1817 James Monroe - Land Speculators in Alabama

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Under President Thomas Jefferson, Congress passed he Land Act of 1804, superseding the Harrison Land Act of 1800. Both the act of 1800 and that of 1804, were passed to make migration to the western United States more attractive. The Harrison Act defined the minimum amount of land that could be purchased at 640 acres, while the 1804 act permitted the government to auction the land on credit with a standard 25% down payment and 6% interest. Much of the land available was in the Mississippi territory and was very well suited to growing cotton, much more fertile than the over-farmed lands of South Carolina. But in the immediate years after the land act of 1804, the market for English textiles and American cotton was depressed due to the trade embargoes enacted by the British and French. When Jefferson, responded with the Embargo Act of 1807, dealing a death blow to the industrial New England, it left the South with even less demand for their cotton, and kept the prices of land in the Mississippi territory low.

Despite, the low demand for Cotton and Indian hostilities in the area, settlers and speculators purchased over 77,000 acres of land in 1810. In 1809, President Madison had ordered land sales in what was to become the state of Alabama, and Americans living in crowded eastern states were drawn to the fertile lands and freedoms of the open territory. But soon, many more would follow them due to two major events. First, during the war of 1812, as a result of the Battle of Horsehoe Bend, the Creek tribes were signed the Treaty of Fort Jackson and ceded 23 million acres of their territory in Alabama and Georgia to the United States Government. Second, in 1815 with the final defeat of Napoleon and the collapse of the France's Continental blockade the demand for English textiles exploded, driving imports of Cotton into Europe causing it's prices to climb from 20 cents per pound in 1815 to 30 cents in 1817. As cotton prices rose, so did the demand for these fertile lands including the newly acquired 23 million acres, driving prices up. In Madison County, Alabama the prices increased from $2 per acre in 1817 to $7.40 per acre by 1818, with reports for some acres going for as high as $78. With rising prices, came land speculators. These were wealthy capitalists who were buying large tracts of land at low prices in expectation that the prices would rise.

In late 1817, President James Monroe was well aware of the land speculation, and he wanted to make it clear to Congress, that it was the nation and the public, not land speculators that ought to be benefiting from the increase in land value. In his first State of the Union address, Madison asked Congress to consider what new provisions could be made to the land acts of 1800 and 1804 to ensure that the land was used for emigration and that profits were returned to the public. Monroe began by reminding Congress that the nation had admitted into the Union several new states for which there was much vacant land soon, and demand for this land would likely increase with the termination of Indian hostilities. Monroe wrote that "the public lands are a public stock, which ought to be disposed of to the best advantage for the nation" and "the nation should therefore derive the profit proceeding from the continual rise in their value". Monroe explained that settlers or "emigrants" should be encouraged to compete and purchase the the land at a fair price, but that that the main objective should be to maximize the profit of the nation over the individual. While, there is no real way to stop wealthy capitalists from benefiting under any mode of sale, he warned against allowing forward looking speculators who might amass "vast bodies" of lands at low prices. Aside from taking profit, which should be left to the public, these speculators would also have the power to "control the emigration and settlement in such a manner as their opinion of their respective interests might dictate". And with this, Monroe asked Congress consider "such further provision may be made in the sale of the public lands, with a view to the public interest".