The great Yazoo lands sale : the case of Fletcher v. Peck / Charles F. Hobson.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Hobson, Charles F., author.

Series:

Landmark law cases & American society

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Fletcher, Robert, of Amherst, in the District of New-Hampshire--Trials, litigation, etc.

Fletcher, Robert.

Peck, John, of Newton, in the District of Massachusetts--Trials, litigation, etc.

Peck, John.

Peck, John, of Newton, in the District of Massachusetts.

Fletcher, Robert, of Amherst, in the District of New-Hampshire.

Georgia Mississippi Company--Trials, litigation, etc.

Georgia Mississippi Company.

New England Mississippi Land Company--Trials, litigation, etc.

New England Mississippi Land Company.

Yazoo Fraud, 1795.

Contracts--United States--History--19th century.

Contracts.

Public land sales--Georgia--History--18th century.

Public land sales.

Trials.

History.

Georgia.

United States.

Genre:

History.

Physical Description:

xiii, 230 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm.

Place of Publication:

Lawrence, Kansas : University Press of Kansas, [2016]

Summary:

" In 1795, the Georgia legislature sold the state's western lands (present-day Alabama and Mississippi) to four private land companies. A year later, amid revelations of bribery, a newly elected legislature revoked the sale. This book tells the story of how the great Yazoo lands sale gave rise to the 1810 case in which the Supreme Court, under Chief Justice John Marshall, for the first time ruled the action of a state to be in violation of the Constitution, specifically the contract clause. Truly a landmark case, Fletcher v. Peck established judicial review of state legislative proceedings, provided a gloss on the contract clause, and established the preeminent role of the Supreme Court in private law matters. Beneath the case's dry legal proceedings lay a tangle of speculating mania, corruption, and political rivalry, which Charles Hobson unravels with narrative aplomb. As the scene shifts from the frontier to the courtroom, and from Georgia to New England, the cast of characters includes sharp dealers like Robert Morris, hot-headed politicians like James Jackson, and able counsel like John Quincy Adams, along with, of course, John Marshall himself. The improbably dramatic tale opens a window on land transactions, Indian relations, and the politics of the early nation, thereby revealing how the controversy over the Yazoo lands sale reflected a deeper crisis over the meaning of republicanism. Hobson, a leading scholar of the Marshall Court, lays out the details of the litigation with great clarity even as he presents a longer view of the implications and consequences of Fletcher v. Peck. "-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

1. Georgia sells Its Western lands

2. Georgia rescinds the Yazoo sale

3. New England purchasers become Yazoo claimants

4. Fletcher sues Peck; congress debates Yazoo

5. The contract clause, vested rights, and first argument, 1809

6. The Supreme Court decides Fletcher; congress indemnifies claimants

7. The Marshall court and the contract clause after Fletcher.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 209-211) and index.

ISBN:

9780700623303

0700623302

9780700623310

0700623310

OCLC:

947815412