James Madison Papers

Bill for Pennsylvania Land Contract, [21 December] 1791

Bill for Pennsylvania Land Contract

[21 December 1791]

Mr. Madison, from the committee appointed, presented a bill for carrying into effect a contract between the United States and the State of Pennsylvania …1

Annals of Congress description begins Debates and Proceedings in the Congress of the United States, 1789–1824 (42 vols.; Washington, 1834–56). description ends , 2d Cong., 1st sess., 277.

1During the final session of the Continental Congress in 1788 JM served on a committee ordered to arrange the transfer of jurisdiction over a strip of land “entirely separated from the other lands of the western territory,” to the state of Pennsylvania. Although a resolution was passed, title to the surveyed lands bordering Lake Eric had never been conveyed by the federal government (JCC description begins Worthington C. Ford et al., eds., Journals of the Continental Congress, 1774–1789 (34 vols.; Washington, 1904–37). description ends , XXXIV, 480, 499–500). On 20 Dec. 1791 the House was informed of the situation by a message from the president, accompanied by a report from Jefferson with other documents relating to a settlement. JM was then appointed chairman of the committee to report the required bill, which the House passed on 26 Dec. (Annals of Congress description begins Debates and Proceedings in the Congress of the United States, 1789–1824 (42 vols.; Washington, 1834–56). description ends , 2d Cong., 1st sess., 274–75, 284; 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 , I, 229).

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