Phelps and Gorham Purchase

Map of Phelps and Gorham Purchase 1802–1806

The Phelps and Gorham Purchase was the purchase in 1788 of the pre-emptive right to some 6,000,000 acres (24,000 km²) of land in western New York State for $1,000,000 (equivalent to $20,000,000,000 in 2005). The purchase involved all the land in New York west of Seneca Lake between Lake Ontario and the Pennsylvania border. The purchasers were Oliver Phelps and Nathaniel Gorham, both of Massachusetts, and the seller was the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. In some discussions of this subject, the Phelps and Gorham Purchase refers only to the 2,250,000 acres (9,100 km²) upon which Phelps and Gorham extinguished aboriginal title. Although Phelps and Gorham purchased pre-emptive rights to all 6,000,000 acres, they were only able to extinguish aboriginal rights—and obtain clear title—to the portion east of the Genesee River.

Treaty of Hartford

Following the American Revolution, western New York was to be eligible for development as soon as New York and Massachusetts reached a compromise settling their competing claims for the area. This occurred in December 1786 with the signing of the Treaty of Hartford. The treaty stated that New York would have sovereignty over the land, but Massachusetts would have the pre-emptive right to obtain title from the native Americans.

By an act of the Massachusetts Legislature approved April 1, 1788, it was provided that "this Commonwealth doth hereby agree, to grant, sell & convey to Oliver Phelps and Nathaniel Gorham, for a purchase price of $1,000,000, payable in three equal annual installments all the Right, Title & Demand, which the said Commonwealth has in & to the said 'Western Territory' ceded to it by the Treaty of Hartford."

Council at Buffalo Creek

On July 8, 1788, Phelps met with the five nations of the Iroquois Confederacy (including Mohawks, Oneidas, Onandagas, Cayugas, and Senecas) at Buffalo Creek to execute a deed or treaty for rights to a portion of their land. The land purchased included approximately the eastern third of the territory ceded to Massachusetts by the Treaty of Hartford, from the Genesee River in the west to the Preemption Line in the east, which was the boundary that had been set between the lands awarded to Massachusetts and those awarded to New York State by the Treaty of Hartford. The agreement included a small tract of land west of the Genesee running south from Lake Ontario approximately 24 miles (39 km) and extending west from the river 12 miles (19 km) from "the westernmost bend of the Genesee," with this western boundary paralleling the course of the Genesee. This 184,300-acre (746 km²) tract west of the Genesee was known as The Mill Yard Tract, so named because Phelps and Gorham asked for the land so they could build a sawmill and gristmill. For this extinction of title, Phelps and Gorham paid the native Americans $5,000, plus an annuity of $500. The area to which title was extinguished comprised some 2,250,000 acres (9,100 km²), including the Mill Yard Tract.

Default

Map shows location of the Triangle Tract, the Morris Reserve, the Mill Yard Tract, and the Preemption Line

When Phelps and Gorham defaulted on their 1790 installment, the preemptive right to lands of the Phelps and Gorham Purchase west of the Genesee River, comprising some 3,750,000 acres (15,200 km²), reverted back to Massachusetts on March 10, 1791. On March 12, Massachusetts agreed to sell these rights to Robert Morris for $333,333.33. The land was conveyed to Morris in five deeds on May 11, 1791. At the time, Morris was the richest man in America, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, and a financier of the American Revolution.

Morris sold most of these lands in December 1792 and in February and July 1793 to the Holland Land Company in a transaction known as the Holland Purchase. Morris kept 500,000 acres (2,000 km²) in a 12-mile (19 km)-wide strip along the east side of the lands acquired from Massachusetts, from the Pennsylvania border to Lake Ontario, known as the Morris Reserve. At the north end of the Morris Reserve, an 87,000-acre (350 km²) triangular-shaped tract ("the Triangle Tract") was sold by Morris to Herman Leroy, William Bayard, and John McEvers, while a 100,000-acre (400 km²) tract due west of the Triangle Tract was sold to the State of Connecticut. In September 1797 Morris extinguished the remaining aboriginal title for all the lands west of the Genesee at the Treaty of Big Tree held at Geneseo, New York.

The Phelps and Gorham lands east of the Genesee River that had not already been sold—some 1,200,000 acres (4,900 km²)—were acquired by Morris in August 1790. He re-sold them to The Pulteney Association.

See also

• Fellows v. Blacksmith, 60 U.S. 366 (1857)
• New York ex rel. Cutler v. Dibble, 62 U.S. 366 (1858)
• Seneca Nation of Indians v. Christy, 162 U.S. 283 (1896)

References

• Hauptman, Laurence M. Conspiracy of Interests: Iroquois Dispossession and the Rise of New York State (2001).

External links

• Phelps & Gorham Treaty of July 4–8, l788, Historical Aspects of the, Rochester History magazine, by Blake McKelvey Vol 1 No(s)1 (January 1939) (PDF format)
• The Field Notes of Col. Hugh Maxwell's Pre-emption Line Survey in the Phelps and Gorham Purchase transcribed by John M. Robortella
• For Animations of these Land Acquisitions click Map Scene 5 Map animation by Dr. Robert Spiegelman