DOCUMENT RESUME ED 156-582 ' SO 010 986 AUTHOR Ready,'Milton TITLE ,The Impact of the Revolution upcn Georgia's Eccnomy, 7.75 -1789. INSTITUTION' G rgia Cotmissicn'for the Bicertennial Celebration, `a lanta.; Georgia State Dept. of Educaticn, Atlanta.' PUB DATE 75 NOTE 25p.; Edr related documents, see SO 01C SE7-993; Figure on page 4 and phctcgiapS on page 7 may not reproduce clearly in hard copy EDRS PiICE . 1 MF-$0.83 HC-$1,67 Plus postage. .DESCRIPTORS *Colonial Histbry (United Stat'es); *Ecoricaic Change; Economic 'Climate; ExEcits; Instucticnal Materials; Junior High School Students; Learning ActivitieS4_ 'Political InfluenCes; *R.Eading Materials; *Revolutionary War (United .States);, Seccndary Tducation;'Sociel Change; *State Histcry; Supplementary Textbooks; Teaching Guides; *United States History IDENTIFIERS ,*Georgia ABSTRACT . One clfa series of pamphlets abcut effects of the America Revolution in Georgia, this document reviews.Gecrgials economy during the years 1775-1789. It can be used as supplementary . reading or a two-week 'unit for junior or senior sigh school students. A brief teacher's guide is included. The main part cf the pamphlet relates the political and economic changes created during the Revolution i,n Georgia. Before the Revclution, Georgia hada flourishing economy with rice and indigcexEcrts. Mercantile interests in London dominated Georgia'vccmmerce andan extensive plantation economy developed in the coastal low country. Lumbering' also increased. However, beginning with the Statp Act in 1765,. Georgia's export businesswas curtailed and ultimately piohibited except_with loyal British colonies. Erctlems were compounded by devaluation of continental ,currency, scarcity of imported foodstuffs: and fart eguipment,'and*the exodus of Tories and slaves who had managed and worked on the plantations. However, within a decade of the panic of 1786, Georgia began toacguire, financial stability, increased trade, and attracted new settlers: The teacher's guide prssents learning and 'Skill 'objectives, activities, and discussion questions based on the text. (Author/AV). II ******t******************#***********4********************************* Reproductions supplied byEDRS are the best that can'he made *. from the original document. **************************************************4******************** 1 US DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH. EDUCATION & WELFARE CNI NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF tc0 EDUCATION , THIS 006JmeNT His BEEN REPRO- ts'N DUCED EXACTLY AS RECEIVED FROM THE PERSON OR ORGANIZATIONORIGIN VJ ATIft IT POINTS OF VIEWOR OPINIONS STA ED DO NOT NECESSARILY REPRE t.r\ SENT OFFICIAL NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION POSITION OR POLICY "PERMISSION TO REPRODUCETHIS MATERIAL HAS BEENGRANTED BY AveS r4P6 TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER(ERIC/ ykNO USERS OF THE ERIC SYSTEM The Impact of the Revolution . uponGeorgia's Economy 0 17751789 Milton Ready B.S., University of Houston M.A., University of Ho,uston Ph.D., University of Georgia Assistant Professor University of NorthCarolina, Asheville Editors' Note One of-the early concerns of the, Georgia Commission for the National Bicentennial Celebiation was the lack of material on Revolutionary Georgia available for usein the state's public jthools during the bicentAnalyears As a result, one o the first projects of the Commission was the preparation of a series of pamphlets on the American Revolution in Georgia aimed specifically at public school use With the cooperation of the Georgia Department oi Education, this project has beome a reality Thirteen pamphlets are scheduled-to be published between 1974 and 1978 Our p&p ise in publishing these pamphlets is to present a clear. colIse picture of'Georgia's history during these impor t days We hope that our efforts will encouraN students interest and add to their knowledge of Georgia's Miring the American Revolution. Kenneth Coleman Milton Ready 4 Copyrigh t 0 1975 Georgia Commission for 'the National -Bicentennial Celebration, and Georgia' De pakt men t of Education ri 3 or A Lexington, Massachusetts was & tong, long way in Savannah. In 1772 over 160 ships tdtaling from the towns, plantations and farms of frontier 12,124 tons and employing 1,700 sailors cleared Georgia in April of 1775. .Few Georgians had ever the customs house. Additionally, planters andmer- heard of the little NeW'England town until they chants in the Savannah area owned wholly or.in read in the Georgia Gazette that fighting had part "five ships, one seven Brigantines, thir- broker out there between the local militia and teen sloops and schooners and ten coasting vessels." British redcoats. Moreover, few woNd have ima- From the Savannati River southward to the St. gined that this small skirmish would lead to the Marys, more than 50 trading boats and rafts, mostly most revolutionary war in history and that over owned-by Savannah merchanta; plied the inland 600 Georgians would be killed and several thou- rivers and' waterways bringing all sorts of cargoes sand more displaced as an aftermath to Lexington. ) to the towns, docks and,piers. Wharf lots on the . Savannah River, once tobe hadfor the asking, , were -, Although the events leading up to Lexington a prized property by' 177. They ran from the site. caused a political stir in Georgia, they had little of the Trustees' Gatd&west of Bull Street to the effect upon the daily life of most of the colony's old Yamacraw Indian village, 33 lots in all. The inhabitants. Indeed, there seemed little to com- most sought after rots those forming the heart plain aboUt,ecohomically. In the spring of 1775, of Savannah's old commerce roWwere the 10 Georgi1 was enjoying the benefits of an economic west of Bull Street belonging to:award Telfair, boom that had no end insight. In fact, a few Joseph Clay, Samuel Stiles, John Morel, Edward Georgians were uneasy over the prospect of, too Hopton, Samuel Dou.glas,Chornas.Llod, John much prosperity. James Habersham, a wealthy Gordon, Thomas Netherclif't and the Gibbons' SaVannah merchant, anxiously wrote a friend in family. London that "we have a greater Number of Vessells in the Savannah Harbour than has ever been known Lining the riverfront east and west of Bull Street here at any one Time, loading for England and the were port facilitiesliiitable to handle over 20 West'Indies. The Demand forour, Produce...is so vessels at once. One merchant,AJoseph Wood, very great, that Iam 'afraid, we have scarcely suf- owned a warehouse located west of Bull Street ficient on Hand to give the Vessellsnow here (and that was lour stories tall, "fifty,feetklong, and there are more daily arriving) the necessary Dis- forty-five feet wide.. ._ . divided into ten rooms, patch." Still. these were good problems. sufficient to'holdta.vo thousand barrels-of rice,a machine to hoist gOod's from the wharf into,either, :orgia's Prewar Economy story, or into the upper one, where they are rolled through the town." Acrots-Broad Street Wood James Habersham reflected Georgia's relative maintained "a store for dry goods and a counting prosperity in 1772. James Wright, governor since room . .large outstores,"astable anda carriage... 1760. equally was satisfied with the colony'seco- house. Still, Wood's establishment was second-rate nomic boom. "The year I came here," he reported compared. to th'e company stores operated by .,. in 1768, "they did not make 4,000 barrels of Rice larger merchants such as Basil Cowper and the and last year we made 17,000 barrels, and from Telfairs, the Habershams, and Rae,Elbe'rhand , Loading only 42 Sail of Vessels we have loaded 185 Graham, the biggest merchant hieuses in Savannah in a year, and are making a very rapid progress by 1775: .4, .' t towards being an opulent and considerable . .. r Province By 1775 Georgia exported nearly In typical eighteenth-century fashion these larger 25,000 barrels of rice a year. merchant houses engaged in a wide variety of activ- ities. Frequently, they hired, pdrters, mariners, black- Nowhere was the prosperity more evident than smiths, coopeho sailmakers-, clerks and carpenters. ' .. I d. 4". .' i .. 4 e- ) Courtesy, Georgto Archtves\,_. -6C7V?/az s' 7;4 '?"4 9-124-,"v e4 -4, 4 , +' e4 , (.44 4, ...mi.., 44.ga 1-4-, A A....gt .44.4.--, 6 1...0 .1.4 F & ii-liSi If 1. I. If ff I. I./I. I. Fri Xr 11): '1;,11,14f 4,/./ /2.2 ,71'e .;151913 m 1..... 4,.....-,61- Ise.74,/ ihr41 41, ewe-- 4e4.14.., 4.- 'G 1 y o ifi...-.414.4z,..d.--Lt... 1.411,...ter? as I _E An.,WA ect 1. re..134,4,4 it rl d-f'''''/-4 4-'44 NTZ1-71-.71ray .Rigli...., .(....,.. crd....,-4o...../z...,:e> 0 O r 4,, m-z.z(..., '1'17 i x z...-- C----- ci 40./..i.. ..._ ,,ar,--T c I e 11 1 al'e'S iPerker04.+0.-1 244 cx./ 1- 41 f-3)./.41 c!..e.4111_, , -1-tflof.af I YL1 .k4 St Ve - &al . ;11 6(//i(077lk N I 4 or, By1775 Negroes, free and slave, dominaial the In 1773, mostly through. savannah, Georgia ranks of porters, coopers, mariners and blacksmiths shipped goods valued at thousands of pounds ster in Savannah; but free white labor prevailed in sail-. ling* to London and other Englis-h ports. In the making. clerking and carpentering. John Wand and main mil)/ three types of.commodities went directly Robert Watts, both sailmakers, worked for the to London --rice, indigo and deerskins. Together Telfairs and the firm of Morel and Mossman. Richard they accounted fat over 80 percent of the shipping Pryce, a cfl-penter, made barrel staves for Rae, between Savannah and London in 1773. The re-. Elbert and Graham. Joseph Clay James Habersham's mainder ihcluded a variety of items, some tobacco son-in-13W, depouded upon Negro labor for hoops from Georgia, a few articles brought into Savannah and staves.