He sat in the British Parliament from 1722 till 1754. As Chairman
        of a parliamentary committee investigating penal conditions, he became 
        interested in the plight of debtor classes. The need for a buffer 
        colony between South Carolina and the Spanish in Florida admirably 
        fitted his proposal to establish an asylum for debtors. In June 1732, 
        he and nineteen associates were granted a charter, to expire in 21 
        years, making them trustees of the colony of Georgia in North America, 
        where debtors from English jails and persecuted Austrian Protestants 
        could find refuge. 
             Early in 1733, Oglethorpe, leading 116 carefully selected 
        colonists, reached Charleston, South Carolina, and, on 12 February 
        1733, founded Savannah. After establishing friendly relations with the 
        Yamacraw, a branch of the Creek confederacry, who ceded their land for 
        settlement, he set about perfecting the colony's defense against the 
        Spanish, building forts and instituting a system of military training. 
             On a visit to England (1734-1735) Oglethorpe obtained new 
        regulations banning rum and slavery in the colony, which aroused 
        opposition. He returned to Georgia with John Wesley and Charles 
        Wesley. 
             War with Spain was declared in 1739. He invaded Florida in 1740, 
        and, in 1742, repulsed a Spanish invasion of Georgia. A second 
        unsuccessful assault on St. Augustine and the displeasure of some of 
        the colonists with his rigid management led to his recall to England. 
        He was tried and acquitted, but he never returned to Georgia. In his 
        later years he was an intimate of the literary circle gathered around 
        Samuel Johnson. 

Source: The Columbis Encyclopedia, 2001.