Illustrations
Robert Morris, Patriot and Financier—America’s Foremost Land Boomer
The Black Line Marks the “Indian Boundary” Beyond Which the Colonists Were Ordered Not to Go
Patrick Henry
Benjamin Franklin
Taken from Jedidiah Morse’s The American Geography, Published in London, 1794. Circles Show Claims of the Ohio, Illinois, and Wabash Companies. Indiana Is Placed Just West of Maryland
Sir William Johnson, British Indian Agent in the Northern Colonies
Thegreat Americanland Bubble
THE
GREAT AMERICAN
LAND BUBBLE
Chapter I. Pre-Revolutionary Precedents
AMERICA, from its inception, was a speculation. It was a speculation to Columbus. It was considered a speculation by the kings of Spain, France and England. They looked upon it as a source of riches in gold, silver and pelts. It was from the land that these precious goods were produced, and the ownership of the land was as essential to them as the political jurisdiction over it. Royal favorites were accordingly given vast territories, and land was distributed to individuals and companies as royal rewards.
Chapter II. The Post-Revolutionary Wild-land Mania
LORD CORNWALLIS surrendered on October 19, 1781, and the British troops sailed away from New York shortly thereafter. This left the struggling colonists free from enemy armed forces on their soil and relieved the strain on their master business minds of the successful conduct of the war. Their thoughts accordingly turned again to gainful ventures. Trade and shipping projects had almost ceased during the hostilities. Aside from privateering, little profit and much risk were involved in overseas trading.
Chapter III. Parceling Out the Empire State at Wholesale
WHEN the Revolutionary War was over, New York State was a mere skeleton of its present self. The white inhabitants were settled, for the most part, along the shores of the Hudson River, but pioneers had already moved westward along the Mohawk River as far as “the German Flats.” Here, the sturdy Herkimer and his fellow Germans beat back Major St. Leger and his Indian and Tory allies, thus making possible the victory of Saratoga. Beyond these regions, to the west and north, was wilderness.
Chapter IV. Parceling Out the Empire State at Retail
“IF THE whole Holland Purchase was brought to the condition of a garden, capable of yielding agricultural products to any given extent, it might be the means of affording a very comfortable support to the inhabitants, but would never enable them to pay for their farms, until capital is invested in rearing towns and manufacturies to purchase and consume the surplus products, and thus react upon the value of the land.”
Chapter V. The Ohio Land Lure
“I HAVE learnt from experience,” wrote Lord Dunmore, Colonial Governor of Virginia, to his chief, Lord Dartmouth, on December 24, 1774, “that the established authority of any government in America, and the policy at home, are both insufficient to restrain the Americans, and they do and will remove as their avidity and restlessness incite them . . .
Chapter VI. The Georgia “Yazoo” Land Frauds
NOW we come to the most notorious and widespread of the early American land gambles.
Chapter VII. Washington, America’s First Boom Town
“IN AMERICA,” wrote the Duke de La Rochefoucauld in 1797, “where more than in any other country in the world, a desire for wealth is the prevailing passion, there are few schemes which are not made the means of extensive speculations; and that of erecting the Federal City presented irresistible temptations, which were not in fact neglected.”
Chapter VIII. Filling Up the “Old Northwest”
WHEN the year 1800 ushered in the new century, land speculation in America was at low ebb. The wild land mania had subsided, and those who participated in it, if not already bankrupt, were compelled to hold their acquisitions or proceed slowly to dispose of their tracts at retail. The tendency was toward speculations on a more moderate scale.
