CHAPTER I 



THE TENURE OF LAND BEFORE i860 



Georgia as a colony developed and transmitted to 

 Georgia as a state two institutions of great importance 

 in their bearings upon the problem of land tenure. 

 These were unrestricted landownership and negro slavery. 



A humanitarian motive led to the founding of the 

 colony. Back of the motive and giving rise to it was an 

 economic condition. The colony as planned by its pro- 

 moters was for the relief and rehabilitation of an unfortun- 

 ate debtor class. A fresh opportunity in the midst of a new 

 environment was to be given those who had failed in the 

 economic life struggle in England. In view of the special 

 purposes for which the colony was planted, it was thought 

 proper by those in authority to make certain regulations 

 respecting the tenure of land. It was desired to estab- 

 lish upon this territory not a landed aristocracy, but a 

 self-supporting land-owning citizenry. To this end the 

 charter itself placed a maximum limitation upon the 

 number of acres that could be granted to one person. It 

 stipulated " that no greater quantity of lands be granted, 

 either entirely or in parcels, to or for the use, or in trust 

 for any one person, than five hundred acres." T 



The charter regulations touching land grants were, 

 however, of a general character — the details were very 



1 Georgia Historical Collections, vol. ii, p. 190; Jones, History of 

 Georgia, vol. i, p. 108; Stevens, History of Ga., vol. i, p. 64. 



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