Untitled - the Digital Library of Georgia

Georgia and Georgians
CHAPTER I
GEORGIA ORIGINALLY A PART OP FLORIDA—AFTERWARDS INCLUDED IN
SOUTH CAROLINA—OUTSTANDING FACTS OF GEORGIA'S HISTORY—
NAMED FOR GEORGE II OF ENGLAND—GEORGIA THE OFFSPRING OF
PHILANTHROPY—THE YOUNGEST OF THE ENGLISH COLONIES—THE
LAST TO LOWER THE FLAG OF ENGLAND—REASONS FOR THIS CON
SERVATISM—WHITEFIELD'S ORPHAN HOME THE OLDEST ORGANIZED
CHARITY IN AMERICA—SLAVERY FORBIDDEN—RUM OUTLAWED—
REASONS FOR ESTABLISHING A NEW COLONY—To SATISFY A PRACTICAL
AGE, ECONOMIC ARGUMENTS MADE TO RE-ENFORCE HUMANITARIAN
ENDS—SOUTH CAROLINA'S NEED OF PROTECTION—ENGLAND'S TRADE
EXPANSION—POPULAR INTEREST IN THE COLONY OF GEORGIA UN
PRECEDENTED—OGLETHORPE THE MOST ILLUSTRIOUS ENGLISHMAN TO
CROSS THE SEA DURING THE PERIOD OF AMERICAN COLONIZATION—
THE TRUSTEES—GEORGIA NOT A COLONY OF JAIL-BIRDS—CHOICE IM
MIGRANTS—PREHISTORIC TRADITIONS—COLUMBUS ALMOST IN SIGHT
OF GEORGIA WHEN HE DISCOVERED THE NEW WORLD—LANDS ON ONE
OF THE BAHAMA ISLANDS—ORIGIN OF THE NAME "AMERICA"—GOV
ERNOR BROWN'S ARGUMENT—How ENGLAND'S RIGHT TO COLONIZE
THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE WAS ACQUIRED—EARLY EXPLORATIONS—
THE HUGUENOT COLONIES—FRENCH NAMES GIVEN TO GEORGIA RIVERS
—EARLIEST DESCRIPTION OF OUR SEA-COAST BY RIBAULT—ST. AU
GUSTINE FOUNDED—SPANISH MINING OPERATIONS IN THE CHEROKEE
MOUNTAINS—THE PROPRIETORS OF SOUTH CAROLINA THE FIRST OWN
ERS OF GEORGIA SOIL—SPAIN AND ENGLAND BOTH CLAIM OUR VIRGIN
LANDS—SIR ALEXANDER CUMING'S MISSION.
Originally the fair domain embraced in what we know today as
Georgia formed a part of the Spaniard's Land of Flowers. It was by
the name of Florida that all this region of country, for more than
a hundred years, was first known to Europeans. In 1663 Georgia
was included in the extensive tract granted by Charles II of England
to the Lords Proprietors of Carolina. It was not until 1732—more than
fifty years later—that a separate charter, for Georgia gave legal con
ception to the youngest of the English colonies. Meanwhile the sublime
cantos of Milton's "Paradise Lost" had appeared in print for the first
time; while John Bunyan, in Bedford prison, had dreamed his immortal
allegory of the Pilgrim. The War of the Spanish Succession had been
fought. The Duke of Marlborough had become the foremost soldier of
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