36b AKS
36b - evaluate the impact of land policies pursued by Georgia to include the head right system, land lotteries, and the Yazooland fraud
Land Lottery |
Head-right SystemThis was the first land distribution system in Georgia. In this system, land is distributed based on two basic factors. The first is that the head of the household must be a white male. The white male would receive 100 acres of land. Te second was that the family would receive 50 more acres of land for every other person in the family. The head-right system allowed a maximum amount of land at 1000 acres. The problem was that the government was giving this land out for free, and some of the land promised to soldiers was not granted. Another problem was that this system increased tensions between the colonists and the Indians.
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This was the second method of distributing land. The government was giving away too much land, so they had to resort to a land lottery. People would put their name in a raffle, and the winner would get up to 50 acres of land. The land given away in this system was the Creek land. The two chiefs, McIntosh and McGillivray, signed treaties giving away this land. McGillivray signed the Treaty of New York, and McIntosh signed the Treaty of Indian Springs. McIntosh gave away a lot of the land, and he was killed by the Red Stick Creek Indians.
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Yazoo Land Fraud |
This was one of the most important events in the Western Expansion Period. This is because this event had effects that last to this day. The Yazoo Land Fraud occurred because of corrupt government officials in the General Assembly. It occurred between 1775 and 1783. Many land companies were attempting to buy much of Georgia's land, but had to bypass the Head-right system. These land companies bribed members of the General Assembly to create a law that allowed them to buy this land. Their tactic worked, and the Yazoo Act was created. 35 million acres of land were sold for 2 cents an acre, and distributed to the four companies. This land became Alabama and Mississippi. When the Georgia citizens found out, all members of the General Assembly were impeached, and new ones were voted in. The documents of the Act were burned in Louisville, the capital of Georgia at the time.
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