!3] THE TENURE OF LAND BEFORE i860 i$ 



ing situation of things was sent to the trustees. 1 Instead 

 of a peasantry growing stronger and more self-sustain- 

 ing, indebtedness was developing together with a desire 

 to pledge lands as security for further advances. As a 

 means of escape from the evil state of things into which 

 they had come, the petitioners asked for two privileges : 

 (1) To hold lands in fee simple; (2) to introduce negro 

 slavery. 2 According to their arguments the first would 

 enable them to obtain credit, while* the second would 

 place them in command of cheap labor, and thus make 

 it possible for them to compete in industry with their 

 neighbors of South Carolina. The trustees displayed 

 greater willingness to give heed to the representations 

 from the colony concerning land tenure than to those 

 touching the need of slaves. In view of the urgency of 

 the situation, they took steps at once to modify the 

 rigidness of the law relating to the tenure of land. 3 

 Other modifications were made soon thereafter, so that 

 by 1750 the principle of absolute ownership of land was 

 recognized in the colony. 4 



The year before this in answer to an appeal made by 

 some of the inhabitants of Georgia and because of the 

 unprogressive, or more properly the retrogressive, con- 

 dition of the colony, the trustees gave their consent for 

 the settlers to hold and use slaves under certain regula- 

 tions guaranteeing their humane treatment, and under 

 other provisions looking to the welfare and safety of the 



1 "A True and Historical Narrative of the Colony of Ga." (1741)- 

 Reprinted in Ga. Hist. Col., vol. ii, p. 217 et seq. 



2 Ibid., p. 220. 



3 Ga. Hist. Collections, vol. ii, pp. 300, 234. 



* Jones, Hist, of Ga., vol. i, p. 422, and Stevens, Hist, of Ga., vol. i, 

 p. 281. 



