Instructions
A. Read “Reasons for Establishing the Colony of Georgia, 1733” (PDF uploaded).
B. Discussion: How does the author describe the people who end up in debtor’s prison? What
does imprisoning debtors cost the empire and English society? What role do you think this
author saw the colonies playing in the British empire?
C. You must mention the person’s name whose comment you are responding to and quote what
aspect of their post you are speaking to. Without a name and what exactly you are responding to,
it is not possible to see the direction of your comments and the comments will not receive any
points.
Chazz Napper’s Response:
The author in this text is describing the policies and procedures that the colonies had specifically
in regards to the area known as Georgia in 1733. At that time, any debtors they encountered
would be sent to Georgia which was essentially a prison for them. They already were sending
criminals there as well as foreign Protestants. The author views putting all these people in the
same place as a negative thing. When this action is taken, these debtors now become useless to
society, in his opinion. They are no longer able to provide work services, or knowledge they
have pertaining to a multitude of different things. They are practically lost. As soon as you tell
someone they are equal to people who are committing crimes, their likelihood to be your
companion goes down. So even if they work their way out of Georgia, they will probably never
look to aid in your society again. Putting them with potentially dangerous people will also
influence their personalities, potentially making them dangerous people as well. All these things
to say that the author believes that sending debtors to Georgia is only harmful, not helpful. If the
colonies were trying to build their way up to be their own nation, then the author probably saw
the colonies harming their own chances at that. By doing this, they could dwindle their numbers
and their resources. People could potentially try and go back to the British empire because of
their disapproval of this method, because they may like their methods better. This also was
limiting their potential income by shortening their number of laborers.