"English Liberties" and German Settlers in Colonial America: The Georgia Salzburgers' Conceptions of Community, 1730-1750

Abstract

Much of what we know about Germans in colonial British America is centered on their experiences in Pennsylvania and the Middle Colonies. This essay examines the lives of the Salzburgers, a group of exiled Lutherans who settled in Georgia along the Savannah River beginning in 1734, and their approach to forming community in British North America. Operating under the patronage of the Georgia Trustees, the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, and Pietists in Germany, the Salzburgers built their community in a manner different from that of either the well-studied Moravians or the archetypal German farmer living in Pennsylvania's backcountry. The Salzburgers upheld a strong loyalty to the British monarch King George II, as well as a shared sense of civic responsibility to the empire and the colony that included sometimes criticizing English settlers for not being morally good subjects. At the same time, the Salzburgers made great effort to nurture Germans in America while maintaining ties with Pietist Lutherans worldwide.