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Show PRIVATE LAND CLAIMS 105 being confirmed for a league square (7,056 arpents) and in 1836 in the long awaited Soulard case it declared the 10,000-arpent claim valid. John Smith T, however, who had created so much trouble by extending his floating claim over the mining area, suffered the mortification of having it struck down, and Congress excluded him from the benefits of the Act of July 4, 1836, which approved for title all claims confirmed by the land commissioners.M By 1836 the bulk of the work involved in adjudicating the Missouri land claims had been done, the Board of Land Commissioners thought, though it conceded there still remained 700 claims for future consideration, the larger part probably being village lots.55 The decisions of the Supreme Court provided new and more liberal guidelines and gave encouragement to persons whose claims had been rejected, sometimes after two or more trials by the land commissioners. Repeated efforts to have rejected claims reconsidered were made by Lewis F. Linn, Senator from Missouri, who had been a member of the very generous Board of Land Commissioners in 1832 and who stated in 1842 that the many claims still to be passed upon belonged to nonresidents and minors. Linn succeeded Benton as spokesman and defender of the claim owners. For 7 years he annually won the approval of the Senate for reviving the adjudication process, but did not find the House cooperative. Under the leadership of Senator David R. Atchison, after Linn's death, and Representative John Slidell who had major personal interests at stake, and with the help of Representatives from Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Florida, a general bill providing for the final adjustment of land claims in all public land states of the South, including Missouri, be- came law on May 26, 1844.56 The measure revived for 5 years the Act of May 26, 1824, allowing persons whose claims had previously been tried and rejected to take their cases to the Federal District Courts and, if unsuccessful, to carry them on appeal to the Supreme Court. An amendment adopted by the House but eliminated in conference would have prevented consideration of claims previously declared null and void or which had been barred by laws of Congress.57 Those claimants who won their cases and whose land had been sold or otherwise disposed of by the government, were to be allowed an equivalent amount of scrip subject to location elsewhere on the surveyed public lands. On June 22, 1860, Congress again provided for the "final adjustment" of land claims in Missouri, Florida, and Louisiana but this time reverted to Benton's favorite device of having the recorder of land titles with the register and receiver investigate unsettled titles and report their findings to the Commissioner of the General Land Office who might reject or approve their recommendations and pass them on to Congress for action. Claims twice rejected were not to be considered and those previously rejected for fraud were not to be confirmed. Under certain conditions appeals were allowed to be carried by the claimant to the Supreme Court. Further extensions of the time in which claims could be filed were made on March 2, 1867, and June 10, 1872.58 One might have expected that after 70 years of increasingly liberal legislation the process of adjudicating the land claims in Missouri would have been terminated, but 64 This paragraph is based on a tabulation of confirmed claims in the Supreme Court Reports for the years 1830-36. "Board of Land Commissioners, Sept. 30, 1830, American State Papers, Public Lands, VIII, 22. 56 House Journal, 28th Cong., 1st sess., June 14, 1844 (Serial No. 438), p. 1122. The vote in the House was 86-84. 5 Stat. 676. 67 House Journal, 28th Cong., 1st sess. (Serial No. 438), June 14, 1844, p. 1118. 58 House Reports, 30th Cong., 1st sess., April 26, 1848, Vol. Ill, No. 506 (Serial No. 526); House Reports, 43d Cong., 1st sess., June 4, 1874, Vol. IV., No. 635 (Serial No. 1626); 12 Stat. 85; 14 Stat. 544 and 17 Stat. 378. |