both houses of the Georgia Legislature marched in solemn state to the
Capitol front and burned the deed.] The ground upon which this
appropriation was made by Congress was that the Supreme Court of the
United States had decided that, irrespective of the methods used to
obtain the grant from the Georgia Legislature, the grant, once made,
was in the nature of a contract which could not be revoked or
impaired by subsequent legislation. This was the first of a long line
of court decisions validating grants and franchises of all kinds
secured by bribery and fraud.

It was probably the scandal arising from the bribery of the Georgia
Legislature that caused popular ferment, and crystallized a demand
for altered laws. In 1796 Congress declared its intention to abandon
the prevailing system of selling millions of acres to companies or
individuals. The new system, it announced, was to be one adapted to
the interests of both capitalist and poor man. Land was thereafter to
be sold in small quantities on credit. Could the mechanic or farmer
demand a better law? Did it not hold out the opportunity to the
poorest to get land for which payment could be gradually made?

But this law worked even better to the advantage of the capitalist
class than the old. By bribing the land officials the capitalists
were able to cause the choicest lands to be fraudulently withheld,
and entered by dummies. In this way, vast tracts were acquired.
Apparently the land entries were made by a large number of intending
settlers, but these were merely the intermediaries by which
capitalists secured great tracts in the form of many small
allotments. Having obtained the best lands, the capitalists then
often held them until they were in demand, and forced actual settlers
to pay heavily for them. During all of this time the capitalists