Royal State in America: Georgia

The Charter of Trustees for the Establishment of the Colony of Georgia in America.

     On this day in 1733, the U.S. State of Georgia was established as a British colony under a royal charter issued by King George II of Great Britain and Ireland, in whose honor the colony and state are named.

     Georgia was founded by General James Edward Oglethorpe, who had arrived with a group of British settlers on the same day. They made peaceful contact with the Yamacraw Indian tribe under its chief, Tomochichi, with whom Oglethorpe worked to secure land for the establishment of Georgia and its first city and capital, Savannah.

King George II of Great Britain and Ireland

     It was established under the royal charter for two reasons: to provide an alternative route for Britons who had landed in debtors prison - which was the brain child of Oglethorpe as a Member of Parliament and philanthropist  - as well as to create a "buffer" colony to protect the other southern provinces, such as South Carolina from the Spanish in Florida. The philanthropic aims of Oglethorpe and his associates were expressed in the Georgia's original motto: non sibi sed aliis, a Latin phrase which means, "Not for themselves, but for others."

River Street in Savannah, Georgia's first capital city.

     Originally governed by a board of trustees, Georgia outlawed slavery in part because Oglethorpe was against the practice and wanted the colony to prosper from the efforts of free men, and for this reason, Georgia stood apart from the other colonies in North America. However, with the booming slave-based agricultural trade in South Carolina, the anti-slave laws were repealed, and Georgia took on the character and economy of its neighbors. It became a royal colony under the direct authority of the Crown in 1752.

     Georgia was the last of the thirteen British North American colonies that declared independence in 1776, and became the fourth state to ratify the U.S. Constitution. It seceded from the Union in 1861, becoming part of the Confederacy during the Civil War, and was the last state to be re-admitted nearly eleven years later.

Atlanta, the current capital of Georgia

     Today, Georgia is known as the Peach State and the Empire State of the South, and its current motto is Wisdom, Justice, Moderation. It is the 24th largest state in the Union by area (the largest east of the Mississippi River), as well as the eighth most populated, and its capital and largest city is Atlanta. Notable Georgians include Martin Luther King, Jr. (civil rights leader), Jimmy Carter (39th President of the United States), Jackie Robinson (baseball player), Ted Turner (media magnate), Clarence Thomas (Associate Justice of the US Supreme Court), and musicians such as Johnny Mercer, Ray Charles, and Jason Aldeen.

Flag of the State of Georgia

     The state is also home to two leading institutions of higher learning in the States: the University of Georgia (UGA) and the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech). It counts tourism, media, agriculture, logistics, and manufacturing among its industries, and is also home to the headquarters of fifteen Fortune 500 companies, including Delta Air Lines, Coca-Cola, and Home Depot. In 2010, it had a gross state product of $403.1 billion and if it were an independent country, Georgia would be the 28th largest economy in the world.


Photo Credit: Chuck Koehler via Flickr cc, Kmf164 via Wikimedia Commons cc