Content Objectives:
SS8H5: The student will explain significant factors that affected the development of Georgia as part of the growth of the United States between
1789 and 1840. a. Explain the establishment of the University of Georgia, Louisville, and the spread of Baptist and Methodist churches. b. Evaluate the impact of land policies pursued by Georgia; include the headright system, land lotteries, and the Yazoo land fraud. c. Explain how technological developments, including the cotton gin and railroads, had an impact on Georgia’s growth.
Outline Chapter 9: Growth and Prosperity
I. Manifest Destiny : belief that the United States was destined to expand to the
Pacific Ocean
II.
The United States’ expanding land:
A. Where did the US’s new land come from:
1. Native Americans (135): seen as obstacle to be removed by
American and State governments.
2. Northwest Territory (134-135): Great Lakes area; did not directly affect GA, but shortly after “Ohio Territory” was divided into States
(Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio, Illinois, Indiana)
3.
Louisiana Purchase (134-135): Large area between the Mississippi
River and the Rocky Mountains; As a result of debts from European wars, in 1803 Napoleon sold all of the North American land France had regained in Revolutionary War to the US for 15 million dollars.
B. What Georgia did (mainly affected by A1)

1. Got Native American lands: Creeks, Cherokees, and others forced to cede millions of acres from 1773 onward as a result of (1) direct pressure and (2) debts owed to white traders.
2. Distributed now Public Lands 3 ways: a. Headright system (138):
200 acres plus 50 for add’l family members – max. of 1000 acres; Rev War Veterans got more.
Plats are maps of land lots b. Yazoo Land Fraud of 1795: state leaders wanted to open
Indian land to settlement & increase Georgia’s population
; businessmen formed land companies in order to speculate ; In
1795 4 companies bribed members of GA general assembly to sell millions of acres of unclaimed land cheaply. The public was outraged and the Yazoo Act was repealed when Georgians found out about it, and the focus of their outrage was on the legislators .
All land was eventually ceded by Georgia to the US government for $1.25 million; became MS & AL later
C. Land Lottery (142): from 1803 onward, remaining land was divided up into lots of at most 490 acres and given away in lottery.
III. Economic Infrastructure
A. Inventions: Steamboats, Railroads, cotton gin, corn harvester, mechanical reaper.
Transition from barges to steam (steam power can push a vessel upriver).
B.
Waterways : Major rivers ( Savannah, Oconee, Ocmulgee, and
Chattahoochee ) lead to creation of major cities like Augusta, Macon,
Columbus, and Milledgeville
Transition from barges to steamboats
C. Roads: Going back to colonial times, law had required all men between
16 and 60 to spend 12 days a year building roads. Turnpikes replaced this system (private roadway built & maintained by a company) Turnpike

corporations approved by state government now built roads. The journey from Savannah to Augusta on the best of these roads took 2-4 days.
D. Railroads (149): Steam powered locomotives cheaper and more reliable than boats or wagons . State owned train line leads to creation of
“Terminus” as GA’s end of the line connecting to Chattanooga TN. Terminus would become Atlanta.
IV.
Georgia’s Cities: Different Reasons for Different Cities:
A. Economics: Augusta, Columbus, and Macon all “ Fall Line
” cities designed to provide links for agriculture to rivers and coast.
2. State government capital (Always moving west ):
Savannah: good location overlooking Savannah River, chosen by Oglethorpe
Augusta: preexisting Native American trading post and the bulk of the population was starting to move into the backcountry.
Louisville, Milledgeville: specially planned, sites chosen to be centrally located to Georgians
Atlanta: end of railroad – Terminus (later renamed Marthasville)
3. UGA and Athens: UGA originally chartered by Abraham Baldwin in
1785 around populist ideas of education for all citizens. It finally began as the first state school in US in 1801, and Athens was built around it.