tes as to the actual ownership and possession of
the lands they claimed. Virginia and North Carolina were the only two
who had reduced to some kind of occupation a large part of the territory
to which they asserted title. Their backwoodsmen had settled in the
lands so that they already held a certain population. Moreover, these
same backwoodsmen, organized as part of the militia of the parent
States, had made good their claim by successful warfare. The laws of the
two States were executed by State officials in communities scattered
over much of the country claimed. The soldier-settlers of Virginia and
North Carolina had actually built houses and forts, tilled the soil, and
exercised the functions of civil government, on the banks of the Wabash
and the Ohio, the Mississippi, the Cumberland, and the Tennessee.
Counties and districts had been erected by the two States on the western
waters; and representatives of the civil divisions thus constituted sat
in the State Legislatures. The claims of Virginia and North Carolina to
much of the territory had behind them the substantial element of armed
possession. The settlement and conquest of the lands had been achieved
without direct intervention by the Federal Government; though of course
it was only the ultimate success of the nation in its contest with the
foreign foe that gave the settlement and conquest any value.

Georgia.

As much could not be said for the claims of the other States. South
Carolina's claim was to a mere ribbon of land south of the North
Carolina territory, and need not be considered; ceded to the Government
about the time the Northwest was organized. [Footnote: For an account of
this cession see Mr. Garrett's excellent paper in the publications of
the Tennessee Historical Society.] Georgia asserted that her boundaries
extended due west to the Mississippi, and that all between was hers. But
the entire western portion of the territory was actually held by the
Spaniards and by the Indian tribes tributary to the Spaniards. No
subjects of Georgia lived on it, or were allowed to live on it. The few
white inhabitants were subjects of the King of Spain, and lived under
Spanish law; the Creeks and Choctaws were his subsidized allies; and he
held the country by right of conquest. Georgia, a weak and turbulent,
though a growing State, was powerless to enforce her claims. Most of the
territory to which she asserted title did not in truth become part of
the Unite