Faith & Freedom: Before 1776, Georgia Morally Rejected Slavery

As the U.S. continues to celebrate its 250th anniversary, Georgia’s early ban on slavery and the religious debates surrounding it show how faith shaped the struggle for freedom.

America250 is in full swing. Congress launched a yearlong initiative to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. But not all Americans are feeling the festive spirit. 

For years, Black Americans have debated whether the anniversary of the nation’s founding is something to celebrate.

“How is the country free when the people ain’t free?” said Rev. Jalesha Bass, digital minister at Double Love Experience Church. “How can we be free if everybody ain’t free?”

Bass, a Houston, Texas, native, said July 4 is a painful reminder that America’s founding ideals have not always been extended equally to everyone.

“We were the last to receive freedom. That’s what I think about.”

Georgia’s history offers a perspective into a larger American debate over freedom. Before the Declaration of Independence was ever signed, religious leaders in the colony argued both for and against slavery. The discourse shows how faith has been used to support and subvert the state’s founding ideals. It also shows how it helped leaders put their faith into practice even after abolition.

The Declaration famously states:

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

The Declaration’s promise of liberty, written while slavery remained legal throughout the colonies, continues to evoke conflicting emotions for many Black Americans. Yet, decades before these words were ever written, Georgia was founded on similar ideals. 

When Georgia was chartered by King George III in 1732, it was the only British North American colony to explicitly prohibit slavery. The effort to prohibit slavery in the new colony was largely led by its founder, Gen. James Oglethorpe. Oglethorpe was formerly involved in the slave trade before becoming an abolitionist, motivated by moral and religious convictions.  He argued that slavery violated England’s constitutional and Christian ideals, a rare claim at a time when Britain’s economic survival depended on the Atlantic slave trade. In a private letter to fellow abolitionist Granville Sharp on Oct. 13, 1776, Oglethorpe reflected on the colony’s founding:

“My friends and I settled the colony of Georgia…We would not [allow] slavery (which is against the Gospel, as well as the fundamental law of England) to be authorized under our authority; we refused, as Trustees, to make a law permitting such a horrid crime.”

The colony was an experiment to prove that a viable economy could be established without slave labor. For nearly two decades, the trustees held firm to that vision. 

But the experiment ultimately succumbed to economic pressure. Colonists repeatedly petitioned to legalize slavery, arguing that they could not compete with neighboring colonies that relied on slave labor. 

David Mitchell, executive director of the Atlanta Preservation Center, said the colony’s ideals caved once economic interests became a point of tension.

“As soon as you have economic challenges, all of a sudden, maybe slavery ain’t that bad. Maybe we can do it just a little bit. But once you open a door, you can’t close it. Especially once someone makes a bunch of money.”

Influential evangelical preacher George Whitefield argued that enslaved labor was necessary to sustain his Bethesda Orphan House. His support helped pave the way for slavery’s legalization in Georgia in 1751.

“Faith has been a phenomenal shield to do a lot of s*** for a long time and not be held accountable”, Mitchell said. “People often say, ‘they’ll have to answer to God’. But I’d like some people to answer to the law. I’d like some people to answer to ethics. I’d like some people to answer to humanity.”

The competing religious visions of Oglethorpe and Whitefield foreshadowed a debate that would continue long after slavery ended: whether faith would be used to defend existing systems of power or to expand the promise of freedom.

After the Civil War, faith continued to shape the fight for freedom in different ways. 

Founded in 1862, the Penn Center was the first school in the South for formerly enslaved people. Supported by Quakers, missionaries and other abolitionists, the school represented people putting their religious convictions into practice, said Robert Adams, the center’s executive director.

“This area was surrounded by the Confederacy,” Adams said. “So there was no guarantee that this experiment was going to work. There was no guarantee they were going to walk out of there alive. But it attracted incredible people like Harriet Tubman to the region.”

Mitchell said preserving more pieces of history gives future generations more opportunities to tell diverse stories rather than relying on a single narrative. 

“Humanity deserves to be preserved,” Mitchell said. 

As the nation continues to honor its 250th anniversary, Adams believes the ideals celebrated on July 4 belong to every American, especially those who fought to be included.

“While I understand the reluctance and the suspicion of July 4, I’m not going to concede it. I’m not going to concede anything in the American experience to anybody else.”

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