Who were the debtors from Georgia?

Answer 1

Georgia DebtorsActually, they were not from Georgia, they were from England. We just recently touched on this topic in World History... Georgia was settled by people who had been in debtor's prisons in England. They had hopes of gaining economic freedom and start a new life while in the New World. Therefore, they came to the New World and worked off their debt, however much it was. Once the debt was payed, they were set free.

(The above answer is not actually true. Close, but not 100% correct: While most of the original colonists were indeed very poor, few if any had actually been in debtor's prison in England. And they were not sentenced to come to Georgia, so they weren't "set free" after working off their debt. In fact, they had to apply to become colonists to prove they were honest, hard working people who could work the land and contribute to the new venture. If approved, they were given land in the new colony. However, some of the colonists brought "indentured servants" with them. These were people who were, indeed, working off a debt or who had agreed to work for a person for a set number of years in exchange for room and board the passage to the New World. Once the term was served these servants were then "freed"...and given land!)