[4] Oglethorpe envisioned a colony which would serve as a haven for English subjects who had been imprisoned for debt and "the worthy poor."

General Oglethorpe imposed very strict laws that many colonists disagreed with, such as the banning of alcoholic beverages.

Oglethorpe imagined a province populated by "sturdy farmers" who could guard the border; because of this, the colony's charter prohibited slavery.

The following is an historical accounting of these first English settlers sent to Georgia: A committee was appointed to visit the jails and obtain the discharge of such poor prisoners as were worthy, carefully investigating character, circumstances and antecedents.

They set sail the day following ... into Port Royal, some eighty miles southward, to be conveyed in small vessels to the river Savannah.

On February 12, 1733, Oglethorpe led the settlers to their arrival at Yamacraw Bluff, in what is now the city of Savannah, and established a camp with the help of a local elderly Creek chief, Tomochichi.

The area within the charter had previously been part of the original grant of the Province of Carolina, which was closely linked to Georgia.

However, after many difficulties and the departure of Oglethorpe, the trustees proved unable to manage the proprietary colony, and on June 23, 1752, they submitted a deed of reconveyance to the crown, one year before the expiration of the charter.

[14] There was some internal opposition to slavery, particularly from Scottish settlers,[15] but by the time of the War of Independence, Georgia was much like the other Southern colonies.

During the American Revolution Georgia's population was at first divided about exactly how to respond to revolutionary activities and heightened tensions in other provinces.

After violence broke out in Massachusetts in 1775, radical Patriots stormed the royal magazine at Savannah and carried off its ammunition, took control of the provincial government, and drove many Loyalists out of the province.

Settlement had been limited to the near vicinity of the Savannah River; the western area of the new state remained under the control of the Creek Indian Confederation.

During the American Revolutionary War Wright was the only royal governor to regain control of part of his colony after British forces captured Savannah on December 29, 1778.

In 1779 the British repelled an attack of militia, Continental Army, and French military and naval forces on Savannah.

[19] On April 24, 1802, Georgia ceded to the U.S. Congress parts of its western lands, that it had claims for going back to when it was a province (colony).