Western lands.
There was a “lion in the way” of the ratification of the
Articles of Confederation—namely, the vexed question of the
Western lands, within vague or undefined boundaries of States.
The boundaries of
New Hampshire,
Rhode Island,
New Jersey,
Pennsylvania,
Delaware, and
Maryland—six of the thirteen —had boundaries exactly defined.
These were “non-claimant States.”
Massachusetts,
Connecticut,
Virginia, and the Carolinas extended, under their charters, to the
Pacific Ocean, or to the
Mississippi River since that had been established (1763) as the western boundary of British possessions in
America.
Georgia also claimed jurisdiction to the
Mississippi; so, also, did New York, under color of certain alleged acknowledgments of her jurisdiction made during colonial times by the Six Nations, the conquerors, it was pretended, of the whole Western country between and including the
Great Lakes and the
Cumberland Mountains below the
Ohio River.
These were “claimant States.”
As all that vast territory was to be wrested from
Great Britain by joint efforts, it was claimed that it ought to be joint property.
The “claimant States” expected great revenues from these Western lands that would pay their debts, and they strenuously adhered to their rights: while the landless, or “non-claimant, States,” regarded with jealousy the prospect of the overflowing treasuries of their neighbors.
The claimant States secured the insertion of a provision in the
Articles of Confederation that no State should be deprived of territory for the benefit of the
United States.
All the non-claimant States excepting
Maryland reluctantly consented to this provision; the latter steadily refused to sign the articles while that provision was retained.
New York led the way towards reconciliation by giving a discretionary power to her delegates in Congress (February, 1780), to cede to the
Union that portion of her claim west of a north and south line drawn through the western extremity of
Lake Ontario.
The other claimant
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States were urged by the
Congress to follow this example, under a guarantee (Sept. 6, 1780) that the lands so ceded should be disposed of for the common benefit, and, as they became peopled, should be formed into republican States to be admitted into the
Union as peers of the others.
Connecticut offered (Oct. 10, 1780) to cede her claims to the region west of
Pennsylvania, excepting a broad tract south of
Lake Erie, immediately adjoining
Pennsylvania.
This was afterwards known as the Connecticut Reserve.
Virginia ceded to the
United States (Dec. 31, 1780) all claim to the territory northwest of the
Ohio, provided that State should be guaranteed the right to the remaining territory east of the
Mississippi and north of lat. 30° 30′ N. The New York delegates executed a deed to the
United States (March 1, 1781) of the territory west of the line before mentioned; and on the same day the delegates from
Maryland, authorized by the Assembly immediately after the
Virginia cession, signed the
Articles of Confederation.
This completed the ratification of that fundamental law of the
Union, and henceforth it was the supreme constitution until superseded by another and a better one.
