1. Unit 3: Growth and Expansion
Land Policies

2. Land Policies
After the Revolutionary War, Georgia gained access to a large amount of land from the Native Americans who sided with the British.
The land Georgia claimed stretched all the way to Mississippi River.
The Revolutionary War veterans believed that all citizens had the right to land ownership.
Georgia’s political leadership agreed.
The question became what was the best way to allocate the land to the people of the state.

3. The Headright System
The first approach to allocate the land was called the headright system.
Georgia gave thousands of acres to Revolutionary War veterans. (ex. Austin Dabney)
Heads of households (white men over the age of 21) began with 200 acres and had the “right” to receive up to 1,000 acres, depending on whether they had a family or slaves.
50 acres for each family member, 10 acres for each slave
This system ended when there were too many claimants and not enough land. It lasted until 1803.

4. Vocabulary
Land speculator: someone who buys property expecting that its value will increase and it will be sold at a profit
bribe: money paid to someone to get her or him to do something
cede: to surrender ownership to land

5. Yazoo Act The lure of money led the government to corruption.
The 1,000 acres limit was not adhered to.
They granted more land than existed to land speculators who hoped to make a large profit later.
This practice is known as “land fraud.”

6. Yazoo Act
Other land speculators wanted the vast amount of territory that is Alabama and Mississippi.
Speculators in four companies bribed legislators to pass a bill that sold them huge tracks of land in the Yazoo area (currently Alabama and Mississippi) for a really cheap price.
This came to be known as the Yazoo Land Fraud.
When the citizens found out, they were furious!

7. Yazoo Act
Yazoo Act (1795) was named after a river in the present state of Mississippi. This act sold much of the land that would become Alabama and Mississippi to four land companies for $500,000. Soon after Georgia governor, George Mathews, signed the Yazoo Act into law, it was discovered that land companies (land speculators) bribed members of the Georgia General Assembly to sell the land.

8. Yazoo Act
The citizens burned the Yazoo Act on the steps of the capitol in Louisville.
The act was repealed in 1796.
The “Burning of the Yazoo Act” at Louisville shows James Jackson and others standing around the Yazoo document set ablaze. It is said that they used a magnifying glass to bring “fire from heaven” to destroy the act.

9. Yazoo Act
The federal government paid more than $4 million to help Georgia settle Yazoo land claims
In 1802, Georgia ceded (gave up) its land claims west of the Chattahoochee River to the federal government for $1.25 million and the promise that the U.S. would relinquish Indian land claims in the state and remove the Creek Indians from Georgia
$4,000,000 in 1796 → $69,619,208.54 in 2016

11. Land Lottery System
The Yazoo Land Fraud changed the way that land was granted in Georgia.
The final approach Georgia used for land allocation was the land lottery system.
It gave people an equal chance to the land.
Every free white male who lived in Georgia for a year was given one chance.
A man with a family was given two chances.
A widow with children was given two chances.

12. Land Lotteries
From , Georgia had eight land lotteries. These lotteries gave the average Georgian the opportunity to gain a large amount of land for pennies on the dollar. To take part in a land lottery, a person would simply have to submit their names to the state and pay for a ticket. On the day of the lottery, the participants’ names were placed in one drum while the land lots bearing a number would be placed in a second drum. Participants could have their name placed in the drum more than once based on characteristics such as their age, marital status, and war service.

13. Land Policies Matching
Headright system
Land speculator
Yazoo land fraud
Laud fraud
Land lottery
Yazoo area
Dishonest selling of land
Land that is Alabama and Mississippi
Speculators bribed legislators to get land cheap
Granted no more than 1,000 acres per family
Land awarded by chance
One who buys land to sell it for profit