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THE ENGLISH FEUDAL SYSTEM
In 1066. William the Conqueror defeated King Harold at the Battle of Hastings. The new King William abolished the laws of England (which had been made by King Edward the Confessor) and set up the feudal system of government. The commoners of England lost all their liberties, titles to their properties and lands to the conquering King, who redistributed them among his faithful followers, as gifts which were called fiefs, a fief being the same as a feud, which is described as an estate in land held of a superior on condition of rendering him services. This holding of lands under another term was called a tenure, and was not limited to the relation of the first or paramount lord. Those who held directly of the king were called his "tenants in chief" In this manner, the lands which had been granted out to what was called Earls and Barons. These Earls and Barons were allowed by the King to use the lands and any buildings, livestock and farm implements thereon, and the people became serfs, or slaves, with no rights, save those granted to them by their new master, who rented the properties from their masters, and til le d the land for them, keeping the produce for themselves. For this privilege they had to pay heavy tithes or taxes to their master.
The title held by such tenant-owners over their land was described as a fee simple absolute. "Free simple, Fee commeth of the French fief, i.e., paraedium beneficiarium, and legally signifieth inheritance. And simple is added, for that it is descendible to his heirs generally, that is, simply, without restraint to the heirs of his body, or the like. In modern English tenures, the term fee signifies and inheritable estate, being the highest and most extensive interest the common man or noble, other than the king, could have in the feudal system. Thus, the term fee simple absolute in common law England denotes the most and best title a person could have as long as the king allowed him to retain possession of (own) the land. The flip side is "Allodium" which means or is defined as a man's own land, which he possesses merely in his own right, without owing any rent or service to any superior.
Some serfs were able to earn their freedom (through good and long servitude or by some deed of bravery) which was granted to them by their master, be he either Earl or Baron, or it could be granted by the King. The former serf would now be called a freeman and have all his rights of ownership of property etc., granted to him.
The King had absolute supreme power in the feudal system of government, the Barons and Earls had to answer to the King, the freemen were under these, and had all their rights only by decree of the Baron, Earl, or the King. Below all these were the common serfs, with no rights whatsoever, and totally at the call of, and subject
to the whims and wishes of the Barons and all those above.
The order of hierarchy was simple:
THE KING
(Absolute Ruler and Owner of a l l ) BARONS AND EARLS FREEMEN
SERFS
There were many problems with this system. The King ruled over the whole country-lands, Barons, Earls, freemen and serfs. Nobody was safe from his displeasure. When you were in favor, all was well, when not. look out. If a Baron fell from grace, or was suspected of doing anything contrary to the King's wishes, he could find he no longer had any lands, serfs, army or income, or, worse still, if his conduct could be considered treasonable, then the King would order his execution, death by beheading. In either case, his subjects would suddenly find themselves with a new master, usually with worse consequences.
If a freeman incurred the displeasure of his Baron, he would be demoted to serf, and have all his privileges removed, along with anything he may have owned at the time.
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If a serf displeased his master, he would be thrown in the master's dungeons, not the best place to be for even a short time, there to l i t e r a l l y rot until the master decided to let him out ( i f ever).
Taxation
Barons, Earls, freemen and serfs had to pay taxes to the King. In addition, the serfs also had to pay taxes to their master.
The King needed money to pay his own soldiers, and to run his own and the country's affairs. To obtain this, he levied taxes on his most immediate subjects, his Barons and Earls. This was not apportioned according to the amount of land of number of serfs each baron had. but only by the number of Barons and Earls in the King's court. If the King wanted twenty thousand pounds, and there were twenty Earls and barons, then each one would be taxed on a thousand pounds. This was very unfair for the Barons who did not have much in the way of lands and subjects, and good for the ones who had a lot of both. A Baron with five hundred subjects would find he had to obtain two pounds from each of his people. A Baron with twenty thousand subjects would only have to collect one s h i l l i n g from each of his people.
The Barons and Earls also levied their own taxes on their people to pay for their own estates and armies. They would have to collect these taxes from somewhere, the only place being their own subjects.
The end result was that the serfs paid two taxes, one to the King, and one to their masters. View them as federal and state taxes. The taxes they paid to their masters (state taxes) were collected twice a year, in the Spring, after the sheep season, and in the Fall, after harvest, and they were collected, usually, in the form of wool or grain (meal). If they had a good master, these would be the only times of the year they had to be paid, as the master would have anticipated any taxes the king was going to want (federal taxes) and collected them at these times.
The King's taxes were collected in either case by the Barons. Barons, freemen and serfs paid this (federal) tax. The Baron's taxes (State) were only paid by the serfs.
The penalty for not having enough to pay the master's tax was a long stretch in his dungeon. Definitely not recommended.
The penalty for not paying the King's taxes was (as it was viewed as treason against the King, country and state) death, either by hanging, or by being beheaded.
Amongst the commoners, freemen had it slightly better than the serfs, for they only had to pay the Kings tax;
but the serfs ended up being taxed so much that they rarely were left with much more than enough to live.
The taxes were collected from the serfs and freemen by the Baron's troops, who often decided for themselves for how much a particular individual was liable, and they were usually instructed to use any force necessary to get it from the poor, luckless serfs. Most of the Barons did not care how the money was obtained, just so long as the soldiers brought it to him.
This system of government prevailed until a time during the reign of King Richard the Lionheart (Richard I) at the turn of the twelfth century.
Feudal Rebellion
King Richard traveled to the holy land to fight the war of the crusades, leaving England under the rule of his brother, Prince John. This was a bleak time for England. Prince John was not a good ruler, preferring to strip the wealth from the land by way of taxation, imposing impossibly heavy tax burdens on his subjects. This led England to the verge of c i v i l war; the only thing which stopped a full scale war was the Barons and Earls, who respected King Richard's wishes and prevented it.
In about the year 1190, news came from Europe that King Richard (on his return from the crusades) had been captured by an old enemy and was being held captive in a castle somewhere in Austria. Rumors had it that he had even been killed.
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This was Prince John's chance. The (by now) power crazy Prince John announced to his court that because of Richard's irresponsibility, and the fact that everyone knew Richard obviously did not want the crown of England, and, even if he was still alive, was not coming back, he (Prince John) would take over the crown of England, becoming King John, and he called for the help of his Barons and Earls to enable him to do it.
Prince John only had the support of about half the Baronys in this audacious endeavor, and the Barons who still supported King Richard saw this as a great opportunity to make some changes in the English feudal laws, creating better conditions of life for themselves and their subjects. They told Prince John that they would support him if he signed a document which would change some of these archaic laws and give England a new basic, fundamental legal system laying out every man's basic rights and freedoms. Prince John desperately needed this support, and, realizing that he would need their support even more after he become King, he agreed. The Barons and Earls drew up the "Great Charter", England's supreme law, or Constitution.
Unfortunately for John, King Richard returned and England settled down from its c i v i l war mood, but Prince
John only had to wait until King Richard died and in 1199, when this happened, he was crowned King John.
England's' standard of l i v i n g and social structure and order gradually declined throughout the next few years until a state of virtual c i v i l war broke out in Easter of the year 1214. King Johns' oppressive army of bureaucrats (from the local sheriffs up) was worrying the earls and barons to a state of near revolt.
The Barons and Earls were fearful of England's condition and future under King Prince John's rule, and they realized that the only way they could improve their standard of living was by pledging their allegiance to King John only if he signed the charter. King John desperately needed their support, his claim to the throne was at best weak and England was not responding to his despotic style of rule. He had two choices.
(1) Sign the Charter, or
(2) The Barons and Earls would almost certainly assassinate him.
On July 15th, 1215. with the Barons and Earls at his side, on a meadow between Staines an Windsor, on the South East side of the River Thames, near London in a small village called Runnymede. King John signed this Great Charter, now known as The Magna Carta, giving England its first supreme law and Constitution since
1066 and William the Conqueror.
The Magna Carta-"The English Constitution"
The Magna Carta contained sixty three clauses, the first of which guaranteed the freedom of the English church, the rest abolished some of the old feudal laws, and made other new ones, such as establishing a freeman's right to trial by a jury of his peers, new laws limiting the power of the King, stating the type of government which would be running the country, and specifically stating the way the new government would be made up, how its members were to be elected to office, and stating its powers. It stated the right of a freeman to own property, and how that property could not be taken from h i m without due process of law, etc. However, this Charter did not completely free England from the feudal system remained basically the same. England now had a new, more constitutional form of government. It made the lot of the commoner much better, but the system remained basically the same. England now had a new, more constitutional form of government, the King was restrained, some of his powers were taken away from him, but there were still serfs, freemen, Earls, Barons and the King. The unwritten Common law remained the same. Everybody was still subject to the same two taxes, the King's (Federal), and the Barons' and Earls' (State), but the oppressive form of collection was gone forever.
The order of things had changed slightly, now it looked like this : GOD
THE KING (BARONS) (GOVERNMENT) FREEMEN
SERFS
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This system helped England to grow and prosper, but shortly after the signing of the Magna Carta, a new and nasty form of oppression emerged from a totally unexpected source. The church now had a new found freedom, and it started to abuse its power.
The first clause of the Magna Carta stated:
"first of all have granted to God, and, for us and for our heirs forever, have confirmed, by this our present charter, that the English church shall be free and shall have its rights intact and its liberties unfeigned upon. And thus we will that it be observed. As it is apparent from the fact that we, spontaneously, and of our own free will, before discord broke out between ourselves and our barons, did grant, and by our charter confirm and did cause Lord Pope innocent I I I , to confirm freedom of elections, which is considered most important and most necessary to the church of England. Which charter both we ourselves shall observe, and we will that it be observed with good faith by our heirs forever. We have also granted to all freemen of our realm, on the part of ourselves and our heirs forever, all the subjoined liberties, to have and to hold, to them and to their heirs, from us and from our heirs."
And the last clause, (clause 63) stated:
"Wherefore we will and firmly decree that the English church shall be free, and that the subjects of our realm shall have and hold all the aforesaid liberties, rights and concessions, duly and in peace, freely and quietly, fully and entirely, for themselves and their heirs, from us and our heirs, in all matters and in all places, forever. as has been said. Moreover, it has been sworn, on our part as well as on the part of the barons, that all these above mentioned provisions shall be observed with good faith and without evil intent. The witnesses being the above mentioned and many others. Given through our hand, in the plain called Runnimede. between Windsor and Staines, on the Fifteenth day of June, in the seventeenth year of our reign."
Both of these clauses guaranteed the freedom of the Church of England, which was, of course not the Church of England of today, but the Roman Catholic church. The church stated to grow and to gain influence, and England (and eventually the rest of Europe) learned a new form of oppression.
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MONEY AND BANKING
Question.
What is "Money" and what is "Banking"? The popular answer is twofold:
(a) Money is a universally accepted medium of exchange which greatly facilitates commercial and private business transactions and;
(b) Banking is a system whereby the people who own the money allow others (allegedly more qualified)
to store it in safe keeping (hence the "safe") and manage it for them.
The real answer is much more simple and far less corrupted. Both Money and Banking developed from ancient
Greek times.
Money
A farmer would take his pig to market, and try to find someone who was interested in bartering something in exchange for his pig. If he found this individual, he would negotiate and argue, eventually to exchange his pig for, say ten chickens. He then had to repeat the process maybe four or five or even twenty times, exchange the chickens for a set of dinner plates, exchange the plates for a carpet, etc., until, if he was lucky, he would end up going home with what he originally set out to get.
This was very risky. In a busy marketplace, the pig or chickens could run off, the plates could be broken, the carpet could get soiled, and so on. He might not even end the day with what he wanted and have to take the unwanted item back home to start the process all over again next market day and, chances were, whatever he took home might spoil before next week. People developed the idea of creating some medium of exchange which would be universally accepted by all. and would cut the four, five, or even twenty transactions down to two simple transactions, exchange his pig for "money", then exchange this "money" for what it was he wanted. In this type of transaction he would eliminate the waste of time, a lot of wasted effort, and great deal of risk. The medium of exchange which developed came to be known as "Money".
Money, throughout the millennia, has taken many forms, from stones of varying kinds, to metals of varying types and colors, to grains, olive oil. tobacco leaves and wood.
The test of time produced the result that pieces of gold and silver were the most universally adopted and accepted form of money.
Banking
Enterprising individuals in the market place realized that they could make some money for themselves, literally. They built large buildings and bought the farmers produce from him directly, storing the produce in the warehouse and paying the farmer in whatever was the currency of the day. Some of them even stamped small disks with their own face or profile, so that the "coin" had a standard intrinsic value, because the "coin" was made of gold or silver of a particular weight and purity. The warehouse owners would then turn around and sell the commodity for a higher price than they had paid for it and in so doing make a profit.
This was simple warehousing, and from this grew the practice of "Warehouse Banking".
Warehouse Banking
The enterprising warehouse owner gradually changed his practice. Instead of directly paying the farmer for his product in exchange for the commodity being placed on deposit in the "Bank", (hard time, don't you know, scarcity of money in circulation!), the owner of the "Bank" would hoard his available cash (keeping it out of circulation) and would instead give the farmer a "Certificate of Deposit".
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In time, the certificates themselves were being traded as readily, if not more so, than the gold or silver "coins", given the fact that the paper Certificates of Deposit were easier to carry and conceal. Of course, anyone (the bearer, or eventual owner could take the certificate back to the issuer, and claim the bag of grain, or what ever the commodity was.
Inflation
If a "Bank" has $100,000.00 worth of grain on deposit, then perforce, there must be $100,00.00 in Certificates of Deposit for that particular "Bank" in general circulation. Periodically, those certificates will be presented back to the "Bank" to be redeemed in grain, whatever is the denomination and amount. When presented and redeemed, the original certificate would be destroyed, or kept in reserve until someone else deposited an equal amount of grain again in the "Bank". Those certificates which were worn out could be presented to the "Bank" by its current holder, and a new certificate would be issued and the old one destroyed.
This form of Certificate banking, namely a paper currency backed by a value commodity, is solid, it is trustworthy, and works very well, after all it is much easier to transport $10,000 worth of grain certificates than it is to transport the grain.
But what if the "banker" is less than honest and prints more certificates of deposit than there is grain in the
"Bank", and then takes the certificates and "spends them into circulation" for himself (or others).
The effects of this move are not easily or readily apparent, but it a l l ends when the holders of the certificates present the "certificates" back to the "bank" for redemption, only to find that, in all. the "bankers" printed
$200,000.00 worth of certificates, but only have $100,000.00 worth of grain on hand. The obvious result of this, after an equitable distribution, is that everybody only gets half of the grain which was originally placed on deposit, i.e., the certificate (money) is now worth only half its original value, or it only has half of its original buying power, or, it now takes twice as much money (Certificates of Deposit) to buy the same amount of goods.
This has been recognized for years, and is known as "inflation".
The main issue brought up by the spectra of inflation is one of faith. Everybody had faith in the "Banking" system, believing that the bankers were totally honest right up to the point where it was discovered that there was a lot less grain on deposit than there were "certificates of deposit" in circulation. Then the whole system collapsed, even though the bankers had been printing the fraudulent excess certificates for years. The general public had "full faith" in the honesty of the bankers.
Also, what if the grain spoils? Then obviously, a l l the certificates will be entirely worthless. In order to protect against the spoiling of the commodity, pick a commodity which will not spoil or lose its value. The best "commodity" for the "banker" to be holding, would be gold or silver.
The Banking system based on the use of certificates of deposit backed up by real (gold or silver) coin money was perfected in the thirteenth century by the Knights Templar.
Money held on deposit in one city could be claimed (by a merchant, for example) in another city, and done simply by means of the presentation of a certificate of deposit containing a type of code known only to the Knights Templar. The merchant placed money on deposit with the Templars in his home town, who, in exchange issued him a coded certificate which simply stated that he had on deposit in that town the sum of whatever the amount was. he then traveled to another town, and upon his arrival surrendered the certificate to the Templars in that town in exchange for gold, used the gold to buy merchandise, placed the excess gold back on deposit with the Templars, again in exchange for another certificate of lesser value, then traveled back with his goods, and sold them at a profit in his home town, and placed both the profits and his certificate for the excess purchase money back on deposit with the Templars. All the while his money (and most of the subsequent profits) was in the hands of the Knights Templar, and he traveled without threat or fear of robbery of his money, the most he could possibly lose to bandits and robbers would be his goods, which the robbers were less likely to take, assuming, of course, that the robbers did not kill him out of frustration, and in that event, the Templars could deal with his heirs and successors.
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through this system, in a relatively short time, the Knights Templar amassed huge sums of money which they subsequently lent out to people principally to the Monarchs of the day), again using the certificate of deposit system, financing whatever took their fancy, and charging "moderate" interest rates on that money.
Governments and Self-Financing
The Knights Templar knew and understood this system of lending currency to Kings and governments, but contrary to most popular opinion, governments sometimes do learn, if only a little, and even then very slowly.
Any government, being insular and separate from every other government, and, in some cases even geographically separated, has the ability to issue its own currency. To do so would cut out the ability of the "Bankers" (such as The Knights Templar) to charge interest. This type of currency issue is excellent, and has a proven history in its ability to aid in the development of emerging countries, especially in the absence of natural resources such as Gold or Silver, or when the fledgling country has not had the time to develop those particular resources and get into the business of minting its own coinage; such as was the case with the United States prior to its Declaration of Independence. More particularly, when no interest is charged, the currency is free of debt.
Debt-Free (or Non-Debit) Currency
Several times throughout history, various governments (when not under the influence of bankers) have attempted to issue their own unique paper currency directly from their own treasury, and not borrow the money from another source (either another Country or an International Banker). This form of home-printed currency is known as "Debt Free Currency", as it is (a) not money which is owned (Causing an indebtedness) to a second party, and ( b ) the government (treasury) does not charge interest on it. When this type of paper currency is circulated purely within the boundaries of the country of issue (as has been proven many times in history), it will promote growth, expansion, and the production of wealth (real wealth, not "money").
In terms, however, of the interests other than those domestic, it has two drawbacks, ((a)) other countries (initially) do not like it,. and will not accept it as a medium of exchange, and (b) because it has been printed by the home government, the other international bankers have been cut out of the circle where they can charge interest on the money which they simply printed into circulation.
Examples of Debt-Free Currency
To digress for a moment, consider two currencies which follow this theory of currency issue successfully in the 1990's, the first being from an island which is a geographically part of the British Isles, although not politically, and the other, a country which gained its independence from England in 1974 after being one of its colonies since the early 1600's.
The Isle of Man, in the British Isles (the United Kingdom), while enjoying the benefits of proximity to England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales and the "new" European Economic Community, also enjoys the distinction of being a completely autonomous state within those islands, having its own government (the oldest in the world, having been "in office" continuously since 979), aside and separate from England and the E.E.C., and. correspondingly, its own laws ( i t s till retains the capabilities of sentencing wrongdoers to capital and corporal punishments, in addition to having its own tax laws) and, most importantly, its own currency. The Manx Currency is the "pound note" and carries the statement "The Isle of Man government promise to pay the bearer on demand at any office of the Isle of Man Bank Limited" followed by the amount and denomination of the particular note. Also, the currency is printed by a private company; Bradbury, Wilkinson and Company Limited, of New Maiden, Surrey, England. Given that this Printing Company is English, it would seem that they would wish to be paid for their printing services in English Pounds. This is accomplished by the fact that any British currency is accepted in trade on the Isle of Man. including English, Scottish and even Irish (Southern Irish (Eire)) Pounds (the Welsh have no currency of their own), and the "foreign" (to the Isle of Man) currency gained is kept on hand by the Isle of Man Bank for use in making payments to people in England and elsewhere as the need arises. This system works. The Isle of Man government operates on a fiscal surplus every year. No debts, to anyone, and the system works perfectly in the absence of the natural
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resources of gold and silver, of which the island has none, and it makes no difference whether any of the other paper currencies accepted by it are backed with gold or silver or not. Free Trade.
The Bahamas Monetary Authority, established under the British Colonial government in l968 took this type of statement one step further, when on a l l the denominations of their currency was the statement "These notes are legal tender under the Bahamas Money Authority Act 1968 for the payment of any amount". In 1974 the Country was granted its independence and the new government immediately formed a Central Bank which took almost ten years to design and print a new currency, upon which was the statement "These notes are legal tender under the Central Bank of the Bahamas Act 1974 for the payment of any amount".
Notice: each singular "note" carries the plural statement "these notes", and "they" are for the payment of "any amount", relying on the actual face denomination of the note for the "value" carried. Plus the "note" is printed by a private corporation: Thomas De La Rue and Company Limited.
The American Colonies
Prior to the Declaration of Independence and the writing of the Constitution of the United States, Benjamin Franklin (who currently adorns the $100. Federal Reserve Note) was asked, while in London England "How do you account for the prosperity of the American Colonies". His reply was "That is simple. It is because we issue or own money. It is called Colonial Script and we issue it in the proper proportion to accommodate trade and commerce".
The reply of the British to this statement was that in the 1760's the Bank of England introduced into the British Parliament a Bill which forbade the Colonies to issue their own script, and was intended to force them to issue bonds and sell them to the Bank of England (only). Of course, the bank would loan them the money in the first place, and charge them interest on the money loaned. The design was to cause the bankers to print the money for the Colonies and therefore have the Colonies financed by Debtor instruments.
According to Franklin, this one Act. once it was passed and implemented, was probably the primary cause of the American War of Independence.
The American War of Independence
As always, wars are costly to the governments of the countries involved, and the War of Independence cost the government of the United States dearly. In 1775, and in answer to the need for money, the Continental Congress passed an Act to finance the war with the issue, direct from the Treasury, of debt free paper currency. The currency itself was called "The Continental", and, as expected, it enraged the International bankers because they could neither control its issue nor could they charge interest on it. Some of the individual States even went so far as to pass laws requiring their citizens to accept the new "Continental" as legal tender.
By 1776 Congress had printed $24.6 million in "Continentals" with the result that by the end of the War of Independence the faith in the currency (thanks in part to the propaganda war against it instigated by the international bankers) had degenerated to the point where the "Continentals" were being exchanged at the rate of 500 to the silver dollar. This was due also in part to the fact that as yet, the states were still "independent" of each other, and the currency was "floated" between the states, and the states s t i l l relied a great deal on commerce with Europe, who did not recognize the currency. This again proved the "law" of economics, that when you print paper currency in large amounts when it is not backed by gold or silver (and especially when you try to trade internationally with that currency) inflation results.
When the United States of America had gained its independence from "British Rule", Congress realized that in order to be internationally recognized, gold and silver coin had to be the only proper form for the currency of a nation to take, this realization is reflected in the United States Constitution, where, in Article 1, Section * the statement is made that:
"Congress shall have the power ................ To coin Money, regulate the Value thereof....
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and fix the Standard of Weights and Measures;"
Therefore, according to the Constitution of The United States of America. Congress only has the power to
COIN money, not PRINT it!
The inflation relative to the "Continental" caused the International bankers to renew their efforts to create a central bank of issue in the United States, which was private in nature, and had the power to issue money simply by printing it, and then loaning it (with interest) to the U.S....this time enlisting the help of Alexander Hamilton, who was not unenergetic in his efforts in lobbying Congress. This lobbying effort was eventually successful, when, in 1791, with Alexander Hamilton as Secretary of the Treasury, Congress granted a charter for twenty years to the "First Bank of the United States"
In 1816. five years after the lapse of the charter of the First Bank of the United States, and after the entire debt to the bank had been paid off by the United States. The "Second Bank of the United States" was chartered, also with a twenty year charter. It too loaned money ( i t had simply printed) to the government. S60 b i l l i o n of it, and this time it took the government until 1836 to pay off all of the principal (including the debt incurred by the War of 1812) and interest.
The next development of real help to the international bankers, promoters of debt loaded monetary instruments, came in 1819, when Supreme Court Justice John Marshall, in the case of McCulloch vs., Maryland, declared that Congress had the "IMPLIED" power to create the Bank of the United States.
President Andrew Jackson had been President since 1828, and was due for re-election in 1832. Before Jackson's first term the Second Bank of the United States greatly varied the amounts of money brought into circulation, causing first, a booming economy, then a crippling recession. This pattern was repeated several times, and each time, when the recession was caused (by the bank), thousands of men were thrown out of work, and properties were snatched up for fractions of their true prices, only to be turned around shortly thereafter during the next boom time and re-sold by the foreclosing banks. The banks were making a fortune, and the American citizen was suffering. Jackson was seeking re-election; he was a great proponent of the creation of money only when it was backed by Gold and Silver (Specie) and he was clearly not in favor of the concept of a Central Bank.
The American People agreed with Jackson, elected him for a new term, and his first move was to call for the removal of government funds from the Second Bank of America. The people in control of the Second Bank of America tried in two ways to get rid of Jackson, firstly, he had the distinction of being the first President upon whom an assassination attempt was made (happily unsuccessful) by virtue of the fact that he had tried to foil the bankers (Abraham Lincoln, William McKinley and John F. Kennedy were the others), and secondly, through the political process when they (the International Bankers) lobbied the Senate to censure Jackson, and succeeded in getting the house to pass a b ill to that effect in March, 1834, but it reversed this move in 1837.
By 1836, at the end of Jackson's second term, he had caused the national debt to be paid off, (and no President since Jackson can make the claim to have paid off the National Debt), and the charter for the Second Bank of the United States had expired. The United States was once again without a Central Bank, and once again only the Constitutional currency of gold and silver was in general circulation, with the notable difference only where a few private banks kept such gold and silver on deposit and issued in its stead lawful certificates of deposit. The next centrally issued currency of the United States of America was to be created during the Civil War and. thanks to certain influences and the debilitating experiences with the "International Bankers" up to this time, it was to be issued directly off the Treasury of the United States and was debt-free.
Private Banks
Of course, in a large metropolis such as New York or Washington, D.C., there were many banks and financial depository institutions: in other industrial cities such as Chicago I l l i n o i s , Cincinnati Ohio, Louisville, Kentucky, and Richmond, Virginia, a l l of which were relatively primitive and undeveloped compared to New York and Washington there were, of course, relatively fewer, but all have one common characteristic; they were all privately owned and operated.
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Private banking in pre-civil war times was radically different than we see today. The banks were private in the truest sense of the word, with little or no government (Federal or State) regulations pertaining to them or their operation.
With the advent of the railroads in 1828, and the implementation of the "Depository Institutions" which the railroads were required to keep, the system of banking in the U.S. became, at least in the sense of ownership, more centralized.
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THE VIRGINIA COMPANY
The charter to the Virginia Company granted by King James provided for the incorporation of two companies: the London Company and the Plymouth Company. It was the London Company that established the first permanent English colony in America; the expedition of one hundred and twenty settlers who left England in December, 1606, made their first landfall at Cape Henry, April 29, 1607, and planted a colony at Jamestown May 14.
As is always the case, the passage of time and the development of the technology of the times gradually brought the prospect of travel to the New world closer to the average man of the street.
In anticipation of the flood of people to the New World which was, in a time not too far off, inevitable, and order in to take advantage of the possibilities for trade and commerce which would then be afforded, in 1604, a group of prominent statesmen, businessmen, merchants, financiers and manufacturers assembled in Greenwich, in the County of Kent, England, to create and form a Corporation. Joint Stock Company and Body P o l i t i c which was to be known as and called "The Virginia Company."
Given that the New World was an extension of the British Empire Across the sea, and the colonies formed therein were operating under the auspices of the Virginia company, the criminal courts in the new colonies were therefore and thereby to operate under Admiralty Law (the law of the sea). The Civil Courts (those of Chancery and Equity) were to operate under Common Law (the law of the land).
The Criminal Courts of the United States still operate today under Admiralty Law.
As are all corporations and business organizations, the Virginia Company was formed for several purposes, the primary one of which was to make a profit. Other secondary purposes were to afford various and sundry people from royalty to commoner the opportunity to invest in the shares of the corporation in the hope of making a profit (by dividend or capital gain, or simply the enjoyment of the fruits of their labours), and the opportunity and vehicle for the raising of venture capital to support various adventure oriented enterprises of exploration and settlement.
The Virginia Company, given that its primary stockholder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) was none other than The King (James I), King of England, Scotland, France, and Ireland on the date of April 10, 1606, had at its disposal all kinds and types of legal, commercial and other experts and consultants who were ready and willing to offer their services in the service of the company (and therefore the Crown).
The original charter of the Virginia Company was written and completed by April 10, 1606, as has already been stated, but later, to afford change to meet the varying environmental circumstances, two subsequent Charters were developed and adopted, and in addition several sets of Royal orders, ordinances and constitutions were also interspersed. The main points and topics covered by these three Charters and the various royal orders, ordinances and constitutions are as follows:
The First Charter of the Virginia Company
Colonial Position and Size
The First charter gave the King's permission and license to the several petitioners for them to create several plantations in two colonics which were to be formed on the main land of the east coast of the American continent from the latitude of thirty four (34) degrees north of the equator (at. approximately, Carolina Beach, south of Wilmington. North Carolina) to forty five (45) degrees north of the equator (about where the present Canadian / U.S. Border is in the State of Vermont);
"In that part of America commonly called Virginia, and into other parts or territories in America either appertaining to us or which are not now actually possessed by any Christian Prince or People"
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and the same colony was to include any islands offshore of the mainland within one hundred (100) miles of the shoreline, and between the same above mentioned latitudes.
There were initially to be formed two colonies. Colony number one ( 1 ) was to be composed of several and diverse "knights, gentlemen, merchants and other adventurers of our city of London, and elsewhere, and was to be situated in that same area between thirty four (34) degrees north of the equator to forty one (41) degrees north of the equator, and for a distance north and south along the coast of the original point of settlement of fifty (50) miles, and a distance inland from the coast of one hundred (100) miles, the second colony was to be made up of "sundry knights, gentlemen, merchants and other adventurers of our cities of Bristol and Exeter, and of our town of Plymouth, and of other places which do join themselves unto that colony" and was to be situated in that same area between thirty eight (38) degrees north of the equator to forty five (45) degrees north of the equator, and for a distance north and south along the coast of the original point of settlement of fifty (50) miles, and a distance inland from the coast of one hundred (100) miles.
Each of the two original colonies thereby settled could be placed anywhere on the American coastline within the given parameters, and would, when mapped and laid out, form two squares each of 10.000 square miles, and each with four sides, each side being 100 miles long, and there was to be at least one hundred (100) miles between the two colonies.
Colonial Councils
There were to be formed three (3) Councils, one each in the relative Colonies, and One overseeing Council formed in England.
The two Colonial Councils, one in each colony, were to be composed of thirteen members appointed to the councils by the overseeing council in England, and both these councils were to answer to the overseeing Council in England. The overseeing Council was to be composed of thirteen members, each member to be appointed by the King himself (or h i s heirs and successor).
Natural Resources
The Colonists were to "have a l l the lands, soils, grounds, havens, ports, rivers, mines, minerals, woods, marshes, waters, fishings, commodities and hereditaments whatsoever", but, such riches were to be "had" at an expense. This expense was to form part of a contract which was to be binding upon anyone who was one of the original formers of the Virginia Company, or any of their heirs or successors or assignees, or anyone, their successors and assignees who later "joined" the Virginia Company or any or either of the two or any future colonies and was explained in two paragraphs;
"And moreover we do grant and agree for us. our heirs and successors, that the said several councils of and for the said several Colonies shall and lawfully may by virtue hereof, from time to time, without interruption of us, our heirs or successors, give and take order to dig, mine and search for all manner of mines of gold, silver and copper, as well within any part of their said several Colonies as of the said many lands on the backside of the same Colonies; and to have and enjoy the gold, silver and copper to be gotten there of to the use and behoove of the same Colonies and the plantations thereof; yielding therefore yearly to us, our heirs and successors, the fifty partfs per hundred] only of all the same gold and silver and the fifteen part[s per hundred] of all the same copper so to be gotten or had, as is aforesaid, and without any other manner of profit or account to be given or yielded to us, our heirs or successors, for or in respect of the same.
And that they shall or lawfully may establish and cause to be made a coin, to pass current there between the people of those several Colonies for the more ease of traffic and bargaining between and among them and the natives there, of such metal and in such manner and form as the same several Councils there shall limit and appoint."
To belabor the point and for clarity of understanding for the reader who does not quite grasp the significance of these two paragraphs and for the clarification of some of the statements made in some of the future chapters of this book, please note that fifty per cent (50%) of all gold and silver and fifteen per cent (15%) of all copper which was to thereafter be extracted from the ground belonged, under the terms of this Virginia Company
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covenant, to the English Crown and was to be transported back to England on an Annual basis. This covenant is still in force today for a l l honorable men and descendants of the original colonial founders and the descendants of all those who later were to "join" the Virginia Company.
Import:-Duties, Imposts and Excises
The Colonists were empowered to seize any ship, vessel, merchant, or trader who was found to be trading goods and commodities with the Colony or members of the Colony and. if the trader was not a member of that particular colony, to charge that trader a Duty, impost, or excise which was to be paid the Treasurer of the Colony. If the trader was so subject to payment of the duty was a subject of the British Crown, then the amount of the duty to be paid by the trader was to be two and a half percent (2 1/2%) on the value of anything traded; if he was not a subject of the British Crown, then the amount of the duty to be paid was to be five percent (5%).
These Duties, imposts and excises, for a period of twenty one ( 2 1 ) years from the date of the formation of the Virginia Company, were to be used by the Colony which collected them for the sole and exclusive use of the Colony, and thereafter the money from such duties was to be paid directly to the Agent of the Crown who was appointed by the Crown specifically for the purpose of acting as the Crown's Treasurer in that Colony.
Exports
No Colonist could transport any goods, chattels, commodities or such out of the colony for sale or trade with any other foreign person or entity or country without the express and prior permission of the Crown of England, and to do so would cause the total forfeiture of a l l that exporters assets and the ship or vessel or vehicle which transported him and his wares.
Land, Tenements and Hereditaments
Of course, the colonists would need to cultivate the land and grow the food necessary for their survival, so to that end the statement of;
"And finally we do. for us, our heirs and successors, grant and agree...that we, our heirs and successors..shall by letters patents bearing the great seal of England grant unto such persons (the Council), their heirs and assignees..all the lands, tenements and hereditaments which shall be within the precincts limited for that colony 10,000 square miles in a square with each side being 100 miles long, as is aforesaid, to be holden of us, our heirs and successors, as of our manor of East Greenwich in the County of Kent, in "free soccage" only and not in "capite" was entered into the first charter.
The statement "to be holden of us...in free soccage only and not in "capite" meant that the colonists were granted the land under a Deed of Trust and they could not claim ownership of the land, ownership was retained by the Crown. They could use the land for themselves, and pass the perpetual use of their particular piece of land on to their heirs and successors (by blood, marriage or adoption) and assignees. They could sell the perpetual use of a part (or all) of their piece of land to someone else, but the original ownership of the land was claimed and retained by the Crown.
The Royal Orders of November 20, 1606
The first paragraph of this letter appoints the King's Council (of Virginia) in England and gives them (the
Council) a general description of their duties towards the two separate councils and colonies in Virginia.
They were to nominate and appoint the members of the Councils of the two first settled colonies and to cause each of the two Councils to nominate and appoint one of their own members "not being a a minister of God's word" to be the President of his respective Council, with the position to be held for one year maximum, and to have another President, but not the same person as formerly held the position, thereafter re-elected by the same Council. These same two colonial councils were to be subservient to the "full authority" of the Kings's council in England.
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The King, through his English Council, not only requested, but required that the members of the colonies "with all diligence, care and respect do provide that the true word of God and Christian faith be preached, planted and used, not only within every of the several said colonies and plantations but also as much as they may amongst the savage people which do or shall adjoin us to them or border upon them, according to the doctrine, rights and religion now professed and established within our realm of England".
Laws, criminal and civil
Criminal
All criminal offences or offences against the State or the King, were tried, as has been said before, under
Admiralty Law.
Those offences of tumults, rebellions, conspiracies, mutiny and sedition which "may be dangerous to the estate there" (the degree of "dangerousness" being decided by the local Council of authority), and murder, manslaughter, rape, incest and adultery were all punishable by death, and, except on the case of manslaughter, the convict was not to be allowed "the benefit of the clergy".
All cases were to be tried by the Council of authority before a jury of twelve honest and indifferent persons who were to either convict or acquit the accused. Should the accused confess to the crime, or remain mute in answer to his accusers, then he would be convicted as if the jury had deliberated and convicted him.
The Colonial Councils also had the sole power of sentencing the convicted to death, but the ability of granting pardon to the convict was reserved solely by the King.
Where a criminal was suspected of having committed an offence outside the boundaries of the colony could be brought back to the colony for trial.
Should any member of the colonies be kidnapped and removed from any of the colonies by an outsider, then the kidnapper, should he or they be caught, were to be imprisoned "until he (or they) shall fully and thoroughly reform himself. Should this miraculous reformation not take place, then the malcontent(s) were to be speedily exported to England where he or they would (presumably) be suitably punished at the King's pleasure.
Civil
Any civil complaints registered by the members of either colony were to be taken care of by the respective Colonial Councils "as near to the Common Laws of England and the equity thereof as may be", and the local Council "shall have power and authority...to hear and determine all and every other wrongs, trespass, offences and misdemeanors whatsoever...upon accusation of any person and proof thereof made by sufficient witness upon oath: and the Councils were granted the authority to punish the offenders "by reasonable corporal punishment and imprisonment or else by a convenient fine, awarding damages, or other satisfaction to the party aggrieved", the Council determining the amount and severity of the punishment "having regard to the quality of the offence or the state of the cause".
Any and all judgements and sentences, weather criminal or civil, were to be registered in a book created and maintained for that specific purpose.
Warehouses
For the first five years immediately after the initial settlement, the colonists were to bring all their produce and place it in a warehouse specifically constructed for the purpose. In addition to the local produce, everything thereafter brought to the Colonies from England was also to be placed in the warehouse.
Each year the Council was to elect a Warehouseman, named the "Treasurer" or "Cape Merchant" to take charge of and manage the commodities stored in his care. This person could be re-elected by the Council upon the expiration of his one year term of office. In addition, two book-keepers were to be appointed, each also for
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a term of one year, one to keep a register of all things being brought into the warehouse, and one to keep a similar book of all things being removed from it.
Everyone in the Colony was to be supplied from that one warehouse, and all in the warehouse was to be considered as belonging to the Colony.
To assist in trading to, from and by this one warehouse, everyone of the colonies, for the first five years, shall "trade together all in one stock". This meant that they were given Royal orders to adopt a form of "warehouse banking", where the individual would take his product to the warehouse, and place it on deposit there, receiving in return a receipt, which receipt could be readily traded for other goods or services. This was the original form of paper currency (see the chapter "Money and banking") and it greatly facilitated trade and growth in the formative years of colonial existence.
In order to better keep a check on the trading with the colonies, the first colonial council was required to choose one or more "companies", each of not less than three people who resided in, or close to London (England), and the second colonial council was to choose one or more similar companies, each of three or more people from the town of Plymouth, in the county of Devon (England).
The purpose of each of these Companies was to take charge of the trade and accounting of all goods which both went out to and were received from its respective colony, from whichever port or ports in England which was used for export or import, "and of all things concerning the managing of the affairs and profits of the adventurers of that (respective) Company".
Finally, nobody was to be allowed to be admitted as an immigrant into any of the colonies unless they swore an oath of allegiance to the King (or Crown), an oath to Parliament, which also had sworn allegiance to the King, and an oath to the effect that they would always trade in and through the port or ports which managed the trade with the colonies.
The Royal Ordinance and Constitution, March 9, 1607
The first section of this ordinance enlarged the Kings Councils for the two colonies, and that, because of the distance between the members of each of the councils, that twelve men met together where six at least were to be members of one colony and six at least were to be members of the other colony, were to be considered enough persons (a quorum) to vote on any particular issue, and they were given power to vote upon broader and more far reaching issues than ever before.
The Second Charter of the Virginia Company, May 23, 1609
Granted to a diverse number of persons, who were thereafter referred to as "The Treasurer and Company of Adventurers and Planters of the City of London for the First Colony in Virginia" all the land of Virginia from a point two hundred miles south of Point Comfort to a point two hundred miles north of Point Comfort and west and northwest from sea to sea, except for the land formerly granted to the second colony, and any other land at that time held by "any Christian Prince or peoples".
The King also appointed a new Kings Council for the Colonies, naming Sir Thomas Smith as the Treasurer of the Company. The Kings Council was to appoint a Governor, who, upon his arrival in the colony, was to inform all the colonists then resident, whether from the new or the older colonies, that he had the full authority of the King in all matters, and that thereafter a l l laws and constitutions formerly made by them were to be considered null and void, and any and all officers formerly appointed were thereafter formerly discharged and dismissed from office.
Thus, in 1609, the new "Treasurer and Company of Adventurers" absorbed the old colonies, consolidating all which had been created before into one Corporation and Body Politic, and extended the boundaries of the colony "from sea to sea" (Atlantic to Pacific).
A quorum of four of the Kings Council had the power to admit anyone to the Company, but a majority vote was required to expel anyone.
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The new colonists were given leave, for the space of seven years from the start of their colonization, to be allowed to export whatever they deemed necessary for the development of their new colony out from England and to trade generally "without yielding or paying subsidy, custom, imposition, or any other tax or duties".
The colony in Virginia, and the members of that colony were granted the same privileges for the space of twenty one years, except for the general custom of merchants, where five per cent (5%) of the commodity was payable in customs duties, but which could thereafter be exported within thirteen months free of any other duties, imposts or excises.
Anyone found attempting to smuggle goods into the colony who was not a member of the colony, but being from within the "realms" of England was to pay the same five percent in duties, and other person's not from the colony or British realms were to pay fifteen percent (15%). both amounts being paid to the Treasurer, and for the first twenty years to be used by the Treasurer for the benefit of the Colony, after that, the money was to go to the Crown of England. Any person born in the Colony was to be considered a native of that colony, but in addition was to have and enjoy a l l the privileges of being a member of the Kings Realm, and a Subject of the King, as if they had been abiding and born within this our kingdom of England or in any other of our dominion".
The Treasurer and Company and their successors, and the governors, officers and ministers appointed were granted full powers in the prosecution of c i v i l , criminal, and marine matters as and when deemed fit, and the governor, as emissary of the King and the Treasurer was granted full power and authority to declare, establish and maintain martial law at will.
As in the first Charter, fifty percent of all gold and silver was considered to belong to the Crown, and anyone exporting goods, chattels or money to foreign parts without a license forfeited everything he owned as well as caused the ship in which he was traveling to be seized.
Any prior Charter and letters patents, orders, ordinances, and constitutions, including all the rights, privileges, franchises etc., were by this Charter of May including a l l the rights, privileges, franchises etc., were by this Charter of May 23, 1609, declared to be revoked, altered, changed or abridged.
Any person by and after this Charter, by advancing any sum of money for investment in the "Company" (I.E. in Virginia) was thereby granted the Privilege of automatic admission into the Company, and shall be enrolled in the book or record of the Adventurers of the said Company, shall and may be accounted, accepted, taken, held and reputed Adventurers of the said Colony and shall and may enjoy all and singular the grants, privileges, liberties, benefits, profits, commodities [and immunities], advantages and emoluments what so ever as fully, largely, amply and absolutely as if they and every of them had been precisely, plainly, singularly and distinctly named and inserted in this our letters patents'.
Virginia Council-"Instructions, orders and Constitutions to
Sir Thomas Gates, King, Governor of Virginia," -May, 1609
Contained many and various instructions as to how to conduct himself and the affairs of the colonies, how to befriend the native Indians, as well as which of those tribes to befriend and which to keep careful watch over, other matters of petition concerning several persons of the colonies who had aired grievances, and, most strangely of all. instructions as to when to cause either or none of two sealed black boxes to be opened. The black boxes were to be taken from England to the Colonies, and opened by the succeeding members of the Colony only upon the death of the governor, and therein the colonists would find the name of the individual who the King required be instated as the successor governor. The other black box was to be opened should the governor take a long leave of absence or resign the post, and another (maybe the same, maybe not) name would be found therein.
More important than a l l side before in these instructions, were the instructions that the governor was required by the King to keep secret all and every correspondence from the King to himself..." to keep secret to yourselves, unsealed and unbroken up, a l l such letters, schedules and instruments and whatsoever we shall deliver [to] you under our seal"....
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-
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"...in the seventh year of His reign of England, France & Ireland and Scotland the Two and Fortieth".
Virginia Council - "Instructions, orders and Constitutions to
Sir Thomas West, Knight. Lord La Warr" - 1609/1610
Clause 1.
Gave general directions as to the transportation etc., cargo and persons to be taken to the new colonies, while taking care not to run into the Spaniards along the way, generally charging "their lordships" to give safe passage to the Americas.
Clause 2.
Instructions for Sir Thomas West, upon landing, to call to a meeting all the elders and leaders of the colonies, and there at the meeting to proclaim himself, as per the wishes of the King, as Governor of the colonies, and to also give notice of the abolition, again per the wishes of the King, of all former and other forms of self
government. Having done that, the new governor was to administer the oath of supremacy (as called for in the previous letter above recited), and also to declare null and void any and all private and public quarrels and have every body start of anew as good neighbors with everybody else!
Clause 3.
The new governor was then to "demand and resume into [his] hands all former commissions and all instructions and public instruments given or sent to them and all books and records whatsoever of all the proceedings up to this time and dispose of all their offices and places in the future...except the office of the Lieutenant Governor (Sir Thomas Gates)., and the office of Marshall upon Sir Thomas Dale... and the office of Admiral upon Sir George Sumers,.. and the office of Vice Admiral upon Captain Newport".
Clause 4.
The sailors were then to go fishing prior to their return to England for "Sturgeons and other fish" and also any other freight they considered applicable and head back hotfoot for home.
Clause 5.
Provided instructions for the planting of provision harvests, and
Clause 6.
Provided for the training of an army, or militia:-"As touching your landsmen, we think fit your Lordship
should reduce them all into several bands and companies of fiftys or more when you think good and to commit the charge of them to several officers and captains to be exercised and trained up in martial manner and
warlike discipline..." Clauses 7 and 8.
Once again threw the Christian ideologies into the "system" by instructing the good Lord (La Warr) to make sure that the preachers had their merry way with the people and just to make sure the people obeyed he was also to "proceed in the punishing of all atheism, prophanism, popery and schism by exemplary punishment to the honor of God and to the peace and safety of his Church over which in this tenderness and infancy [his] Lordship must be especially solicitous and watchful."
Not to be excluded from these wondrous teaching were the hapless natives (Indians), who, if necessary, were to be forced to receive their "salvation" by being kidnapped and "taught" in jail, and if that tender measure failed, then to keep the rest of the poor un-Christian savages quiet and more susceptible to these hallowed teachings, "send over some three or four of them to England, we may endeavor their conversion here"!! Clause 9.
This clause is an interesting one and deserves to be fully repeated:
"We hold it requisite that your Lordship, in causes of c i v i l justice, proceed rather as counselor or than as Judge; that is to say. rather upon the right and equity of the thing in demand than upon the niceties and letter of the law. which perplexeth in this tender body rather than dispatcheth causes.
[So that] a summary and arbitrary way of justice, mingled with discreet forms of magistracy as shall in your discretion seem aptest for your Lordship to exercise in that place will be of most use, both for expedition and example; and for criminal causes, you are to deal therein according to your commission and good discretion." Clause. 10.
Again stressed that no-one should trade with the colonies without permission from the Council in England.
Clause 11.
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Instructed the sending of an exploratory expedition to survey the terrain beyond the twelve days ride distance explored up to this time.
Clause 12.
Shows clearly that the office of governor was a subordinate one to the office he (Lord La Warr) was to hold. and also named a few other "offices" to be held and who was to hold them. Above those already mentioned was that "Sir Fernando Weyneman may have the office of Master of the Ordinance".
Clause 13.
Instructed his Lordship to take care as to the sealing and transportation of documents and other things of a sensitive nature, and instructed that they be only sent to the Council in England.
Clause 14. and end....
simply wound up the instructions and clarified which of these instructions were pertaining to Sir Thomas Gates and which were not to be divulged to Gates at all, then finished.
The Third Charter of the V i r g i n i a Company
March 12,1612
This Charter was an addition and addendum to the previous two Charters and the various other and sundry letters patents etc., from the King to the Treasurer and Company.
The first article of importance extended the southern boundaries of the colony from thirty four degrees north, approximately Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, four degrees further south to thirty degrees north, which is about two miles north of Vilano Beach and St. Augustine, in Florida. This same section also extended to the offshore boundaries, whereby it allowed for the islands "within three hundred leagues of any [of] the parts heretofore granted" to be included with the lands already granted. Given that One League was an old term for the distance of three geographical miles, he had therefore extended the boundary from one hundred miles offshore to nine hundred miles offshore, taking in what is now Bermuda, and most of what are today considered the Caribbean islands.
But not including "within the bounds, limits or territories of the Northern Colony, heretofore by us granted to be planted by diverse of our loving subjects in the northparts of Virginia".
And again "to be holden of us, our heirs and successors, as of our manor at East Greenwich, in free and common soccage and not in capite, yielding and paying therefore the fifty part of the ore of all gold and silver which shall be there gotten, had or obtained for all manner of services whatsoever.."
There follows a list of three hundred and thirty six (336) persons who, it was noted, had joined the Treasurer and Company of Adventurers who were hereafter to be considered free members and brethren of the colony. This list included more than three hundred and thirty six people, because a few of the listings were "the mayor and community of..."so allowing more than the listing as members, and at the end of this listing a new Council of fifteen for the Treasurer and Company was also named.
The council was instructed to meet at least once per week to deal with the affairs of the Treasurer and Company and stated that at least five of the Council where one was either the Treasurer himself or the Treasurers deputy, along with at least fifteen other of the general members should be deemed a sufficient amount of people to be enabled to conduct any meeting.
Four special meetings were to be held, "every year upon the last Wednesday save one of Hillary, Easter, Trinity and Michelmas", forever, one great, general and solemn assembly, which four several assemblies shall be styled and called The Four Great and general Courts of the Council and Company of Adventurers of Virginia.
This charter, for the first time, gave permission for the Council to admit as Adventurers anyone from another country so long as that country was not at war with England and that the person would become a willing subject of the King, and the transportation of these willing immigrants and their goods and chattels would be free from duties of any kind for seven years.
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The Treasurer and his deputies, as in the Second Charter, were charged with the administering of oaths, but in this Charter, this went one stage further and the relative paragraphs reproduced hereafter in full.
"And further, that it shall be like wise lawful for the said Treasurer, or his deputy for the time, or any two others of our said Council for the said First Colony in Virginia, for the time being, from time to time and at all times hereafter, to minister such a formal oath as by their discretion shall be reasonably devised as well unto any person or persons as the said Treasurer or his deputy, with two others of the said Council shall think meet for the examination or the clearing of the truth in any cause whatsoever concerning the said plantation or any business from thence proceeding or thereunto proceeding or thereunto belonging."
The Company, in the course up to this time of its development of the Colonies, had employed various people to go to the colonies and help in the construction and development. Some of these people had not returned to England upon the completion of their duties, preferring to stay and hide out, or. some others had committed crimes etc., while there, and had fled back to England without standing trial to account for themselves while in the colonies. The Third Charter provided for the punishment of these individuals by the granting of power to the Council in Virginia for the expulsion of such wrongdoers back to England, or the extradition of those malcontents found in England back to the Colony there to answer for their crimes.
And. the final paragraphs of this the Third Charter gave the royal permission for the establishment of a system of raising yet more money for the use of the Council. A lottery which was to be held principally in the City of London, but which could be held also elsewhere in the realm of England, with prizes to be determined by the Treasurer and Company.
The Virginia Company Instruction to George Yeardley (The Great Charter)
November 18, 1618
The first paragraphs gave instructions to the Governor (and Council of Estate to be, Mr. George Yeardley, to set aside three thousand acres (almost five square miles) next to James Town in Virginia, for the maintenance and support of the members of the Governors staff and other c i v i l service people, and to call the land the Governors Land. For the defense of the Governors Land, he was to take over the "bodyguard force" formerly held by the deputy governor, one Captain Argal.
Out of the rest of the Company Land (meaning other parts of what is now the rest of the United States (remember, between thirty degrees north and forty five degrees north from sea to sea?) were to be created four cities or boroughs called James Town, Charles City, Henrico, and the borough of Kiccowtan. and the new governor was charged to lay out three thousand acres in each of those new cities and boroughs. Each of these three thousand acre parcels being referred to as "The Company Land".
Settlers of the Colony prior to the resignation of Sir Thomas Dale. Governor who had paid for their own passage to the colonies and did not thereby owe the Company were to have first call, in one hundred acre lots, of the Company land, for the price of twelve pounds and ten shillings per hundred acres (Twelve Pounds and Ten Shillings being, apparently, the going price at this time for one share in the Virginia Company) this land to be held by them, their heirs and assigns forever, as tenants.
For those who had come to the colonies at this same time at the expense of the Company, when they had paid their agreed price for their transportation, whatever that price may have been, they could thereafter occupy a one hundred acre parcel for themselves, their heirs and assigns forever, for the annual rent of one shilling per fifty acres. The entire rent to be paid to the Treasurer and Company on Michelmas day (the feast of St. Michael) next, and on the same day each year thereafter forever.
Fifty men who would be voyaging to the colonies in 1618 with the new governor, along with any others who had traveled to the colonies at the expense of the Company and desired to settle there could and would be settled in communities on those three thousand acre parcels, so long as they each and every one paid a rent of one half of their annual profit to the Treasurer and Company for the first seven years as compensation to the Company for their passage.
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One fifth of the amount paid to the Treasurer and Company was to be retained within the colony for the use of the Council of Estate (Governor) for the payment of the administrators and ancillary expenses incurred in collecting these "revenues".
As and when necessary, there would and could he other three thousand acre parcels cleared, created and settled by incoming new settlers, at terms and under the same conditions as the first of these settlers had set up.
Other one hundred acre parcels of land were to be set aside within the several city and borough boundaries for the use of the Church and the maintenance of the several ministers needed to cater to the spiritual needs of the settlers, as well as the re-education of the savages surrounding them, and to support these ministers, the amount of two hundred pounds, or more, as necessary, was to be taken from the profits paid to the Treasurer and Company. To aid in the re-education of the unfortunate unbelievers, there was also to be a parcel of fifteen hundred acres set aside as City (or Bourough) land for the purpose of thereon erecting and building a college "for the training of the children of those infidels in true religion, moral virtue and civility", and for the purposes of Providing a university, another ten thousand acre parcel in Henrico was to be set aside.
For the tradesman, a house and four acre lot was to be provided for himself and h i s heirs forever, upon the condition that he continue in this house at his trade and that he and h i s heirs and assigns forever pay a rent of four pence per year to the Treasurer and Company, again the entire annual payment of the rent to be made on the dav of the feast of St. Michael.
For the foreigner who had transported himself to the colonies at his own expense, and had stayed there for three years or more, then the rent for the fifty acres of land they could be allotted (as everybody else) was fifteen pence per year, and payable in exactly the same way and at the same time. For others who were to come, they had to pay one quarter of their annual production until such time as the Company granted them their particular piece or parcel of land (and thereafter, presumably, would pay the same as the ordinary commoner).
Following these are general treatises that the new governor form a committee for the purpose of checking and authorizing land grants, rules and instructions regarding the sale to prospective settlers of the shares of the company, that he make sure that adequate and proper registers be kept of exactly who and what was transported, imported and exported to and from the colony, and, lastly, that he make provision for a more accurate surveying and exploration of the rest of the lands of Virginia.
The Virginia Company, Instructions to:
The Governor and Council of State in Virginia
July 4, 1621
These instructions were again set out in forty seven (47)different clauses, but this time they took on new meaning. Three of the proven methods of controlling people are (a)through war,.. that was out, nobody was at war with anybody, so one or both of the other two had to be employed;...(b) Religion, or (c)Economics. The Company had virtually complete control of the economic stability of Virginia, the colonists could not trade with anybody else, only through the English Council of Virginia, literally upon pain of forfeiture of everything they owned, or, worse still, death. The religious loophole was about to be closed up, and the economic noose tightened. These "Instructions" were of an obviously corporate nature, with the welfare of the colonists being kept in mind only so far as would make the Company more money. The clauses of this set of instructions have been paraphrased as follows:
1. Stressed the importance of the setting up of the houses of religion, the poor governor had not as yet "effected a due establishment of the honor and rights belonging to the Church and Ministry", the governor was urged to organize things in the manner of the Church of England, including providing "the churches or places for divine service".
2. He was to be careful to make sure that everybody in the colonies not only took, but upheld their oaths of obedience to the King, to make sure there was no corruption amongst his officers and magistrates, and to make sure that no-one tried to foment quarrels with the natives, unless, of course, the natives deserved the quarrel.
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3. To make sure that all the people were industrious. It would not be a good thing for them to be idle (the company would be losing money, the profits would not be as large), and one gambler drunkard or lay about would (obviously) be a bad influence on the rest of the hard working good people of the colony. Also in the interests of all (i.e. the Company the governor was to speedily issue an edict that no-one henceforth was to be seen in public wearing gold jewelry of any kind (the gold belonged to the King) or to be seen wearing silk, unless it was silk which had been raised as a result of the industry of the people themselves and their own silkworms.
4. As well as to stop pirates from harboring their ships in the ports of Virginia there from to go out and
plunder, as to stop those same pirates from bringing their ill-gotten gains back to the colonies (where the governor was empowered to seize and confiscate the treasure), and for the obvious benefits to be gained in foreign relations, given that other powers would not lose their merchant ships to those same pirates, and for the purposes of self defense, the colonists were to immediately erect a blockhouse and fortress at the mouth of the river and anvwhere else they deemed fit.
5. Again in the interests of the promotion of religion, the colonists were to encourage those "savages" to live and work amongst themselves, and thereby by example teach those un-civilized Indians that the white man's way of life was much better!
6. To the same ends as clause 5. each town and borough was entrusted to "procure" the children (mostly boys, please) of the local Indians and to raise these children in the white man's ways, and educate them so as to enable these children to be admitted to the college, supposedly for their betterment and for the general good of the colony and the Company.
7. When Sir George Yeardly had taken in his crops for this year, (1621), he was to give up his Governors land and the 100 tenants thereon to Sir Francis Wyate (Wyatt?), and if there were not 100 tenants, then Yeardley was to make good that number out of his own pocket.
8. Along with clause 9 followed clause 7, where Yeardley was to give up the position of Governor to Wyatt on
November 18th next.
10. Some of the lots of various individuals occupying the higher positions of office within the colony were greatly improved, in that the Treasurer in Virginia, George Sandis, Esq., was afforded provision for a means of transportation (presumably horses, or buggies, or both) and fifteen hundred acres of land and fifty tenants to go on it. The Marshall. Sir William Neuce. also received the same acreage and number of tenants and the Deputy of the Company, formerly holding twelve hundred acres and forty men. had his allotment increased by three hundred acres and ten tenants. The Company Physician got five hundred acres and twenty tenants, and the Company Secretary got the same as the physician.
11. Concerned the paperwork formerly sent to the governor, that he make sure that it was all taken care of
properly.
12. The governor was to make sure that the leaders, Captains and heads of each and every hundred acres (as per the third Charter) provided accurate accountings of births, marriages, christenings, deaths, of the people under their charge, and that accurate accountings also be kept of all livestock, crops and properties pertaining to those people, while reporting back to the Company by means of furnishing the Company with copies of all relevant documentation of the same, and;
13. In the event that the head of any of those particular hundred-acre plots or plantations die or otherwise leave office then the governor was to make sure that the "family" stayed together as one unit rather than breakup and be assimilated into any adjacent plantations.
14. England was getting tired of tobacco, and the Company wanted to send corn back to England, so the
Council asked the governor to make sure that, as per an order of the Royal Court (the King), of July last, for this year the colonists refrain from planting so much tobacco, and required that the cut down the amount they plant by one hundred weight per head of population, replacing that which would otherwise be tobacco with corn. The Council also requested that the colonists refrain from killing their animals, preferring that they increase the stock instead.
15. The King had a preference for silk. Si lk, up to this time, was only available, and very expensively so.
through trading with the Arabs and other middle easterners, who in turn traded in the far east. Silk worms had been successfully raised in the warmer climates; England's climate did not oblige, but the climate of the colonies did. In addition, the silk worms were picky little critters, eating only the leaves of the mulberry tree, so came the instruction to plant mulberry bushes with the seeds provided, and using the books which had already been provided (last December) and enable the very costly French silkworm growers to be, at last, profitably employed, and. in lesser terms.
16. Silk grass was also to be promoted and experimented with so as to find the best and most profitable way to grow it and export it to England.
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17. Not to be left out in this agricultural Pandora's box were the vines, the reasons, aside from the wine, for the planting thereof being that the (again very expensive) vignerons (those who raise and cultivate vines) could also be finally, and hopefully profitably, employed.
18. The Dutch sawyer, again procured at great expense, were to be accommodated by the provision of places for them to erect their sawmills, and, they, along with other tradesmen, were to be furnished every facility and incentive to stick with their trades rather than go off and grow tobacco, or some such other "useless commodity".
19. Corn Mills and public bakeries were to be erected in every city and borough.
20. The laws regarding the contracts, whether of performance or breach, and whether executed in England or
Virginia were to be strictly upheld and enforced.
21. In order to keep the tenants on the lands, should anyone entice them away with "an offer they could not refuse", the enticer was to be "severely punished" and the tenant returned to the land (forcibly, if necessary).
22. The provision of an iron works in Virginia was obviously of paramount importance to the Company, as the transportation of those commodities manufactured by iron works in England was extremely expensive. To this end. every possible assistance, including the "help of the whole colony, if need be" was to be furnished to the gentleman, Mr. John Berkely, with whom the Company had a contract, in accomplishing this monumental achievement, but at the same time equally assisting others who did not have a contract with the company, and would attempt the same, but in another area, so that none should find out about the other, and in the hope that at least one would succeed.
23. Make use of the salt, pitch, tar. soap, etc., we already sent you, so that we (the Company) don't get any
more complaints about those items, or, more particularly, the lack of them.
24. In addition to 23 above, what about the walnut oil. dyes, gums, drugs and other things we also sent you?
25. Given that we just ordained that you send less tobacco (as per clause 14), how about you improve the quality of the tobacco you do send us after this? Tell the planters its is for their own good.
26. The people who were arriving in the colony in ever more increasing numbers had no where to live when they arrived, so the instruction was given to build more houses for the immigrants, and to make sure they were kept neat and clean.
27. We (the company) have lost too much money because you have not sent things to us in a timely manner, so, after this, send your exports to us on at least a quarterly basis, or more often if possible, so the merchandise won't spoil before it gets to us.
28. We have also, at great expense, procured Italians for the purpose of erecting a glassworks, so we desire and
instruct that you furnish them everything they need to accomplish their goals.
29. Prior to the writing of t h i s charter, the Council had sent someone "of extraordinary capacity and judgement...approved by us to be of excellent observances" to "spy" had been included (hidden) in prior communications was to be read and the recommendations therein adhered to by the relevant members of the colony.
30. A Mr. Cleyburne had been sent by the company for the purpose of mapping out the whole country, and he
was to be afforded every convenience and help possible.
31. Various public servants had heretofore been charging unsuspecting members of the public exorbitant fees for their services, so this clause set that to rights by instigating a system of remuneration for various types and classes of public servants.
32. This clause instructed the governor and Council to create a timetable for the people to attend with grievances or whatever, and for the best times to ship despatches to England.
33. Followed and further clarified the purpose of clause 32 by instruction the governor to summon the Council of State "for one whole month or more if need shall require".
34. A register of the Acts of each quarterly Session was to be kept in duplicate and the copy was to be periodically sent to the Council in England.
35. Should the governor die, become incapacitated, or be removed from Office, then the Council in Virginia is to immediately meet and elect a successor until a new governor appointed by the Council in England could assume the position.
36. The lieutenant governor was to be the one vote to resolve a deadlock in the event that the Council could
not decide as to who should become the stand in for the recently expired governor as per clause 35.
37. Those officers who had been given tenants to settle on the land under their charge had been settling those tenants on other land and charging that other landkeeper rent on the tenants. This clause stopped that practice.
38. Only the governor, "for the time being", was to have the power and authority to sign warrants and execute the orders of the Council in England except in cases which pertained to the Lieutenant General, the Marshall,
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Treasurer, or Deputies. The Lieutenant General, the Marshall, Treasurer, or Deputies could act only on sealed orders from the Council of England, or the orders of the Quarterly Session of the Council of Virginia.
39. The governor, "for the time being", was to have the absolute power to conduct any emergency business including the punishment of people who showed neglect and contempt of authority, but not in cases regarding members of the Council, or persons who were already summoned to appear before the Council at one of their quarterly sessions. But, if the governor thought the matter important enough, he could order an extraordinary meeting of the Council to deal with the matter and a quorum for the meeting was to be six persons or more, and. if the matter concerned a Councillor, then the councillor was to kept "in safe custody" until the next full meeting of the Quarterly Session.
40. Every matter before the Council, when voted on, could only be passed by a majority vote, and. in the event of a tie, the vote of the governor would break the deadlock.
41. The governor was called upon to protect the exercise of free market economics, and prosecute anyone who tried to monopolize or control the market in any way.
42. The governor was to see that all those who were sentenced to do public work as a result of their misdemeanors were to work equitable and favorably for all, not doing more for one tenant or landkeeper than another.
43. The Earl of Pembroke and sundry associates had paid a sufficient amount to the Council in England for shares of the Company to assure he would be enabled to control thirty thousand acres of plantation, and the governor was to make sure that the emissary of the Earl was to be shown the choicest uninhabited areas from which to pick a site for this plantation and to help the Earl to set it out.
44. It had been found out that the dutchmen about 60-90 miles awav from the colonv were "stealine" the fur trade so the colonists were entreated to go into active competition against them by actively pursuing "new trades of commodities".
45. Encourage commododity production amongst the colonists by showing how one plantation outproduced
another, and devise ways to increase their own production and beat "the people down the road"!
46. Reminded the governor that he had better make sure that the colony was seen to be prosperous as, of course, that would profit both King and Country (and Company!).
47. The governor was warned to make sure that no ship sent to the Colony from England was allowed to stay for more then thirty days, as the costs of wages for the crewmen were considered too high; that he was to make sure that no goods or provision were to be returned to England, and if they were, then the crew was to be severely punished; and also to make sure that if some commodity could not be put aboard some ship in such a short time, then to place some other item on board in its place so that the ship did not return to England less than fully laden (of course for the better profit of the Company).
Treasurer and Company
An Ordinance and Constitution for
Council and Assembly in Virginia
July 24, 1621
The main intent of this document was to instruct the Colonists, in order to better govern themselves and their colony, and for the betterment of the interests of the Council of Virginia in England, to diversify their government by the formation of another Council in Virginia, resulting, of course, in two Councils in Virginia, again to act under the instructions of the Supreme Council in England.
The First Council in Virginia,-"The Council of State"; Was to be composed of twenty men. the first seven men occupying key positions:
Governor of Virginia .......... Sir Francis Wyatt Treasurer (in Virginia) ...... Mr. George Sandis Deputy of the Company....Captain Thomas Neuce Marshall of Virginia ............ Sir William Neuce Deputy of the College ......... Mr. George Thorpe Secretary of the Company, Mr.Christopher Davidson Company Physician .............. Dr. Potts
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The Second Council in Virginia,-"The General Assembly";
Was to meet no more often than once per year, at the call of the Governor, unless the Governor required a special emergency meeting, and was to be composed of what was at that time the Colonial Council in Virginia, and two Burgesses from each borough and town in Virginia.
The "House of Burgesses" was an association of the town elders or mayors, two from each town and borough of Virginia, w h i c h had been meeting in the House of Assembly in Jamestown since June 30, 1619, so this particular ordinance did not have the effect of creating the House, merely of giving it the "Royal blessing". So much of a blessing, in fact, that this ordinance granted the General Assembly the power of all legislation in the colonies thereafter, legislation to be by majority vote, but where the vote of the Governor was to be considered a negative vote in the case of deadlock. The legislative powers granted were those of the ability to make- ordain and grant such general laws and orders as they saw fit for the general good of the colony, and to follow the "policy of the form of government, laws, customs, manners of loyal and other administration of justice used in the realms of England". But the laws passed by this General Assembly had to be approved and ratified by the Court and Council in England. Likewise, any laws passed in England concerning the Colonies, were not to be considered as binding in the Colonies until they too. had been ratified and agreed to by the General Assembly in the Colony.
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THE MAYFLOWER COMPACT
Very little happened with regard to the "New World" for over one hundred years. The American continent was, of course, open to exploration, but only to the foolhardy and those who could afford and were able to organize and conduct a major exploratory expedition to this hostile continent.
Then, in the early seventeenth Century, a small band of people are noted as having traveled to this new "Promised Land", there to create a new society based on religious freedom. A rough approximation of the story of these pilgrims which is most heard in the high schools of America is:
"Mayflower"
In 1619, a group of people (commonly referred to as "the Pilgrims") got together to try to find the new world in the west that had been described by Columbus 127 years previously.
They'd had enough of England's problems. They were tired of the political conditions, the pseudo-feudal system, and most of all they were tired of the Roman Catholic church and the wild perpetrations done in the name of God and the Church. They believed that God's kingdom was very little like the society they were in at that time.
They decided to leave England to find and create a new freedom for themselves and their church in the new world.
They formed two companies (groups) and sailed for Layden in Holland in two boats, the Speedwell and the
Mayflower. On the voyage the Speedwell developed problems and had to be left behind when, in September,
1620 the Mayflower with 102 people on board left Layden bound for the new world and freedom.
The Mayflower was a tiny wooden ship, displacing only 180 tons, with three square rigged masts and a high poop deck, not the kind of ship the modern day traveller would consider being aboard for an arduous crossing of what is internationally acclaimed as the nastiest, most temperamental and dangerous ocean in the world.
The voyage took about sixty days, with the Mayflower arriving in Cape Cod in November of 1620.
On the 11th of November the elders and leaders of the pilgrims met and publicly declared their intentions and desires for the running of their new colony, founded in Virginia. They drew up a document, called The Mayflower Compact, the 41 men present signing it.
The Pilgrims sailed from Cape Cod to Plymouth harbor, arriving there on December 21st, 1620. Just in time for Christmas. The Mayflower served as their headquarters while they built their houses on the shore, and she finally left then and sailed back to England the following Spring."
This is the commonly accepted view of the "founding" of the "Colonies" and is preached throughout the American and other school systems as the true history of the American Colonies and some even claim that the Constitution and Bill of Rights of the United States of America is loosely based on the original declarations of the Pilgrims as shown in the Mayflower Compact.
Hogwash!
Yes, two companies were formed, but the "company" did not refer to a group of people as inferred in the above text, but to two corporations which had been created specifically for the purpose of colonizing the Americas, and the Mayflower people were of the second corporation.
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They were not the first settlers to arrive on the shores of America, people had been settling for fifteen years before under the auspices of the first company, and by 1620 more than two thousand people had already inhabited various plantations and colonies on the North American continent.
They were not a separate bunch of rebels who sought relief from the oppressions of the Roman Catholic Church, nor were they Huguenots escaping any inquisition or prosecution, the time of the Huguenots exodus from Europe came about almost a hundred years later. In order to be on any expedition to the American continent the members of the emigrating party had to swear an oath of loyalty to the King (James) and to the Catholic Church. A protestant rebel, it could reasonably be assumed, would not and could not swear such and oath to uphold the tenets and dogmas of the Roman Catholic church ( i t would be blasphemy in the eyes of his own protestant church), and he would perforce thereby be excluded from the party.
Modern day Religions do, however, like to entertain the notion that the people of the Mayflower were, indeed "Pilgrims" such ideas forced into young and impressionable minds reinforce the position of the church in the American society of today. Remember the winners have been writing the history.
The debaters of the issue of the Mayflower will argue that the Mayflower Compact was the basis for the formation of the type of constitutional government enjoyed in America today, while remaining either blissfully ignorant of the existence at that time of the two corporations mentioned earlier, and, if not ignorant of their existence, then at least ignorant as to the fact that the Charters of these two Corporations and Bodies Politic, and the constitutions of some of the earliest colonies are the real basis for today's American government, its Executive, Judicial and Legislative structure, and the country's social, and to some extent, its economic structure.
The Mayflower was the first sailing to the new world of the people of the second of the two Corporations and Bodies Politic which was known as "The New England Company"; it had only been created five months previously. The First Corporation which had been formed almost fifteen years earlier, and had already been colonizing America for that same number of years before the Mayflower ever sailed was called "The Virginia Company".
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EARLY RAILROADS OF FRANCE
A Decoration written in the 1660's in France
Since the city of Paris and its suburbs have already a great many carts, drays, wagons and horses, both harnessed and led, and since by evident malice they are driven on the run through the streets to pass each other, and since frequently the harness of one catches that of another in such a manner that the streets are so full of carts and vehicles that one cannot pass on foot or horseback, and since there are so many grave dangers and inconveniences and so many men and beasts are injured, we are obliged to forbid wagoners, leaders and drivers to run or foul another, and we enjoin them to lead their horses by hand and travel on foot under penalty of prison, confiscation of horses and vehicles, and of arbitrary fine.
Under the same penalties. We forbid wagoners and drivers, whether of carts, drays, wagons or other vehicles, to turn in the streets, but they are to turn at the intersections and corners of said streets to avoid the inconveniences that might arise, such as wounding children or other persons and interfering with other passers- by along the road.
Paris definitely had a traffic problem and the ruling class was well aware of it in those days.
Most of the vehicles were slow-moving carts or wagons carrying garden produce or other merchandise; but the number of carts required to handle street sweeping, horse manure, excavated material, and refuse of all kinds made a sizable addition to those already in use. It was, in fact, primarily due to a crisis in sanitation - the most neglected field of civil engineering in the Renaissance - that the problems of traffic congestion in Paris first came into focus. The garbage men had to get through.
Public transit as we know it - this is, conceived as a system was the idea of philosopher and subject of King Louis XIV. In 1662 Louis XIV established a system of carriages that would operate according to a fixed timetable along fixed routes. It was hoped that this would provide a service for the Parisian lower classes at a price they could afford.
The first railroad, so to say, started operation in on March 18, 1662. The first line, from the Porte Saint- Antoine to the Luxembourg, caused a sensation. The coachmen, liveried in blue, sported the colors of the realm with the heraldry of the king's arms embroidered on their jacket fronts; the carriages were escorted by a royal guard, to prevent riot and disorder. Large crowds gathered to watch the carriages go by, and on the first morning of service people were waiting in l i n e to participate in the new railroad service. The king was so enthusiastic about the scheme that to silence all ridicule he declared he'd be happy if a line ran past the palace. After that remark, a route to the palace was opened in April. By May, there was a third l i n e going.
These promising beginnings did not last. Within a year the aristocracy took over the system and restricted its clientele to the rich. Carriages were stoned and overturned by gangs of unemployed footmen; routes were blocked by debris thrown down by the poor. The "service" faded out for a while.
The carosses a cing sols, or "coaches at a five sous fare," were a revolutionary innovation, well before their time. Not until the early nineteenth century would a comparable idea be tried; at Nates, where the service was once again tried by the descendants of the original founders, a new carriage line that realized a large profit. The depot happened to be opposite a shop run by a M. Omnes, who cleverly turned the Latin of his name into a slogan for his merchandise: "Omnes Omnibus, " "Omnes has something for everybody." By association or propinquity, the name came to be applied to the first public carriages. And since the carriages were "for all," it stuck.
In 1828 the company was moved to Paris, where it opened a line and called it Les Dames Blanches, which caught everybody's eye. According to the London Times, it featured carriages "painted white with a motto in gold upon a red ground; and at the back of each coach sketches of Scotch scenery from Boildieu's recent opera La Dame Blanche." The horses and harnesses were white and the drivers wore white hats and embroidered
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white coats. A "kind of trumpet under the seat of the coachmen, played by pressure, executed the principal airs of the opera."
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LAND ACQUISITIONS OF AMERICA
COLONIES AND PROVINCES COLONIAL BOUNDARIES
The two primary companies forming the "invasion force" of settlers, as mentioned before, had been granted lands in trust, for the purpose of forming the colonies, within distinct and clearly delineated boundaries. These boundaries formed, essentially, those lines of demarcation which were to become known during the time of the Civil War, more than two hundred years later, as the North and the South.
The South had been settled and marked out first by the Virginia Company Charter: THE SOUTH
2nd Charter-Virginia: 1609
This Charter granted the lands to the Company in trust "from a point two hundred miles south of Point
Comfort to a point two hundred miles north of Point Comfort and west and northwest from sea to sea".
Assuming that the original Point (or Cape) Comfort was in the same place as "new" point comfort is in Virginia today (which point is about 30 miles form Jamestown, the first settlement), and given the fact that Point Comfort is at thirty seven degrees north, and the following figures:
one minute of arc (1') on the Globe = one nautical mile (1nm)
and 1I nm = 1.125 statute miles (mlis)
therefore 400 mlis = 355.5 nms
therefore 355.5 nms = 5.9259 Degrees of arc
while taking into account the inaccuracies of the charts in 1620, it is reasonable to assume that the limits of the colony would cover six degrees of arc,. therefore its latitudinal limits would be from thirty-four (34) degrees North to forty (40) degrees North of the equator, and from the east to the west coast of the continent, and subsequent charters and letters patent prove these calculations.
3rd Charter-Virginia: 1612
This charter extended the southern boundaries of the colony from thirty four degrees north to thirty degrees north, as well as extending the offshore boundaries from one hundred miles offshore to nine hundred miles offshore, but, again not including "within the bounds, limits or territories of the Northern Colony".
THE CHARTER OF NEW ENGLAND OF 1620
By this charter of New England witnessed and signed on November 3, 1620,. the King and council in England granted ordained and established the territory of New England, which was to be;
The councils members were next mentions and appointed by the statement
"We will, ordain et."
Having outlined the boundary latitudes of the territory, the King then granted that territory to the Council of
New England.
The next event concerning the New England colony is more popularly known and recited as too "Mayflower compact" and is reproduced here. While it has no direct bearing on the fortune of the of the New England Company, it has been argued by some that the descendants of this ill-organized "expedition" are the
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progenitors of the "elite" families of America today; those movers and shakers who comprise the "nebulous, all seeing, unseen (gray) "They". This may be true, or it may not. The sad fact is that this shipload of people had set off to America and false pretenses, and the charade was continued only until eventually found out.
One important facet unknown to most and rarely recognized in historical documentation is members of this conspicuous expedition had embarked upon "a Voyage to Plant the first Colony in the Northern parts of Virgin," and these pilgrims had long before the began their journey, procured a contract for the use of land from the council of London for the Virginia Company.
By landing, not in Virginia, but within the percents and territorial boundaries of the New England Company the breached the terms of the contract, and with the creation and signing of the Mayflower Compact, completed, in their minds, the obviously intention of forming their own independent colony.
It is important to note that the ability to form a body politic was inherent only to the Kings, and to any body politic created by the king, or by any other subservient body politic. In short, to be able to create a body politic you had to be either a king or a body politic, The pilgrims obviously did not and could not fit into this category, not one of the people could claim even a distant relation to the family of the Crown, nevertheless, they considered themselves empowered, and thereby declared themselves a body politic. To add insult to injury, they also declared themselves subservient, first, to the colony, not to the king, primarily, or the Virginia Company, secondarily, to which they had to have already declared allegiance and subservience in order to receive the land contract.
THE UNION
The Second colony - New England : 1620
The second colony to be settled, as mentioned in the first charter of Virginia, was comprised of "certain Knights, Gentlemen and Merchants, and their Associates, in and about our cities of Bristol, Exxon, and our town of Plymouth, and other places: and was to be situated in that same area between thirty-eight (38) degrees and forty five (45) degrees north of the equator.
This company and body politic was created by the Charter of New England, of 1620, and was headquartered at Plymouth, England, and by this Charter of New England, the King and Council in England granted, ordained and established;
"that all that Circuit, Continent, Precincts, and limits in America lying and being in breadth from forty degrees of Northerly Latitude from the Equinoctial l i n e , [Equator], to Forty Eight degrees of the said Northerly Latitude, and in length by all the Breadth aforesaid throughout the Maine land, from sea to sea,...and to the end that the said territories may forever hereafter be more particularly known and distinguished....by that name of New England in America...and by that name to have continuance forever.
We will, ordain, constitute, assign, limit and appoint that from henceforth there shall be forever hereafter, in our town of Plymouth, in our County of Devon, one body politic and corporate, which shall have perpetual succession, which shall consist of the number of forty persons, and no more, which shall be, and shall be called and known by the Name the Council established at Plymouth in the County of Devon, for the planting, ruling, ordering and governing of New England in America;"...[here the forty members of the new company are named)..."and that they, and the survivors of them, and such as the survivors and survivor of them shall, from time to time, elect and choose...when and as often as any of them or any of their successor shall happen to decease, or be removed from being of the said council...we do by these presents, for us, our Heirs and Successors, really and fully incorporate, erect, ordain, name constitute and establish, and that by the same name of the said council, they and their successors forever hereafter be incorporated, named and called, and shall by the same name have perpetual succession.."
The colonist managed, in the course of time and by unknown means, to receive letters of patents from the Plymouth Company, but could not get those letters patents confirmed by the King, and the colony was eventually absorbed and annexed under the commission to Sir Edmund Andros of 1688 and finally in to the
Massachusetts Bay Company in 1691.
Spanish Lands
Each of the three above charters and the letters patent to Sir Robert Heath also contained a clause which, in effect, stated that although the King was granting the land in trust to the various parties through that particular
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Charter, such a grant could not, and did not, include any land already inhabited or held by any Christian Prince or King.
France and Spain had already laid c l a i m to all the land west of the Mississippi River and Florida, and France also had claim on the land which today comprises a large chunk of Tennessee. Mississippi and Alabama. All the above named Charters granted the land in trust to the parties thereto between the parallels concerned. namely 30 North and 40 North to the Virginia Company, and from 40 North to 48 North to the Company of New England, so in each case, the land granted could, at most, extend from the eastern seaboard coast to. at most, the Mississippi River.
The patents to Bradford and the Company of the Mayflower, as mentioned above, were granted by the
Plymouth council in 1629, parts of which were as follows;
Charter of the Colony of New Plymouth granted to William Bradford and his associates by the council established at Plymouth for the ruling and governing of New England in America
January 10, 1629
It states that;
by the authorities of His late majesty .
Six years later the members of the council for New England at Plymouth surrendered the charter of the New
England Company..
Land Patent to Sir Robert Heath, October 30, 1629
In this letter Patent it stated: "Know therefore that we...have given, granted & confirmed & by this our present charter to the said Sir Robert Heath. Knight, his heirs, assignees forever, doth give, grant and confirm all that river or rivulet of St. Matthew on the South Side, and all that river or rivulet of the great pass on the North side, and all the lands...within or between the said rivers...to the ocean upon the east side and so to the west so far as the continent extends itself and also all our islands of Bayous Brahma (now known as the Bahamas and Turks & Caucus Islands) and a l l other isles and islands which lie between the latitudes of 31 and 36 degrees of northern latitude..."
"To be held of us our heirs and successors Kings of England in chief by Knights service, by paying for it to us our heirs and successors one circle of gold fashioned in the form of a crown of the eight of twenty ounces...whensoever and as often as we, our heirs and successors shall enter the said region & also the fifth part of all the metals gold and silver which shall happen to be found."
"Know that we...by the fullness of our power...for us, our heirs and successors, we do erect and incorporate them i n t o a Province and name the same Carolina, or the Province of Carolina, and the foresaid Isles The Carolinas Islands and so we will that in all times hereafter they shall be named,"
These Charters and letters Patent had, by 1629, formed the Colony of Virginia, and the Province of the Carolinas, later to become North and South Carolina, and what is known today as the states of Tennessee. Alabama. Georgia and Mississippi.
The Patent to Sir Robert Heath, Attorney General to the King, was revoked and declared void in 1663; the provisions called for by it and the covenants declared and agreed to in it had not been accomplished either by Heath or by his successors or assignees. This revocation brought title and use of the lands of the Virginia Company back under the control of the Virginia company, and the title and use of the Bahamas. Turks and Caucus and other relevant Caribbean islands back in to the hands of the English Crown.
The North, later referred to and known as the Union, was formed, predominantly through the Charter of the
New England Company:
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Surrender of t h e charter of New England - 1635
Five years later, eleven years from their charter from the Plymouth Company and twenty years after their voyage, the some fate of the "Mayflower Company after years of legal wrangling concerning land titles: surrender is important to the purpose of this book and the document is reproduced in full:
The surrender of the Plymouth Colony Patent bv William Bradford and others- 1640
The communications between the colonies and provinces of the northeast had reached a point where the various settlements and plantation were able to regularly keep in contact and where news of an event detrimental to the well being of one community could be communicated relatively quickly to its neighbor and. much like the situation in most village and small towns, the neighbors could quickly reach assistance to the unfortunate victim.
Such a system of mutual a id and assistance had to be agreed upon between the mass populous concerned, and the families of such a confederation for mutual defense and support, obviously, needed careful planning and organization.
The colonists and plantations of the New England Company formed such a confederation which was finally achieved with the signing of the articles of confederation of the United Colonies of New England on September 7th, 1643 at Boston, Massachusetts.
The Articles of Confederation of the United Colonies of New England - 1643
The first suggestion for a union of the New England Colonies came from the magistrates and ministers of Connecticut in 1637. The proposal was renewed in 1638 and 1639; in 1640 the magistrates of Massachusetts Bay indicated acceptance of the proposal, but insisted that Rhode Island should not be admitted to the group. In 1642 the civil wars in England led to a renewal of the proposal from Massachusetts Bay, and in May 1642. delegates from Plymouth. Connecticut and New Haven met with those of the Bay colony in Boston and agreed upon the articles of Confederation. Rhode Island was consistently excluded from the Confederation. The union of the colonies of Connecticut and Hew Haven and the grant of a charter to Rhode Island practically put and end to the Confederation, but commissioners continued to hold meetings until 1684.
The Articles of Confederation between the Plantations under the Government of the Massachusetts, the Plantations under the Government of New Plymouth, the Plantations under the Government of Connecticut, and the Government of New Haven with the Plantations in Combination therewith:
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Commission of Sir Edmond Andros of the Dominion of New England April 7, 1688
This charter and appointment also allowed Andros to levy what ever taxes he saw fit to allow the issues of public money only by warrant or order of the Governor General (Andros). Andros was also to create courts, and appoint judges, he was to create armed forces from the general populace, to build, fortresses and other fortifications for defense, and he was to make the courts to have jurisdiction over all maters, civil, criminal and marine. This last order created the courts of admiralty to oversee cases of treasonous mutineers, or criminal transgression and courts under English Common Law for civil matters.
The commission of Andros set aside the Province of Pennsylvania, which, alone, was includes in the territory north of the forth parallel, many lands being south of the 40th parallel used therefore in Virgins Company territory, and consolidated all other province and colonies north ward to the St. Lawrence Sea way and then at the ocean into and under one governments. It marked the last treaty or royal edict or better of patents concerning the territory formerly of the New England Company, north of the 40th parallel. This later became known as the states of Maine. Vermont, Rhode Island. New York. New Jersey. Connecticut. Massachusetts, and New Hampshire.
The Southern Colonies, Provinces and States
North and South Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama & Mississippi
After the revocation of the Letters Patent and Charter to Sir Robert Heath, King Charles II. by Charter for Carolina dated March 24, 1663, gave the same land, now named The Province of Carolina to eight (8) men:
"that we...have given, granted and confirmed...for us. our heirs and successors, do give, grant and confirm unto the said Edward. Earl of Clarendon. George. Duke of Albemarle, William. Lord craven. John. Lord Berkeley. Anthony. Lord Ashley. S i r George Carteret. Sir William Berkeley and sir John Colleton, their heirs and
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assigns, all that territory and tract of ground situate, lying and being within our dominions of America, extending from the north end of the island called Lucke Island, which lieth within the south Virginia seas, and w i t h i n six and thirty degrees of the northern latitude, and to the west as far as the south seas [Pacific Ocean], and so southerly as far as the river St. Matthias [St. Matthew], which bordereth upon the coast of Florida...to be holden of us, our heirs and successors forever...in free and common soccage and not in capit, or by Knight Service, yielding and paying yearly to us, our heirs and successors the yearly rent of twenty marks of lawful money of England, at the feast of all saints, yearly, forever....also the fourth part of all gold or silver...which shall happen to be found".
The Charter of North Carolina of June 30, 1665 delineated a tract of land from thirty degrees north to thirty six degrees and thirty minutes (36 1/2 degrees) north, and from the east coast to the "south seas", and annexed that same tract to the northern part of the existing Province of Carolina and confirmed the western boundary of the Province as being the Pacific Ocean; it should not be forgotten, however, that the land claims of Spain and France as noted above. This 1665 grant gave an effective northern boundary of the Province of Carolina which is today reflected in the northern borders of North Carolina and Tennessee.
Alabama, Mississippi and Tennessee
Most of the land which now comprises these three states was the territory of France, as noted above, and it was known as the Mississippi region until France ceded it to Great Britain in 1763.
Georgia
Georgia was formed by the Charter of George II for Georgia of June 9, 1732, in which was stated:
"that we..do will, ordain, constitute, declare and grant that... [here follows a list of 19 men]... be and shall be one body corporate and p o l i t i c in deed and by name in the name of the Trustees for establishing the Colony of Georgia in America...that they shall have perpetual succession...[and that] we do give and grant unto the said corporation...all of those lands, countries and territories situated, lying and being in that part of South
Carolina...... which lies from the most northern part of a stream or river there, commonly called the Savannah.
all along the sea coast to the southward, unto the most southern stream of...a river called the Alatamaha, and westerly from the heads of said rivers, respectively, in direct lines to the south seas [Pacific]."
South Carolina
In 1710 South Carolina became a separate Royal Province by decree of King George I after he had bought it back from the Proprietors (the original grantees of their heirs or assigns).
The Treaty of Paris Feb. 10, 1763
The Treaty of 1763 was signed on Feb. 10, 1763. It ended the Seven Years' War in Europe and the French and Indian War in America. This treaty doomed French hopes for an empire in North America. Great Britain became the controlling power there and in India.
According to the terms of the Treaty of 1763, France gave a l l of what is now Canada to Great Britain. France received the islands of St. Pierre and Miquelon. and kept fishing rights off Newfoundland. Great Britain also received all Grench territories east fo the Mississippi River except New Orleans, and Frances's trading centers in India.
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The Treaty of Paris 1783
The Treaty of 1783 ended the Revolutionary War in America. John Adams. Benjamin Franklin, and John Jay signed for the United States, and David Hartley signed for Great Britain on September 3. 1783 The treaty established peace between Great Britain and the United States and formally recognized the United States.
The United States gained all the lands west to the Mississippi river, measuring from a point west of Lake of the Woods down to 31 degrees north latitude. The treaty of 1783 also set the northern border for the United States territory. The United States received fishing rights in Newfoundland and in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence. Both Great Britain and the United States received the right to use the Mississippi river. The United States government agreed to recommend to the various states that they take measures to restore to the British Loyalists the lands taken from them during the war.
TERRITORIES AND POSSESSIONS
In t h e South
Almost all the lands which now comprise the States of Alabama. Mississippi. Tennessee. Florida and
Louisiana were territories or possessions of either France or Spain, as noted in the previous chapter.
Once the land of the states of Tennessee. Alabama and Mississippi had been ceded to the British by the French in 1763, the following events took place, in chronological order, concerning:
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Alabama
In 1783 much of what is now Alabama was ceded by Great Britain to the United States of America.
Tennessee
This region suffered several territorial disputes among the indigenous settlers, even to the point of having three of her counties unite to declare themselves a separate state, but to no avail as, in 1788. North Carolina regained control of the region, and one year later, in 1789, it gave the Tennessee region to the United States of America.
Mississippi
In 1789 the Mississippi Territories were finally organized, sold by the British to, and made a part of, the
United States of America.
Florida and Louisiana
Florida and Louisiana were both possessions and territories of Spain.
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Louisiana
Louisiana was originally ceded to France by Spain through the Treaty of Ildefonso, of October 1, 1800, and France subsequently ceded it to the U.S. by the Treaty of Paris of 1803. which treaty is more commonly known as the Louisiana Purchase.
The terms of the purchase were that the United States would buy the land for the total price of sixty million francs, and the rate of exchange was set at 5.3333 francs per dollar. This gave the widely quoted price for the purchase at $11,250,000.
Cheap eh? Not quite.....
The terms called for payment by means of stocks issued in the amount of $11,250,000, with interest at the rate of 6% per annum for fifteen years, thereafter the principal to be paid off in increments of not less than
$3,000,000, per year. This gave a quite different amount when calculated out, as is shown overleat:
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Item Description $ Costs $
Principal ..................... 11.250.000 interest @ 6% for 15 years............................................. ...... 10.125.000 less $3,000,000 partial payment
interest on $8,250,000 for 15th year...................................... 495.000 less $3,000,000 partial payment
interest on $5,250,000 for 16th year ........................................ 315.000 less $3,000,000 partial payment
inlerest on $2,250,000 for 17th year ....................................... 135.000
Sub total Purchase Cost.............................................. .$22,320,000
and this was not paid out in one large chunk, it was paid over seventeen ( 1 7 ) years! Also add to that the amount of $3,750,000 which the United States agreed to pay to those who had claims and grievances against the United States, and the total comes to twenty six million and seventy thousand Dollar.
(1803) Louisiana Purchase Price = $26,070,000.00
The Act of Congress which created this Stock and approved the purchase was passed on November 30, 1803.
One last note to add to the events of the Louisiana Purchase, at the time of the negotiation for the Louisiana purchase a member of the Burbon family of France handled them. You will recall it was around this time- frame that France was having great problems and the rightful heirs to the once throne of France had been murdered and Napoleon was the Empire but was not entitled to sell nor receive the money paid for the Louisiana Purchase. The United States paid for the purchase i n t o a bank in England because the Royal family of England was related to the Burbon and Hapsburg families of France and Austria, so the money was believed to have been paid into a bank in England for the former Royal family of France to receive it in England.
Florida
Florida was originally owned by Spain, and came into the hands of the United States by two Treaties with
Spain.
The first Treaty of 1795, as noted in Volume 8 of the Statues at Large, on pages 138-153 of the 1848 edition, and it. among other things, mutually agreed to a boundary between the U.S. and the eastern Spanish territories of what is now Florida. This border followed the current border between Alabama and Georgia and Florida, from the Perdido River along the thirty-first parallel to the Chattahoochee River, south to where today stands the Jim Woodruff Lock and Dam, then in a straight line south of east to a point about three miles north of Moniac, in the Okefenokee Swamp, then down on the St. Mary's River, south and east to the Atlantic ocean.
The second Treaty concerning Florida was concluded in 1819, and it ceded all parts of Florida, both east and west of the Mississippi to the United States. The eastern part was mentioned in the Treaty of 1795 as noted above. The western part was far larger. The description of the western lands which were ceded to the United States in Article 3 of the 1819 Treaty was as follows:
"Article III"
The boundary line between the two countries, west of the Mississippi, shall begin on the Gulf of Mexico, at the mouth of the river Sabine, in the sea, continuing north, along the western bank of that river, to the 32d degree of latitude; thence, by a line due north, to the degree of latitude where it strikes the Rio Roxo of Nachitoches. or Red River; then following the course of the Rio Roxo westward, to the degree of longitude 100 east from London and 23 west from Washington; then, crossing the said Red River, and running thence by a line due north, to the river Arkansas: thence following the southern bank of the river Arkansas, to its source, in latitude
42 north; and thence, by that parallel of latitude, to the South Sea...
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The parties agree to cede and renounce all their rights, claims and pretensions to the territories described by the said line, that is to say: The United States hereby cede to His Catholic Majesty, and renounce forever, all their rights, claims and pretensions to the territories lying west and south of the above described line; and, in like manner. His Catholic Majesty cedes to the United States, a l l his rights, claims and pretensions to any territories east and north of the said line, and for himself, his heirs and successors, renounces all claim to the said territories forever."
At the time of the conclusion and signing of this treaty of 1819, a l l the lands which now comprise Montana, most of Wyoming, a third (1/3) of Colorado, North Dakota, South Dakota, most of Kansas, Oklahoma, Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana, Tennessee, most of Mississippi and most of Alabama as territories and possessions of the Corporation and Body Politic headquartered in Washington. D.C-- The United States of America.
Kentucky
Kentucky was created out of the Commonwealth of Virginia by the Act entitled "An Act creating Kentucky as an Independent State" which was passed by the Virginia Legislature on December 18, 1789.
The Oregon Territories
Washington, Oregon and Idaho
The parameters marking this territory are now found in the Southern. Eastern and Northern borders of Idaho, the Northern border of Washington State, and the southern border of Oregon state.
The conventions with Great Britain of 1818 and 1846 set the northern boundary with what is now Canada at the 49 parallel, and this followed eastward across the tops of Montana. North Dakota and Minnesota to lake of the Woods, thence down the Rainy River and through the many lakes, finally to follow the track of the Pidgeoin river to Lake Superior, exiting to the Pacific Ocean through the middle Puget Sound, allowing Canada to retain Vancouver Island.
The Government of this Territory was set up in the Thirtieth congress. First Session in 1848, and the second Session of the Thirty Second Congress formed the Territorial Government of Washington in 1853, noting that the border between Oregon in the south and Washington in the north should be from the Pacific Ocean through the center of the Columbia River eastwards to the town of Walla Walla, on the forty sixth degree of latitude, thence eastwards along the 46th parallel to the summit of the Rocky Mountains.
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Te rritorie s and Possessions In t h e Union
Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois, Indiana and Ohio
The lands to the east of the Mississippi and to the northwest of the river Ohio were ceded to The United States of America by the deed of cession of March 4, 1794 wherein it was stated "we..by virtue of the power and authority committed to us by the act of the said General assembly of Virginia...[of October 20, 1783]....and in the name, and on the behalf of, the said Commonwealth do, by these presents, convey, assign and make over to The United States in Congress assembled...all right, title and claim, as well of soil as of jurisdiction...the territory or country within the limits of the Virginia charter [40 degrees to 48 degrees north], situate, lying and being to the northwest of the river Ohio, to and for the uses and purposes, and on the conditions of the said recited Act."
The United States in Congress Assembled subsequently, in Article V (5) of the Ordinance for the government of the Territory of the United States Northwest of the River Ohio, dated July 13, 1787 stated:
There shall be formed in the said Territory not less than three nor more than five States: and the boundaries of the States....shall become fixed and established as follows, to wit: The western State, in the said Territory, shall be bounded by the Mississippi, the Ohio, and the Wabash Rivers: a direct line drawn from the post Vincennes. due north, to the territorial line between the United States and Canada....the middle States shall be bounded by the said direct line the Wabash from Post Vincennes to the Ohio, by the Ohio, by a direct line due north from the mouth of the Great Miami to the said territorial line, and by the said territorial line: the eastern State shall be bounded by the last mentioned direct line, the Ohio, Pennsylvania and the said territorial line: And...if Congress shall hereafter find it expedient, they shall have authority to form one or two States in that part of the said territory which lies north of and east and west line drawn through the southerly bend of extreme of Lake Michigan."
The same treaty of 1819, which ceded "East Florida" to the United States, also ceded "West Florida", (west of the Mississippi) to the United States. "West Florida" was much larger. The description of these western lands ceded to the United States in Article III of the 1819 Treaty was as Follows:
Including Louisiana and New England and the Spanish Territories.
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It included all eastern states. Louisiana. Oklahoma except for the handle, to the North east corner of Colorado most of Wyoming and Montana up to the 48th parallel.
The Republic of Texas and the United States Act approved on September 9, 1850 of the Thirty First Congress
The Treaty with Mexico December 30, 1853
The Gadsden Purchase ended the Mexican War in 1848 left some doubt about the western part of the boundary between Mexico and the United States. To clear up this question, and also to provide the United States with a good southern railroad route to the Pacific Coast, the government bought from Mexico a strip of land that included the region south of the Gila River in what is now Arizona and New Mexico.
The United States paid $10 million for the 29.640 square miles in the purchase.
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WASHINGTON D.C.
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THE NAME CHANGE OF THE VIRGINIA COMPANY
The earlier formed company by the name of the "Virginia Company" was in need of some revamping and it was time for a name change and some reorganization for the company owned by the King of England and still is. Another effort to hide ownership and give the people false hope of freedom from an outside controlling monarch in this country. The united states of America has for some time been owned by the crown of England and the Declaration of Independence did not set us (the common people) free from the outright ownership of this country by the original 48 controlling families of Europe. The "Virginia Company" was renamed the United States of American a corporation and body politic (a southern based corporation). The owners remained the same the name just changed.
Soon after the new incorporation of the company of the United States of America a proposal for a "federal town" for the deliberations of the Continental Congress were made in 1789. John Adams, presiding officer of the Senate, cast the deciding vote of that body for Germantown, Pa. In 1790 Congress compromised by making Philadelphia the temporary capital for 10 years. The former and still present Virginia Company members of the House wanted a capital on the eastern bank of the Potomac; they were defeated by the Northerners, while the Southerners defeated the Northern attempt to have the nation assume the war debts of the 13 original states, the Assumption Bill fathered by Alexander Hamilton. Hamilton and Jefferson arranged a compromise; the Virginia men voted for the Assumption Bill, and the Northerners conceded the capital to the Potomac. President Washington chose the site in October of 1790 and persuaded landowners to sell their holdings to the new government at about $66, an acre. These areas of land that Washington chose were about
30 square miles of land west of the Potomac. The city's present territory had belonged to Maryland, and the land west of the river was part of Virginia. The two states turned over the territory to the federal government a corporation and body politic.
WHERE IS THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA?
The corporation of the "United States of America" all big letters only occupies 68 square miles which is today known as Washington the District of Columbia. This is a most important fact to always remember. Everything outside of this 68 square miles is not as you have been lead to believe the "United States of America" it is the "united States" of America.
WHY CAN THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT CONTROL YOU THEN? Because you don't understand verbiage, its all in the semantics, you know.
We will cover a couple of ways they have made you become a part of their controlling corporation and body politic. They have placed you under contract, and you are unknowing of this action by this corporation. You have agreed to the rules of their system. And over and over again you have signed your rights away. For example:
U.S. citizen means the United States Corporation has jurisdiction over you or kingship ruler. This goes back to the English control. The way it should be is states in this type of verbiage; I am a citizen of the united states. Now you have jurisdiction over the United States or Kingship, you have not given your freedom and power away to a corporation or system that you do not want to be controlled by.
Since 1938 they have been giving people false promises and tricking people into becoming a card carrying member of their system, (the United States), by first telling you it is voluntary to joint the Social Security System and now it has become damn near mandatory to do anything you have to have a Social Security System Card, that number is required to get a drivers license, a bank account, get into school, get a passport and the list goes on and many c a l l it part of the mark of the beast.
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For example paying taxes to the Internal Revenue and the military draft is voluntary, if you sign away your rights by applying for a social security number, you are now a part of their system, the United States of America, and must play by their rules. When you sign for the social security number you also give the system of the United States Government jurisdiction over you anywhere in the world. You are no longer a free man, you gave that right away when you applied for that number. Many of us have been placed into this system by our parents, who didn't know what they were putting their child into. Parents nowadays are not able to use children as tax deductions unless the child has a social security number. There after the child or even and uninformed adult is placed into a system of control by "Fraud".
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DO YOU REALLY UNDERSTAND THE TERM UNITED STATES?
United States of America -- united States of America
DO THEY MEAN THE SAME THING?
The very first thing you must do is look at a statute (law created by men) that uses the term "United States" is a metaphor. In other words, it can mean more than one thing, depending on how it is used. ( Cunard S. S. Co, vs. Mellon, 262 US 100, pg. 122.) I will not quote any of the cases, but will only give you the cities (case#), unless it is imperative that I quote from the case. The term "united States" can have more than one meaning. It is referred to in Black's Law Dictionary, 5th Ed., pg. 1375. and the Supreme Court States:
"The term "United States" may be used in one of several senses. It may be merely the name of a sovereign in a family of nations. It may designate territory over which sovereignty of the United States extends, or it may be a collective name of the States which are united by and under the Constitution." -Hooven & Allison Co. vs. Evatt, 324 US 652, pg. 672 & 673.
When looking at statutes, one must look at what the Supreme Court said with reference to understanding a statute;
"The starting point in any endeavor to construe a Statute is always the words of the Statute itself; unless Congress has clearly indicated that its intention are contrary to the words it employed in the Statute, this is the ending point of interpretation."Richards vs. United States, 369 US 1, 9, 82 S. Ct. 585, 590, 7 I. Ed. 2nd.
492(1962).
We now go to the Federalist Papers which explain what the words expressed in the Constitution meant by the very people who helped write them. They are explaining intent. Both the Federalist Papers and the Constitution are in p l a i n English and contain no legal jargon, so they cannot be misunderstood. You must read Federalist Paper 39 wherein it states"... first in order to ascertain the real character of the government, it may be considered in relation to the foundation...(preamble)., on which it is to be established;....".
Now comes the hard part. In Federalist Papers 1 through 7 the term "United States" is never mentioned except for the first sentence in Federalist Paper No. I. The Framers spoke only of America which was the thirteen colonies (States) as there was no United States. These Framers were the People of the Colonies. They were telling the people of America that they were going to form a more perfect Union by creating, first the United States, which was not one of the Colonies, but a separate entity in itself. To prove this, the last eight words of the preamble ("this Constitution for the United States of America") explains it, wherein they stated that they were going to establish a Constitution for the entity called the United belonging to America.
If you have a hard time grasping what I am saying, then look up the word "of in the dictionary. Does it not say "belonging to"? It also means "Origin." Remember, America, the States of the Union, cannot and does not belong to the united States which was formed by the Framers (people of america who were calling themselves at that time "We the People of the United States, "for they equated themselves as the origin of the United States. Look up the definition of "United States" in Bouvier's 1870 Dictionary. In this instance, the word "of means origin. They did not say "We the People of the united States of America," did they?
They did create a Constitution (or Contract) FOR the United States which belongs to (of) America. America is the Union of States united by and under the Constitution, as the Hooven Court stated, that ratified the contract in which it was understood the States gave only limited rights which were enumerated (spelled out) in the main body of the Constitution.
Federalist paper # 15 proves my above statements.
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"The great and radical vice in the construction of the existing Confederation is in the principle of LEGISLATION for STATES for GOVERNMENT, in their CORPORATE or COLLECTED CAPACITY, as contradistinguished from the INDIVIDUALS of whom they consist. Though this principle does not run through all the power delegated to the Union, yet it pervades and governs those on which the efficacy of the rest depends. Except as to the rule of apportionment, the United States have an indefinite discretion to make requisitions for men and money; but they have no authority to raise either by regulation extending to the individual citizens of America.
Now let us move to a modern-day definition. In a Tax case cited as Moore vs. U.S., 87-1 USTC 9848: "MEMORANDUM ORDER AND OPINION....Defendant United States of America ("United States") has filed...." Here again is proof that the term United States of America, in plain English, means the United States, and not the 50 States of the Union (has filed, not have filed!).
Since you can define the United States three ways you had better be sure how the term United States is being used. Are you a Citizen or citizen?
1. I am a Citizen of the United States like you are a Citizen of China. Here you have defined yourself as a National from a Nation with regard to another Nation.
2. I am a United States Citizen. Here you have defined yourself as a person residing in the District of Columbia, one of its Territories, or federal enclaves (area within a Union State) or living abroad, which could be in one of the States of the Union.
3. I am a Citizen of these United States. Here you have defined yourself as a Citizen of one of the 50 States united by and under the Constitution.
The way to make statement #3 grammatically correct is, "I am a Citizen of these united States." This would be as it was written in the Declaration of Independence, providing you get a copy of the Original Document. What is now printed in the books has been changed to a Capital "U" for united. One other way #3 can be stated is; I am a Citizen of the united States.
When you use the term United States, it can be plural or singular. This phrase; "Every person born or naturalized in the defines the United States in its singular form because of the work"its."
This is found in 26 CFR 1.1-1 (c) which is a United States regulation, that cannot be used on an American
citizen. See Hamilton Fed. Paper # 1 5 supra. Citizen with a small "c" denotes and inferior subject to the capitalized United States, which is a proper Noun. Also for the United States to be plural the phrase would
have to state, " .... and subject to their jurisdiction..." Notice how nicely the people who write the tax laws use
correct and proper English. Most Americans don't bother to sit down with Congress' definitions and find out how the exact words are used in the Taxing Statutes.
The definitions used in 26 USC or 26 CFR are very clear in defining State and United States. In every definition that used the work "include," only the words that follow are defining the Term. For example:
SEC. 3121 (e) (1) "State. The term "State" includes the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto
Rico, the Virgin Islands, Guam and American Samoa."
SEC. 7701 (a) (9) "United States. The term "United States" when used in a geographical sense includes only the States and the District of Columbia."
The Government has used these definitions correctly but people assume they mean the 50 States of the Union (American) when they look at the word States in 7701 (a) (9). You cannot use common everyday usage of the words "United States" or "State" when talking about the Tax Laws.
Please go to your Library and pick up the Omnibus Acts. They can be found by looking up 86th Congress volume 73, 1959, volume 74, 1960. These are Public Laws 86-70, 86-624. This points out the crafty way the
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Government uses correct English and how Congress changes words by using their definitions, because all the United States codes had to be changed to allow Alaska and Hawaii to join the Union of States, a glaring example is when Alaska joined, congress added a new definition, that being, "Continental United States."
"Sec. 48. Whenever the phrase "continental United States" is used in any law of the United States enacted after the date of enactment of this Act, it shall mean the 49 States on the North American Continent and the District of Columbia, unless otherwise expressly provided."
When is it expressly provided?
"Sec. 22(a) Section 2202 of the Internal Revenue code of 1954 (relating to missionaries in foreign service), and section 3121 (e) (1), 3306 (j), 4221 (d) (4), and 4233 (b) of such code (each relating to a special definition of "State") are amended by striking out "Alaska."
"(b) Section 4262 (c) ( 1 ) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954 (definition of "continental United States";--The term "continental United States" means the District of Columbia and the "States" other than Alaska and Hawaii.
WHAT ARE THE STATES OTHER THAN ALASKA AND HAWAII? They certainly cant be the other
48 States united by and under the Constitution, because Alaska and Hawaii just joined them, Right? The same definitions apply to the Social Security Acts. So what is left, Puerto Rico, Guam, Virgin Islands, etc. These are the States of (belonging to) the United States and are referred to as "the States of the United States." Do not confuse this term with States of the Union, remember what the word "of means.
Congress can change the definition of United States for two sentences and then revert back to the definition it used before the two sentences. This is what they did in Public Law 86-624, pg. 414, under School Operation Assistance in Federally affected areas (d) (2):
"The fourth sentence of such subsection is amended by striking out "in the continental United States (other than Puerto Rico. Wake Island, Guam, or the Virgin Islands)" and by striking out "continental United States" in clause (ii) of such sentence and inserting in lieu thereof "United States (which for purposes of this sentence and the next sentence means the fifty States and the District of Columbia)." The fifth sentence of such subsection is amended by striking out "continental" before "United States" each time it appears therein and by striking out (including Alaska)."
Now since typewriters could be purchased from the areas that just joined the Union, according to Title 1. Congress had to use a term that is NOT used in the Internal Revenue Code.
"Sec. 45. Title 1 of the Independent Office Appropriation Act, I960, is amended by striking out the words "for the purchase within the continental limits of the United States of any typewriting machines" and inserting in lieu thereof "for the purchase within the STATES OF THE UNION and the District of Columbia of any typewriting machines."
Another point brought out by the Omnibus Acts is that Selective Service Sec. 36 Section 16 (b) does not apply to the 50 States of the Union.
Does this prove that lack of knowledge will keep you in chains?
AN ANALOGY TO THE ABOVE
This would be like saying, "the dog's bone." You haven't defined whose bone it is. It could belong to the dog next door, but drop the letter "s" from dogs, put in "and it's." (i.e.. and it's the dog bone) then it's no question that it belongs to A dog. But what dog, yours or the one next door. Now have you assumed the bone I'm talking about is a bone a dog would eat? Could be, because I haven't defined the type of bone it is, have I?
The United States is a proper noun ending in "S" so the "S" is not dropped when made a singular noun. I won't do your thinking for you. but look what Congress did in 26 CFR 1-1.1 A, B & C.
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I never say I am a United states citizen. Since citizen in t h i s case is used in 26 CFR ! 1 - l (c), it means you are subject to its (United States) jurisdiction since you are deemed to be a citizen "of the U.S.. residing "at Home" (D. C.) or residing abroad. Remember. Congress can and does define any term to its liking as long as it serves their purpose. A grey elephant today can be defined as a pink elephant tomorrow, so don't argue that it's a grey elephant in court the day after tomorrow.
Have you ever heard the President being introduced on TV or at any public function as "the President of the United States of America? NO? Why not? Who does he preside over? Does the Governor of your State ask Bush to OK a final B i l l that he just signed?
Here are the facts concerning the term "United States" used in the Tax Laws:
1. "United States" docs not mean the fifty States of the Union, unless Expressly stated.
2. "United states" means areas within the fifty States of the Union which are ceded to the "United States."
3. "United state"means the possessions which are states of Guam, american Samoa. Puerto Rico, and the
(American) Virgin Islands.
4. Both 2 and 3 are called "states" and are not to be confused with States of the Union.
]5. "United States" are; Congress assembled, at home (the seat of Government), District of Columbia and its territories (called states) and possessions (ceded areas).
6. "United States" citizen does not mean a Union State Citizen.
Fact number 5 "at home," as used in the first Income Tax Act of 1913, means the east of Government as defined in dictionaries at that time. You will not find the term "at Home" in modern-day dictionaries. What are Ceded areas? Look in your State Statues for the areas which your State ceded (turned over) to the United States. For example:
New Jersey Statute Annotated. Title 52. Chapter 30. Sec. 1.2. & e. General Laws of Idaho Annotated. Chapter
7. Sec. 58701. 702. 705. Missouri Statutes, chapter 12, Sec. 12.010. 020. 030. & 040.
Constitution of the State of Texas, Art. 16. Sec. 34, & Revised Civil Statute, Title 85, Art. 5242 to 5252.
Why all this confusion over the simple term "United States?" Everybody knows that the District of Columbia is not a State like the 50 States of the Union, and yet it is referred to in all the United States Codes as a "State." This is why:
"The District of Columbia is not a "state" within meaning of the constitution." - U.S. vs. Virginia, 1805
"Under Act of Congress of 1801, 2 Stat. 103, assuming the government of the District of Columbia in virtue of the secession from Maryland and Virginia, the laws of those states and the proceeding in their courts as parts of those laws were recognized within such portion of the district respectively, as originally were within the l i m i t s of the ceding states." - U. S. vs. Eliason, 41 U.S. 291, 16 Peter 291,10 L Ed. 968
"The corporation which 16 Stat. 419 created by the name of the District of Columbia succeeded to the property and l i a b ilities of the corporations which were thereby abolished." District of Columbia vs. Cluss, 103 U. S.
705, 26 L Ed. 445
The District of Columbia is a corporation (and body politic) which is also known as "United States." It must have its own definition for "State" since it and the Territorial states (Guam, etc.) were not formed by and under the Constitution. Since it is the Primary State owning Guam, Puerto Rico, etc., it is referred to a "States" in Income Tax and Social Security laws, as well as all other Codes of the United States.
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How are these states lumped together with the 50 American States in the Internal Revenue Code when they cannot be classed as States under the Constitution? Use the word "means," because to use "includes" as defined in IRS is restrictive. An example. Sec. 6103 (b)(5) States;
"The term State means any of the 50 States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of the Northern
Mariana Islands, and the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands."
In the spoken form you must ask the person who is asking the question to define the way they are using the term "United States" such as Is it the 50 States of the Union united by and under the constitution, is it the District of Columbia and its Enclaves & Possessions, or are you referring to the Nation?
Remember, this Article deals only in defining the tennis "United States", "united States" and "America".
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