Excerpts from The Papers of George Mason, 1725-1792

Robert A. Rutland, ed., 3 vols. (Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 1970).

1773 Documents

1773, Mar 20 GM's Last Will and Testament, pp. 147-161.

p. 154: "I also give and devise unto my said son John Mason . . . my Island in Potomack river, opposite the mo[u]th of rock Creek, which I hold under a patent from the lord proprietor of Maryland. . . ."

[This mention shows that GM knew that islands in the Potomac River belonged to Maryland, suggesting he knew personally that Maryland's border extended to the Virginia shore. The island, then called Barbadoes, later Mason Is., and now Roosevelt Is., lies below the fall line in the navigable part of the Potomac.]

1773, ca. July Extracts [taken by Mason] from Virginia's Charters, pp. 163-185.

pp. 163-164: [1606 April 10] "Charter, or Letters Patent first granted by King James the First to the two Companys, commonly called the London Company & the Plymouth Company, for two several Colonies to be made in Virginia, & other Parts and Territories of America, along the Sea Coasts, between 34 Degrees & 45 Degrees of North Latitude."

"Sect: IV. Vizt. To . . . the first or London Company, to begin to settle & plant the first Colony any where upon the said Coast of Virginia or America between 34 Degrees and 41 Degrees of North Latitude; and granting them all the Country &c from the said first seat of their settlement or plantation for the space of fifty English Miles all along the said Coast, towards the West & South West, as the Coast lieth; and for the like space of fifty miles all along the said Coast, towards the East & North East or towards the North, as the coast lieth; with all the Islands within one hundred Miles directly over against said sea Coast; and also all the Country from the said fifty Miles every way on the Sea Coast, directly into the Main Land, for the space of one hundred English Miles, and that none other of his Majesty's subjects shall plant or inhabit behind, or on the back side of them, towards the main Land, without the express Licence or Consent of the Council of that Colony thereunto in writing first had & obtained."

[Clearly there was no mention of the Potomac in the bounds of this first charter.]

pp. 165-166: [Anno 1609] "a second and more extensive Charter was granted them by King James the first . . . granting them all those Lands, Countries and Territories situate, lying and being in that part of America called Virginia, from the Point of Land called Cape or point Comfort, all along the Sea Coast, to the Northward, two hundred Miles; and from the said point of Cape Comfort, all along the Sea Coast, to the Southward, two hundred Miles, and all that space or Circuit of Land, lying from the Sea Coast of the precinct aforesaid, up into the land, throughout from Sea to Sea, West & North West; and also all the Islands lying within one hundred Miles, along the Coast of both Seas of the precinct aforesaid; with all the Soils, Grounds &c. for ever; . . ."

[Still no mention of the Potomac, although its entire course was encompassed by this grant.]

pp. 169-170: [Anno. 1612] "A third Charter was granted by King James the First to the same Virginia Company, reciting & confirming their former Charter, and setting forth that the said Company had petitioned for . . . a more ample extent of their Limits & Territories into the Seas adjoining to, & upon the Coast of Virginia, . . . granting . . . all & singular those Islands whatsoever situate, lying & being in any part of the Ocean or Seas bordering upon the Coast of the said first Colony of Virginia, & being within three hundred Leagues of any of the parts heretofore granted . . . being within or between the one & fortieth & thirtieth Degrees of a Northern Latitude; together with all & singular the Soils, Lands, Grounds, Havens, Ports, Rivers, Waters, Fishings, Mines & Minerals &c. and all & singular other Commodities, Jurisdictions, Royalties, Privileges, Franchises and Preheminences, both within said Tract of Land upon the Main, and also within the said Islands & Seas adjoining. . . ."

p. 170: Mason's note: "This Clause, Sect. IV. of this Charter, respecting the ports, rivers, waters, & Fishings, and a Clause of the same nature in Sect. VI. of the Second Charter (not particularly recited in these Extracts) being of a publick Nature in which the People & Inhabitants were interested as well as the Company, it is presumed could not be destroyed or avoided by the Dissolution of the Virginia Company, & may avail us if the Proprietor of Maryland should ever disturb the peace or possessions of any of the People of this Colony, by an attempt to exercise the Rights he pretends to claim on the South side of the Potomack river, of which he hath never been in possession: for upon an attentive examination of the Virginia Charters, perhaps it may appear that the said Proprietor hath little Title, except Length of Possession, to many of the Powers he holds. How far these Charters can be urged against the Claim he is now setting up to that Tract of Country, between the great North and South Branches of Potomack river, the Inhabitants of

which have long been settled there as a part of this Colony, under the Faith of its Laws, & are represented in our Legislature; & who if the said proprietor's claim was to be established (besides the risque of their present Titles to the Lands) would be forced from under the immediate protection of the Crown & subjected to a proprietary Government; whereby their Lives and Fortunes might be at the Mercy, not of their Sovereign, but of a fellow subject, may soon become a Question of Importance."

p. 171: Mason's note: "The principal Design of this third Charter . . . seems to be to grant to the said Company the islands of Bermudas, otherwise called the Somer islands. . . ."

p. 176: Mason's note: "The Bounds of the Colony (as well as the Form of Government) remained unaltered until King Charles the First in the Year 1632, by Charter to Cecilius Calvert Lord Baron of Baltimore, established the Proprietary & Province of Maryland. That Country then being uninhabited, the Importance of it little known or attended to, and the scene of Confusion introduced by the Civil War in England prevented the people of Virginia making any Opposition. In the succeeding Reign (with equal inattention in the Virginians) the Provinces of Pensylvania and Carolina were erected; the Southern part of the first & the Northern part of the latter, being within the ancient Limits of Virginia. . . . And by these Means have the ancient & original Boundaries been contracted; and the Colony and Dominion of Virginia reduced to its present Limits."

pp. 176-177: Mason's note: "In the Year 1669 a Grant was made by King Charles the second to Henry Earl of Saint Albans, John Lord Berkley, Sir William Moreton and John Tretheway Esqr. of all that Tract of Land or Territory lying between Rappahannock & Potomack Rivers, commonly called the Northern Neck (now in the possession of the right honble. the Lord Fairfax) and altho' there was a proviso that the same should not infringe or prejudice any Contract or Grant whatsoever before made or granted by the Governor & Council or Virginia; . . . it aroused the Attention of the General Assembly; who . . . in 1674 passed an Act of Address & Supplication, asserting the Rights & Privileges granted to this Colony by his Majesty's Ancestors, representing the Dangers & ill Consequences of such Grants to Lords & others, & praying that his Majesty would be graciously pleased to revoke the said Grant, . . . of being removed from his Majesty's immediate protection, to confirm their Liberties, Privileges, Immunities, Rights & Properties, as aforesaid, by his Majesty's Royal Charter."

pp. 179-180: Mason's note: ""The Country of Virginia is only mentioned at large [in the charter of 16 October 1676] & in general Terms in this Charter, & is not described or ascertained by any particular Limits or Boundaries. It can't be confined to the Country then settled, which would be totally inconsistent with the Design of giving Encouragement "to Plantations there" and would exclude more than nine tenths of the present Inhabitants. It can't mean the Country at that time purchased from or ceded by the Indians; for this would also exclude the greatest part of the present Inhabitants. Nor can posterior purchases of Lands from the Indians be used as arguments against the Extent of this Charter, without impeaching the Crown's Right to those Lands at the time of making the Charter. . . . If such purchases could operate against the extent of the Virginia Charter, they would have operated against the Grant of the Northern Neck; far the greater part of which was possessed by the Indians, when the said grant was made, & not purchased from them for many years after. So late as Queen Anne's Reign the Blue ridge of mountains separated the possessions of the British subjects here from those of the Indians: Yet in the last reign the King and Council gave Lord Fairfax a Judgement for the Lands to the Fountain Head of Potomack River, near fourscore miles beyond the Blue Ridge. As our Settlements were extended & the wild Game destroyed, the Indians have been forced to remove further for the Convenience of Hunting. As they retired, purchase after purchase hath been made of them, and temporary lines or Boundaries from time to time accordingly settled between them & the English Inhabitants here. . . . Many of these purchases have been made since the Charter of Charles the second. If the said Charter was not affected by the former purchases from the Indians, neither is it by the last; nor can it be any purchase made hereafter. For (not to mention the liberal & beneficial Manner of Construction which we have a right to) the plain, natural, & obvious meaning of the Charter is, to grant & confirm certain Rights, privileges & Immunities to all his Majesty's Subjects, who then did or ever should inhabit that Tract of Country in America, usually called Virginia, according to the Description and Boundaries of the original Charters, not before otherwise appropriated or disposed of by his Majesty's Ancestors. In this situation hath it remained from the time of this last Charter; and in this Manner hath Virginia been constantly laid down ever since, in all the English maps, as well [as] those published by publick Authority as others, to wit, Bounded on the North by Maryland & Pennsilvania; on the East by the Atlantic Ocean; on the South by Carolina; and on the West by the great South Sea, or by the Western Limits of the British Dominions, which were never clearly ascertained until the last Treaty of Peace, in the Year 1763; fixed then by a Line drawn along the Middle of the River Mississippi. Several Acts of the British Crown & Government, as well as many Laws of this Colony (which received the Royal Assent are also Acts of the British Crown & Government) have from time to time corresponded with and confirm'd these Bounds of Virginia. It will be sufficient to mention a few Instances, as there are none which contradict them." [There followed some acts, some of which were for encouraging settlement on the Mississippi.]

p. 181: Mason's note: "These Quotations & Examples are sufficient to shew in what sense the Charter of King Charles the second, respecting the Bounds of this Colony, hath been always understood; and to demonstrate that the Country to the Westward of the Alleghany Mountains, on both sides the Ohio River, is part of Virginia. And consequently that no new Government or proprietary can legally be established there."

p. 182-183: Ed. Note: "This treatise covered two subjects of vital concern to GM-headrights and the territorial limits of Virginia. It was probably written for the perusal of certain members of the General Assembly in the hope that a Petition would be sent to the Crown based on GM's chief arguments. The timing of the document was determined partly by circumstances and also by a personal decision. In Apr. 1773 the Privy Council curtailed a colonial governor's power to grant lands. Despite this, and shortly after Ann Mason's death, GM began accumulating headright certificates. . . . To buttress the legality of these claims, it seemed necessary to prove the validity of such headrights and of Virginia's jurisdiction over lands in the Ohio watershed. Certainly the lands GM hoped to gain through these warrants would have to be patented in the western counties, not in the Northern Neck (Harrison, 120n). Renewed interest in western land speculation was evident. . . . While the Ohio Company's plans faltered, GM may have reasoned that headrights would give him some personal advantage in acquiring western tracts. . . . Much ofGM's treatise is borrowed from William Stith's History of the First Discovery and Settlement of Virginia, which was first printed in Williamsburg in 1747. . . . GM relied most heavily on Stith's appendices for the several Virginia Charters (1606, 1609, 1612, and 1621). . . ."

p. 183: Ed. Note: GM's footnote four concerned boundary problems between Maryland and Virginia that surveys of 1736 and 1746 presumably had settled. But in 1753, the sixth and last Lord Baltimore claimed that the Maryland border encompassed all territory between the north and south branches of the Potomac. In 1771 Maryland surveyors marked a line northward from the source of the south branch, but this proved to be an empty gesture, for the Fairfax Stone planted on the north branch in 1746 became the basis for the final boundary (Charles O. Paullin, Atlas of the Historical Geography of the United States, ed. John K. Wright [Washington and New York, 1932], 77-78, and plate 98).