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A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation: U.S. Congressional Documents and Debates, 1774-1875
Journals of the Continental Congress --SATURDAY, APRIL 24, 1784.
Congress assembled: Present as yesterday.
A motion was made by Mr. [Edward] Hand, seconded by Mr. [John] Montgomery, in the words following:
"Whereas Congress have by their resolution of the 23 day of January last, on the petition of Zebulon Butler and others, directed the institution of a court to determine the private right of soft within the territory westward of the Delaware, formerly in dispute between the states of Connecticut and Pensylvania, agreeably to the ninth of the Articles of Confederation, and have assigned the fourth Monday in June next, for the appearance of the parties by their lawful agents, before Congress, or a committee of the states, to proceed in the premises as by the Confederation is directed. And whereas the general assembly of the State of Pensylvania have, by their resolutions of the 14th day of February last, instructed their delegates in Congress as follows:
In General Assembly, Saturday, February 14, 1784, A. M.
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of two or more states, so that Zebulon Buffer and the other claimants cannot be entitled to such a court, unless they come within the description aforesaid, which it is apprehended they do not. That if Congress should consent to estabhsh courts at the instance of persons, not first proving themselves to be included in the description aforesaid, the citizens of this State may be harassed by a multitude of pretended claims at the suit of adventurers or invaders of the State, and in the present instance at the suit of persons who have settled in defiance of the resolution of Congress of the 23 day of December, 1775.
Resolved, That it was the intention of Congress, by their act of the 23 day of January last, that commissioners or judges should be appointed on the fourth Monday in June next, agreeably to the ninth of the Articles of Confederation, to determine the private right of soil within the territory westward of the Delaware, formerly in controversy between the States of Connecticut and Pensylvania, and lately determined to be within the jurisdiction of the State of Pensylvania.
Nevertheless, as the petitioners aforesaid have not shewn to Congress that their claims to the private right of soil, within the territory aforesaid, originate from grants obtained from the State of Connecticut, which alone can entitle them to a court agreeably to the 9th of the Articles of Confederation,
Resolved, That the resolution of the 23 day of January last, directing the institution of a court for determining the private right of soil within the territory westward of the Delaware, formerly in controversy between the states of Connecticut and Pensylvania, and appointing the fourth Monday in June next, for the appearance of the parties, by their lawful agents, before Congress, or a committee of the states, be, and it is hereby suspended, until Zebulon Butler, and the other petitioners, claimants as aforesaid, exhibit to Congress, or a committee of the states, schedules, particularizing their claims.
Resolved, That the parties, claimants as aforesaid, be informed, that their appearance, by their agents, before Congress, or a committee
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of the states, as specified by the resolution of Congress of the 23 day of January last, will not be necessary, until the further determinations of Congress, or a committee of the states, in the premises, be made known to them.1
[Note 1: 1 This motion, in the writing of Edward Hand, is in the Papers of the Continental Congress, No. 36, II, folio 347.]
A motion was made by Mr. [David] Howell, seconded by Mr. [John] Montgomery, that the foregoing motion be committed; and on the question for commitment, the yeas and nays being required by Mr. [Edward] Hand,
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So it was resolved to commit it.2
[Note 2: 2 This motion and vote are in the Papers of the Continental Congress, No. 36, II, folio 354. The indorsement shows that Mr. Hand's motion was referred to Mr. [Thomas] Jefferson, Mr. [William] Ellery and Mr. [Hugh] Williamson.]
According to the order of the day, Congress proceeded to the election of two commissioners to negotiate with the Indians, in the room of Mr. S. Higgenson and Mr. N. Greene, who have declined that office; and, the ballots being taken, Mr. Benjamin Lincoln and Mr. Arthur Lee were elected.
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[Representation of the Delegates for New York resptg the New Hampshire Grants]
To the United States of America in Congress Assembled:
The under written Delegates for the State of New York have the honor in obedience to an express instruction from the Legislature of the said State to represent that in compliance with an Act of Congress bearing date the twenty fourth day of Sept., 1779 (in which Act of Congress it is among other things declared that disputes at present subsist between the States of Massachusetts Bay, New Hampshire, and New York on the one part and the people of the District called the New Hampshire Grants on the other, which people deny the Jurisdiction of each of the said States over the said District and each of the said States claim the said District against each other as well as against the said people as appertaining in whole or in part to them respectively.
Resolved, unanimously, That it be and hereby is earnestly recommended to the States of New Hampshire, Massachusetts Bay and New York forthwith to pass laws expressly authorising Congress to hear and determine all differences between them relative to their respective Boundaries in the Mode prescribed by the Articles of Confederation, so that Congress may proceed thereon by the first day of February next at farthest; and further, that the said States of Massachusetts Bay, New Hampshire and New York do, by express laws for that purpose, refer to the decision of Congress all differences or disputes relative to Jurisdiction which they may respectively have with the people of the district aforesaid, so that Congress may proceed thereon on the said first day of February next, and also to authorise Congress to hear and determine all disputes subsisting between the Grantees of the several States aforesaid with each other or with either of the said States respecting Title to lands lying in the said District, to be heard and determined in the mode prescribed for such cases by the Articles of Confederation aforesaid; and further to provide that no advantage be taken of the nonperformance of the Conditions of any of the Grants of the said land, but that further reasonable time be allowed for fulfilling such conditions.
Resolved unanimously, That Congress will and do hereby pledge their faith to carry into Execution, and support their Decisions and determinations in the premises, in favour of whichsoever of the parties the same may be to the end that permanent concord and harmony
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may be established between them, and all cause of uneasiness be removed; and that Congress will on the said first day of February next proceed without delay to hear and examine into the disputes and differences relative to Jurisdiction aforesaid, between the said three States respectively, or such of them as shall pass the laws before mentioned, on the one part, and the people of the District aforesaid, who claim to be a seperate Jurisdiction on the other, and after a full and fair hearing will decide and determine the same according to equity.) The Legislature of the State of New York did on the twenty first day of October, 1779, pass a law entitled "An Act to empower the Congress of the United States of America to determine all controversies relative to certain lands in the Counties of Cumberland, Gloucester, Charlotte, and Albany, commonly called the New Hampshire Grants" by which said act or law the State of New York did fully comply with the recommendation contained in the aforesaid (in part recited) Act of Congress as by comparing the sd. Act or law of the State of New York with the said Act of Congress will appear.
That on the nineteenth day of September, 1780, all the parties concerned in the said Controversy (Massachusetts Bay excepted) being present, Congress did attend to the hearing of the said Controversy, but have not to this day decided the same.
The underwritten further represent that the Inhabitants of the said District have paid no regard to the Act of Congress which inhibited the people of the said District who deny the Jurisdiction of all the aforenamed States from granting lands or exercising any Authority over those who profess themselves to be Citizens of, or to owe Allegiance to, any or either of the said States but in violation and Contempt thereof have granted lands and exercised Authority over those in the said District who profess to owe and yield Allegiance to the Authority of the State of New York, to the utter ruin of many of the Citizens thereof.
That the Inhabitants of the said District have shewn the utmost contempt of the Act of Congress of the fifth day of December, 1782, by refusing to restore the Estates which they had confiscated belonging to persons who refused to yield obedience to the laws of (the Assumed State of) Vermont, although the said persons professed to owe and yield Allegiance to the State of New York and who were guilty of no other offence.
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The Inhabitants of the said District have likewise refused to set at liberty those who were in confinement for like causes as aforesaid, unless upon large bonds for their good behaviour, and have actually taken up and confined in close Jail, divers of the Citizens of the State of New York who had been banished by the authority of the assumed State of Vermont aforesaid, and for the offence afsd. and who returned to their habitations in the District aforesaid under the sanction of the last mentioned act of Congress.
That the Inhabitants of the said District under the name and stile of the State of Vermont have in and during the course of the winter now last past actually raised Troops and levyed war upon and against the Citizens of the State of New York in Cumberland County, in the District aforesaid, where numbers were wounded, made prisoners of and inhumanly loaded with Irons and Confined in close Jail, while others were driven from their habitations and obliged to fly into the Neighbouring States and for no other cause than the offence aforesaid. The under-written further represent that the pretended Government of Vermont, hath lately extended its claim and granted lands far to the westward of any of the most westerly Grants ever made by the Government of the late Colony of New Hampshire, and have actually seized the lands so granted, although the same have long since passed to the Citizens of the State of New York, under the Great Seal of the late Colony of New York.
The underwritten further represent that the Legislature of the State of New York, to prevent the evils of civil discord, have besides a chearful compliance with the recommendation of Congress to submit the said Controversy to their final determination, made many liberal cessions in favour of those claimants, particularly a certain Act entitled "An Act for quieting the minds of the Inhabitants in the North Eastern Parts of this State," passed the fourteenth day of April, 1782, by which said Act the lands granted by New Hampshire and the pretended State of Vermont were Confirmed to the claimants, and even occupants without right, were liberally provided for, and there was no exception or reserve, but in favor of the oldest patents in question.
The underwritten further represent that they are expressly instructed in the most urgent and pointed manner to press Congress for a decision of this long protracted Controversy, not on Consideration of public expediency, but consistently with the Assurances of Congress according to equity.
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That the State of New York complains of the most grievous injustice done them by Congress by delaying the said Decision, especially after a submission in compliance with the unanimous recommendations of Congress, in full confidence that Congress would have kept their faith inviolate, and which in the most solemn manner they had pledged.
That great danger and distress will arise from the further procrastination of the said Decesion, as the leaders of the said District have raised Troops and do now employ them to reduce other Inhabitants, resident in the said District and acknowledging themselves Citizens of and to one allegiance to the State of New York, to submit to the said assumed Government of Vermont, and many of the Inhabitants of the said District, for professing to owe Allegiance to the State of New York, are now in the most grievous state of distress under close confinement, calling upon the State of New York for protection and redress, and that when every State ought to be in the full enjoyment of the blessing of peace under the protection of the federal Union, the State of New York alone, is on the point of experiencing the calamities of an internal war; but that if she must recur to force for the preservation of her lawful Authority the impartial world will pronounce that none of the blood shed or disorder which may ensue, can be imputed to the Legislature thereof, who appeal to the Journals of Congress for the rectitude, moderation and liberality of the measures they have invariably pursued to produce an amicable determination of the Controversy.
That in order to afford another instance of the Upright intentions of the Government of the State of New York, Congress be entreated to Guarantee the Concessions made on her part by the said Act of the fourteenth day of April, 1782.
The Underwritten further represent that the Legislature of the State of New York conceive themselves to be urgently pressed by the great duty of self-preservation to prepare without loss of time for the Worst events, and however sincerely they are disposed to maintain the Union and to manifest an Inviolable respect for Congress, yet if the decision which has so long in vain been solicited, should not be pronounced within two Months next after nine States shall be represented in Congress, subsequent to a representation of the State of New York, no further expectation can be entertained of such decision; and the said State of New York, with whatever
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deep regret, will be compelled to consider herself as left to pursue her own Councils destitute of the protection of the United States to whose Judgment they have chearfully submitted and on whose Justice they have hitherto relied.
The Underwritten do therefore by this public Act, which they pray may be received and filed among the records of the United States, make known the just expectations and earnest request of the. Legislature of the State of New York, declaring their readiness to lay before such of the Members of Congress as may be uninformed, satisfactory evidence of the title of the State of New York to all that part of the Controverted District which lies on the West Side of Connecticut River.
Done at Annapolis, in obedience to the express instructions of the Legislature of the State of New York, the 24th. day of April, 1784.
[Note 1: 1 This representation, in the writing of a clerk is in the Papers of the Continental Congress, No. 40, II, folios 475--483. The indorsement states that it was read on this day and referred to Mr. Jefferson Mr. [Jacob] Read, Mr. Gerry Mr. [Roger] Sherman, Mr. [William] Ellery, Mr. [Samuel] Hardy, and Mr. [George] Partridge. Committee Book, No. 186, states that the committee was renewed May 17.
On this or an approximate date was read a letter of April 16, 1784, from George Clinton, Governor of New York. It is in No. 67, II, folio 453.
Also, as the indorsement states, another letter of April 16, 1784, from George Clinton, Governor of New York, which was referred to Mr. [Edward] Hand, Mr. [Thomas] Stone and Mr. [Roger] Sherman. It is in No. 67, II, folio 461.
Also, a letter of May 12 from Colonel George Morgan. It is in No. 163, folio 365.]
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