Question

Which of the following groups did James Oglethorpe most want to help when forming the colony of Georgia?

a) Wealthy landowners

b) Religious minorities seeking freedom

c) Enslaved Africans

d) Debtors and poor people

Answer 1

James Oglethorpe aimed to assist debtors and poor people by establishing the colony of Georgia as a place where they could escape poverty and start anew as smallholding farmers.

Step-by-step explanation:

James Oglethorpe most wanted to help debtors and poor people when forming the colony of Georgia. Oglethorpe chaired a Parliamentary committee on prison reform, which highlighted the issue of poverty due to urbanization leading to debt and sometimes criminal activity.

In response, Oglethorpe and other politicians established Georgia in 1730 as a place for the insolvent to escape poverty, envisioning it as a place where the 'worthy poor' could set themselves up as smallholding farmers. Each male immigrant was provided fifty acres of land, tools, and a year's worth of provisions, with the goal of establishing family farms as the colony’s foundation.

Although Georgia attracted various settlers, including religious refugees, the primary aim was to provide relief and a new start for the impoverished and indebted from Great Britain.