Yazoo land fraud, in U.S. history, scheme by which Georgia legislators were bribed in 1795 to sell most of the land now making up the state of Mississippi (then a part of Georgia’s western claims) to four land companies for the sum of $500,000, far below its potential market value . News of the Yazoo Act and the dealing ...
What was one effect of the Yazoo land Act?
As a result of the Yazoo Land Fraud, the western boundary of Georgia was moved from the Mississippi River to the Chattahoochee River . You just studied 10 terms!
Who benefited from the Yazoo land Act?
The sale yielded an immense and almost instantaneous profit to the four companies: the Georgia Co., the Tennessee Co., the Upper Mississippi Co. and the Georgia-Mississippi Co.
What happened to the Yazoo Lands?
In the 1790s, the Yazoo lands were the subject of a major political scandal in the state of Georgia , called the Yazoo land scandal. It led to Georgia’s cession of the land to the U.S. government in the Compact of 1802.
Why was the Yazoo Act burned?
Jared Irwin signed the Rescinding Yazoo Act Feb. 13, 1796. And the Yazoo Fraud Papers were burned before the Capital, in Louisville Feb. ... The Yazoo land fraud of 1795 resulted when the young state of Georgia realized it was too weak after the Revolution to defend its western land claims .
What were the provisions of the Yazoo act?
On January 7, 1795, Georgia governor George Mathews signed the Yazoo Act, which transferred 35 million acres in present-day Alabama and Mississippi to four companies for $500,000 .
Why was the land lottery more successful than the Headright system?
Why was the land lottery more successful than the headright system? More settlers moved to the eastern coast. ... They did not need the land because people desired to stay closer to the eastern coast for trade.
What was the purpose of the land lotteries?
The lottery system was utilized by the State of Georgia between the years 1805 and 1833 “ to strengthen the state and increase the population in order to increase Georgia’s power in the House of Representatives .” Although some other states used land lotteries, none were implemented at the scale of the Georgia contests.
Why did Georgia give up land?
Why did Georgia give up land claims in what is now Mississippi and Alabama? The federal gov’t wanted to set that land aside for the Indian population . The state did not have the millions of dollars needed to buy the land from Spain.
Who owned the Yazoo land?
Finally, at the time that Georgia enacted the 1795 act, the United States government, not Georgia , owned the Yazoo lands. The prayer for relief indicated that Fletcher sought a refund of the $3,000 purchase price.
How many land lotteries did Georgia hold all together?
The state of Georgia used a unique lottery system to distribute land between the years of 1805 to 1833. There were eight lotteries held in total.
What made the sale of western Georgia lands known as the Yazoo Lands controversial?
The sale of western Georgia lands, known as the “Yazoo lands,” was controversial MAINLY because A) members of the Georgia legislature approved the deal. ... the deal involved bribing important people in Georgia .
Who burned the Yazoo act?
The Georgia General Assembly then declared the act void, and on February 13, 1796, Georgians came to watch as Jackson and his colleagues burned the act and all records of it.
Why did settlers demands for the relocation of the Cherokee intensify in the 1820s?
Why did settlers’ demands for relocation of the Cherokee intensify in the 1820s? Gold was discovered on Cherokee land . ... Despite a ruling in the Cherokee’s favor, the government forced them to leave their homeland.
What was a negative impact of the land lotteries?
Selling the land for an average of 7 cents an acre, the lotteries had far-reaching consequences: more widespread landownership shifted political power away from aristocratic planters but increased slave-owning as well as cotton cultivation spread across the state.
What was a major reason for the Indian Removal Act of 1830?
A major reason for the Indian Removal Act of 1830 was the Supreme Court ruling in 1823 of Johnson v. M’Intosh .
