Adsactly Education: Georgia: The History
Georgia
The Peach State
Capital: Atlanta
Largest City: Atlanta
59,424 sq. mi. 153,909 sq. Km
24th Largest State
Admitted to US: 1788 (4th)
Population: 11,000,000 (8th)
Highest Point: 4,784 ft (1,458 m)
Lowest Point: Sea Level
State Bird: Brown Thrasher
State Flower: Cherokee Rose
Motto: Wisdom, Justice, Moderation
Bordered By: Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, Alabama, Atlantic Ocean.
Georgia
Georgia is named for King George II of England dating from when the Colony was first founded. James Oglethorpe founded the colony based on an agrarian society that forbade slavery.
Native Influence
Native Americans can be positively dated in the Georgia to around 13,000 years ago, but that is probably only a part of the story. Due to the last ice age the coastline was near 200 miles (320 km) east of where it is today. There are tantalizing clues that people lived in Coastal Georgia much prior to that.
At least four Native societies occupied the area. The best known of these is the Mississippian Culture which developed intense agricultural practices leading to larger cities and incredible artwork. The Mississippian Culture was breaking up at roughly the same time as the first European contact which left several clans or tribes occupying Georgia at the time of European Contact.
The King of England authorized the “Indian Reserve” in 1763 which dedicate a large unsettled area to the Natives of the area. The Revolution ended that proclamation and finally, the Indian Removal Act of 1830 forced all tribes to move west of the Mississippi. During 1838 and 1839 more than 4,000 Cherokee died on a forced march to Oklahoma. That forced evacuation became known as “The Trail of Tears”.
Spanish Influence
Hernando De Soto led the first European expedition to what is now the state of Georgia in 1539. Most of our direct knowledge of the Mississippian Culture comes from this effort. By the time Europeans returned to the area the culture was gone. It is estimated that as many as 6 million died as a result of diseases introduced by De Soto.
Though the Spanish had nominal control over most of what is now Georgia they were much more concerned with their holdings in Florida and did not leave anything of permanence in the state.
English Influence
The conflict between the English and Spanish over control of what would become Georgia started in earnest in 1670 when the Colony of South Carolina was chartered. English settlers and traders moved south in increasing numbers. Both sides raided the other militarily for a long time until 1730 when James Oglethorpe secured a charter from King George to establish a colony. The colony known as Georgia was originally formed to provide English citizens an alternative to debtors prison. Slavery was prohibited in the original Colony.
The anti slavery prohibition was overturned in 1749 and slaves were soon the largest population in Georgia. The Oglethorpe plan essentially failed and in 1752 the Colony was reclaimed by George and made a ‘Crown Colony’ the same as all the others.
American Influence and Control
American patriots acted quickly when the ‘torch of liberty’ was lit at the start of the Revolutionary War in spring of 1775 and by early 1776 controlled all of Georgia. By 1778 the British had recaptured Savannah and a fairly large stretch of the coastline. That area would prove to be one of the last loyalist areas in what was to become the United States. The British promised freedom to escaped slaves and as many as half of Georgia’s 15,000 slaves escaped to British Territory.
Georgia ratified the US Constitution in early 1788 and joined the United States of America at that time. While the original western border went to the Mississippi river the Mississippi Territory was was created in 1802 and by 1819 the Alabama-Georgia line was finalized giving the state the shape we know today.
During the time between the Revolution and the Civil War Georgia became a huge plantation state with a large number of wealthy planters growing cotton in the west and rice along the coast. Slave populations soared in this period.
Due to the Spanish and English influences Georgia’s state boundaries were not completely settled until 1819 when the state of Alabama was created and became the western border. Land allocations from the forced removal of all Natives from the state resulted in the availability of a large chunk of farmland being disbursed.
Eli Whitney, a resident of Savannah patented the Cotton Gin in the very late 18th century and paved the way for cotton to become the dominant force in Georgia and all the southern states. Slaves flooded into Georgia to work the cotton and it became one of the leading producers. By 1860 Black Slaves constituted 44% of the states population.
The Civil War
Georgia seceded from the Union in January of 1861. Most of the state was in solidarity with the move, although 5,000 Georgians served in units of the Union Army. Most of these were from the mountains of the north part of the state. Georgia sent 100,000 men to the armies of the Confederacy. 15,000 of them would be killed in action.
Multiple battles were fought in Georgia during the Civil War. The Southern victory at Chickamauga in 1863 was followed by a series of defeats including the infamous “March to the Sea” led by William T. Sherman. That was the first major use of the ‘Scorched Earth’ policy of warfare. The campaign was designed to wreck the South’s primary food production area and to remove the will of the people to prolong the war.
Georgia suffered more than just military defeat during the war. Food shortages were common and the myth of the plantation was ruined. Possibly the most infamous prison ever, the Andersonville Prison was located in Georgia. 45,000 Union prisoners were kept there and over one third of them died in the 15 months it was in operation due to disease and malnutrition.
Reconstruction
Reconstruction, a largely failed policy, was troubling in Georgia. Immediately following the War the military took command of the state. General Sherman, through military order, seized abandoned plantations of the Sea Islands area and parceled out the land to former slaves. Later that same year President Andrew Johnson, through executive order, returned the land to the former owners.
The first election held after the Civil War featured 102,000 white men and 90,000 freedmen. A new constitution was written in 1868. Within a year it was completely ignored and white domination of blacks particularly by paramilitary units of the Ku Klux Klan. By 1869 all 32 of the black legislators elected to the legislature were forcibly removed from office.
White domination was complete by 1906 when a new constitution was written that almost completely disenfranchised blacks. Georgia would recover from this horrible period, but it was not without major cost.
Dumb Laws
You cannot live on a boat for more than 30 days during the calendar year, even if just passing through the state.
All sex toys are banned.
All images in this post are properly licensed and used.
This is part of a series on the various states. We will finish up Georgia in the next installment, I hope you will return. I do hope you have enjoyed this synpsis of Georgia. The words and ideas are mine but I used Wikipedia Georgia as the source for the information.
Authored by: @bigtom13
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