Unit 3 Lesson 2: Land Policies

DOG

What Georgia University did Baldwin found and how did it affect the U.S.?

Why did they move the capital out of Louisville?

Why was South Georgia named the Bible Belt?

What region of our nation is Georgia part of?

How do the interstates of GA impact the state’s economy the most?

Standard

SS8H5b. Evaluate the impact of land policies pursued by Georgia; include the headright system, land lotteries, and the Yazoo land fraud.

Essential Question

What factors affected Georgia’s development during Westward Expansion?

Headright System

Colonists received land grants Granted between 200 and 1,000 acres

of land to the heads of families By 1782, most of the land grants were

given to Revolutionary War veterans; this practice quickly led to corruption

DOG

What nation is Georgia part of? What is the name of the mountain

chain that runs through North Georgia for more than 100 miles?

What is the highest point in Georgia which is located in the Blue Ridge?

Yazoo Land Sale

Government of Georgia had been weakened by the Revolutionary War

Solution: the government planned to sell 35 million acres of land in western Georgia to four companies for $500,000

Georgia Governor George Mathews signed the Yazoo Act on January 7, 1795

Yazoo Land Sale

Backfired; bribes had been paid to many important Georgians in exchange for their support of the Yazoo Act

Georgian Senator James Jackson resigned

Jackson and his Jeffersonian Republican allies used their control and passed the 1796 Rescinding Act.

Rescinding Act reversed the Yazoo Land Sale

Yazoo Land Sale

As part of the agreement that reversed the Yazoo land sale, the United States government promised to help remove the remaining Creek Indians from within Georgia’s borders. In this way, the Yazoo land fraud led to the Trail of Tears in 1838

Yazoo Land Sale

Land Lottery

Georgia implemented a lottery system to determine who could buy land

Factors that determined eligibility for the land lottery included:› A person’s age; war service; marital status;

and years of residence in Georgia› restricted to white men, orphans, and

widows

Land Lottery

Georgia held multiple land lotteries between 1805 and 1833; sold ¾ of the state to 100,000 families and individuals (paid an avg. of 7 cents per acre)

Shift of power; power and wealth began to be distributed more evenly among white men of Georgia

Land Lottery

Between the Yazoo land fraud and the War of 1812, the Creek and Cherokee Indians were effectively eliminated from within Georgia’s border

Land was used for tobacco farming Intro of cotton and the invention of the

cotton gin changed the history of Georgia

Land Lottery

Agriculture shifted from small farms to large plantations

Within 20 years of the first land lottery, enslaved people made up 44% of Georgia’s population

Land LotteriesHeadright System vs. Land Lotteries