Born in 1689, Oglethorpe entered the English army when twenty-one years of age.  In 1714 he became captain-lieutenant of the first troop of the Queen’s life guards.  He shortly afterward joined Eugene on the continent, and remained with that soldier until the peace of 1718.  On the death of his brother he succeeded to the family estate in England.  In 1722 he was elected to Parliament from Haslemere, County of Surrey, and this borough he represented continuously for thirty-two years.  His parliamentary career was marked by wise prudence and consistency; and his sympathies were warmly enlisted for the relief of unfortunate soldiers, and in securing reform in the conduct of prisons.  In this way Oglethorpe became a philanthropist, and, without intending it, attracted the attention of all England.  Pope, the poet, eulogizes his “strong benevolence of soul.”

In that day and time men were imprisoned for debt in England.  The law was brutal, and those who executed it were cruel.  There was no discrimination between fraud and misfortune.  The man who was unable to pay his debts was judged to be as criminal as the man who, though able, refused to pay....

This condition of affairs Oglethorpe set himself to reform; and while thus engaged he became imprest with the idea that many of the unfortunates, guilty of no crime, and of respectable connections, might benefit themselves, relieve England of the shame of their imprisonment, and confirm and extend the dominion of the mother country in the New World, by being freed from the claims of those to whom they owed money, on condition that they would consent to become colonists in America.  To this class were to be added recruits from those who, through lack of work and of means, were likely to be imprisoned on account of their misfortunes.  Oglethorpe was also of the opinion that men of means, enterprise, and ambition could be enlisted in the cause; and in this he was not mistaken.

He had no hope whatever of personal gain or private benefit.  The plan that he had conceived was entirely for the benefit of the unfortunate, based on broad and high ideas of benevolence; and so thoroughly was this understood that Oglethorpe had no difficulty whatever in securing the aid of men of wealth and influence.  A charter or grant from the government was applied for, in order that the scheme might have the sanction and authority of the government.  Accordingly a charter was granted, and the men most prominent in the scheme of benevolence were incorporated under the name of “The Trustees for establishing the Colony of Georgia in America.”  Georgia in America was, under the terms of the charter, a pretty large slice of America.  It embraced all that part of the continent lying between the Savannah and Altamaha rivers, and extending westly from the heads of these rivers in direct lines to the South Seas; so that the original territory of Georgia extended from ocean to ocean.

In aid of this enterprise, Oglethorpe not only contributed largely from his private means, and solicited contributions from his wealthy friends, but wrote a tract in which he used arguments that were practical as well as ingenious.