Growth and ProsperityGeorgia’s Westward Movement

Georgia’s Land Area Expands

• 1732 Atlantic to Pacific• 1763 Atlantic to the Mississippi River• Indians inhabited much of the western

Territory• Many Indians went into debt and were

forced to cede their land• 1773 Indians ceded 2 million acres in

the Back country

Distributing Public Land

• As land was ceded officials had to decide how to distribute it

• Selling land brings revenue

• Giving land away encourages growth

• Georgia decides on growth

Headright System

• Headright system: head of household was given 200 acres plus 50 acres for each family member (limit 1,000 acres per family)

• Veterans of the Revolution received additional acreage (288 – 1,995) depending on rank

• Land owners claimed the best land available, this was often found to be irregularly shaped lots (plats)

Land Lottery

• 1803 Georgia’s land was surveyed and divided

• a lottery was held for these lots

– Pine barrens 490 acre lots

– Piedmont 2021/2 acre lots

– Cherokee lands 160 acre lots

– Gold fields 40 acre lots

Land Lottery Continued• Married men with wife & child got 2

chances

• Orphans, widows and single men got one chance

• Winners were “fortunate drawers”

• Land was registered in the court house for 4 dollars per 100 acres

• 5 lotteries between 1805 and 1833

Georgia’s Capital Moves

• Savannah 1733

• Augusta 1786

• Louisville 1796

• Milledgeville 1807

• Atlanta 1868

• The Capitals moved as the population moved West

The Yazoo Land Fraud 1795

• 1785 UGA created as first chartered state college (oldest of it’s kind) opens in 1801

• UGA was a Land Grant College (the Federal government donated the land)

• 1788 Georgia ratifies the US Constitution• leaders push for w/ward expansion• Businessmen ask state legislators about

buying Georgia’s western land

The Yazoo Land Fraud

• Land Speculators buy land at low prices, then sell at higher prices

• This is legal except when legislators do it• They are expected to serve the public not

themselves• Four companies bribed legislators to pass a

law allowing them to buy 35 million acres of land extending to the Yazoo River in Mississippi

The Yazoo Land Fraud

• The land cost the speculators 2 cents an acre, huge profits were made

• Georgians were angry, some dishonest legislators feared for their life and fled the state

• The law that allowed for the sale was repealed and was burned on the statehouse grounds

The Yazoo Land Fraud

• The legislature provided refunds to those who bought land, many didn’t want to give up the bargain

• Both parties went to court over the issue, it all ends in the Supreme court in 1814 with the government taking over the land and paying all claims

Growth of Baptist and Methodist Churches

• After the Revolution Churches grow in size and importance

• Many towns rely on Circuit riders• Baptist and Methodist Churches are established

(John Wesley founds the Methodist church).• 1787 and 1788 the First African Baptist Churches

are founded in Augusta and Savannah• 1796 First Roman Catholic Church is established• A.M.E and A.M.E. Zion Churches are founded