Blackwell Reference Online

Extract

On 7 January 1795, the Ga. legislature sold four land companies 35,000,000 acres of the Yazoo River watershed (in Ga. and Ala.) for $400,000. In 1796 a newly elected legislature repudiated the sale, which had been influenced by bribery and corruption, but not before the land companies had sold shares to innocent parties. When Ga. ceded its western lands to the US in 1802, the land companies and third-party purchasers demanded compensation for their losses and their claims blocked settlement of the Yazoo region. Thomas J efferson and James M adison wanted the federal government to honor the various parties' claims, but their efforts were denounced by John R andolph as a scheme to enrich corrupt speculators sitting in Congress. The Supreme Court ruled on the case in F letcher v. P eck . In 1814, with Randolph temporarily in private life, the US resolved the controversy by awarding $4,200,000 to the speculators and other claimants. ... log in or subscribe to read full text