What Could Have Been? - Freeman's Rag

Historical Ruminations

Savannah’s and Savannahians contributions to our country are often overlooked by us. Robin Williams, a professor and chair of the Architectural History Department at SCAD, says although Savannah is small it punches out of its weight class. He compared it to a welter weight who can punch and fight in the heavy weight division. The posts in this section will look at some of the ways that this is true.

Here is Michael Freeman's new book on Savannah. It tells a story not often told of the Creeks and the Native American Creeks who lived in Savannah during its founding. You might even say Tomochichi and Mary Musgrove were co-founders of Georgia.

What Could Have Been?

5/12/2018

Depiction of the Malcontents in Action

The first colonists to disagree with the way things were going in the new Georgia colony were called Malcontents. This label given them so long ago has stuck throughout the years. These complainers were primarily Scottish, near Savannah. The Georgia Trustees had placed restrictions on slavery, rum, and land ownership. And this was having a threefold consequence on the colonists. First without slaves, they were finding it hard prosper as the Carolinians who had slavery. Secondly, with the limitations on how much land you could own they were finding it hard to create the big plantations that were in the Carolinas. Thirdly, without rum they were not able to enjoy themselves as much as their neighbors to the north.

The difference in the Malcontents and the rest of the colonists was that unlike the other settlers who needed monetary assistance from the Trustees to establish themselves in the new colony, they had their own money. So they as a group were less loyal to the Trustees. They were the opposite of the debtor colony concept. They had money and wanted more. So all the laws to try to create a classless society ran afoul of the Malcontents who had aspirations of being even more upper crust.

121 residents signed the Malcontents petition to change the rules. The Trustees for their part denied the petition and refused to amend the laws. Frustrated by the lack of local authority or change in Georgia and its administration, many of the Malcontents' leaders left the colony in 1740. With this defeat William Stephens wrote a memorial entitled A State of the Province of Georgia. The document claimed the Trustees and their policies enjoyed wide support throughout Georgia and—owing to the unique laws governing the colony—economic success seemed assured. The Malcontents refuted this with their own tract entitled A True and Historical Narrative of the Colony of Georgia.

In 1742 Thomas Stephens, who interestingly enough was the son of the positive tract writer William Stephens, wrote his own tract on Georgia entitled The Hard Case of the Distressed People of Georgia. When the Trustees passed a law in 1750 allowing slavery, many credited the change to the actions and writings of the Malcontents.

Eventually, the other laws in disfavor by the colonist’s prohibition on rum and limitations on land ownership would give way too. So the colony mirrored their sister colonies. But one has to wonder if the Malcontents had not pushed for slavery, what would have abolition looked like with a non-slavery state in the South. And what would have America done with a state that did not have distinct classes? But alas these are the questions of what ifs. The Malcontents will forever be known for their taking the utopia right out of Georgia. Heavy sigh.

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