[AnAmericanMother]

I thought that Georgia was a debtor's colony, not a penal colony. Oglethorpe was a very humane and progressive man - he was court-martialed after the Battle of Culloden for not slaughtering my ancestors with sufficient vigor, but acquitted - and his idea was to give the debtors a fresh start, not to have them imprisoned.

[U S Army EOD]

Penal colonies and debtors colonies were basically one in the same. Regardless if you robbed a man or owed him money you were still in jail and could be bought. Being on the low end of society as we have seen in this thread was not good.

[eddie willers]

We were also a "buffer" colony.
A little cannon fodder to slow the Spanish before they got to the "important" places.

BTW, When I studied Georgia History in 8th grade, it seemed like it was 90% Oglethorpe.
Washinton may have been "Father of our Country" but Oglethorpe, by God, was "Father of Georgia"!