Unit 7:
Development of Georgia
1789-1840
Georgia Performance Standards:
SS8H5: The student will explain significant factors
that affected the development of Georgia as part of
the growth of the United States between 1789-1840.
Unit 7: Vocabulary Terms & Definitions
The 1st and oldest state
supported university chartered in the USA.
Believed that each church should
operate independently with its own ministers.
Created in Savannah, GA in
1736 by brothers John and Charles Wesley.
It became Georgia’s capital city in
1795.
White males identified as the
“head” of their family were given up to 1,000
acres of land in Georgia.
Unit 7: Vocabulary Terms & Definitions
From 1805-1832, Georgia distributed land
taken from the Creek and the Cherokee through a lottery
process.
In 1795, land companies bribed Georgia
legislators to pass a law allowing them to buy large amounts
of land for lower prices, and to be able to sell smaller
portions of land to settlers for a higher price.
Upper Creek Indian Chief, who tried
to protect his tribe’s land from U.S. & Georgia’s government.
Georgia gave up all of its land involved in
the Yazoo Land Fraud to the U.S. government.
Development of Georgia (1789-1840)
Education
• 1784-The General Assembly set aside 20,000 acres of
land and named trustees to establish a college in GA.
• 1785-The
was chartered/created
as a land grant university (a school for which the state
government gave public land).
is the first and oldest state supported university in
the USA.
• The university has no religious affiliation.
SS8H5a: Explain the establishment of UGA, Louisville, and the spread of Baptist &
Methodist churches.
Development of Georgia (1789-1840)
• The Baptist and Methodist denominations became the
two most practiced forms of Christianity in Georgia.
• The
believed that each church should operate
independently with its own ministers.
• The
believed that churches should be
connected to each other. Therefore, Methodist
ministers (circuit riders) would travel different churches
to preach on Sundays using a rotation schedule.
• 1736religion was created in Savannah, GA
by brothers John and Charles Wesley.
SS8H5a: Explain the establishment of UGA, Louisville, and the spread of Baptist &
Methodist churches.
Development of Georgia (1789-1840)
• 1795-1805
Georgia’s capital
city was moved to Louisville
(present day Jefferson County).
• Why did the capital move? As
population increased inland,
the capital cities of Georgia
were eventually moved to
become more centrally located
inside the state.
SS8H5a: Explain the establishment of UGA, Louisville, and the spread of Baptist &
Methodist churches.
Development of Georgia (1789-1840)
• These denominations became involved in
higher education by establishing colleges:
1. The Methodists created Wesleyan College
(1836) for girls and Emory University (1836)
for boys.
http://www.gpb.org/georgiastories/stories/w
esleyan_female_college.
2. The Baptists created Mercer College (1833).
SS8H5a: Explain the establishment of UGA, Louisville, and the spread of Baptist &
Methodist churches.
Thursday
Development of Georgia (1789-1840)
• Land was valuable and in high demand.
• Land east of the Oconee River that belonged
to the Native Americans was given to
Georgians by means of the Headright System.
• The Headright System counted each white
male as a “head” of a family.
• White males deemed the “head” of their
family was given up to 1,000 acres of land.
SS8H5b: Evaluate the impact of land policies pursued by Georgia (Headright system,
land lotteries, and the Yazoo Land Fraud).
Development of Georgia (1789-1840)
• When public domain land (lands owned by the state or
federal government) were opened for settlement,
Georgia surveyed land lots of different sizes.
• These land lots, which were located west of the
Oconee River, were known as “
.”
• For a fee, any white male 21 years of age or older could
buy a chance and, on the spin of a wheel, win land.
• Heads of households with children, war veterans, and
widows were given extra chances in the
.
SS8H5b: Evaluate the impact of land policies pursued by Georgia (Headright system,
land lotteries, and the Yazoo Land Fraud).
Development of Georgia (1789-1840)
• By 1795, Georgians hunger for land had
peaked.
• Georgia’s western borders were to the
Mississippi River and the Yazoo River (included
in this territory were the present states of
Alabama and Mississippi.
• In addition, both South Carolina and Spain
claimed some of the same land…so this battle
for land was taken to court for a settlement.
Yazoo Land Fraud Map
Development of Georgia (1789-1840)
• Before any settlement was made, four land
companies approached Governor George
Matthews and the members of the General
Assembly, and bribed them to pass a bill allowing
the land companies to buy up western lands.
• When the General Assembly enacted the bill into
law, the land companies bought between 35 and
50 million acres of land for only $500,000 (1¢ per
acre).
Development of Georgia (1789-1840)
• When the public found out what happened, this
scandal was called the Yazoo Land Fraud.
• As a result, the guilty legislators of the General
Assembly were voted out of office and the law
allowing this land to be sold were repealed.
• People who bought land from the four land
companies sued the state of Georgia, in order to
keep their land.
• The federal government resolved this scandal by
paying over $4 million to settle land claims.
Development of Georgia (1789-1840)
• In 1802, Georgia ceded
(gave up) its land west
of the Chattahoochee
River to the federal
government for $1.25
million.
• The Chattahoochee
River became Georgia’s
western boundary.
SS8H5b: Evaluate the impact of land policies pursued by Georgia (Headright system,
land lotteries, and the Yazoo Land Fraud).
CRCT Practice Questions
8. What scandal took place when
Georgia’s governor and some
legislators were bribed to sell
public land to private developers
at below-market prices?
A. Trail of Tears
B. Yazoo Land Fraud
C. General Assembly
D. Georgia’s land lottery
9. Why did Georgia give up land
claims in what is now Alabama
and Mississippi?
A. The federal government paid
millions to settle the Yazoo Land
Fraud and disputed Georgia’s
right to the land.
B. The state could not claim the
land because the General
Assembly illegally sold it to
private companies.
C. The state did not have the
millions of dollars required to
purchase the land from Spain.
D. The federal government wanted
to set that land aside for the
Indian population.
Friday Warm-up
• Writing Prompt Topic-In a paragraph, please
explain how inventions can improve the lives
of people? What is an invention that has
enhanced your life? Please explain how the
invention has helped to make your life better.
Development of Georgia (1789-1840)
• In 1793, Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin.
• This invention was a machine with wire teeth on
a turning cylinder, which separated the cotton
from the seed.
• Cotton planters loved the cotton gin, because
workers were able to separate about 50 lbs of
cotton day (prior only 6-7 lbs a day).
• Eli earned nothing from his invention, because
cotton planters stole his invention before it was
patented (copyrighted/trademarked).
SS8H5d: Explain how technological developments, including the cotton gin and railroads
had an impact on Georgia’s growth.
CRCT Practice Questions
10. How did Eli Whitney’s
invention influence the growth
of slavery in the South?
A. It made it easier for slaves to
pick cotton.
B. It increased the profits from
growing cotton.
C. It made it easier to produce
cloth from cotton.
D. It replenished the soil so that
more cotton could be grown.
11. The chief crop in Georgia
before the Civil War was…
A. cotton.
B. Apples.
C. Pecans.
D. Grapes.
12. The cotton gin was used to do
what?
A. Pick cotton.
B. Plant cotton.
C. Turn cotton fiber into thread.
D. Separate the seeds from the
cotton fiber.
Development of Georgia (1789-1840)
• Steam engines used to power boats
revolutionized how manufactured goods got
to markets.
• The fastest way to move people and goods
was by water from 1807 to the 1830s.
Development of Georgia (1789-1840)
• During the 1800s, a major
economic development
was the building of
railroads.
• Prior to railroads, people
traveled on horses, boats,
or stagecoaches.
• Freight (goods shipped by
boat) was sent to the
market by steamboats,
ferries, or wagon trains.
SS8H5d: Explain how technological developments, including the cotton gin and railroads
had an impact on Georgia’s growth.
Development of Georgia (1789-1840)
• 1836-Most of the railroad tracks in Georgia
belonged to the Western & Atlantic Railroad
company. They ran from Chattanooga, TN to a
town called Terminus (present-day Atlanta, GA).
• Railroads shortened travel time for both
passengers and freight from days to simply
hours.
http://www.gpb.org/georgiastories/stories/railro
ads_economic_boom
SS8H5d: Explain how technological developments, including the cotton gin and railroads
had an impact on Georgia’s growth.
CRCT Practice Questions
13. Which mode of transportation was
developing in Georgia just before the
Civil War, which was very important
to Georgia’s war effort and post-war
economic development?
A. Canals
B. Railroads
C. Highways
D. Riverboats
14. Why was Atlanta at one
time was called Terminus?
A. majority of the railroads
went through the city.
B. The railroad line ended
there at one time.
C. No major railroad went
through the city.
D. All the railroads ended
there.
15. Which railroad became the primary railroad in Georgia, during the
1830s?
A. Baltimore & Ohio
B. Norfolk and Western
C. Western & Atlantic
D. Chesapeake and Ohio
References
Blankenship, G. and Wood, V. (2009). Georgia CRCT test prep: 8th grade
Georgia studies. Atlanta, GA: Clairmont Press, Inc.
Klein, P. and Pascoe, C. (2005). Georgia: In the American experience. Evanston,
IL: McDougal Littell, Inc.
London, B. B. (1999). Georgia: The history of an American state. Montgomery,
AL: Clairmont Press.