The Great American Land Bubble: The Amazing Story of Land-Grabbing, Speculations, and Booms from Colonial Days to the Present Time PDF
Preview The Great American Land Bubble: The Amazing Story of Land-Grabbing, Speculations, and Booms from Colonial Days to the Present Time
THE GREAT AMERICAN LAND BUBBLE ROBERT MORRIS—PATRIOT AND FINANCIER AMERICA’S FOREMOST LAND BOOMER The GREAT AMERICAN LAND BUBBLE The Amazing Story of Land-Grabbing, Speculations, and Booms from Colonial Days to the Present Time by A. M. SAKOLSKI ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF FINANCE COLLEGE OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK HARPER & BROTHERS PUBLISHERS NEW YORK AND LONDON 1932 Reprinted with the permission of Harper & Row JOHNSON REPRINT CORPORATION JOHNSON REPRINT COMPANY LTD 111 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10003 Berkeley Square House, London, W. 1 THE GREAT AMERICAN LAND BUBBLE Copyright, 1932, by Harper & Brothers Printed in the U. S. A. FIRST EDITION I-G History of American Economy: Studies and Materials for Study A series of reprints of the important studies and source books relating to the growth of the American economic system. General Editor: William N. Parker First reprinting, 1966, Johnson Reprint Corporation Printed in the United States of America PREFACE LAND speculation in the United States has been a national business. Yet no history of it has hitherto been written—and small wonder! Pecuniary speculation has ever been looked upon as a dubious business. It therefore has been conducted largely in secret and without enduring records. Arduous research is required by those who delve into its intricate dealings. From time to time, however, an historian or research student has given to the public intimate or fragmentary accounts of isolated episodes relating directly or indirectly to American land speculation. To these authors I wish to convey my acknowledgment of valuable assistance. In the present volume no attempt has been made to give a detailed account of all important speculative land transactions. Moreover the story is restricted to speculation and is not directly concerned with the loss or growth of great fortunes from real estate investment. In the preparation of the manuscript, credit is due to Miss Alice Strass. To Professor H. S. Commager of New York University I owe a debt of gratitude for valuable suggestions, and to Professor John Hastings of the College of the City of New York for the preparation of the maps. Mr. Myron L. Hoch of the Department of Economics at the City College gave valuable assistance in the preparation of the work for publication. A. M. SAKOLSKI May, 1932 Contents Chapter I. Pre-Revolutionary Precedents Chapter II. The Post-Revolutionary Wild-land Mania Chapter III. Parceling Out the Empire State at Wholesale Chapter IV. Parceling Out the Empire State at Retail Chapter V. The Ohio Land Lure Chapter VI. The Georgia “Yazoo” Land Frauds Chapter VII. Washington, America’s First Boom Town Chapter VIII. Filling Up the “Old Northwest” Chapter IX. Louisiana Spanish Grants and their “Antedaters” Chapter X. The Texas Fever Chapter XI. Generating the Panic of 1837 Chapter XII. California’s Golden Land Gambles Chapter XIII. Railroad Land Jobbery Chapter XIV. Jay Cooke’s “Banana Belt” Chapter XV. “Main Streets” and “Broadways” Chapter XVI. Florida—the Latest Phase Index 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 James Duane Timothy Pickering James Greenleaf The Prospectus of the North American Land Company Issued in London. Morris’ Effort to Interest British Speculators Gouverneur Morris, Statesman, Diplomat, and Land Agent William Constable, Principal Proprietor of Macomb’s Purchase Jeremiah Wadsworth The Map of Macomb’s Purchase Which James Constable Took to Europe. The Adjoining Tracts Are Marked as “Thick Settled Sections” When They Were Still Wilderness Le Roy de Chaumont, Proprietor of Northern New York Lands New York State Parceled Out at Wholesale Advertisement of the Pulteney Estate in the Hartford Courant, January 14, 1807 An Early Map of Holland Purchase, Published in France in 1803 in Jean Phillippe Louis Bridel’s Le pour et le contre, ou avis à ceus qui se proposent de passer dans les Etats-Unis d’Amérique Broadside of Holland Land Company, April 24, 1821, Announcing the Failure to Plan to Sell Out to the State, and Offering New Terms to Settlers Prospectus of the Compagnie de New York The Ohio Land Grants Madame de Staël, Who Speculated in Northern New York Lands Bronze Tablet Commemorating the Grant to Ohio Company of Associates, on the Portal of the Sub-treasury Building, New York City William Duer Joel Barlow John Cleves Symmes A Miami Land-Warrant Jonathan Dayton First Partition of the Yazoo Territory James Wilson, Associate Justice of the U. S. Supreme Court The First Plan of the City of Washington, Engraved in 1792 and Used in Selling the “Lots” The Second Partition of the Yazoo Lands as Shown by Jedidiah Morse in His American Gazeteer, published in 1797 One of the “Yazoo Frauds” Pamphlets An Early View of Washington Thomas Law, an Englishman Who Bought Real Estate in the Federal City An Illustration of Early Western Town Jobbing A Contemporary Portrait of Nicholas Longworth Embellished with His Favorite Fruit and Beverage The Banks of the Ohio. Mr. Longworth’s Vineyards Morris Birkbeck John Jacob Astor Aaron Burr Location of the De Bastrop Claim, Based upon Map in the U. S. Land Office Moses Austin Stephen F. Austin in 1836 Stephen F. Austin in Hunting Costume The Principal Texas Grants Based on Map Published in 1836 Daniel Webster, Whose Interest in Western Lands Was Both Private and Public
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