Name/Title
Plain Facts: Being an Examination in the Rights of the Indian Nations of AmericaDescription
(Samuel Wharton)
Losses suffered by a group of Pennsylvania traders during Pontiac's Rebellion resulted in their compensation with Indian deeds to land south of the Ohio River. Proposed to the British Parliament as a new colony named Vandalia, the degradation of pre-Revolution relations ended the attempt. However, several leading members of the proposed colony, including Pennsylvanians Samuel Wharton, William Trent, Joseph Galloway and Benjamin Franklin, formed the Indiana Company in 1775 and began soliciting shareholders and settlers to the region. At roughly the same time, however, Virginia laid claim to the entire region west of their border to the Pacific Ocean. In 1779, the Indiana Company petitioned the Viriginia Legislature to confirm their rights to the land based on their deeds from the Indians. Instead, that body decided to invalidate all deeds for land purchased from the Indians and specifically declared the Indiana Company's claim as null and void.
This pamphlet was issued by Wharton in 1781 to review the above facts and continue to present his case for their rights to the region. "The first twenty-five pages of this gem of frontier history are a remarkable summary of land claims in America" (Siebert).
Although Virginia would cede much of its western lands to Congress in 1784, the areas claimed by the Indiana Company would continue to be unresolved. In 1793 a lawsuit was initiated in the Supreme Court (Hollingsworth v Virginia) but that case floundered there for almost a decade and in the end the Indiana Company shareholders received neither land nor compensation.
Philadelphia: R. Aitken, 1781. 164, [1] pp., 8vo (174 x 112 mm).Other Names and Numbers
Other Numbers
Number Type
ReferencesOther Number
Evans 17437; Field 1224; Howes W307; Sabin 63221; Siebert Sale 538; Streeter Sale 1302.General Notes
Note Type
DescriptionNote
Per Howes also attributed to Anthony Benezet and Benjamin Franklin.Note Type
Cataloging NoteNote
Rare: one issue in rarebookhub in 2008, one in the Siebert sale of 1999 and before that none since 1965.Note Type
Historical NoteNote
Robert Goodloe Harper (January 1765 – January 14, 1825) was an American soldier and politician. He was a member of the United States Senate from Maryland, serving from January 1816 until his resignation in December of the same year. He also served in the South Carolina House of Representatives (1790–1795), the U.S. House of Representatives from South Carolina (1795–1801), and in the Maryland State Senate. He is best remembered for the phrase, "Millions for defense, but not one cent for tribute"[1] in connection with the XYZ Affair. The town of Harper, Liberia, is named after him. (Wikipedia)