CHAPTER 1. Act of North Carolina ceding to the United States the present State of Tennessee; Act of Congress declaring war between England and the United States; Gold Medal for Jackson; letter of Mrs. Sarah W. N. Leonard, great grand-daughter of Governor John Sevier, on Governor Sevier's religious views; letter of 1793 of Col. James King to General John Sevier; letter by Major Jno. Reed on a visit by General Jackson and himself to the tomb of Washington; letter by Davy Crockett setting forth his hostile opinion of Jackson; correspondence between E. W. Hughes and Miss Myrtle Leonard of Washington County, Tennessee, with the author, in reference to the "Boone Tree," in Washington County; sketch of Hon. T. A. E. Weadock, Detroit, Michigan; United States Senator James A. Reid's speech at funeral of Ex-speaker Champe Clark; poem "The Hermitage" by Will Allen Dromgoole in Nashville Banner Feb. 27, 1921. "AN ACT CEDING TO THE CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES IN CONGRESS TO EXECUTE A DEED OR DEEDS FOR THE SAME. "I. Whereas, the United States in Congress assembled, by their resolutions of the sixth of September and tenth of October, one (9) thousand seven hundred and eighty, have earnestly recommended to the respective States in the Union claiming or owning vacant Western territory to make cessions of part of the same; and whereas by their resolution of the eighteenth of April one thousand seven hundred and eighty-three, as a further means as well as hastening the extinguishment of the debts as of establishing the harmony of the United States, it was recommended to the States which have passed no Acts towards complying with the said resolutions, to make the liberal cessions therein recommended; and this State ever desirous of doing ample justice to the public creditors as well as establishing the harmony of the United States. II. "Be it Enacted by the General Assembly of the State of North Carolina, and it is hereby Enacted by the authority of the Same. That this State do hereby cede to the Congress of the United for the said States, all right, title and claim which this State has to the lands west of the Apalachian or Alleghany Mountains, begining at the Virginia line where the said line intersects the extreme height of the said mountain, thence with the said mountain to the thirty-fifth degree of north latitude, being the southern boundary, thence running in the said thirty-fifth degree to the Mississippi, thence up the Mississippi to the thirty-six degrees thirty minutes of north latitude, being the northern boundary of this State, thence to the first station; and delegates from this State in the Congress of the United States are hereby authorized and impowered to execute a deed or deeds on the part of this State, conveying to the Congress of the United States all the right, title and claim to the government and territory thereof, that this State now has or ever had in or to the said territory above ceded, upon the following express conditions and reservations, and subject thereto, that is to say: First, That neither the lands nor the inhabitants of the territory westward of this said line shall be estimated after this cession shall be accepted in the ascertaining of the proportion of this State with the United States in the common expense occasioned by the late war. "Secondly, That the lands laid off or directed to be laid off by any Act or Acts of Assembly of this State for the officers and soldiers, their heirs and assigns, respectively, and if the bounds of the lands already prescribed for the officers and soldiers of the Continental line of this State shall not contain a sufficient quantity of lands fit for cultivation to make good the several provisions intended by law, that such officer or soldier 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 Western country not already appropriated within the time limited by law for the said officers and soldiers to survey and lay off their respective proportions; and where entries have been made and titles under them not perfected by grant or otherwise, then and in that case, the Governor for the time being shall and is hereby required to perfect such titles in such manner as if this Act had never been passed; and that all entries made by, or grants made to all and every person and persons whatsoever under the laws of this State, and within the limits hereby ceded to the United States, shall have the same force and effect as if this cession had not been made; and that all and every right of occupancy and pre-emption, and every other right reserved by any Act or Acts to persons settled on any or occupying any lands within the limits of the lands hereby ceded as aforesaid, and all reservations of hunting grounds for the use of the Indians, shall continue to be in full force in the same manner as if this 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 law commonly called the land law now in force in this State located his or their entry to any spot or piece of ground on which any other person or persons shall have previously located an entry or entries, that then and in that case the person or persons making 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 on any vacant lands included within the limits of the lands hereby ceded; Provided, That nothing herein contained shall extend or be construed to extend to the making good any entry or entries, grant or grants heretofore declared void by any Act or Acts of the General Assembly of this State. "Thirdly, That all the lands hereby ceded to the United States and not reserved or appropriated as before shall be considered as a common fund for the use and benefit of such of the United American States as now are or shall become members of the confederation or federal alliance of the said States, North Carolina inclusive, according to their respective and usual proportion in the general charge and expenditure; and shall be faithfully disposed of for that purpose, and for no other use or purpose whatever. "Fourthly, That the territory so ceded shall be laid out and formed into a State or States, containing a suitable and convenient extent of territory; and that the State or States so formed shall be a distinct republican State or States and admitted members of the federal union, having the same right of sovereignty as other States; and that the State or States which shall be hereafter erected within the territory now ceded, shall have the most full and absolute right to establish and enjoy, in the fullest latitude, the same constitution and the same bill of rights which are now established in the State of North Carolina, subject to such alterations as may be made by the inhabitants at large or a majority of them, not inconsistent with the confederation of the United States. Provided always, that no regulations made or to be made by Congress shall tend to emancipate slaves, otherwise than shall be directed by the Assembly or Legislature of such State or States. Fifthly, That if Congress do not proceed to accept the lands hereby ceded in due form and give official notice thereof to the delegates of this State, if in Congress, or to the executive or legislative authority within twelve months from the passing of this Act, then this Act shall and will be of no force, and the lands hereby ceded revert to the State. "Mr. Davie moved for leave to enter the following protest on passing on the third reading the Bill ceding to the United States in Congress Assembled, certain Western Lands therein described. "Dissentient: "Because, the extent of our Territory as bounded by the late Treaty of Peace could never endanger the general Confederacy. "Because, if the principles of the Federal Union could ever be injured by an unequal possession of Territory, a cession of so large a portion of this State, while Virginia and Georgia will retain an immense Territory, would be certainly dangerous and impolitick. "Because, this State, from her local circumstances and the weakness of the two Southern States, was obliged to advance large sums for their aid and defense which are still unliquidated, and as our credits for those advances have been uniformly opposed by the Eastern States, we think that it ought to have been expressly stipulated, as a preliminary to the cession, That the whole expense of the Indian Expeditions and our Militia aids to Georgia and South Carolina should pass to account in our quota to the Continental expenses incurred by the late war. "Because, the resolve of Congress of the seventeenth of February, or the resolve of the eighteenth of April, seventeen hundred and eighty-three, should have been first carried into effect in order to ascertain the just quota or proportion of the Federal debt due from the individual States and their respective accounts should have been liquidated and their claims fully established before any cession took place. "Because, the Western territory being the undoubted property of this State, was justly considered by the people as a security to their claims against the public, and was solemnly pledged to them by the Legislature in the Act of opening the land office 'for the redemption of specie and other Certificates'. "Because, experience has shown us that our want of public honesty has been already severely punished by our want of public credit, we deem it a false and mistaken conception that our credit would be increased with foreign nations, by the adoption of a measure founded on an open and palpable breach of faith to our own citizens. "Because, justice and policy required that the domestic debt should either have been discharged by the sale of the Western Lands or substantiated in the hands of the creditor by establishing a fund for the punctual payment of the Interest annually. The first great resource is destroyed by the cession, and it is our opinion that the State emerging from the miseries of a destructive war, is perfectly unable to discharge the interest of her internal debt, amounting to a sum far beyond her abilities; Taxes in a certain degree we know are just and expedient, that by stimulating the industry of the individual they increase the aggregate wealth of the community, but when extended so far as to entrench upon the subsistance of the people they become burthensome and oppressive. "Because, though our internal debt is in the nature of a domestic loan and circumstances and consequences are widely different; loans are made by those who can spare from their consumption to the necessity of the Government and without doubt contribute to its stability and alleviate the pressure of taxation; but a large part of our domestic debt grew out of the generous advances of Individuals to the public in the hour of distress, many of these are now impoverished and even ruined by their confidence in the justice of the Legislature; immense sums were also contracted by general contributions and military impresments of the most valuable property, and often from the most necessitous body of the people; suspension of payment must prove ruinous to those patriotick suffers and a disgrace to the State. "Because, the Auditors, from their desultory manner of doing business, have left many claims unadjusted. The great body of the people sustained an irretrievable injury by the cession, they were undoubtedly equally entitled to this commutation for their claims, and we could never consent that the public faith should be violated and the general interest sacrificed to the aggrandizement of a few Land Jobbers who have preyed on the depreciated credit of their Country and the necessities of the unfortunate citizen. "Because, by the Bill of rights the limits of the State are not to be altered, but for the purpose of erecting a new Government only, certainly a cession for the express purpose of constituting a common fund can never be construed into this constitutional object, but was it even constitutional to dismember the State by Act of Assembly, or politick to cede two thirds of the soil and Sovereignty of our Country without any ascertained equivalent? A just regard to the rights of the people would have induced us to suspend the passage of the Bill until the sense of our constituents could be collected on this irrevocable sp. |