History of public land law development

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156 HISTORY OF PUBLIC LAND LAW DEVELOPMENT whereas, we duly appreciate the benefit which may result from such an association, not only in regulating the manner of making and sustaining claims, and settling differences in regard to them, but in securing the same to the holders thereof against speculators at the land sale; and being well aware that consequences the most dangerous to the interests of settlers will follow, if such a union be not formed; and as Government has heretofore encouraged emigration by granting pre-emption to actual settlers, we are assured that our settling and cultivating the public lands is in accordance with the best wishes of Government; and knowing that in some instances our neighbors have been dealt with in an unfeeling manner, driven from their homes, their property destroyed, their persons attacked, and their lives jeoparded [sic], to satisfy the malignant disposition of unprincipled and avaricious men: and looking upon such proceedings as unjust, calculated to produce anarchy, confusion and the like among us, destroy our fair prospects, subvert the good order of society, and render our homes the habitation of terror and distrust-those homes, to obtain which we have left our friends, deprived ourselves of the many blessings and privileges of society, have born the expenses, and encountered the hardships of a perilous journey, advancing into a space beyond the bounds of civilization, and having the many difficulties and obstructions of a state of nature to overcome, and on the peaceable possession of which our all is depending: We, therefore, as well meaning inhabitants, having in view the promotion of the interest of our settlement and knowing the many advantages derived from unity of feelings and action, do come forward this day, and solemnly pledge ourselves to render each other our mutual assistance, in the protection of our just rights, and in furtherance of these views, we adopt and agree to abide by and support, the following Constitution.32 In the preamble of the Milwaukee Union, speculators were urged "to remember the mournful feelings of the emigrant, sobbing adieu to the tombs and temples of his fathers -his toils and sufferings in building up a new habitation. . . ." By 1839 claims associations had made for themselves a respected place in western development: they were recognized by land officers, moneylenders, speculators, and po- tential claim jumpers. Best known of all the claims clubs was that of Johnson County, Iowa, created on March 9, 1839. The fees of the officers and the duties of the judges or adjustors of claims were spelled out, methods of staking out claims were prescribed, a maximum of 480 acres was established as the acreage settlers could hold, and the amount of improvements persons must make to have their claims qualify for protection was stated.33 Occupancy rights to claims were often conveyed and the relinquishment or conveyance copied on the books of the recorder of the claims association. In a fluid society such as existed in eastern Iowa during the years 1837 to 1857, with immigrants pressing in and creating a demand for land that sent prices upward, the earliest pioneers were led by the rising value of their improvements to sell and to move on to other frontiers. The traffic in such conveyances was heavy, giving rise to a demand for the protection which the claim associations provided. To give legal standing to such conveyances before actual title to the land had been given by the United States, territories and states made them-whether written or oral-as valid and binding as if the grantor had had a fee simple title. Indiana's statute was adopted in 1834, Wisconsin's in 1836, Illinois' in 1839 and 1845, and Iowa's in 1839.M Early settlers took up the better located tracts with reference to supplies of timber, rivers, roads, and markets. They also avoided 32 State Historical Society of Wisconsin, Collections, II (1855) 472-73, and III (1856) 370-86; Ibid., 475. 33 Benjamin F. Shambaugh found not only the constitution but also the manuscript minutes of this association, together with the recorded claims and the quitclaim deeds of the members, which are published in Constitution and Records of the Claim Association of Johnson County, Iowa (Iowa City, Iowa, 1894), pp. 196 ff. 34 Henry Tatter, "The Preferential Treatment of the Actual Settler in the Primary Disposition of the Vacant Lands in the United States" (Ph.D. dissertation, Northwestern University, 1932), pp. 455 ff. Tatter also has a useful treatment of the rights of squatters prior to the General Preemption Act of 1841.