Regarding the Treaty of Hartford - photo 1

Regarding the Treaty of Hartford

Lot 215
02.02.2024 10:00UTC -05:00
Classic
Starting price
$ 6 000
AuctioneerCHRISTIE'S
Event locationUSA, New York
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Archive
ID 1129835
Lot 215 | Regarding the Treaty of Hartford
Estimate value
$ 10 000 – 15 000
THOMSON, Charles (1729-1824). Letter signed ("Chas Thomson") as Secretary of Congress to William Paterson, "Office of the Secretary of Congress," [New York,] 21 June 1785.

One page, 311 x 195mm (partial fold separations mended, toned at extreme margins from previous matting). Matted and framed.

Congress attempts to form a federal court under the Articles of Confederation to adjudicate a land dispute between New York and Massachusetts that would be settled by the 1786 Treaty of Hartford. The dispute between the two states stemmed from their original (and ultimately unrealistic) "sea to sea" land grants as established in colonial charters granted in the seventeenth century resulting overlapping land claims in what is now much of western New York State. The issue remained largely dormant until the end of the War of Independence, when a rush in speculation on western lands brought the overlapping claims to the fore. In May 1784, Massachusetts appealed to Congress to appoint commissioners to resolve the dispute. The Articles of Confederation designated Congress as the venue of last resort in interstate disputes, and outlined a process of forming a federal court to rule on such matters.

However Congress encountered difficulty in assembling such a court. On 24 December 1784 Congress resolved to appoint nine commissioners, with five required for a quorum, and named William Paterson, together with George Wythe, William Grayson, James Monroe, George Read, Isaac Smith, Thomas Johnson, Robert Hanson Harrison, and John Rutledge. However by June 1785, Robert Hanson Harrison, William Grayson and John Rutledge had refused the appointments, leading Congress to nominate three additional commissioners, which Thomson identifies in his letter to Paterson as "the Honorable Samuel Johnson of North Carolina, the Honorable William Fleming of Virginia and the Honorable John Sitgraves of North Carolina in the room of these three of who have declined." Thomson adds that it "is further agreed that the Court shall met at the City of Williamsburg in the State of Virginia on the third Tuesday of November next, as soon as the acceptance of the gentleman last appointed shall be known, a commission will be made out in due form constituting a court to hear & determine the controversy aforesaid according to the Articles of Confederation."

The court never sat to hear the dispute. Instead, representatives of New York and Massachusetts agreed to meet in Hartford, Connecticut to settle their dispute in December 1786. In the resulting Treaty of Hartford, Massachusetts relinquished all claims of sovereignty and jurisdiction over any part of New York State. In exchange, New York allowed Massachusetts the right of pre-emption to lands in western New York State. Essentially, Massachusetts could purchase land from local natives and sell those lands to individuals—the most prominent example being the six-million acre Phelps-Gorham Purchase in 1788. The New York - Massachusetts controversey was one of many territorial disputes stemming from vague colonial charters, most of which were resolve when the states relinquished their western land claims through the Northwest Ordinance of 1787. Interestingly, the federal constitution of 1787 empowered the Supreme Court as the arbiter of interstate disputes, echoing the ultimately flawed process outlined in the Articles of Confederation.
Artist:Charles Thomson (1729 - 1824)
Place of origin:USA
Auction house category:Letters, documents and manuscripts
Address of auction CHRISTIE'S
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