not allowed in the colony. Slavery was thought to be inconsistent with the ideals and vision of Oglethorpe and his followers. However, as slavery grew in colonies outside of Georgia it became increasingly difficult to keep the ban on slavery in place. In 1755, the trustees agreed to a slave code similar to that in South Carolina that opened the door for slaves in Georgia.

Moravians arrived in the colony of Georgia in 1735. They were generally well-received by the other colonists as hard workers and assimilated in the colony rapidly even though their group was small in numbers. There is no historical record of an involuntary expulsion from Georgia. The historical record indicates the Moravian religion clashed with Lutherans, and several internal issues inside the congregation resulted in them leaving to travel to other parts of Georgia. Some returned to Europe or moved to the northern colonies settling in Pennsylvania. The last known Moravian congregation in Georgia is in Stone Mountain (Georgia Encyclopedia).

In December of 1838, Governor Gilmer of Georgia signed a bill known as the Cherokee Indian Citizen Act. Yet, Congress did not grant full citizenship to all Native American tribes until 1924. Gilmer’s law is a bit of a misnomer as the act provided citizenship only to twenty-one families of mixed Cherokee and white ancestry. It is a stretch to think this law granted citizenship to any tribes in Georgia, let alone the Cherokee.