SPRINGFIELD, CLARK COUNTY, JAN. 11, 1827. GEN. D. M'ARTHUR...
[Springfield, Ohio? 1827]. 7, [1 blank] pp. Caption title [as issued]. Untrimmed, uncut, and generously margined. Spotted, Good+.
Mason, a lawyer, would be elected to the Ohio State Senate in 1829, and then to Congress in 1834, where he served several terms as an anti-Jackson Whig. In this rare pamphlet he addresses General Duncan McArthur, who had brought an action of ejectment "against Reynolds and Van Meter, in the Court of Common Pleas for Champaign county." McArthur claimed ownership of land between the Scioto and Little Miami Rivers, pursuant to military warrants granted him by the State of Virginia. Mason represented McArthur at trial. Mason defends himself against McArthur's criticisms of his trial conduct.
McArthur's case was important. The U.S. Supreme Court decided it in 1829. See, Reynolds vs. McArthur, 27 U.S. 417 [1829] [opinion by Chief Justice Marshall]. When Virginia ceded lands to the United States in 1784, it had reserved to itself the area between the Scioto and Little Miami to distribute military bounties. McArthur held title to land pursuant to such a Virginia military land warrant. The Supreme Court held that McArthur's claim of ownership was superior to the purported title of persons holding under a sale made by the United States.
We accompany this pamphlet with a government report, IN SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES. MAY 12, 1826. MR. EATON SUBMITTED THE FOLLOWING STATEMENT. GENERAL McARTHUR'S CLAIM. 19th Cong., 1st Sess. Doc. 96. 8pp. It is a detailed discussion of the land cessions and McArthur's claim.
OCLC 492252493 [1- W. Res. Hist. Soc.] as of August 2019. Not in American Imprints, Sabin, Eberstadt, Thomson, Decker, Cohen. Item #29566
Price: $500.00