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Oh yes, they were starting a new country, but they carried over the inheritance of free Englishmen. That they consciously did. But a different quality of people came. The people that were brought into the South were ne'er-do-wells, they wanted to get out--anybody who would work, you see. There were a very few families that took the leadership in plantation work. There were very many fewer plantations than we realize, you see--fewer plantation families.
I have a friend who comes from Virginia. She says that Virginians are always trying to say that they come from the Cavaliers. There were just three Cavalier families in Virginia: She's an historian. She's looked it all up. But they give themselves great airs. It was a pretty thing to talk about.
You see, the people that came with Oglethorpe into Georgia were very low grade people. Now, one hates to say it, because their descendants are still there, but they were ticket-of-leave men and they were ne'er-do-wells, and they were out of the paupers' group. Into Louisiana of course and Alabama, that area along the Gulf Coast, poured a most motley crew. Anything. All kinds of people. They did not come imbued with any great ideas of founding a new country and making a country that was new.
Now, the gentlemen that went to the continental Congress
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