United States Statutes at Large/Volume 5/26th Congress/2nd Session/Chapter 7
Chap. VII.—An Act to amend an act entitled “An act to authorize the State of Tennessee to issue grants and perfect titles to certain lands therein described, and to settle the claims to the vacant and unappropriated lands within the same,” passed the eighteenth day of April, one thousand eight hundred and six.
Act of April 18, 1806, ch. 31.
Tennessee to dispose of certain lands within said State.Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the State of Tennessee be, and hereby is, constituted the agent of the Government of the United States, with full power and authority to sell and dispose of the vacant, unappropriated, and refuse lands, within the limits of said State, lying south and west of the line commonly called the Congressional Reservation line, and described in the act to which this is an amendment; subject, nevertheless, to the following conditions and limitations, to wit:
Tennessee to satisfy all legal and bona fide claims of North Carolina upon said lands.First. The State of Tennessee shall satisfy all legal and bona fide claims of North Carolina upon said lands, by making provision, by law, that the holders of land warrants under the authority of the State of North Carolina, may locate the same upon the lands not previously located upon, or claimed as occupant pre-emptions, within one year from the time that the State of Tennessee shall make provision for carrying this act into effect; and in default of such location within the said term of one year, the said warrants may be satisfied by the payment of twelve and a half cents per acre for the number of acres contained in each warrant, to be paid out of the proceeds of the sale of said land: Provided, The holders shall present such warrant to the proper authorities for payment of the same within two years from the action of the Legislature of the State of Tennessee hereon: And provided, furthermore, That if the said warrants shall not be satisfied, either by the location of land within one year, or their presentation for payment within two years as aforesaid, the holders shall be for ever barred of all further claim or right to demand the same.
Persons entitled to occupancy and pre-emption by the laws of Tennessee, to have the preference.Second. In entering, purchasing, and disposing of said lands, or obtaining grants of the same, all and every person or persons, the legal representative of such person or persons, and the rightful assignee of such person or persons, as are entitled to the right of occupancy and pre-emption according to the laws of the State of Tennessee, shall have the preference in the entry or purchase of their occupant and pre-emption rights, at the price of twelve and a half cents per acre, not exceeding two hundred acres each.
Tennessee to dispose of the residue of said lands―how.Third. After satisfying the claims and rights aforesaid, the State of Tennessee shall offer for sale the rest and residue of said lands, in such manner, in such quantities, and by such description, as may be most convenient; and, for the full term of three years from and after the time herein allowed for the location of North Carolina land warrants, may sell and dispose of, and perfect titles to the same, at a price not less than twelve and a half cents per acre. And so much of the said land as may remain unsold at the expiration of the said term of three years, shall be disposed of as aforesaid, within the further term of three years, at such price per acre as it may bring in open market: Provided, That the proceeds of the sale of said lands, over and above so much thereof as shall be necessary to the satisfaction of said North Carolina claims, shall be accounted for and paid over by the State of Tennessee to the United States in the month of January annually.
Approved, February 18, 1841.