Saturday, July 13, 2013

Enlightenment in AnteBellum Georgia?

The Internet makes a lot of stuff available, much of it not valuable but some quite interesting.  One of the interesting bits I just stumbled on is the fact that Georgia distributed land to its citizens through a series of lotteries.   Here's a list of the people entitled to "draw" in one of the lotteries:

  • Bachelor, 18 years or over, 3-year residence in Georgia, citizen United States – 1 draw
  • Soldier of Indian War, residence in Georgia during or since military service – 1 draw
  • Invalid or indigent veteran of Revolutionary War or War of 1812 – 2 draws
  • Invalid or indigent veteran of Revolutionary War or War of 1812 who was a fortunate drawer in either previous land lottery – 1 draw
  • Married man with wife or minor son under 18 years or unmarried daughter, 3-year residence in Georgia, citizen United States – 2 draws
  • Widow, 3-year residence in Georgia – 1 draw 
  • Widow, husband killed in Revolutionary War, War of 1812 or Indian War, 3-year residence in Georgia – 2 draws 
  • Family of one or two orphans under 21 years, father dead, mother living, 3-year residence in Georgia – 1 draw
  • Family of three or more orphans under 21 years, father and mother both dead, 3-year residence in Georgia – 2 draws
  • Family of one or two orphans under 21 years, father and mother both dead, 3-year residence in Georgia, 1 draw
  • Orphan under 21 years, father killed in the Revolutionary War, War of 1812, or Indian War, 3-year residence in Georgia – 2 draws
  • Invalid or indigent officer or soldier in the Revolutionary Army who had been fortunate drawer in either previous lottery – 1 draw
I'm not quite sure how these worked together--for example would a "widow" get one draw on her own, and one draw for her family?  If so, that would be equal to the married man's 2 draws.

Anyhow, it strikes me as surprisingly liberated for 1820, at least gender-wise.  Of course the land being distributed was that taken from the Native Americans, so it wasn't really enlightened.

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