1. Land Fever in Georgia
Manifest Destiny-the belief that U.S was destined to reach from east to west coast
Land taken from Indians and was given to settlers through the Headright System
The Headright system- Head of family receives 200 acres, and 50 acres for each family member (distributes land)
In 1803 President Jefferson bought the Louisiana Territory from France for $15 million – Louisiana Purchase
The LA Purchase was the largest land gain in U.S. history.
The Louisiana Territory’s western and eastern boundaries were the Rocky Mts. and the Mississippi

2. Yazoo Land Fraud
Land companies bribed Gov. George Matthews and members of the General Assembly .
a) bribed them to pass a law allowing land companies to
buy western land below market price
b) companies bought b/t 35 and 50 million acres of land for
$500,000 – about 1 ½ cents per acre
The public learned of deal and began to protest
* the legislators involved were voted out of office
The Federal Gov. paid over $4 million in settlement claims and disputed GA right to the land
Georgia ceded its land in Mississippi & Alabama to the federal gov. for $1.25 million
Western boundary became the Chattahoochee River

3. The Yazoo Land Fraud
James Jackson and the Yazoo Land Fraud
An old school textbook depicts Georgia senator James Jackson destroying records connected with the Yazoo land sale
The Yazoo Land Fraud scheme was the states worst political scandal because land speculators bribed members of The General Assembly
to sell public land for low prices

4. Economic Growth in Georgia
After the war cotton and tobacco became the major crops
Many inventions after the war that advanced farming and the economy
Cyrus McCormick- Invented the mechanical reaper
Samuel Slater - Invented the textile mill
Eli Whitney - Invented the cotton gin (the most important invention to GA in the early 1800’s
Cash Crops are grown for the purpose of selling
Subsistence Farming – growing crops to feed the family
Panic of 1837 led to a downturn in GA’s economy and caused a depression

5. Henry Blair Corn Harvester

6. Samuel Slater dTextile Mill

7. Natural Barrier forcing population south and to the west…Appalachian mountains

8. Cyrus McCormick The Mechanical Reaper

9. Eli Whitney Cotton Gin

10. Georgia’s Boundary 1732

11. Education and Churches
University of Georgia was the 1st state chartered institution in the United States
GA’s earliest women’s college was Georgia Female college (Wesleyan)
A land grant university : land for the college was donated by the federal government
Bishop Richard Allen founded the African Methodist Episcopal Church.
Joseph Smith founded the Church of Latter Day Saints

12. Education and Churches
Baptist and Methodist Churches spread during this time.
Methodist circuit riders founded churches in the frontier region
Circuit riders – ministers who went from district to district.
Churches were essential parts of town life, town meetings and social events were held here.
In 1786 GA legislature passed a law requiring each county to open academies.

13. Savannah River..link to the Atlantic Ocean

14. Transportation and Other Stuff
Georgia’s main railroad company was the Western and Atlantic Railroad
A turnpike was a private roadway in which travelers had to pay a toll to cross
To help build roads, the government approved private companies to build turnpikes
Farmers moved there products by riverboats, ferries, and wagon trains
The two cities that served as Georgia’s capital in the 1700’s were Savannah and Augusta
Atlanta was not a planned city, its original name was Terminus then Marthasville

15. Georgia and a New Century
Education:
* 1784 Government set aside 20,000 acres of land for the creation of University of Georgia
Religion:
*Richard Allen founded the African Methodist Episcopal Church
*Revivals were often held by the Methodist Churches in tents
* Georgia Baptist Convention was created – largest group of Baptists in the state, and today’s largest Prostestant body.
In the late 1700’s Louisville became GA’s new capital, but in 1807 the capital would move to Milledgeville