American State Papers

Excerpts below from Chris Naylor’s article Summer 2005, Vol. 37, No. 2, “Those Elusive Early Americans: Public Lands and Claims in the American State Papers, 1789–1837,” published in Prologue. He is an archives technician in the Research Support Branch of the National Archives and Records Administration, Washington, D.C. He earned B.A. degrees in history and German from the University of Maryland, College Park.

“The American State Papers is a 38-volume published compilation of executive and legislative records dating from 1789 to 1838. In these years, Congress retained a prominent role in settling claims against the federal government. The thousands of claims and other records in the American State Papers preserved from the archives and manuscript records of the Senate and House of Representatives contain a wealth of information on individuals and families living in America during this period. One of these claims appearing in the American State Papers discloses Abraham Forbes's military service.

During the early Congresses, there was no general provision of law to establish guidelines for printing congressional documents. Printing was done unsystematically, with the majority of congressional records located solely in the archives of the two Houses. The burning of the Capitol by the British in 1814 exposed the vulnerability of these documents and heightened the Congress's interest in publishing the records in an organized and accessible form.

In 1817 Congress began distributing the United States Congressional Serial Set. This set of volumes contained reports and documents created by or presented to Congress that it felt needed wider circulation. The U.S. Serial Set was not retroactive and therefore did not contain the records for the first 14 Congresses. Recognizing the importance of preserving and making available to the public the records from the formative years of the country, Congress acted on a proposal by the printers Gales & Seaton and made provision in the following act of March 2, 1831, for that firm to publish executive and legislative writings from the first 13 Congresses

As a result of the above act (and the subsequent joint resolution of March 2, 1833 and act of June 12, 1858), between 1832 and 1861, Gales & Seaton published 38 volumes. The volumes contain documents covering the years 1789–1838, although not every class has documents from the entire period. The collection is titled the American State Papers and is organized into the following 10 classes or series:

• Foreign Relations
• Indian Affairs
• Finances
• Commerce and Navigation
• Military Affairs
• Naval Affairs
• Post Office Department
• Public Lands
• Claims
• Miscellaneous

While every class can be a valuable resource for genealogists, this article focuses on Class VIII (Public Lands) and Class IX (Claims). The tens of thousands of claims contained in these two classes can provide genealogical information, such as ages of claimants, locations of claims, places of residence, names of spouses, children and other relatives as well as record of the claimants' military service.”

Class VIII. Public Lands (1789–1837)

The public domain (public land) is land owned by the federal government that is subject to sale or transfer of ownership under laws passed by Congress. It includes western lands that the original states ceded to the United States as well as acquisitions from foreign governments. Congress was therefore initially responsible for many matters relating to the settlement of land in the public domain. The eight volumes of the Public Lands Class record thousands of diverse land claims and transactions regarding public domain, including military bounty lands, preemption rights, claims by refugees, agreements with Indian Nations, and the settlement of private land claims on public domain that the United States acquired from foreign governments.

Public land states are states that the federal government formed from the public domain. The Public Lands Class deals directly with land claims in these public land states: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Ohio, and Wisconsin.

The original 13 states and Hawaii, Kentucky, Maine, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, and West Virginia have no public domain. However, several of these states ceded land to Congress for the benefit of the United States. This land then became part of the public domain. The Public Lands Class contains information on these states or their cessions to the United States: Georgia, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Vermont, and Virginia.

To successfully claim land located within the public domain, one had to prove right to the land as recognized under public land laws. This meant that the claimant often had to produce evidence or at least explain the basis for the claim. One type of land claim, private land claims on public domain that the United States acquired from foreign governments, often offers researchers a unique opportunity to gain detailed information on the claimants and their families. The British, French, and Spanish governments granted a great deal of land within their American holdings to the inhabitants prior to the acquisition of the territories by the United States. After taking control of the land, the U.S. Government had to validate the titles originally granted by foreign authorities before the claimant could have legal possession of the land.