to 94,315.91 square miles, all of which was disputed. If the area of Vermont and Maine be added, which were
independently erected into States, the total contribution of all other charter claimants, disputed and undisputed, would amount to 136,807.91 square miles.
Fifth.—The four Southern States, Virginia, the two Carolinas and Georgia, were the only States which ceded a foot of land in actual possession and covered by actual jurisdiction. The other States, acting with patriotic motives, conveyed only unadjudicated claims—which was all they had to convey. The Southern States, being in possession, were able to confer possession on the United States. How different might have been the fate of America, had the four great Southern States adhered to their western territory with the tenacity usually shown by powerful states able to defend their possessions. In the language of the first great cession, "preferring the good of their country to every other object of smaller importance, they laid the foundation of national greatness by voluntary sectional sacrifice, and furnished history its most instructive lesson in the building of nations.
Reference is given to Madison Papers, Vol. 1; Benton’s Thirty Years, Vol. 2; Narrative and Critical History of America, Vol. 7; Lecky s History of England, Vol. 4; American Archives, Fourth Series ; on the cessions of western lands consult Journals of Congress, Vols. 1, 2, 3 and 4; for the acts of cession, Henning s Statutes, Vol. 10; for various deeds of cession, Public Domain; for Spanish intrigues, Roosevelt s Winning of the West; consult also Life of Patrick Henry, by W. W. Henry ; Maryland, by Wm. Hand Brown; Haywood s History of Tennessee.
A decision of the Supreme Court, touching on these cessions, was rendered as late as April 3, 1893, in the case of Virginia against Tennessee, relative to boundary. The court recites the titles of Virginia and North Carolina, as based upon their charters, extending to the South seas, and alludes to "the generous public spirit which on all occasions since has characterized her (Virginia’s) conduct in the disposition of her claims to territory under different charters from the English government." United States Reports, 148, October Term, 1892, p. 503.
Among the older historians who have treated this subject are Bancroft, Hildreth and Pitkin. It has, also, been ably treated, in some of its aspects, by modern historians. Among the works which have touched upon the subject more or less in full, are the following:
