yazoo frauds act

1 definition found

yazoo frauds act - Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 :

  Yazoo Fraud \Yaz"oo Fraud\ (U. S. Hist.)
     The grant by the State of Georgia, by Act of Jan. 7, 1795, of
     35,000,000 acres of her western territory, for $500,000, to
     four companies known as the
  
     Yazoo Companies from the region granted; -- commonly so
        called, the act being known as the
  
     Yazoo Frauds Act, because of alleged corruption of the
        legislature, every member but one being a shareholder in
        one or more of the companies. The act granting the land
        was repealed in 1796 by a new legislature, and the
        repealing provision was incorporated in the State
        constitution in 1798. In 1802 the territory was ceded to
        the United States. The claims of the purchasers, whom
        Georgia had refused to compensate, were sustained by the
        United States Supreme Court, which (1810) declared the
        repealing act of 1796 unconstitutional. Congress in 1814
        ordered the lands sold and appropriated $5,000,000 to pay
        the claims.
        [Webster 1913 Suppl.]