8th CONGRESS.],             No. 106.             [2d SESSION. CLAIM OF THE UNITED STATES TO LANDS IN TENNESSEE. COMMUNICATED TO THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,  JANUARY 8, 1805. Mr. BRADLEY, from the committee to whom was referred the bill entitled “An act declaring the assent of Congress to an act of the General Assembly of the State of North Carolina,” with instructions to inquire what have been the acts of the State of North Carolina and Tennessee, in relation to the lands claimed by the United States, within the State of Tennessee, made the following report:       That it had not been in the power of the committee to possess the advantage of the statute laws of the State of Tennessee; that, on as strict examination as the committee had been able to make of the laws of North Carolina, they submit the following digest, which, in their judgment, comprises the most material doings of that State in relation to the subject.       In April, 1782, an act passed “For the relief of the officers and soldiers in the continental line,” in which the State engaged to each officer and soldier a certain quantity of land apportioned to the respective grades in the line, and appointed commissioners to examine, and superintend laying off the land in one or more tracts.       In April, 1783, an act designated the land on which the officers and soldiers might enter and survey, and bounded the same as follows, to wit: “Beginning in the Virginia line, where Cumberland river intersects the same; thence, south fifty-five miles; thence, west to the Tennessee river; thence, down the Tennessee to the Virginia line; thence, with the said Virginia line, east, to the beginning;” and by the same act allowed the officers and soldiers the term of three years, from the first day of October, then next, to secure their land, and prohibited all other persons from making entries thereon, during the said term except certain settlers on Cumberland river, and empowered the Secretary of State to issue warrants of survey; and, at the same time, designated what lands the Cherokee Indians should have and enjoy, and declared all entries, grants, or purchases made of their lands to be utterly void.       In October, 1784, an act provided that in case the tillable land within the boundaries laid off for the officers and soldiers of the continental line, should be insufficient to satisfy their claims; the deficiency Should be made up on any unappropriated lands within the State.       In November, 1785, an act passed the Legislature, granting a further time of eighteen months for the completing of surveys, as well for all persons who had entered lands with any of the entry takers, as for all warrants granted by the Secretary of State to the officers and soldiers of the continental line, previous to the passing of said act; and at the same session, by a subsequent act, appointed commissioner & to liquidate the accounts of the officers and Soldiers of the continental line, and directing that the commissioners should sit as a board the first ten days in April, May, and June then next, and no longer, and that all accounts which should not be exhibited within that time should be forever thereafter of no effect.       In November, 1786, an act passed, allowing a further time of two years, from and after the expiration of the limitation bylaw then existing to complete the surveys west of the Apalachian mountain, and twelve months to the officers and soldiers of the continental line; an the further time of two years for registering military grants.       Thus stood the law in the State of North Carolina, when, in November, 1789, the Legislature passed an act to authorize, empower, and require certain persons herein named, to execute a deed or deeds, on the part and behalf of said State, conveying to the United States of America all right, title, and claims, which the said State of North Carolina then had to the sovereignty and territory of the lands now comprehended within the State of Tennessee, upon certain express Conditions, and subject thereto; among which conditions, the following appear only to be material, in the present question, to wit:-- “That the lands laid off or directed to be laid off, by any act or acts of the General Assembly of this State, for the officers, and soldiers thereof, their heirs and assigns, respectively, shall be and endure to the use and benefit of the said officers, their heirs and assigns, respectively; and if the bounds of the said lands already prescribed for the officers and soldiers of the continental line bf this State shall not contain a sufficient quantity of lands fit for cultivation, to make good file several provisions intended by law, that such officer or soldier, or his assignee, who shall fall short of his allotment or proportion, after all the lands fit for cultivation within the, said bounds are appropriated, be permitted to take his quota, or such part thereof as may be deficient, in any other part of the said territory, intended to be ceded by virtue of this act, not already appropriated. And where entries have been made agreeable to law, and titles under them not perfected by grant, or otherwise, then, and in that case, the Governor for the time being shall, and he is hereby required to perfect, from time to time such titles, in such manner as if this act had never been passed: and that al entries made by, or grants made to, all and every persons whatsoever, agreeable to law, and within the limits hereby intended to be ceded to the right of occupancy and pre-emption, and every other right reserved by any act or acts to persons settled on and occupying lands within the limits of the land hereby intended to be ceded, as aforesaid, shall continue to be in full force in the same manner as if the cession had not been made, and as conditions upon which the said lands are ceded to the United States. And further, it shall be understood that if any person or persons shall have, by, virtue of the act entitled “An act for opening the land office for the redemption of specie, and other certificates, and discharging the arrears due to the army,” passed in the year 1783, made his or their entry in the office usually called John Armstrong’s office, and located the same to any spot or piece of ground, on which any other person or persons shall have previously located any entry or entries, that then, and in that case, the person, or persons having made such entry or-entries, or their assignee, or assignees shall have leave, and be at full liberty, to remove the location of such entry or entries to any lands on which no entry has been specially located, or any vacant lands included within the limits of the lands hereby intended to be ceded: Provided, that nothing herein contained shall extend, or be construed to extend, to the making good any entry, or entries., or any grant or grants heretofore declared void by any act or acts of the General Assembly of this State.”       On the 25th day of February, 1790, Samuel Johnson and Benjamin Hawkins, then being Senators in Congress from the said State by virtue of the power and authority given to them in and by said act by their deed of that date, conveyed to the United States all right, title and claim which the said State of North Carolina had to the sovereignty and territory of the lands now called Tennessee, on the conditions mentioned in the said act. At the same session in which the session act was passed, in 1789, a law passed giving a further time of three years for surveying all lands entered in the office of John Armstrong, and for all military warrants issued by the Secretary of said State and all pre-emption rights in the district of Mero.       In December, 1794, a law passed, declaring all grants for lands entered in the Land Office, which had not been registered within the time before allowed by law should be allowed two years after the passing of said act, to register the same; and in the same session made it the duty of all persons, who entered lands in the entry taker’s office to pay the purchase money to the Treasurer, and take his receipt for the same. And in November, 1795, declared all entries or lands where the purchase money had not been paid to the Treasurer agreeably to law, null and void. And all entries then in future to be made for a greater quantity than three hundred acres, where the purchase money should not be paid within six months from the date of such entry; and, if a less quantity, twelve months from the date of such entry; all such entries void, and of no effect.       In November, 1796, an act was passed providing that the clerks of the county courts, where the books of the entry takers were in their possession, should issue warrants of surveys by order of the court, and declaring that the lands then lying in the counties of Wilks, Burke, and Buncombe, which might have been entered with the entry taker of Washington and Green, in the State of Tennessee, should not be surveyed, until it should, be proved in the manner therein provided, that the purchase money for the lands claimed had been paid; and by the same law allowed a further time of twelve months, from and after the rising of that Assembly for the raiment of the purchase money to the Treasurer of all lands before entered, even where the entries had lapsed and become void under the operation of the then existing laws; laws; and, by the same act, all entries of lands that bad been made since the 15th day of November, 1797 [1787] unless surveyed as therein directed, and grants procured thereon on or before the first day of January, 1799, were declared utterly void and of no effect; and providing also, that in all future, entries, unless the person claiming the same should complete his title, by taking out a grant, for the same within two years from the date of such entry, the same should become utterly null and void, all the land so entered should be deemed vacant land, saving however, entries west of Pigeon river, in Buncombe county; warrants for military lands, and warrants for lands, entered in John Armstrong’s office, &c.; and by a subsequent law, the same session empowered the Secretary of State, at anytime before the Congress of the. United States should open an office for the sale of their lands, within the bounds prescribed, for the officers and soldiers of the late North Carolina line of continental troops, to issue new grants to such officers and soldiers, whose former grant covered lands which had been before granted, arid directed the manner of proceeding therein; and. provided further for issuing new warrants, where the former warrants had been lost, and prohibited the issuing of grants and warrants from the office of John Armstrong, unless it was proved that the purchase money bad been paid.       In November, 1797, an act passed for the limitation of land entries, the first section of which is in the following words: “That all lands heretofore entered with any entry taker in this State, and which have not been paid for, and all lands which shall be so entered in the course of the present year, and shall not be paid For, shall continue and remain the property of the enterers, their heirs or assigns, so far as an entry without the payment of the purchase money to the State, and without obtaining a grant, may be held to vest a title in the same; nor, shall any such entries become void, nor shall the lands so entered revert to file State until, the last day of December, 1798, at which time, and on which day, it is hereby expressly enacted and declared, that all entries now made, or which shall be made up to the time aforesaid, that is to say, that all entries now made and which shall be made up to the close of the year 1797, and which shall not be paid for, shall become null, void, and of no effect, to all intents and purposes; and the lands which may have been so entered and not paid for, shall, on the first day of January, 1799, be considered as having reverted to the State, and, as being vacant, shall be liable again for any person to enter and secure the same: and in like manner it shall happen yearly and every year, that is to say, it shall be considered that all lands entered in 1798, otherwise on the first day of January, 1800, such entries shall lapse, and the land shall revert to the State, and shall be liable to be entered again by any person wishing the same in common with other vacant and unappropriated lands, the lands entered in such preceding year, being in any event to be paid for in the following or succeeding one, otherwise, and in case of failure, all such entries shall become and shall be held as being null, void, and of none effect whatsoever. And by the third section of the same act, the operation of all acts or clauses of acts which came within the purview and meaning thereof, are suspended until the, first day of January, 1799; and by a subsequent act of the same session suspended the issuing of military warrants or grants by the Secretary, and all grants or warrants from the office of John Armstrong, for the space of one year from the rising of that Assembly, and appointed a board of commissioners to detect frauds and forgeries committed in obtaining military warrants, and for bringing to punishment all persons concerned therein, as well officers of the Government as all others.       In November, 1798, an act passed prohibiting the issuing of duplicate warrants, and giving a further time until the first day of January, 1800, to all enterers of lands since the 15th day of November, 1777, to accomplish their surveys, and perfect their titles; and allowed a further time to all entries of lands made between the 8th day of February, 1795, and the first day of January, 1798, until the first day of October then next, to pay the purchase money to the State, and declaring all such as were not paid by that time null, and void, and should be deemed lapsed entries; and by a subsequent act, the same session, constituted the Judges of the superior courts of law, and courts of equity, or any three of them; a court of patents, with power to repeal, vacate, and make void all such grants or patents as appeared to be made against law, or obtained by fraud, surprise, or upon untrue suggestions; and the same session repealed the appointment of Colonel Martin Armstrong, surveyor, and discontinued is office at Nashville, and appointed a board of commissioners to investigate the frauds suggested to have been committed in the Secretary’s office, in obtaining land warrants for military services, and in obtaining warrants from the office lately kept by John Armstrong, and in obtaining grants or warrants in either of the above cases, and suspended all further issuing of warrants by the Secretary, until the Assembly should order otherwise.       In November, 1799, an act was passed, reciting that, whereas many frauds were suggested to have been committed in the Secretary’s office, the Governor for the time being was therein empowered to issue a commission to the judges empowering them to hold a special and unusual court, as therein pointed out, for the trial of such persons as shall or may be apprehended for or on account of their having committed, or been concerned in, the commission of frauds in the Secretary’s office, or in the office of John Armstrong, or Martin Armstrong, in the fraudulent issuing, procuring, receiving, or transferring land warrants, or in, the fraudulent issuing, receiving, or procuring grants on such warrants, at any of the said offices, and by a subsequent act of the same session, directed all military warrants to be cancelled, which had issued to officers and soldiers, where it appeared from the muster roll such officer or soldier had served for so short a time is not to be entitled to so large a quantity of land as expressed in the warrant, and new warrants to issue corresponding with the time of service, and prohibited the issuing any grant, or any warrant where the officer’s or soldier’s name, in whose favor the warrant issued, did not appear on the muster roll, unless specially authorized by the General Assembly, or where they had been reported as just by a former board of commissioners.       In November, 1800, an act passed to allow all persons who had made entry of lands since the first day of January, 1799, until the day previous to the meeting of the next annual General Assembly, to pay the purchase money to the State, till which day it should not be deemed a lapsed entry. And by a subsequent act of the session, for the purpose of perfecting the titles of the officers and soldiers of the continental line of that State, in the fourth section it is enacted, “that all claims for lands by the officers and soldiers of the continental line of this State, during the Revolutionary war with Great Britain, and all demands for the same which shall not be applied for, and received either by the person who performed the service, his heirs or assigns, before the first day of December next, shall be forever thereafter barred, and no military land warrant shall issue after the time aforesaid, on any account whatever, any law usage or custom, to the contrary notwithstanding.”       In November, 1801, an act passed, extending the time on all bona fide entries of lands made previous to the first day of January, 1798, and which bad been paid for until the first day of December, 1802, to have said lands surveyed and returned into the Secretary’s office, and declaring all such lands riot surveyed, and returned into the Secretary’s office, by the day aforesaid, to be void, and lapsed lands to the State; and all lands so surveyed, and returned as aforesaid where the claimant thereof shall not cause the same to be perfected into grants, before the first day of January, 1804, the same is declared null and void, and lapsed lands to the State; and by a subsequent act of the same session, the fourth section of the act passed in November 1800, is repealed, and all claims for lands by the officers and soldiers of the continental line, which shall not be applied for, and received before the first day of January, 1803, are declared to be forever barred, and no military warrants to issue after that time on any warrant whatever.       Thus far the committee have been able to present to the view of the Senate a very short statement of the acts of the State of North Carolina, to the year 1802; from that period to the present the committee have not been possessed of sufficient documents to make a correct statement on that subject.       They submit the following amendment to the bill declaring the assent of Congress to an act of the General Assembly of the State of North Carolina.       At the end of the bill, insert the following:       “Provided, That nothing contained in this act shall be construed in any manner to affect or impair any right whatever, which accrued to the United States in virtue of an act of the General Assembly of North Carolina, entitled “An act for the purpose of ceding to the United States of America certain western lands therein described.” [The following is the act to which it is proposed to give the assent of Congress.] An act to authorize the State of Tennessee to perfect titles to lands reserved to this State by the cession act.       Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State off North Carolina, and it is hereby enacted by the authority of the same, That, upon this act being agreed to, and ratified by the State of Tennessee as an agreement between this State and the said State of Tennessee, and upon the assent of Congress being obtained thereto, the said State of Tennessee shall have full power and authority, and is hereby vested with full power and authority, to issue grants, and perfect titles to all claims of land I ng in the said State, which, under and agreeably to an act entitled, “An act for the purpose of ceding to the United States of America certain western lands therein described,” passed by the Legislature of this State in the year 1789, remained and were reserved by the said act, to be issued and perfected by this State, in as full and ample a manner as the State of North Carolina possessed the same, under the following conditions and restrictions:       That no grant shall be issued by the said State for any lands which, by the aforesaid act and the laws of this State then in force, or made in pursuance thereof since the passing of said act might not have been issued by this State. Nor shall any grant be valid, but those issued on bona fide claims, and within the provisions and reservations of the before recited act, and such as would have been valid, if the same had been issued by this State, under the act aforesaid, and the laws then in force, and such as have been since made in pursuance of such act of cession.       That in entering and obtaining titles to lands, no preference shall be given to the citizens of Tennessee over citizens of any other State, claiming under this State; nor shall any occupancy or possession give preference, in entering or obtaining titles, so as to injure or take away the right of any person now claiming by entry, grant, or otherwise, under this State.       That no grant shall issue to Martin Armstrong, or his deputies, or any person or persons claiming under him or them, for ant services as surveyor, until a final settlement between the State of North Carolina and the said Armstrong shall c made; after which grants shall issue for such lands as he may be entitled to.       That this State reserves, exclusively, the right of issuing military warrants.       In issuing grants on military warrants, entries made in Martin Armstrong’s office, until he was suspended by this State, shall be preferred, and next to those, the entries which have been made in the office of William Christmass, who is hereby continued and confirmed as the surveyor of the lands on all entries on the entry taker’s books in his possession not heretofore surveyed, during his good behavior. Also, that John Brown be continued and confirmed as the surveyor of the lands in the eastern district, in room of Stokely Donelson, during his good behavior. That the said William Christmass and John Brown enter into bond in the sum of five thousand pounds each, with sufficient security, payable to the State of Tennessee, for the faithful discharge of the duties reposed in them.       That the Secretary of this State shall continue to issue grants upon all surveys returned, or that shall be returned to his office, before the ratifications of this agreement or compact between the two States by the State of Tennessee.       And in order that the State of Tennessee may possess the information necessary to the detection of fraud in obtaining claims and grants to lands lying in that State; and for the purpose of facilitating the execution of good titles, all warrants and plats upon which grants shall not have issued, at the time of the ratification of this compact by the State of Tennessee, shall be delivered to any agent or agents of that State duly authorized for that purpose; and that the agent or agents of the said State be permitted to take copies of all grants, or any other paper or papers which concern le land claims within the State of Tennessee, in the Secretary’s office of this State: and notwithstanding such copies may be received as legal evidence in the State of Tennessee, it is always to be understood as a provision, that any transcripts from the said office of this State shall, at all times hereafter, be received as evidence in the said State of Tennessee.       That so much of this act as relates to the taking of copies by the agent or agents of Tennessee, from the Secretary’s office, shall take effect from the passage hereof; Provided, list none of the said copies shall be removed or taken out of the office of the Secretary, until the Governor of this State shall be notified by the Governor of the State of Tennessee, of the ratification of this act on the part of the State of Tennessee, and until the Governor shall also receive a notification of the assent of the Congress of the United States being obtained thereto.       That in taking transcripts by the agent or agents of Tennessee from the said offices, the books and papers so to be transcribed shall I always be under the care of the Secretary of this State; and that, as a compensation for such care and trouble; the State of Tennessee shall pay the said Secretary six hundred dollars, in two instalments: the first instalment of three hundred dollars, to be payable within six months after the ratification of this act on the part of the State of Tennessee; and the second instalment, whenever the said State of Tennessee shall procure, its agent or agents, transcripts of the grants issued by the State of North Carolina for lands lying in the State of Tennessee, as aforesaid, and such other papers as he may deem necessary relative to the landed property of said State.       Read three times, and ratified in General Assembly, the 22d day of December, A. D. 1803. JO. RIDDICK, S. S. S. CABARRUS, Sp. H. C. Copy from the original. Test:      WILLIAM WHITE, Secretary.

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