Land Policies and the Yazoo Land Fraud

Land after Proclamation of 1763 Georgia grew in size under the Royal Governors. Proclamation of 1763 shrank the borders. Revolutionary War re- established the old borders. Georgia was worried about getting people to move west. 1.Fear of Native Americans. 2.Lack of available goods.

The Headright Grants Comes from the Virginia Colony name for grants given to the “head” of a family. Did not solve the problems of protection and supplies. Ended due to fighting in Washington county over land that was “secure”.

What to know The Headright system was a grant system. A grant system is where land is given. There may be clerical charges but no cost for the land. This system was used to give the Head of families plots of land. Similar to the kings grants. Ultimately it does not work because people feel they are getting cheated.

Yazoo Land Sale Georgia needed a way to encourage settlers to move west. They decided to encourage companies to start up operations in the west.

The plan to get settlers west. Georgia proposed to sell land very cheap so that companies would move out west and help secure the area. These companies were: 1.The Georgia Company 2.The Georgia Mississippi Company 3.The Upper Mississippi Company 4.The Tennessee Company

The system of giving or selling very large tracks of land to a group and then letting them distribute the land is known as a sharing system. Sometimes communities would do this, sometimes churches and in this case businesses.

Perspective

Corruption People were shocked to find out many politicians accepted bribes to help push the sale through the legislature. Reaction was so strong one Senator, James Jackson, resigned so he could return to Georgia and help set things right.

Unpopular law The people of Georgia were so upset with the politicians that passed the Yazoo Land Sale they quickly replaced them with Senator James Jackson and people from his party. One of the first things the new officials did was to repeal the Yazoo Land Sale with legislature known as the 1796 Rescinding Act. To show how much everyone hated the land sale, every single copy of the sale was burned except one that was mailed to George Washington. It is the only copy known to have survived the fires.

What about the Native Americans? One of the things Senator James Jackson was able to do is get the federal governments assistance in moving the Native Americans out of Georgia. The first of the Native Americans to be moved were the Creek Indians. They were located mainly in the southern and middle regions of Georgia. The Cherokee Indians also eventually moved out. The forcible removal of the Cherokee Indians is often referred to as the Trail of Tears.

What to know The different “sharing” systems quickly fell out of favor due to the potential, and actual cases of, abuse. The reason they tried sharing was it would have solved the problems of supplies and protection. The most noted case of abuse is the Yazoo Land Fraud scandal. The U.S. government was called in to help settle the dispute. This led to shrinking Georgia’s borders.

Land Lottery Since the Yazoo Land Sale was such a disaster, Georgia still needed a way to sale land. Owning land was one of the keys to having power. From 1805 to 1833 Georgia sold three quarters of the state to 100,000 families or individuals. This was important since before this time only the wealthy could afford land. Under the new system almost anyone could buy land.

The cost of land A white man only needed four dollars to enter the Georgia Land Lottery. That was the price of plot of land. This really changed the type of landowner in Georgia. One of the rights of ownership is the right to sell your land. This becomes very important with the advances in technology.

Why was the advancement of technology and the ability to sell land important? Hints: In what field were most of the technology advancements made?

Why was the advancement of technology and the ability to sell land important? Hints: In what field were most of the technology advancements made? What did agriculture need to make a lot of money?

Assignment Write a short essay on how you think Georgia could have prevented many people from being taken advantage of during the time when land was being sold. Think about slaves, Native Americans, and people other than rich white men.