Georgia
James Oglethorpe was angry after a friend of his died in debtors' prison and called
for an investigation into the conditions of British jails. He also formulated
a plan to obtain the release of people from debtors' prison and to establish a
new colony, south of Carolina, to be inhabited by the "worthy poor"
of London. The "worthy poor" included the debtors and other homeless
people. In the Royal Charter (June 20, 1732), granted by King George II for the
colony of Georgia, a board of Trustees was established to fulfill this goal. As
it happened, however, this plan was never fully realized. When the ship Anne sailed
for the new colony on November 16, 1732, not one of the 114 colonists aboard had
been released from debtors' prison to make the voyage |
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