Yazwho?

Georgia was too weak after the Revolution to defend its western land. This land was called the "Yazoo lands" for the river that flowed through the westernmost part. The legislature listened to ideas from business men who were willing to pay for the right to create cities there.

Yazoo Land Sale

In 1789, the legislature sold about 25 million acres to three companies. The sale was halted six months later because Georgia wanted payment to be made in gold and silver rather than in paper money. Pressure to act continued to build on legislators until a majority reportedly favored the sale of the western territory. On January 7, 1795, Georgia's governor George Mathews signed the Yazoo Act, which sold 35 million acres in present-day Alabama and Mississippi to four companies for $500,000.

Did they get away with it?

The leader of the business men, James Gunn, arranged for payments of money and land to legislators, state officials, newspaper editors, and other influential Georgians. Georgia's most important leaders were given money in exchange for agreeing to the sale. After hearing about the Yazoo Act, the people of Georgia began crying bribery and corruption. Angry Georgians protested the sale in petitions and street protests. Despite the protests, the business men completed their purchase of Yazoo Land.

Who caught them?

After hearing about the bribery, Georgia's leading U.S. senator James Jackson resigned his seat and returned home to overturn the sale. After holding court cases that discovered the corruption charges, Jackson wrote the 1796 Rescinding Act, which cancelled the Yazoo land sale.

Jackson arranged for the destruction of records connected with the sale. Jackson made sure that state officials guilty of bribery were denied reelection. Jackson changed the state constitution to make sure the land sale was cancelled forever.

How does it end?

In 1802, commissioners from Georgia, including Jackson, transferred the land and the Yazoo claims to the federal government. The United States government paid Georgia $1.25 million for the land and agreed to end Native Americans' claims to land in Georgia. The business men who originally bought the Yazoo land wanted their money back, but Georgia refused. The business men sued Georgia, and in 1814, Congress gave $5 million from the proceeds of new Yazoo land sales to the business men.