| Title: |
An Act for encouraging persons to settle on the waters of the Mississippi.
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| Source: |
Hening, William Waller, ed. The Statutes at Large, Being a Collection of All the Laws of Virginia, 1820.
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| Overview: |
Justified as a "means of cultivating a good correspondence with the neighbouring Indians," the provisions of this act encouraged "natural born subjects" and "foreign protestants" to settle along the waters of the Mississippi River. Settlements possessed security value since they served as a means of projecting the colony's strength along the frontier. The act exempted settlers on the western slope of the Appalachian Mountains from payment of all public levies for ten years.
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An Act for encouraging persons to settle on the waters of the Mississippi Maps: .
I. WHEREAS it will be a means of cultivating a good correspondence with the neighbouring Indians, if a proper encouragement be given to persons, to settle on the waters of Mississippi Maps: river, in the county of Augusta Maps: : And whereas a considerable number of persons, as well of his majesty's natural born subjects, as foreign protestants, are willing to import themselves, with their families and effects, and to settle upon the lands near the said waters, in case they can have such encouragement for so doing: And whereas the settling that part of the country, will add to the strength and security of the colony in general, and be a means of augmenting his majesty's revenue of quit rents;
II. Be it therefore enacted, by the Lieutenant Governor, Council, and Burgesses, of this present General Assembly, and it is hereby enacted by the authority of the same, That all and every person and persons, being Protestants, who shall hereafter settle and reside on any lands, situate to the westward of the ridge of mountains, that divides the rivers Roanoak Maps: , James Maps: , and Potomack Maps: , from the Mississippi Maps: , in the county of Augusta Maps: , shall be, and is, and are exempted, and discharged, from the payment of all public, county, and parish levies, for the term of ten years, next following, any law, usage, or custom, to the contrary thereof, in any wise, notwithstanding.
Banner image: From the Collection of The New-York Historical Society. Accession number 1867.306.
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