The California Gold Rush of 1849 created a lawless environment that enabled systematic land fraud and banking corruption as the region lacked effective legal institutions. When gold was discovered at Sutter’s Mill, California remained technically under American military occupation following …
Palmer (San Francisco banker)Pio PicoPeralta familyCalifornia state governmentsystematic-corruptionland-speculationfinancial-fraudinstitutional-failureeconomic-extraction
President Andrew Jackson orders Treasury Secretary Levi Woodbury to issue the Specie Circular, an executive order requiring that payment for public lands be made exclusively in gold or silver (specie) rather than paper currency, effective August 15, 1836 for purchases over 320 acres. The policy aims …
Andrew JacksonLevi WoodburyMartin Van BurenU.S. Treasury DepartmentLand speculatorsfinancial-manipulationeconomic-policyjackson-erabanking-systemland-speculation+1 more
President Andrew Jackson signs the Indian Removal Act into law, authorizing the president to grant lands west of the Mississippi River to Native American tribes in exchange for their ancestral homelands within existing state borders. The legislation passes narrowly in the House (102 to 97) despite …
Andrew JacksonU.S. CongressCherokee NationFive Civilized TribesLand speculators+1 moreethnic-cleansingindian-removalinstitutional-corruptionland-speculationslave-power+2 more
The U.S. Supreme Court rules in Fletcher v. Peck that Georgia’s attempt to rescind the fraudulent 1795 Yazoo land sale violates the Constitution’s contract clause, marking the first time the Court strikes down a state law. Chief Justice John Marshall writes that while the bribery of …
Chief Justice John MarshallU.S. Supreme CourtJohn PeckRobert FletcherGeorgia Legislaturejudicial-corruptioncontract-clauseelite-protectionland-speculationaccountability-evasion
Georgia Governor George Mathews signs the Yazoo Act, transferring 35 million acres in present-day Alabama and Mississippi to four land development companies for $500,000—approximately $0.014 per acre—in the largest land fraud perpetrated during the Federalist Era. Georgia’s Federalist U.S. …
Georgia LegislatureGovernor George MathewsSenator James GunnFour land development companiesland-speculationlegislative-corruptionbriberyelite-corruptionsystematic-corruption