243.] [Footnote 3: Laws of 1740 and 1800, and Simmons, _Men of Mark_, p.
1078.] Although not as reactionary as South Carolina, little could be expected of Georgia where slavery had such a firm hold.

Unfavorable as conditions in that State were, however, they were not intolerable.

It was still lawful for a slave to learn to read, and free persons of color had the privilege of acquiring any knowledge whatsoever.[1] The chief incentive to the education of Negroes in that State came from the rising Methodists and Baptists who, bringing a simple message to plain people, instilled into their minds as never before the idea that the Bible being the revelation of God, all men should be taught to read that book.[2] [Footnote 1: Marbury and Crawford, _Digest of the Laws of the State of Georgia_, p.

438.] [Footnote 2: Orr, _Education in the South_.] In the territory known as Louisiana the good treatment of the mixed breeds and the slaves by the French assured for years the privilege to attend school.

Rev.James Flint, of Salem, Massachusetts, received letters from a friend in Louisiana, who, in pointing out conditions around him, said: "In the regions where I live masters allow entire liberty to the slaves to attend public worship, and as far as my knowledge extends, it is generally the case in Louisiana.