JAMES MONROE SIGNED 1820 PRESIDENTIAL LAND PATENT — ALABAMA — 159.5 ACRES — ORIGINAL GENERAL LAND OFFICE SEAL
Rare original 1820 United States land patent signed by President James Monroe during his first presidential term, conveying 159.50 acres of public land in the Old Southwest.
An exceptional original James Monroe presidential land patent, dated August 29, 1820, granting Simon Rodgers, assignee of Samuel Wilkinson, a tract containing 159 acres and 50/100 of an acre.
The patent describes the property as the northeast quarter of Section 35, Township 9, Range 1 East, issued through the federal land office at St. Stephens under the laws governing the sale of United States lands in Mississippi and Alabama.
The document is boldly signed at lower right “James Monroe” as President of the United States and countersigned by Josiah Meigs, Commissioner of the General Land Office.
Particularly desirable is the survival of the original General Land Office paper seal, affixed at lower left. The document also retains its original manuscript entries, official recording information, folds and other evidence of its use as an actual federal land-title instrument.
Dated only months after Congress enacted the Land Act of 1820, this document represents the rapidly expanding federal public-land system that opened vast areas of the American frontier to private ownership. Comparable Monroe land patents from 1820 have brought several hundred dollars at auction, with stronger examples achieving substantially more.
Condition: Original folds, age toning, foxing and staining. Small area of paper loss/hole near lower right and wear to the original paper seal. The document remains structurally sound and, most importantly, Monroe's presidential signature is exceptionally bold and clear.
An important original presidential document connecting James Monroe, the federal land office, and the early settlement of Alabama and the Old Southwest.
Rare original 1820 United States land patent signed by President James Monroe during his first presidential term, conveying 159.50 acres of public land in the Old Southwest.
An exceptional original James Monroe presidential land patent, dated August 29, 1820, granting Simon Rodgers, assignee of Samuel Wilkinson, a tract containing 159 acres and 50/100 of an acre.
The patent describes the property as the northeast quarter of Section 35, Township 9, Range 1 East, issued through the federal land office at St. Stephens under the laws governing the sale of United States lands in Mississippi and Alabama.
The document is boldly signed at lower right “James Monroe” as President of the United States and countersigned by Josiah Meigs, Commissioner of the General Land Office.
Particularly desirable is the survival of the original General Land Office paper seal, affixed at lower left. The document also retains its original manuscript entries, official recording information, folds and other evidence of its use as an actual federal land-title instrument.
Dated only months after Congress enacted the Land Act of 1820, this document represents the rapidly expanding federal public-land system that opened vast areas of the American frontier to private ownership. Comparable Monroe land patents from 1820 have brought several hundred dollars at auction, with stronger examples achieving substantially more.
Condition: Original folds, age toning, foxing and staining. Small area of paper loss/hole near lower right and wear to the original paper seal. The document remains structurally sound and, most importantly, Monroe's presidential signature is exceptionally bold and clear.
An important original presidential document connecting James Monroe, the federal land office, and the early settlement of Alabama and the Old Southwest.
