ABSTRACT
The colony of Georgia was founded in 1733 for a variety of philanthropic and strategic reasons. The need to defend South Carolina from possible Spanish attack via a buffer state south of the Savannah River coincided with a desire amongst some British parliamentarians to create an overseas colony for poor, but worthy, Protestants. Not long after the first settlers arrived the issue of whether slavery would be permitted in the new colony became crucial. The prohibition on slavery attracted criticism from a large number of Georgia residents, known as the ‘malcontents’, who believed that Georgia’s economy would never develop without slave labour and the creation of a plantation system similar to South Carolina. The trustees organized the publication of these documents in part to refute the lingering suggestion that Georgia was a failed colony. Since the main complaint of the malcontents concerned the prohibition of slavery, Martyn spends some time explaining the reasons for it.
