Beschreibung:

Report of the Committee to whom was referred the Message from the President of the United States, of the second ultimo, accompanying the copy of a letter from the Governor of the Territory South of the River Ohio, to the Secretary at War, dated the Nineteenth of December last .
Np [see final paragraph of note below], 1796. One-page letterpress broadside with full margins (15 ½ x 10 ¾ inches; 395x275 mm). Text in two columns, docketed on verso in a contemporary hand “Report Comt. Congress Re Georgia Lands.” Condition: Dampstaining, minor areas of thinning, a few very minor splits or pinholes, cellotape staining at the sheet edges, contemporary ink numerical notations on verso visible recto, folds. unrecorded broadside printing of a congressional report considering north carolina claims to cherokee land in tennessee. Following the American Revolution, North Carolina passed legislation extending the western boundary of the state to the Mississippi River and with the Land Grab Act of 1783 began accepting entries toward grants in the region. In 1785, however, the federal government signed the Treaty of Hopewell with the Cherokee Indians, ceding to them land in western North Carolina, west of the French Broad River. Following North Carolina's ratification of the Constitution in 1789 and their agreement to cede the western lands to the federal government, the Territory South of the River Ohio was created. During the brief territorial years, however, North Carolina entries to the land matured into grants, regardless of Indian title. Concurrently, as the state of Tennessee was created from the territory, these North Carolina claims needed to be resolved. This broadside prints the 10 March 1796 report of a House committee “ instructed to enquire whether any, and what Relief ought to be granted to Persons claiming Lands in the Territory of the United States south of the River Ohio, under purchases made from the State of North Carolina, which have been since secured to the Indians by Treaty.” The report reviews the history of North Carolina's claims to the region including North Carolina's cession of the western lands, and outlines the limits of both the Treaty of Hopewell and the Treaty of Holston. The committee then concludes that: No documents or proofs have been produced to the committee, nor have they, by their researches, been able to find any satisfactory evidence, that North-Carolina ever did extinguish the Indian title or claim to any of the lands lying without the said present boundary line between the United States and the said Cherokee tribe of Indians . . . [the committee] cannot find that the said claimants have any other than a pre-emptive right to the said lands, and are of opinion, that they cannot, or right, claim any thing more of this government, than a confirmation of that title, and an assurance, that whenever the Indian title is extinguished, they shall be permitted to enter into the quiet and peaceful possession and enjoyment of the said lands … This broadside is entirely unrecorded, with both Evans and Sabin citing only a 6-page pamphlet version of the report. The place of publication of this broadside presents an intriguing mystery. While it is possible that the report was printed in Philadelphia by Francis Childs, the publisher of the pamphlet version, it seems equally likely that it was printed in the southeast (Raleigh? Richmond?) where such a report containing important implications to local land speculators would have merited a broadside printing.