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1 G. A. Grow, Free Homes for Free Men: Speech of Hon. G. A. Grow, of Pennsylvania, Delivered in the House of Representatives, February 29, 1860 1 (1860)

handle is hein.slavery/fhfmsggw0001 and id is 1 raw text is: FREE I-IOMES FOR FREE INEN SPEECH OF HON. G. A. GROW, OF PENNSYLVANIA. 0 Delivered in the rouse of Representatives, February 29, 1860. 0 The House being in Committee of the Whole on the state of the'linion- Mr. GROW said: Mr. CHAIRMAN: At the close of the Revolu- tion, the colonies claimed dominion, based upon their respective colonial grants from the Crown of Great Britain, over an uninhabited wilderness of two hu-ndred and twenty million acres of land, extending to the Mississippi on the west, and the Canadas on the north. The disposition of these lands became a subject of controversy between the colonies even before the Confederation, and was an early obstacle to the organization df any Government for the protection of their common interests. The colonies whose charter from the Crown extended over none of the unoccupied lands claimed, in the language of the instructions of Maryland in 1779, to her delegates in Con- gress: That a country unsettled at the commence- 4 ment of this war, claimed by the British Crown, and ceded to it by the treaty at Paris, 'if wrested from the common enemy by the 'blood and treasure of the thirteen States, should be considered as a common property, subject to be parcelled out by Congress into 'free, convenient, and independent Govern- ments, in such manner and at such times ao the wisdom of that assembly shall hereafter direct. The propriety and the justice of ceding these lands to the Confederation, to be thus parcelled out into free and independent States, having become the topic of discussion everywhere in the colonies, Congress, in order to allay the crnaroversy, and remove the only remaining obstaI.e to a final ratification of the Articles of Conffederation, declared, by resolution, on the 10th of October, 1780: That the unappropriated lands which may be ceded or relinquished to the United States by any pat ticular State' * * * shall be diipos~d of for the common benefit of th United States, and be settled and formed into distinct republican States, which shall become members of the Federal Union, and have the same rights of sovereignty, freedom, and in- dependence, as the other States, &c. That the said lands shall be granted or settled at 'such times, and under such regulations, as 'shall hereafter be agreed on by the United States in Congress assembled, or nine or more of them. In pursuance of the provisions of this resolu. tion, New York, Vir inia, Massachusetts, Con- necticut, South Caro ina, North Carolina, and Georgia, ceded their claims, including title and jurisdiction, to the waste lands, as they were called, outside of their respective State limits; all of them, except Georgia and North Carolina, without any conditions annexed to their respective grants, save those contained in the resolution of Congress just referred to. The reservation in the grants of Georgia and North Carolina were not, however, as to the future disposition of the lands, but a condition that slavery should not be prohibited therein by Congress. The territory thus conditionally granted is contained within the States of Ten- nessee, Mississippi, and Alabama. With. the exception of the grants of North Carolina and Georgia, (and the reservations even ia those relating only to the form of their future gov- ernment,) the public lands claimed by the colonies at the close of the Revolttion were ceded to the General Government, to be settled and disposed of under such regulations ag 'shall hereafler be agreed on by the United- Slates in Congress assembled. Since that time the Government has acquired. by treaty, of France, the Louisiana purchase;, of Spain, the Floridas; of Mexico, Utah, New Mexico, and California; containing, altogether, over twelve hundred mitiicas (1,200,090,000) acres of land. So the Geiural Government, by ce-sioni from the original States, and purchases .,.)m other nations, has acquired, cxclosive of Reproduced with permission from the University of Illinois at Chicago

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