Anticipating invasion by the Spaniards of Florida, who claimed Georgia, Oglethorpe, on the renewal of war between England and Spain, led an expedition to St. Augustine, Florida, which he besieged without success at the head of 2,000 men. The Spaniards retaliated by landing in 1742 a small force on St. Simon’s island, from which they were expelled by Oglethorpe. They then abandoned further attempts. Slavery was introduced into Georgia about 1750. In 1752 the trustees surrendered their privileges to the crown. A royal governor and council were appointed to administer, in conjunction with delegates of the people, the government of the province. During the French and Indian wars the remote settlements suffered somewhat from incursions of the Cherokees. The treaties of 1763 with France and Spain extended the boundaries of Georgia to the Mississippi on the W., and to St. Mary’s on the S. After this the colony flourished greatly until the breaking out of war with England, at which time the colony was estimated to have a population of about 70,000 souls. In 1775 Sir James Wright, the crown governor, left the province. Delegates were sent to represent Georgia in the continental congress who signed the Declaration of Independence. In 1778 a British land and naval force occupied Savannah and Augusta, but were subsequently compelled to abandon the latter place. In September of the same year a combined American and French force, under Lincoln and D’Estaing, unsuccessfully attempted the recovery of Savannah, losing nearly 1,000 men in an assault. Augusta was reoccupied by the conquerors. Charleston being surrendered by General Lincoln in 1780, the patriots of South Carolina and Georgia were only able to maintain a partisan warfare, until the advance of General Greene from the north, at the head of considerable forces, resulted in the expulsion of the royal troops from those provinces. Georgia at the conclusion of peace ratified the several Acts constituting her one of the United States of America. She framed her first constitution in 1777, a second in 1789, and a third (which has been several times amended) in 1798. In 1803 Georgia ceded to the general government all her territory west of the Chattahoochee, amounting to nearly 100,000 square miles, out of which the States of Alabama and Mississippi were subsequently formed. The cession of Louisiana to the United States was of great benefit to Georgia in ending hostilities which the Spaniards were continually inciting the Indians to commit upon the scattered settlements. By a treaty with the Creeks, Georgia became possessed of a large tract in the south-west of the State. The second war with England (1812-15) involved Georgia in hostilities with the Indians on her western border, who were finally subdued by General Andrew Jackson. In 1821 the cession of Florida to the United States relieved Georgia from the long series of Spanish aggressions beginning with her existence as a colony.