Sundry papers, in relation to claims, commonly called the Yazoo Claims. : December 18, 1809. Printed by order of the House of Representatives
City of Washington [D.C.]: A. and G. Way, printers, 1809. 195 pp. Professionally bound in marbled boards with leather spine. Previous owner bookplate on front pastedown. SCARCE title. Only 300 copies were printed.
Howes Y4. Shaw & Shoemaker 19074. De Renne p.339: "This convenient collection includes the Constitution of Georgia, 1789 [and of 1798]" and many other documents.
In 1795 the Georgia Legislature had passed an act granting several Yazoo companies the right to buy thirty million acres of land, over forty thousand square miles, for a center and a half per acre. The land consisted of what is now most of Alabama and Mississippi. What resulted was probably the most stupendous land fraud in American history.
It was soon discovered that "all who voted for the law, with one exception, were bribed in one way or another to support the measure." The next legislature rescinded the act and held a public burning ceremony of the Yazoo bill. In 1802 Georgia released all her western claims to the United States. The New England Mississippi Land Company and other Yazoo purchasers denied Georgia's right to rescind the act and petitioned Congress for redress. Finally the Supreme Court in 1809-1810 decided in Fletcher v. Peck that the rescinding law was indeed unconstitutional, and in 1814 the Yazoo "owners" were paid four million dollars for their claims.
Not Ex-Lib. Item #100265
Price: $975.00