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Xl Congress and the Western Problem: Land Speculation and the Spanish Alliance THE RELATIONSHIP between the land companies and the conservative politicians of the Middle states was a very close one, and it throws much light on the attitude of those states toward the Articles of Confederation and on their demand for congressional control of the West. The Illinois and Wabash companies fonnally joined forces in the spring of 1779, before the denial of their claims by the Virginia legislature.1 Some of the original members remained in the united company, the most notable being Thomas Johnson of Maryland. The company was of course speculative in character, shares being bought, sold, and subdivided, and hence the number interested in its success was far greater than the official membership. Charles Carroll of Carrolton, William Paca, and Samuel Chase owned shares. The list of shareholders residing in Pennsylvania was even more imposing. Leading it was Robert Morris, and next came James Wilson, a leader of the conservative forces in the state and one of the most ardent land speculators of the period. Others were George Ross, another important conservative politician, the Reverend Dr. Smith, a prominent conservative clergyman of Philadelphia, and the Franks and Gratzes, also of Philadelphia. The company likewise numbered among its members Silas Deane of Connecticut, an enemy of the Lees of Virginia, Conrad Gerard, French minister to the United States, and John Holker, French consul in Philadelphia. Gerard and Holker were involved in the shady commercial activities of Silas Deane, Robert Morris, and the French businessmen engaged in making money out of the American Revolution." The Indiana Company was more exclusively a Pennsylvania ort Alvord, Illinois-Wabash Land Company Manuscript, Proceedings of March 13, 26, 1779; Abernethy, Western Lands, 234-235. • The Papers of the Continental Congress, No. 41, vol. 10, f. 32, contains the list of the company's members. Another list may be found in the James Wilson 212 The Articles of Confederation ganization, although when it broadened out into the Vandalia scheme before the Revolution it added many Englishmen to the number interested in its fate. The firm of Baynton, Wharton, and Morgan was extinct, but all its creditors were exceedingly active and hopeful of profiting from the partnership's interest in the Indiana Company. George Morgan and Samuel Wharton were still active. Benjamin Franklin and his son William were both interested, and Franklin found time to support the company even while he was busy in France. Joseph Galloway was also a member and had been elected president in the spring of 1776. Of the many other members some were original partners and some were persons who had bought shares or parts of shares as a matter of speculation. The ramifications of the company are indicated by its statement that there were independent grants "from several proprietors to several Persons residing in different States." 3 The Virginia acts nullifying their claims and setting up a land office forced these companies to take drastic steps. They appealed openly to Congress to stay Virginia from beginning land sales. On September 14 George Morgan presented to Congress a memorial from the Indiana Company 4 and William Trent one on behalf of the more or less extinct Vandalia-Walpole Company,5 which had grown out of the original Indiana Company and had then collapsed. The two memorials were intimately related, for the grounds upon which the Indiana Company demanded redress were based in part on the Vandalia claim. This was a new tack on the part of Morgan, who had bitterly opposed the inclusion of the Indiana Company in the Vandalia Company scheme.6 The memorial which he presented held that because the Indiana ComPapers , 10: 100, in the Pennsylvania Historical Society Manuscripts. The latter list is dated at Philadelphia, May 4, 1781. By this time at least, James Wilson was the head of the company. On February 19, 1781, at a meeting of the company, \Vilson was asked to accept one of the unappropriated shares of the company's lands, as a consideration for the trouble he "must unavoidably be at, in managing their affairs." James 'Nilson Papers, 10: 100; Abernethy, Western Lands, 231-232. See also Thomas P. Abernethy, "Commercial Activ.ities of Silas Deane in France," in the American Historical Review, 39:477-485 (April, 1934). 3 A list of the proprietors of the Indiana Company is in the Papers of the Continental Congress, No. 41, vol. 10, ff. 524-527. • Journals, 15: 1063. 5 Ibid...

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