British abolitionist James Oglethorpe founded the anti-slavery colony of Georgia

This statue of Georgia founder James Oglethorpe proudly stands in Savannah's Chippewa Square. The shore of Savannah was where he and his British settlers first settled in Georgia.

If statues could talk, this British parliamentarian would have quite a story to tell.

Idealistic Oglethorpe had a vision in this new Age of Enlightenment for this new land–equality for all. Georgia became the only British colony in America to prohibit slavery.

Who knew? I didn’t. This part of Georgian history had been buried to me. I had to look it up. Dig deeper.

Those big rich plantations of South Carolina would not be allowed in Georgia, which would orchestrate smaller property plots. By charter of King George II, there would be no slavery in Georgia according to the hard-won efforts of British abolitionist James Ogelthorpe, one of the first movers of the British abolition movement as well as founder and first governor of the abolitionist colony of Georgia. South Carolina had its rice and king cotton that needed slaves but slavery was not to be transplanted to his beloved Georgia. No. Trouble lay in that direction. Georgia's founder wanted Georgians and their posterity to be beyond that.

Wikipedia notes of the founding of Georgia colony: "Although many believe that the colony was formed for the imprisoned, the colony was actually formed as a place of no slavery.*"

Encyclopedia Britannica has a different take: "In 1729 he [James Oglethorpe] presided over a [British Parliamentary] committee that brought about prison reforms. This experience gave him the idea of founding a new colony in North America as a place where the poor and destitute could start afresh and where persecuted Protestant sects could find refuge."

When it came to the abolition of slavery, Oglethorpe was nearly seven decades ahead of his native Britain.

When Georgia's founding father eventually left the colony to live in his British motherland and return to Parliament, some Georgians balked at the prohibition of slavery. Who didn't want to have big rice plantations like the South Carolinians and be a member of the rich planter class, albeit that direction was not conducive to the founding vision and charter of the land? Slaves were needed for such enterprises.

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Additional reading: James Oglethorpe, Father of Georgia: A Founder’s Journey from Slave Trader to Abolitionist by Michael L. Thurmond

*Note: Uhm Wikipedia, the construct of this sentence makes it sound like the British destitute in debtor's prison was of secondary concern to Ogelthorpe compared to the plight of the enslaved, which is also a form of destitution and captivity. However, I think what you imply is that former prisoners were not actually on the ship's list of Georgia-bound passengers; hence, it was just lip service, while banning slavery actually happened and was enforced. That Georgia was for those in debtor's prison is a popular myth–if gauged by that passenger list. I don't know about the accuracy of that view but I do know that the destitute are specifically mentioned in Georgia's charter. (I've read it). Banning slavery was also part of a Georgia trustee act and very real. The sentence needs to be clarified.

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Taken in: United States / Georgia / Savannah (show map)

Taken on: February 25, 2024

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James Oglethorpe

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