James Oglethorpe
James Edward Oglethorpe was born on December 22, 1696. He was a British soldier during the colonial era. He was a member of the British Parliament and wanted to change the British prison system. It put debtors in prison, which in turn made the the prisons overwhelmingly full. People who had committed worse crimes than not paying their taxes were getting out of prison time because there debtors were there in their places. Oglethorpe had the idea to make a debtor colony in Georgia, as one of his friends, Robert Castell, was in prison for being a debtor. He also wanted a place for people to practice Protestant religion. Even though he wanted this, his vision was never reached. It was too expensive for them to travel over, so no debtor ever set foot in Georgia.
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Once Oglethorpe arrived in Georgia in 1733, he started the settlement of Savannah. He made ties with Tomochichi, thee chief of the Yamacraw Indians, who lived nearby. It was difficult at first as they did not speak the same language, but Mary Musgrove, a half immigrant half Native American girl, stepped in as their translator. They would then proceed to trade with the Yamacraw tribe. Oglethorpe designed the city of Savannah. He designed it |
so that it was arranged in squares and the town square was actually in the center of the town. He was the person who created the antislavery laws and participated in attacks on the Spanish to protect the colony.
Oglethorpe was also the city's first trustee. The trustees were supposed to report everything back to the king and come back to England after a year for a replacement, as stated in the Georgia Charter. He did not, however, follow these rules. He stayed in Georgia until the king called him back to England after several years. He married and had one child before dying on June 30, 1785 of illness. Oglethorpe now has many buildings named after him and played an important role in the founding of Georgia. |