What would it be like to move to a brand new place and start from scratch?

No familiar hangouts, (building crashes) few familiar traditions (air puffing) and rules set mostly by people who've never even been there.

That's exactly what Georgia's first colonists faced.

During Georgia's Trustee Period, settlers were held to strict regulations around land ownership, rum, (locks clicking) and slavery in order to create a productive environment.

But rules don't always stay the same.

Over time, those restrictions shifted, and Georgia transformed into a royal colony.

So, what caused these rules to shift?

And what can Georgia's transition to a royal colony tell us about how power can change a place?

Let's see how it happened step by step.

(gentle music) (paper rustling) When Georgia was founded in 1732, James Oglethorpe and the other British trustees imagined a society where everyone had a fair chance, not a society divided by class or wealth.

They wanted the worthy poor to have a fair shot at success in this new colony.

So slavery, rum, or hard liquor and large plantations were banned.

The idea was to build a hardworking community, not one where wealth or laziness could take over.

But not everyone agreed with these rules.

One settler group, known as the Malcontents, objected to the Trustees' restrictions on land ownership and bans on rum and slavery.

They complained it was too difficult to grow the economy without enslaved labor.

So, the malcontents petitioned the trustees to change the rules, arguing that Georgia couldn't thrive if neighboring colonies had advantages they didn't.

Some ignored the rules anyway, renting enslaved people from Carolina planters and sneaking in rum.

When their petitions for change ultimately failed, the Malcontents left Georgia, but other colonists echoed their complaints.

By 1742, the ban on rum was no longer enforced.

And in 1749, the British Parliament reversed the ban entirely.

Still, many colonists wanted more change and kept pushing to allow slavery.

The trustees resisted for years, but after economic struggles and growing pressure from colonists, slavery was legalized in 1751.

The following year, in 1752, more than 1,000 enslaved people were brought to the colony.

By 1755, Georgia had created a slave code, or laws that gave colonists power over enslaved people and stripped those individuals of their basic rights and freedoms.

1752 didn't just mark a major change in Georgia's social systems.

It was also the year Trustee Georgia officially transitioned to a royal colony.

This meant the colonists had to adjust to a more British style of government.

When Parliament took control of Georgia, it reorganized the colony's leadership.

Now, Georgia would be supervised by a royal governor.

In total, Georgia had three royal governors, John Reynolds, Henry Ellis, and James Wright.

The colony would also have a court system and legislature.

White men who owned at least 500 acres of land were eligible to serve in the lower house of the legislature.

And white men who owned at least 50 acres of land were able to vote in assembly elections.

But restructuring power in Georgia's government was only part of the story.

Land ownership was also a major source of power and conflict.

So, those rules were restructured next.

As more and more people were settling in Georgia and other colonies, the British wanted to expand its territory and control in North America.

But much of that land was already claimed by the French, and some indigenous tribes.

This conflict led to the French and Indian War.

After Britain's victory in the war, it gained a ton of indigenous land and French territory.

To avoid another conflict with native people, King George issued the Proclamation of 1763, formally establishing new borders for the colonies.

For Georgia this meant land further inland was now available.

So, the colony employed a land policy called the Headright System to attract new people to settle this land.

Women were also allowed to become landowners during this time.

The growing availability of land and rising demand for enslaved labor drove up the demand for property reshaping the colony's economy and society.

By the mid-1700s with restrictions on rum, slavery, and land ownership gone, Georgia looked nothing like Oglethorpe's original vision.

But these shifts didn't just change life inside the colony.

They also pulled Georgia into global trade.

Here's what that looked like.

Sugar and molasses from the West Indies were sold to New England distilleries to make rum.

The rum was shipped directly to Africa where it was traded in exchange for captured and enslaved people.

Then those people were taken to the West Indies and sold to sugarcane planters.

The routes formed a triangle on the map, which is where the system got its name -triangular trade.

It was a profitable system, so some of Georgia's plantation owners wanted in.

And with slavery and rum now legal in the colony, they could participate.

Georgia's involvement with the triangular trade system deepened its reliance on slavery and reinforced divisions of wealth and power, distancing the colony even further from its original vision.

So, what can Georgia's transition to a royal colony tell us about how power changes a place?

It shows that those who shape the rules can shape the direction of a community, a colony, and beyond.

(gentle melancholic music) (soft music)