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3 unusual facts about Phelps and Gorham Purchase


Phelps and Gorham Purchase

Phelps believed that the line ran through Seneca Lake and included the former Indian settlement of the Indian village of Kandesaga, present-day Geneva, New York.

Phelps and Gorham then negotiated with Indians to obtain clear title from the Indians for the entire parcel, but were only able to get the title to the lands east of the Genesee River.

With the treaty, Massachusetts ceded its claim to the government, sovereignty, and jurisdiction of the region to New York, but retained the pre-emptive right to obtain aboriginal title from the native Americans.


Nathaniel Gorham

In connection with Oliver Phelps, he purchased from the state of Massachusetts in 1788 pre-emption rights to an immense tract of land in western New York State which straddled the Genesee River, all for the sum of $1,000,000 (the Phelps and Gorham Purchase).


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