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October 30, 2009 Watson Jennison (UNC at Greensboro) Defining the Borders of Freedom:
The 1810s was a tumultuous decade in Georgia. Spurred by an increased demand for cotton and two significant land cessions from the Creeks, Georgia’s population and economy soared as tens of thousands of settlers flocked to the state in search of cheap land and a chance for prosperity. The new arrivals, both free and enslaved, transformed vast swaths of lush forest into plantation and farm fields. Coveting the lands held by the Creeks and Seminole Indians that lay beyond the state’s southern border, white Georgians participated in a series of military conflicts over the course of the decade. As a result of these wars, they defeated the neighboring Indians, secured new territory to extend the plantation regime, and pacified the road leading to Alabama and Mississippi. They met, however, resistance in an interracial army, comprised of natives, blacks, and a handful of whites, who stymied their expansion efforts. Only after the intervention of outside military support did the white Georgians succeed. This chapter examines the understudied role of race in the decade-long struggle on Georgia’s southern border. Watson Jennison is Assistant Professor in the History Department at the University of North Carolina, Greensboro. His teaching interests include the U. S. South, African American history, and slavery. Currently he is finishing a manuscript, “Cultivating Race: Slavery and Expansion in Georgia, 1750-1860. Co-sponsored by the Triangle Institute for Security Studies. |