the colony of Georgia was founded in 1733 just north of Spanish Florida by an English philanthropist named James Oglethorpe James Oglethorpe was a gentleman and an Adu gooder in a way he was interested in the plight of the poor in England Oh galore planned the Georgia colony as a haven for survivors of England's harsh debtors prisons the idea was that it would be a place where the English deserving poor could be sent where they would have property of their own and they could work for themselves Georgia also welcomes soldiers into its settlements because it was under nearly constant attack by the Spanish and by various Indian tribes Oglethorpe maintained tight control of his colony by banning liquor and denying his colonists the right to assemble he also banned Catholics fearing they were sympathized with the Spanish and he banned Africans for fear of insurrection it's vulnerable location that harsh restrictions proved unattractive and Georgia failed to draw many new settlers to bring people to Georgia oh go Thorpe changed his rules in 1750 and allowed slavery to foster economic growth a year later the colony was returned to the king under English control Georgia came to resemble aristocratic South Carolina rather than the egalitarian refuge for the poor originally envisioned by Oglethorpe by 1770 slaves made up more than half its population [Music]