# Macomb's Purchase

> Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Macomb's_Purchase
> Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Macomb's_Purchase.md
> Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macomb's_Purchase
> Source revision: 1341703535
> License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)

'''Macomb's Purchase''' was a near 4 million acre tract of northern [New York State](/source/New_York_(state)) purchased from the state in 1791 by [Alexander Macomb](/source/Alexander_Macomb_(merchant)), a merchant turned land speculator who had become wealthy during the [American Revolutionary War](/source/American_Revolutionary_War).

==History==
In 1792, a decade after the end of the  [American Revolutionary War](/source/American_Revolutionary_War), the state of New York was struggling financially. It opened for sale nearly five million acres of land which state officials, under pressure from land speculators and other business interests, had forced the [Iroquois](/source/Iroquois) tribes, allies of the British during the rebellion, to cede. Alexander Macomb, William Constable, and [Daniel McCormick](/source/Daniel_McCormick_(banker)) agreed to purchase nearly {{convert|4000000|acre|ha}} from the state at the extremely low price of 8 [pence](/source/Penny) (New York state money) per acre.<ref>Barlow, p. 2.</ref><ref name="Schneider90">Schneider, p. 90.</ref> This was an enormous amount of land, about one-eighth of the entire state of New York, and included a large amount of land of the [Oneida people](/source/Oneida_people), who'd sided with the rebels during the Revolution.  Convinced something illegal must have occurred, the New York State Legislature held exhaustive hearings into the land purchase, but no wrongdoing was uncovered.<ref name="Schneider90" />

Macomb, however, was unable to sell his land to settlers and developers fast enough to fund his massive purchase. He went bankrupt and was sentenced to [debtor's prison](/source/debtor's_prison) six months after the purchase was made.<ref name="Schneider90" /> Macomb sold {{convert|2000000|acre|ha}} to Constable for 50,000 pounds (New York money), who six months later sold {{convert|1000000|acre|ha}} to banker [Samuel Ward](/source/Samuel_Ward_(banker)) for 100,000 pounds.<ref name="Schneider90" />  Ward, in turn, sold {{convert|210000|acre|ha}} to [James Greenleaf](/source/James_Greenleaf), the son of a wealthy Boston merchant.<ref name="barlow3">Barlow, p. 3.</ref> Greenleaf had purchased a cargo of [tea](/source/tea) from [Rhode Island](/source/Rhode_Island) merchant [John Brown](/source/John_Brown_(Rhode_Island_politician)) (whose family funded and lent its name to [Brown University](/source/Brown_University)). Greenleaf paid for the cargo partly in cash, and partly with the land he owned in New York. This {{convert|210000|acre|ha|adj=on}} became known as Brown's Tract.<ref name="barlow3" />

Constable further subdivided his land into numerous plots. He found buyers worldwide: the [High Sheriff of London](/source/Sheriff_of_London), [England](/source/England), purchased {{convert|26000|acre|ha}} for a [shilling](/source/shilling) an acre.<ref name="Schneider90" />

==Description==
Macomb's Purchase was {{convert|3670715|acre|sqmi}} (1,485,486 ha) in size, or nearly 1,000 square miles larger than the land area of the current state of [Connecticut](/source/Connecticut) and 50% larger than the states of [Delaware](/source/Delaware) and [Rhode Island](/source/Rhode_Island) combined. The tract included much of northern New York along the [St. Lawrence River](/source/St._Lawrence_River) and eastern [Lake Ontario](/source/Lake_Ontario) (including the [Thousand Islands](/source/Thousand_Islands)). The purchase was eventually divided into 10 large townships. From this purchase are derived the deeds for all the lands that are now included in [Lewis](/source/Lewis_County%2C_New_York), [Jefferson](/source/Jefferson_County%2C_New_York), and [St. Lawrence](/source/St._Lawrence_County%2C_New_York) counties, as well as portions of [Franklin](/source/Franklin_County%2C_New_York), [Herkimer](/source/Herkimer_County%2C_New_York), and [Oswego](/source/Oswego_County%2C_New_York) counties.

==Bibliography==
*Barlow, Jane A. ''Big Moose Lake in the Adirondacks: The Story of the Lake, the Land, and the People.'' Syracuse, N.Y.: Syracuse University Press, 2004.
*Schneider, Paul. ''The Adirondacks: A History of America's First Wilderness.'' New York: Henry Holt and Co., 1997.

==See also==
* [Castorland Company](/source/Castorland_Company)

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{coord|44.445|-75.567|type:landmark_globe:earth_region:US-NY|display=title}}

Category:Geography of New York (state)
Category:Land speculation in the United States
Category:1792 in New York (state)

{{NewYork-geo-stub}}

---
Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Macomb's Purchase](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macomb's_Purchase) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macomb's_Purchase?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.