yazoo land fraud

English - English

Definition of yazoo land fraud in English English dictionary

(1795-1814) Scheme to sell land in Georgia. After legislators were bribed to sell Georgia's western land claims around the Yazoo River to four land companies for $500,000, public anger forced a newly elected Georgia legislature to rescind the act (1796) and return the money. Much of the land had meanwhile been resold to third parties, who refused the money and maintained their claim to the property. The state ceded its claim to the U.S. in 1802. In 1810 the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the 1796 rescinding law was an unconstitutional infringement on a contract. By 1814 the U.S. government assumed possession of the territory and awarded the claimants over $4 million

Related Terms

yazoo fraud

In 1802 the territory was ceded to the United States

yazoo fraud

The grant by the State of Georgia, by Act of Jan

yazoo fraud

7, 1795, of 35,000,000 acres of her western territory, for $500,000, to four companies known as the Yazoo Companies from the region granted ; commonly so called, the act being known as the Yazoo Frauds Act, because of alleged corruption of the legislature, every member but one being a shareholder in one or more of the companies

yazoo fraud

Congress in 1814 ordered the lands sold and appropriated $5,000,000 to pay the claims

yazoo fraud

The act granting the land was repealed in 1796 by a new legislature, and the repealing provision was incorporated in the State constitution in 1798

yazoo fraud

The claims of the purchasers, whom Georgia had refused to compensate, were sustained by the United States Supreme Court, which (1810) declared the repealing act of 1796 unconstitutional

Hyphenation

yazoo Land fraud