Page:Confederate Military History - 1899 - Volume 1.djvu/110

78 British character, which is as positive and magnanimous in concession as it is bold and haughty in aggression, Great Britain consented that .the boundaries should be established in accordance with her charters to the several States, and in the case of the northwestern boundary, yielded her claims under the &quot;Quebec Act&quot; to the principle of uti possidetis, which Virginia so happily supplied by the success of her expedition under George Rogers Clarke. The boundaries were established to extend to the Great Lakes, the Mississippi river and the Florida line, embracing all the western territory within the charter claims of Georgia, the Carolinas, Virginia, Connecticut and Massachusetts, the claim of Virginia alone extending to Lake Superior.

Let us now review the controversy which a few of the States without color of title and the land companies so long waged in Congress against the charter claimants, especially against Virginia, and let us begin at the be ginning. This controversy started in 1776 between Maryland and Virginia, and grew out of the proceedings connected with the instructions to the Virginia delegates to move in Congress for independence, confederation and foreign alliances. Virginia was the leader in these three propositions. Maryland instructed her delegates to oppose them all.

The conventions of the two States were in session at the same time. Let us examine their proceedings to arrive at the origin of the controversy.

The Virginia convention met at Williamsburg, May 6, 1776. Some of her leaders were absent. Washington was in command of the army. Jefferson, Richard Henry Lee and George Wythe were in Congress. Yet many of her ablest men were present, some of whom were already famous, and others were to gain fame in this assembly. Patrick Henry was there in the plenitude of his powers, the ruling spirit of the convention. Edmund Pendleton presided over the deliberations.