American History Leaflets (Volume 19-26); Colonial and Constitutional

This historic book may have numerous typos, missing text or index. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. 1895. Not illustrated. Excerpt: ... DOCUMENTS ILLUSTRATING STATE LAND CLAIMS AND CESSIONS, 1776-1802. In No. 16 of the LiaJUts are printed the charters and grants upon which rest the original claims of the various Continental Colonies which later constituted the Union. Most of those grants had been annulled, or the proprietary rights acquired by the Crown. When the Revolution was impending, the boundaries between colonies had been for the most part adjusted; and by the Proclamation of 1763 (American History Ltafltt No. 5, p. 14) no governors were to grant warrants of survey or pass patents for any lands beyond the heads or sources of any of the rivers which fall into the Atlantic Ocean from the west or northwest; or upon any lands whatever, which, not having been ceded to or purchased by us, as aforesaid, are reserved to the said Indians, or any of them. The Revolution brought about several important changes in the territorial conditions of the former Colonies. So soon as the English authority was extinguished, the States which had once had charters asserted that the territory embraced by such charters reverted to them. In the second place, the restriction to land east of the Appalachian water-shed and outside Indian tracts was held to have no more force. In the third place, several communities, notably Vermont, asserted that they were no longer included within the State of which they had been a part while it was still a colony. And in 1778 Virginia troops conouered the Northwest region, then a part i>f the English I'rovince of (Quebec. The result was confusion and clashing of interests. Western New York and Northern Pennsylvania were claimed by Massachusetts and Connecticut respectively; New York, Massachusetts and Connecticut, and Virginia all claimed the same parcel of territory north of th...