James Madison Papers
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To James Madison from Josiah Meigs, 28 March 1815

From Josiah Meigs

General Land office. 28th. March 1815.

Sir,

Annexed I have the honor to communicate an extract of a letter dated 11th. inst. from Thomas Sloo Regisr. of the Land office at Shawnee Town.1

What measures shall be adopted to remove the intruders, you will be pleased to determine.2 Should the Marshall be directed to remove them, and the Governor directed to aid the Marshall with a military force if necessary? I have the honor to be &c.

Letterbook copy and letterbook copy of enclosure (DNA: RG 49, Division C, Misc. Letters Sent). For enclosure, see n. 1.

1. Sloo’s letter stated that several purchasers of government lands in Illinois Territory had requested that he evict squatters who had been living on their tracts at the time of sale and refused to leave (printed in Carter, description begins Clarence Carter et al., eds., The Territorial Papers of the United States (28 vols.; Washington, D.C., 1934–75). description ends Territorial Papers, Illinois, 17:147–48).

2. JM referred the query to Attorney General Richard Rush, who informed Meigs on 4 Apr. 1815 that “the first and fourth sections of the Act of Congress of the 3rd March 1807” authorized the removal of the intruders by military force if necessary. Meigs forwarded the opinion to JM on 7 Apr. (ibid., 161–62). For the act, see U.S. Statutes at Large description begins The Public Statutes at Large of the United States of America … (17 vols.; Boston, 1848–73). description ends , 2:445–46.

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    Madison Papers
    Title
    To James Madison from Josiah Meigs, 28 March 1815
    Author
    Meigs, Josiah
    Recipient
    Madison, James
    Date
    28 March 1815

    Reference

    Cite as
    “To James Madison from Josiah Meigs, 28 March 1815,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Madison/03-09-02-0135. [Original source: The Papers of James Madison, Presidential Series, vol. 9, 19 February 1815–12 October 1815, ed. Angela Kreider, J. C. A. Stagg, Mary Parke Johnson, and Anne Mandeville Colony. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2018, p. 126.]

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