Illinois-Wabash Company facts for kids
The Illinois-Wabash Company was a business formed in 1779. Its full name was the United Illinois and Wabash Land Company. It was created when two smaller companies, the Illinois Company and the Wabash Company, joined together.
These companies wanted to buy land from Native Americans in a place called the Illinois Country. This area in North America became part of Great Britain in 1763. The Illinois Company bought land in 1773. The Wabash Company bought more land in 1775.
However, a rule from Great Britain called the Royal Proclamation of 1763 said that private groups could not buy land from Native Americans. So, Great Britain did not accept these land deals.
Later, during the American Revolutionary War, the Illinois-Wabash Company asked both Virginia (which claimed the Illinois Country) and the new United States to approve their land purchases. But they were not successful. The United States eventually bought the same land from Native Americans and sold it to others. This led to a big court case.
In 1823, the Supreme Court of the United States heard the case Johnson v. McIntosh. The Court decided that the U.S. government, just like the British before them, would not recognize private land purchases from Native Americans. This meant the Illinois-Wabash Company's land deals were not valid.
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Why Land Purchases Were Denied
In the mid-1700s, business people and land buyers in the British Empire wanted to expand west. They looked beyond the Appalachian Mountains into North America's inner lands. Companies like the Ohio Company of Virginia were formed for this reason.
But Britain and France were fighting over this region. This led to the French and Indian War (1754–1763). After Britain won the war, the King made a rule called the Royal Proclamation of 1763. This rule helped organize the huge new lands Britain had won from France.
To prevent more wars, like Pontiac's Rebellion (1763–1766), the British government made a strict rule. It said that private people or companies could not buy land from American Indians. Only royal officials were allowed to make treaties and buy Native American lands.
Early Land Deals and British Rules
In 1768, some important business people from Philadelphia started trading in the Illinois Country. They sold supplies to American Indians and British soldiers. In 1773, William Murray, who worked for these merchants, heard about a British legal idea. It was called the Camden-Yorke Opinion.
Many people in North America thought this opinion meant that private land purchases from American Indians would now be allowed by the British King. So, Murray and his employers formed the Illinois Company. On July 5, 1773, they bought two large areas of land from the Kaskaskia, Peoria, and Cahokia tribes.
However, British officials refused to accept the Illinois Company's purchase. The way people in America understood the Camden-Yorke Opinion was wrong. In April 1774, Murray asked his relative, Lord Dunmore, who was the Royal Governor of Virginia, for help.
Dunmore agreed to support the company's land deals if he got a share of the profits. Murray then created the Wabash Company, and Lord Dunmore became a member. On October 18, 1775, an agent for the Wabash Company bought two more areas of land. These were along the Wabash River from the Piankeshaw tribe. This deal was called the 'Piankeshaw Deed'.
Soon after the American Revolutionary War began, Lord Dunmore had to leave Virginia. So, the companies had to find new officials to approve their land purchases.
Company Merger and U.S. Denial
During the war, the British had very few soldiers in the Illinois Country. It was far from the main fighting. In July 1778, Colonel George Rogers Clark and a small group of soldiers took control of the region for Virginia. Virginia claimed the entire Illinois Country because of its old colonial charter.
In December of that year, William Murray told the Virginia government about the land claims of the Illinois and Wabash companies. To make their efforts stronger, the two companies joined together on March 13, 1779. They became the United Illinois and Wabash Land Company.
Important Americans like James Wilson and Robert Morris became investors and supported the company. Other well-known members included Silas Deane, Samuel Chase, and Maryland governor Thomas Johnson.
Even with these powerful connections, Virginia did not recognize the Illinois-Wabash land purchases. Instead, Virginia created the "County of Illinois" in November 1779.
Since Virginia rejected them, the company tried to get the new national government of the United States to approve their claims. This issue became part of a bigger discussion in Congress. States without western lands wanted Virginia and other states with large land claims to give these lands to the national government. Virginia gave its western land claims to the United States in 1784.
Despite many requests from the Illinois-Wabash Company, which continued into the early 1800s, the U.S. government refused to recognize their land claims. The company slowly disappeared.
The Supreme Court's Decision
The United States eventually bought the lands in question from Native Americans through treaties made by William Henry Harrison. After the War of 1812, the United States began to give out land ownership papers to settlers.
In 1820, the person in charge of an Illinois-Wabash Company investor's estate sued William McIntosh. McIntosh was one of the biggest new landowners. The lawsuit claimed that McIntosh had bought land that rightfully belonged to the Illinois-Wabash Company. This was based on the company's earlier purchase from the Native Americans.
In 1823, this issue reached the U.S. Supreme Court in the case Johnson v. McIntosh. The Court decided that William McIntosh was right. It ruled that private purchases of Native American lands were not valid. This decision brought an end to the story of the Illinois-Wabash Company.
