1Enclosure: Oliver Evans’s Petition to the United States Congress, [by 28 December 1813] (Jefferson Papers)
The subscriber, in behalf of himself and the patentees in the United States , begs leave to represent to the members of Congress : That when any man discovers a piece of unlocated land, he is allowed by law to patent it, and on paying the public for their right to the soil, it is secured to him, and his heirs and assigns forever.—He can sell any part of it to others, to induce them to join...