In 1671 three ship-loads of English colonists, under. Sir William Sayles, landed at Port Royal, but within a year removed to Ashley River, and in 1680 founded the present city of Charleston. In 1670 the Duke of Albemarle, one of the lord proprietaries, had been installed as palatine, and a large sum of money was expended in the equipment and fitting out of the Sayles or Port Royal colonists above mentioned up to 1693. South and North Carolina were for a time governed by the "grand model" or John Locke "Fundamental constitutions of Carolina." The English revolution of 1688 was taken advantage of to depose and expel the royal governor, and the people, defying the authority of the proprietary, proceeded to organize an independent government for their protection. In 1720 overtures were first made, and in 1729 were consummated (see North Carolina), under which the English Government purchased the right of the Lords Proprietors, and afterward the royal government was formed, viz, after July 25, 1729, the boundaries between North and South Carolina being fixed at the time of the division by the order in council. South Carolina included in her southern limits the colony (now State) of Georgia. A provincial congress was called in 1774, and delegates went to the Continental Congress. Upon the abandonment of the colony by the royal governor in 1775 the provincial congress assumed control and government. On March 26, 1776, the constitution adopted by the provincial congress was adopted, as recommended by the Continental Congress. On May 23, 1788, she adopted the Constitution of the United States and was thereby admitted into the Union. The State became successor to the Crown in the ownership and disposition of the unappropriated and unoccupied public lands therein and made disposition of the same, ceding to the United States, August 9, 1787, the lands to the west of her western boundary and now lying in the extreme north of the States of Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi. GEORGIA. COLONIZATION. A great portion of the southern part of the colony of South Carolina remained unoccupied by permanent settlers or colonists up to 1732, and was a free zone of doubtful ownership, filled with Indians, Spaniards, Frenchmen, and adventurers. It was claimed by Great Britain as a part of South Carolina, and by Spain as the northern part of Florida. June 9, 1732, George II. of Great Britain granted a charter for the establishment of the colony of Georgia in America. Trustees were appointed to have charge of the same, James Oglethorpe, the philanthropist, the prime mover for the charter, being one of them. The lands granted were embraced within the charter of the Carolinas of 1662-63, and lying in the colony of South Carolina between the Savannah and Altamaha rivers, with the zone included between the parallels passing through their headwaters and extending westward to the Pacific. [Extract from the Georgia charter, June 9, 1732, 5 George 2.] Know ye, therefore, that we, greatly desiring the happy success of the said corporation, for their further encouragement in accomplishing so excellent a work, have, of our special grace, certain knowledge, and mere motion, given and granted, and by these presents, for us, our heirs, and successors, do give and grant to the said corporation, and their successors, under the reservations, limitations, and declarations, hereafter expressed, seven undivided parts (the whole into eight equal parts to be divided) of all those lands, countries, and territories, situate, lying, and being, in that part of South Carolina in America, which lies from the northern stream of a river commonly called the Savannah, all along the sea coast to the southward, unto the most southern stream 7 of a certain other great water or river called the Alatamaha, and westward from the heads of the said rivers respectively, in direct lines to the south seas; and all that space, circuit, and precinct of land, lying within the said boundaries, with the islands in the sea lying opposite to the eastern coast of the said islands, within twenty leagues of the same, which are not already inhabited, or settled, by any authority derived from the Crown of Great Britain. One object of the colony was to furnish labor for the destitute and impoverished of England; for poor debtors, children, and orphans. The political object was to erect a government between the Savannah and Altamaha rivers, to prevent encroachment upon the colonies of South and North Carolina by the Spanish. Parliament voted £10,000. Large and numerous subscriptions were made by individuals. Oglethorpe, afterward governor of the colony, Lord Percivel, president of the corporation, Earl of Shaftesbury, Lord Tyrconnel, the brothers John and Charles Wesley, and George Whitfield were most prominent in this movement. November 6, 1732, Oglethorpe sailed from England, and after landing at Charleston, South Carolina, sailed up the Savannah River, and after a council with the Indians, made a settlement on the site of the present city of Savannah, February 1, 1733. The colonists were subjected to invasion by Spanish land claimants and marauders, and, in turn, invaded Florida. Great dissatisfaction existed in the colony with the rules and regulations made by the trustees, especially in relation to the prohibition of slaves and slave labor, the land allotments, and laws of descent. This continued throngh 1733 and until 1743, when Governor Oglethorpe gave way to a board composed of a president and four asso ciates, this in turn giving way, June 20, 1752, to a provincial government. The company and trustees on that day surrendering the charter of 1732, Georgia thus became a royal colony, with a royal governor and council, and the same regulations as to lands were made as existed in the Carolinas. Lord Carteret, by indenture dated February 28, 1732, had granted to the trustees of Georgia his eighth part of the territory described in the Carolina charter. The extension of the boundaries of Georgia was defined by the proclamation of George III. of Great Britain, dated October 7, 1763. Referring to the treaty of Paris of February 10, 1763, the territories between the rivers Altamaha and Savannah were annexed to it. Again, George III., in commissioning James Wright as governor of Georgia in January, 1764, defined his jurisdiction as covering all the lands between the Savannah and the Saint Mary's, and between the parallels passing through the headwaters of the former and the north boundary of East and West Florida, which extended along the Saint Mary's to its headwaters, thence by a direct line to the confluence of the Chattahoochee and Flint, thence up the Flint to the thirty-first parallel, and thence, by said parallel, to the Mississippi River. The thirty-first parallel was made the north boundary of West Florida, afterward extended northward in compliance with a recommendation, March 23, 1764, of the British board of trade, as shown by royal commissions to Governors Elliot and Chester, of West Florida, dated, respectively, May 15, 1767, and January 25, 1770, and finally by the convention to settle boundaries between the States of South Carolina and Georgia, concluded at Beaufort on the 28th day of April, 1787, of which the following are extracts: ARTICLE 1. The most northern branch or stream of the river Savannah, from the sea or mouth of such stream to the fork or confluence of the rivers now called Tugoloo and Keowa, and from thence the most northern branch or stream of the said river Tugoloo, till it intersects the northern boundary line of South Carolina, if the said branch or stream of Tugoloo extends so far north, reserving all the islands in the said rivers Savannah and Tugoloo to Georgia; but if the head spring or source of any branch or stream of the said river Tugoloo, does not extend to the north boundary line of South Carolina, then a west line to the Mississippi, to be drawn from the head spring or source of the said branch or stream of Tugoloo River, which extends to the highest northern latitude, shall forever hereafter form the separation, limit, and boundary, between the States of South Carolina and Georgia. ART. 3. The State of South Carolina shall not hereafter claim any lands to the eastward, southward, southeastward, or west of the boundary above established; but here by relinquishes and cedes to the State of Georgia, all the right, title, and claim, which the said State of South Carolina hath to the government, sovereignty, and jurisdiction, in and over the same, and also the right of pre-emption of the soil from the native Indians, and all other the estate, property, and claim, which the State of South Carolina hath in or to the said land. ART. 4. The State of Georgia shall not hereafter claim any lands to the northward or northeast ward of the boundary above established; but hereby relinquishes and cedes to the State of South Carolina, all the right, title, and claim, which the said State of Georgia hath to the government, sovereignty, and jurisdiction, in and over the same; and also the right of pre-emption of the soil from the native Indians, and all other of the estate, property, and claim, which the State of Georgia hath in or to the said lands. A general assembly was ordered in 1755. A convention assembled at Savannah, October 1, 1776, in conformity with the recommendations of the Continental Congress, and proceeded to organize a State government. They passed a constitution, which was unanimously adopted February 5, 1777. A second constitution was framed by a convention which met at Augusta November 4, 1788, but it was not ratified until January 4, 1789, and by a convention elected for that purpose, which met at Augusta. In the mean time, viz, on January 2, 1788, she had adopted the Constitution of the United States, and thereby was admitted into the Union The State of Georgia became the successor to the Crown and to the ownership and disposition of unappropriated and unoccupied public lands therein. Those lying to the west of her present western boundary she ceded to the United States April 24, 1802, and they now constitute portions of the States of Alabama and Mississippi. AUTHORITIES UNDER THIS CHAPTER. For list of names of all governors (proprietary, crown, and state) of the thirteen colonies and States, see "Lanman's Biographical Annals of Civil Government of United States," pages 569-571. Bancroft's History of the United States, vols. 1 to 10. Charters and Constitutions of the United States; edited by Ben. Perley Poore. Wheeler's History of North Carolina. Land Laws of the United States; compiled by Albert Gallatin, 1810-'17. Land Laws of the United States; compiled by Mathew St. Clair Clarke, 1827. Lord's History of the United States. Laws of the United States; Brown & Duane's edition, vol. 1. Statutes at Large of the United States; Little, Brown & Co., publishers. Story on the Constitution. Hickey's Constitution of the United States; Alex. Cumming's revision. Palfrey's History of New England. CHAPTER III. ORGANIZATION OF THE GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES, AND CESSIONS OF LANDS THERETO BY SEVERAL STATES OF THE UNION. CESSIONS FROM MARCH 1, 1781, TO APRIL 24, 1802. The preceding chapter states the title of Great Britain to the territory and lands held by the Crown and by the several colonies in America, under and by virtue of grants and charters from the British Government. By this chapter will be shown the process of formation of the Government of the United States and how the colonies of England in America became free and independent States by Declaration of Independence, subsequently recognized and confirmed by the Government of Great Britain in the definitive treaty of peace with the United States, September 3, 1783, at the conclusion of the Revolutionary War; how the colonies became the United States of America under an act of confederation, and afterwards adopted a Constitution making a more perfect union and a more permanent form of national government under an organic law. The States, July 4, 1776, becoming successors to the colonies and crown rights to unappropriated or crown lands lying to the westward of their, at that time, recognized western boundaries, the States possessing such lands severally transferred them by deeds of cession to the United States, to be disposed of for the benefit of all the people, forming the first of the public domain. PRELIMINARY STEPS TOWARD UNION OF THE COLONIES. In 1643, the colonies of Massachusetts, Plymouth, Connecticut, and New Haven formed a league which existed for forty years under regular form and with a congress of delegates. A congress of governors and commissioners of colonies was held at Albany, N. Y., in 1722, and a congress of colonial commissioners from New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, Pennyslvania and Maryland, met in Albany, N. Y., in 1754. They resolved that a union of the colonies was absolutely necessary for their protection and preservation. A plan was proposed, but not adopted, for a federal government. October 7, 1765, delegates from nine colonies assembled in a congress at New York City, and considered and adopted a "Declaration of Rights" on the question of taxation, stating in unmistakable terms that the American colonists, as Englishmen, could not and would not consent to be taxed but by their own representatives. Taxation involves the highest attribute of sovereignty, and the colonists were considering the subject in reference to their own rights and privileges. On the 5th of September, 1774, delegates from eleven of the colonies met in Carpenter's Hall, Philadelphia. They adopted addresses to the King, to the English nation, 56 and also to the people of Canada, together with a resolution recommending the suspension of commercial intercourse with Great Britain until the wrongs of the colonies should be redressed. By the "association" then formed, delegates from the same were given authority to consult and act for the common welfare. "Consultation by authority of communities, formed into a compact in reference to subjects relating to the common good, involves the idea of sovereignty, and is a practical exercise of its power." On the 10th of May, 1775, the second Colonial Congress of delegates from thirteen colonies assembled in Philadelphia, according to recommendations of the first, and among the things done by the delegates was to give their reasons for an appeal to arms and to vote to raise twenty thousand men and the means to support them, upon an equitable basis between the thirteen colonies respectively. On Tuesday, July 2, 1776, the Continental Congress in Philadelphia Resolved, That these United Colonies are, and, of right, ought to be, free and independent States that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them, and the State of Great Britain, is, and ought to be, totally dissolved; And a committee was raised to draft a Declaration of Independence. On Thursday, July 4, 1776, in the State-house at Philadelphia, State of Pennsylvania, Congress adopted "a Declaration of Independence by the Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled, to be signed by the members from the several States," which was signed by fifty-six members. From the first meeting of the league in 1643 to the final act at Philadelphia, July 4, 1776, was one hundred and thirty years-a period of constant struggle and clash with the British Crown. The Congress of 1776 passed a resolution recommending certain States to call conventions of the people to establish a form of government, viz, New Hampshire, Virginia, and South Carolina. On Monday, September 9, 1776, Congress Resolved, That in all continental commissions, and other instruments, where, heretofore, the words "United Colonies" have been used, the style be altered, for the future, to the United States. ARTICLES OF CONFEDERATION. On Saturday, November 15, 1777, the Articles of Confederation and perpetual union of the United States of America were adopted by the delegates of the thirteen original States in Congress assembled, subject to the ratification of the respective States. These articles were ratified by eight States on July 9, 1778, viz, by New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and South Carolina, by their delegates in Congress; by one State on July 21, 1778, viz, North Carolina; by one State on July 24, 1778, viz, Georgia; by one State on November 26, 1778, viz, New Jersey; by one State on February 22, 1779, viz, Delaware (Mr. J. Dickinson and Mr. Van Dyke signed the articles for Delaware May 5, 1779, and Mr. McKean signed them for her February 22, 1779, at which time he produced a power authorizing him so to do); by one State on March 1, 1781, viz, Maryland. The ratification was completed March 1, 1781, by the action of Maryland. Congress, under these articles, exercised full powers of Government until March 4, 1789, a period of eight years, and until the Constitution went into operation and superseded the Articles of Confederation. The defects of the government under the Confederation were so glaring, and its system so unequal and inefficient in its operation, that amendment or change was demanded, and a series of movements looking to this end began in Congress on Saturday, February 3, 1781, and running through several years, ended Saturday, September 13, |