Georgia History (1732) from The Original 13-A Documentary History of Religion in America's First Thirteen States (Amerisearch, Inc., 2009):
<Georgia was named in honor of King George II. After the voyage of John Cabot in 1497, England claimed all of America's Atlantic seaboard. In 1565, Spain settled St. Augustine, Florida. For over a century, Catholic Spanish missions were along the coast.
When the area of South Carolina began to be populated by Protestant English settlers in 1670, Spain plotted with Indians and slaves to harass them. By 1704, the British had driven the Spanish out completely. In the early 1700's, the English Parliament was open to the idea of a buffer colony between the Carolina and Spanish Florida, causing them to be interested in James Oglethorpe's proposed colony.
James Edward Oglethorpe (1696-1785), was educated at Oxford. At age 17, he joined the Austrian army and fought the invading Muslim Turks on the Hungarian frontier, serving as aide-de-camp to Prince Eugene of Savoy. He fought with distinction, especially during the siege and freeing of Belgrade.
At 21 years old, Oglethorpe returned to England where he ended up killing a man in a brawl and spent five months in prison. Upon release in 1722, he was chosen to serve in Parliament, as his father had.
He campaigned to improve the condition of poor in London's prisons and opposed slavery. His first-hand witness of prison atrocities, having had a friend die in debtors' prison, inspired Oglethorpe to found a colony in America where poor debtors could get a fresh start and persecuted Protestants could find refuge.
Oglethorpe was granted the colonial charter in 1732 and served as its governor till he returned to England, 1743. On January 13, 1733, his ship, "Ann," arrived with 115 settlers in Savannah harbor. Minister Herbert Henry offered prayer at the ship's arrival. As the first settlers touched the shore, they knelt and declared:
"Our end in leaving our native country is not to gain riches and honor, but singly this: to live wholly to the glory of God."
Their object was: "To make Georgia a religious colony."
Charles Wesley (1707-1788) served as Oglethorpe's secretary and John Wesley (1703-1791), who later led the Methodist movement, served in Georgia as minister, attempting unsuccessfully to minister to the Indians. George Whitefield (1714-1770) later built an orphanage in Georgia.
Georgia's Charter allowed religious freedom to any Protestant. Oglethorpe brought more immigrants, including Moravians, who were enthusiastic Christian missionaries.
In 1733, London's Jewish community numbered 6,000. They funded the Jewish refugees of Europe who had come to England on the trip to the new colony of Georgia. A total of 42 Jews left, 34 Portuguese Sephardic Jews and 8 German Ashkenazic Jews, arriving in Savannah on July 11, 1733, just five months after James Oglethorpe. This was the largest group of Jews to land in North America prior to the Revolutionary War.
As they had more the a "minyan," a quorum of ten men, and carried with them a Torah Scroll, containing the first five books of the Bible, the Jewish settlers first communal act upon landing was the initiation of Divine services in the homes of its members.
This was the beginning of Kahal Kodesh Mickva Israel, translated "Holy Congregation Hope of Israel," though they did not build a permanent synagogue until years later. It is the third oldest Jewish congregation in the United States. The oldest congregation being founded in New York City in 1654; the second oldest being founded in Newport, Rhode Island, in 1695; the fourth oldest being founded in Philadelphia in 1739 and the fifth oldest being founded in Charleston in 1749.
In a few years more "common" Ashkenazic Jews of German and Eastern European descent arrived in Savannah and tensions arose with the "aristocratic" Sephardic Jews of Spanish and Portuguese decent. The difficulties were related in 1739 letter that Lutheran minister Reverend Bolzius of the Salzburgers, wrote to a friend in Germany:
"Even the Jews, of whom several families are here already, enjoy all privileges the same as other colonists. Some call themselves Spanish and Portuguese, others call themselves German Jews. The latter speak High German and differ from the former in their religious services and to some extent in other matters as well, as the former do not seem to take it so particular in regard to the dietary laws and other Jewish ceremonies. They have no Synagogue, which is their own fault; the one element hindering the other in this regard. The German Jews believe themselves entitled to build a Synagogue and are willing to allow the Spanish Jews to use it with them in common, the latter, however, reject any such arrangement and demand the preference for themselves."
The large number of settlers that were former debtors and convicts began to cry for rum and slavery and bring accusations against Oglethorpe for his efforts to keep order. Had it not been for the 1734 arrival of industrious Protestant refugees from Salzburg, Austria, called "Salzburgers," who settled the town of Ebenezer; and the Swiss German Moravian immigrants arriving from Fort Argyle in 1735; and the hardy and thrifty Scotch Presbyterians arriving from New Inverness in 1736, Oglethorpe's colony would have been wrecked.
On July 5, 1742, some 3,000 Spanish soldiers landed on St. Simons Island, intending to capture Georgia in what was called the War of Jenkin's Ear. Fearing the Spanish, many Sephardic Jews left the city. By 1774, though, many had returned.
Even John and Charles Wesley could not bring a spiritual responsibility to Savannah, though in 1738, the eloquent Rev. George Whitefleld received a popular welcome and preached an elevated moral code.
But neither the Governor, nor the zealous Preachers could establish the philanthropic or commercial success of the colony of Georgia. Mutiny was spreading and Oglethorpe's life was threatened with actual attempts upon it.
Letters of dissent and accusations against Oglethorpe were written under the pseudonym "The Plain Dealer" and sent to London. In 1743, Oglethorpe had to return to England to face 19 charges before a court martial. Though he was entirely exonerated, he had enough of the colony and never returned. In 1747, the base elements in the colony removed Oglethorpe's prohibition against slavery. In 1751, at the expiration of their charter, the council for Georgia surrendered their charter to the king and Georgia became a royal province.
On January 11, 1758, the King's government passed the establishment of the Church of England, titled an Act "for establishing Religious Worship therein, according to the Rites and Ceremonies of the Church of England." The Act set a salary of £25 per annum for every clergyman of the Established Church of England. Though passed by royal edict, it was not enforced, yet the law excluding Roman Catholic colonists was left in effect.
When four hundred French Catholic Acadian refugees sought shelter at Savannah, bringing letters from the governor of Nova Scotia to the effect, Governor Reynolds allowed them to stay the winter, then ordered them to leave, most heading for South Carolina.
In 1772, Daniel Marshall established the first Baptist Church in Georgia.
In the generation before the Revolution Georgia steadily increased in population under royal governors. The cultivation of rice by slaves made the colony economically self-supporting.
The large Tory element in the colony at the outbreak of the Revolution, favored the British. These were mostly wealthy landowners and their 14,000 slaves, who feared commercial ruin in revolution. The revolutionary spirit grew with increased momentum.
In spite of British military successes along the coast, the guerilla incursions of Indians and Florida Rangers to the south and west, and Washington's strained military unable to provide for the colony's safety, Georgia produced many heroes, such as Nancy Hart and Polish General Casmir Pulaski, who died fighting the British at Savannah. Georgia served by waiting, and when at last Washington could assign General Nathaniel Greene and Harry Lee to the army of the South, the recapture of Savannah. The last British post had been abandoned in the colony before the surrender at Yorktown.
During the Revolutionary War, Mordecai Sheftall of Georgia became the highest ranking Jewish officer of the American Revolutionary forces. Along with his son Sheftall, he was captured by British forces and imprisoned in Antigua. Eventually they were traded for two captured British officers.
As late as the Revolution, there was scarcely a Catholic in the entire State of Georgia, nor was there a priest in the State for many years thereafter.
In 1777, Georgia had passed its first State Constitution, The Preamble stated: "We the people of Georgia, relying upon the protection and guidance of Almighty God, do ordain and establish this Constitution."
Article 6 stated: Representatives shall be chosen out of the residents in each county...and they shall be of the Protestant religion."
In 1786, a building in Savannah at Barnard and Whitaker streets was used as a synagogue. Services were held regularly, and attendance numbered "seventy-three males and females."
Upon George Washington's election as first president of the United States, Levi Sheftall, president of the congregation wrote, on "behalf of the Hebrew Congregation," a congratulatory letter "on you appointment, by unanimous approbation, to the Presidential dignity of the country." President Washington dispatched an immediate answer "To the Hebrew Congregation of the City of Savannah, Georgia":
"May the same wonder-working Deity, who long since delivered the Hebrews from their Egyptian oppressors, planted them in the promised land, whose Providential Agency has lately been conspicuous in establishing these United States as an independent nation, still continue to water them with the dews of Heaven, and make the inhabitants of every denomination partake in the temporal and spiritual blessings of that people, whose God is Jehovah."
The population of Georgia in 1790 was 82,548.
A second Constitution, adopted 1789, removed the Protestant requirement. A third Constitution, adopted 1798, established religious toleration.
In 1788, Georgia was the fourth State to ratify the U.S. Constitution. In the first 34 years of its statehood Georgia had difficulties with Indians and land scandals, which led to the disastrous 1838-1839 removal of the Cherokee Indians to Oklahoma in what has been called the "Trail of Tears."
On November 20, 1790, Georgia Governor Edward Telfair granted the Mickve Israel congregation a State Charter. In 1898, the Mickve Israel's synagogue on Monterey Square was dedicated. Its museum contains letters from George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison and several other presidents.
About 1793, a few Catholics from Maryland moved to Georgia and settled near Locust Grove. They tried unsuccessfully to get a clergyman. Shortly after the French Revolution, Catholic priests fled from the French colony of Santo Domingo and the horrors of the slave revolution. One settled in Augusta and another priest in Savannah. The congregation was incorporated by the State Legislature and the city granted land and a wooden edifice with a small steeple.
In 1810, the State Legislature incorporated the Catholic Church of Augusta. They erected a brick Church of the Holy Trinity and an Augustinian friar, Rev. Robert Browne, became pastor.
In 1818, the first synagogue was built in the State of Georgia, promoted by Dr. Moses Sheftall and Dr. Jacob De la Motta, in Savannah on the northeast corner of Liberty and Whitaker streets. The small wooden building was destroyed by fire on December 4, 1829, though the Torahs and ark were saved. A new brink build was consecrated on that same site in 1841 by Reverend Isaac Leeser.
In 1820, Georgia and the Carolinas were separated from the Catholic See of Baltimore, and Bishop John England was appointed to the newly formed see, which consisted of only hundred Catholics in Savannah and fewer in Augusta.
The population of Georgia in 1830 was 516,823. In 1836, Emory College at Oxford, a Methodist Episcopal school, was founded.
The same year was founded Wesleyan Female College at Macon, a Methodist Episcopal school and the first institution of learning for women in America.
In 1839, Bishop England listed only 11 priests in the State. The Diocese of Savannah, which comprises the State of Georgia, was established in 1850, at which time Bishop England stated that there less than 25 priests in the entire State.
Georgia supported the State's Right doctrine before the outbreak of the Civil War, and when Lincoln was elected, politicians moved for secession from the Union. The war brought havoc and devastation to the State. After the termination of hostilities, Georgia for a time refused to allow former slaves in the State Legislature.
In 1869, Atlanta University-a non-sectarian school, was founded and in 1870, Clark University-a Methodist Episcopal school founded.
The population of Georgia in 1870 was 1,184,109.
In 1877, Shorter College at Rome-a Baptist school founded, and in 1881, Morris Brown College-a Methodist school founded.
The Jewish Reform movement was well under way in America by the middle of the nineteenth century. Reverend Isaac P. Mendes, who in 1877 began his twenty-seven years of distinguished service as Rabbi, dissuaded against too hasty abandonment of the older Jewish form of worship. Not until February 2, 1880, was the use of a canopy in the marriage ceremony made optional, and another fourteen years passed before members were permitted to go hatless during services. In 1902, the Union Prayer Book was adopted, and on January 10, 1904, membership in the Union of American Hebrew Congregations was attained and Mickve Israel's transition to Reform Judaism.
The last vestige of its Spanish-Portuguese heritage is proudly maintained in the Sephardic melody "El Norah Ah Lee Lah" sung by the congregation during the closing hour of each Yom Kippur service.
In 1881, the Cotton Exposition in Atlanta attested to the growing commercial life of the State.
History was made at the International Exposition in Atlanta, September 18, 1895, when the President of Tuskegee Institute, Booker T. Washington was asked to speak. He stated:
"A ship lost at sea for many days suddenly sighted a friendly vessel.
From the mast of the unfortunate vessel was seen a signal, 'Water, water; we die of thirst!' The answer from the friendly vessel at once came back, 'Cast down your bucket where you are.' A second time the signal, 'Water, water; send us water!' ran up from the distressed vessel, and was answered, 'Cast down your bucket where you are.' And a third and fourth signal for water was answered, 'Cast down your bucket where you are.' The captain of the distressed vessel, at last heading the injunction, cast down his bucket, and it came up full of fresh, sparkling water from the mouth of the Amazon River.
"To those of my race who depend on bettering their condition in a foreign land or who underestimate the importance of cultivating friendly relations with the Southern white man, who is their next-door neighbor, I would say: 'Cast down your bucket where you are'-cast it down in making friends in every manly way of the people of all races by whom we are surrounded...
"To those of the white race who look to the incoming of those of foreign birth and strange tongue and habits of the prosperity of the South, were I permitted I would repeat what I say to my own race: 'Cast down your bucket where you are.' Cast it down among the eight millions of Negroes whose habits you know, whose fidelity and love you have tested."
The population of Georgia in 1900 was 2,216,331, including 1,034,813 African Americans, 204 Chinese, 1 Japanese, and 19 Indians. In 1900, the largest city was Savannah, with a population of 54,244.
A 1908 Census listed the Diocese of Savannah as having 23,000 Catholics, 13 Churches, 72 priests, 18 missions with Churches, 81 stations, and 14 chapels. There were 2 Catholic hospitals in Georgia run by the Sisters of Mercy.
There were 170 orphans at St. Joseph's Orphanage in Washington, run by 6 Sisters of St. Joseph; St. Mary's Home for Female Orphans, Savannah, run by 7 Sisters of Mercy; and 2 African American orphanages; there were 94 residents at a Home for the Aged in Savannah, run by 10 Little Sisters of the Poor.
In 1910, the most notable feature of the work of the Church in Georgia was the evangelical energy directed toward the former slaves, a task which is being undertaken by the Society of the African Missions. The population of the State was about equally divided between whites and African Americans, with less than five hundred African Americans being Catholic.
In 1910, there were 30,000 African Americans in Augusta, of which were only about 20 Catholics. Catholic colleges are: College of Marist Fathers at Atlanta, College of the Sacred Heart at Augusta, and St. Stanislaus Novitiate of the Society of Jesus at Macon.
As of 1910, the State of Georgia gave full liberty of conscience in matters of religious opinion and worship, but did not legalize willful or profane scoffing, or prevent legislative enactment for the punishment of such acts.
It is unlawful to conduct any secular business on Sunday. Oaths were administered by using the Bible to swear upon, by the uplifted hand, or by affirmation, the form being: "You do solemnly swear in the presence of the ever living God" or "You do sincerely and truly affirm, etc." The sessions of the legislature are opened with prayer.
A great wave of German Jews arrived in Savannah beginning in 1840. Some descendants of Mickve Israel's colonial settlers include Mordecai Manuel Noah, sheriff of New York, founder of the Tammany Hall political machine and early Zionist, who in 1825, sought to establish a Jewish homeland called "Ararat" at Grand Island on the Niagara River. Another descendant was Commodore Uriah Phillips Levy, who rescued President Thomas Jefferson's home at Monticello from destruction and abolished the practice of flogging in the U. S. Navy.> 1732GH001
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American Quotations by William J. Federer, 2024, All Rights Reserved, Permission granted to use with acknowledgement.
Endnotes:
1732GH001. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Georgia History, 1732. William J. Federer, The Original 13-A Documentary History of Religion in America's First Thirteen States (St. Louis, MO: Amerisearch, Inc.). The World Book Encyclopedia, 18 vols. (Chicago, IL: Field Enterprises, Inc., 1957; W.F. Quarrie and Company, 8 vols., 1917; World Book, Inc., 22 vols., 1989), Vol. 7, p. 2950, Vol. 12, p. 5857. Stephen K. McDowell and Mark A. Beliles, America's Providential History (Charlottesville, VA: Providence Press, 1988), p. 55.