12 ECONOMICS OF LAND TENURE IN GEORGIA [ I2 



properly left to be determined by the trustees of the 

 colony. Upon military and economic grounds they de- 

 cided to grant land in lots of fifty acres each. 1 Further- 

 more, provision was made 



to prevent the accumulation of several lots into one hand lest 

 the garrison should be lessened, and likewise to prevent a 

 division of those lots into smaller parcels lest that which was 

 no more than sufficient for one planter, when entire, should 

 if divided amongst several, be too scanty for their subsistence. 



To effect these ends estates were granted "in tail male." 

 The charter said that no person should be granted over 

 five hundred acres of land ; while the incorporators in 

 making use of the principle involved in this chartered 

 limitation said that one person could possess only fifty 

 acres, and that he could not dispose of his holding in any 

 ordinary manner. 



It was also stipulated that no person holding land in 

 Georgia could " hire, keep, lodge, board, or employ 

 within the limits of the colony any negroes whether slave 

 or otherwise except with the special leave of the com- 

 mon council." 3 It was expected that those to whom 

 grants were made would come over to claim and cultivate 

 personally the lands given. 4 



The colony did not flourish. It was soon discovered 

 that the restrictions created a condition unfavorable to 

 the economic prosperity of the settlers. Only five years 

 after the founding of the colony a memorial signed by 

 many of the settlers making complaint of the discourag- 



l " An Account Showing the Progress of the Colony" (1741). Re- 

 printed in Ga. Hist. Col., vol. ii, pp. 275, 276. 



2 Ibid. , p. 276. 



3 Jones, Hist, of Ga., vol. i, p. 159. i Idid., p. 107. 



