Page:Joseph Story, Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States (1st ed, 1833, vol I).djvu/168

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§ 143. the same year, in which Carolina was divided [1732], a project was formed for the settlement of a colony upon the unoccupied territory between the rivers Savannah and Altamaha. The object of the projectors was to strengthen the province of Carolina, to provide a maintenance for the suffering poor of the mother country, and to open an asylum for the persecuted protestants in Europe; and in common with all the other colonies to attempt the conversion and civilization of the natives. Upon application, George the Second granted a charter to the company, (consisting of Lord Percival and twenty others, among whom was the celebrated Oglethorpe,) and incorporated them by the name of the Trustees for establishing the Colony of Georgia in America. The charter conferred the usual powers of corporations in England, and authorized the trustees to hold any territories, jurisdictions, &c. in America for the better settling of a colony there. The affairs of the corporation were to be managed by the corporation, and by a common council of fifteen persons in the first place, nominated by the crown, and afterwards, as vacancies occurred, filled by the corporation. The number of common-council-men might, with the increase of the corporation, be increased to twenty-four. The charter further granted to the