Massachusetts Cession of Western Land Claims, 1785


ADVERTISEMENT
 

Massachusetts Cession of Western Land Claims, 1785

[LC: CC Papers, West. Land Cessions: DS22]

[April 19, 1785]

To all who shall see these presents, We Samuel Holten and Rufus King the under written Delegates for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the Congress of the United States of America send Greeting:

Whereas the General Court of Massachusetts on the thirteenth day of November in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and eighty four passed an Act in titled "An Act empowering the Delegates of this Commonwealth in the United States in Congress assembled to relinquish to the United States certain lands the property of this Commonwealth,"23 a in the words following,

"Whereas several of the States in the Union have at present no interest in the great and extensive tract of uncultivated country lying in the westerly part of the United States and it may be reasonable that the States above mentioned should be interested in the aforesaid Country, Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court Assembled and by the authority of the same, that the Delegates of this Commonwealth in the United States in Congress Assembled, or any three of the said Delegates be and they hereby are authorised and empowered for and in behalf of this Commonwealth to Cede or relinquish, by authentic conveyance or conveyances to the United States to be disposed of, for the common benefit of the same agreeably to a Resolve of Congress of October the tenth One thousand seven hundred and eighty, such part of that tract of Land belonging to this Commonwealth which lies between the Rivers Hudson and Mississipi as they may think proper, and to make the said Cession in such manner and on such conditions as shall appear to them to be most suitable."

And whereas the said General Court on the seventeenth day of March in the Year of our Lord One thousand seven hundred and eighty five passed one other Act24 intitled "An Act in addition to an Act intitled An Act empowering the Delegates of this Commonwealth in the United States in Congress Assembled to relinquish to the United States certain Lands the property of this Commonwealth" in the words following,

"Whereas by the Act aforesaid three Delegates representing this State in Congress are necessary to make the Cession aforesaid, and it may be Necessary that the said business should be performed by a less number of the said Delegates, Be it therefore enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled,and by the authority of the same that any two Delegates, representing this Commonwealth in Congress, be and hereby are authorised and empowered, to do and perform all matters and things which by the Act aforesaid might be done and performed, by any three Delegates as aforesaid any thing in the aforesaid act notwithstanding." And Whereas the said General Court on the seventeenth day of June in the aforesaid year of our Lord One thousand seven hundred and eighty four did nominate and appoint the aforesaid Samuel Holten, and on the third day of November following the aforesaid Rufus King Delegates to represent the said Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the Congress of the United States of America for one year from the first monday of November in the said year one thousand seven hundred and eighty four which appointment remains in full force. Now therefore know ye, that we the said Samuel Holten and Rufus King by virtue of the power and authority to us committed by the said Acts of the General Court of Massachusetts before recited, in the name and for and on behalf of the said Commonwealth of Massachusetts, do by these presents assign transfer, quit claim, cede and convey to the United States of America for their benefit Massachusetts inclusive, all right, title and estate, of and in as well the soil as the Jurisdiction which the said Commonwealth hath to the Territory or tract of Country within the limits of the Massachusetts Charter, situate and lying west of the following line. That is to say a Meridian line to be drawn from the forty-fifth degree of North Latitude, through the westerly bent or inclination of Lake Ontario, thence by the said Meridian line to the most Southerly side line of the Territory contained in the Massachusetts Charter; but if on experiment the above described Meridian line shall not comprehend twenty miles due west from the most westerly bent or inclination of the River or Strait of Niagara, then we do by these presents by virtue of the power and authority aforesaid in the Name and on the behalf of the said Commonwealth of Massachusetts transfer quit claim, cede and convey to the United States of America for their benefit Massachusetts inclusive, all right, title, and estate, of an[d] in, as well the soil as the Jurisdiction which the said Commonwealth hath to the Territory or tract of Country within the limits of the Massachusetts Charter, situate and lying west of the following line. That is to say, a Meridian line to be drawn from the forty-fifth degree of North Latitude through a point twenty miles due West from the most westerly bent or inclination of the river or Strait of Niagara, thence by the said Meridian line to the most Southerly side line of the Territory contained in the Massachusetts Charter aforesaid,25 for the purposes in the said recited Acts declared, and to the uses in a Resolve of Congress of the tenth day of October one thousand seven hundred and eighty mentioned.26 In testimony whereof we have hereunto subscribed our Names and affixed our Seals in Congress this Nineteenth day of April in the year of our Lord One thousand seven hundred and eighty-five and of the Independence of the United States of America the Ninth.—

S. Holten (l. s.)
Rufus King (l. s.)

Signed Sealed and delivered in the presence of

Benjn Bankson Junr
John Fisher
Robert Patton

[Endorsed] Cession of western Territory by Massachusetts 19th April 1785 Recorded p. 13.27

---------------------------------------------------

22Printed also in Journals Cont. Cong. (LC ed.), xxvm, 281-283.
23Acts and Laws Gen. Court. Mass., 1784, p. 218.
24Ibid., pp. 273 274
25This included the small portion on Lake Erie just west of the present State of New York, which the United States sold to Pennsylvania, Mar. 3, 1793, for $15,640.
26Journals Cont. Cong. (LC ed.), xvm, 915-916.
27The deed of cession was immediately accepted by Congress, ibid., xxvm, 283.

 
Digitized Source
(a graphical representation of the document)

To view the source text, see the digitized copy of the work found below. The work was digitized by Google as part of the Hathi Trust Digital Library.