Report of the committee to whom was referred the resolution authorising an enquiry into the situation and extent of the vacant and unappropriated lands, claimed by the United States under the cession of the state of North Carolina, and the expediency of making provision for the disposition thereof.
Washington, DC: Printed by order of the Senate of the United States, 1800. 13 pp. Pamphlet, bound in custom binding with marbled boards and gilt title on leather spine label. Minor soiling and foxing to outer leaves, else near fine.
Senate printing of a report relating to the vacant land and unappropriated lands ceded by North Carolina to the federal government in 1789/90 and currently under the jurisdiction of the new state of Tennessee. North Carolina ceded its western land claims in 1789 and transferred the lands' title to the United States the following year, placing the territory under federal authority and ownership of lands not already privately held to the federal government. In 1796, the state of Tennessee was formed from the territory and accordingly assumed jurisdiction over the lands from the federal government. According to North Carolina's cession act, the eventual sales of unappropriated lands would go to a common U.S. fund, as had been the practice with most of the other original states in their western cessions. In 1800, however, North Carolina and Tennessee, both hoped to profit directly from those sales, and the present report, which reprints the 1789 North Carolina cession act and 1790 deed transfer, responds with a legal demonstration of the sole U.S. right to the soil in question. The report concludes with offering resolutions on how to begin the land sale process. An interesting and scarce document from Tennessee's early history. NAIP and OCLC together locate six copies. Evans 38896. NAIP w021911. DAH IV, pp. 144-45; V, pp. 242-43.
Not Ex-Lib. Item #100267
Price: $975.00