PLAN OF ASSOCIATION OF THE NORTH AMERICAN LAND COMPANY, ESTABLISHED FEBRUARY, 1795

25, [3 blanks] pp. Bound into later morocco, with gilt-lettered spine label. Upper portion of front free endpaper clipped. A clean text. Very Good. This variant without the folding leaf of Clement Biddle's certification found in some copies, but frequently absent. Howes and De Renne do not record the folding plate. Sabin, ESTC, and Shipton & Mooney do. The Plan of Association-- the Prospectus for the North American Land Company, founded in 1795-- was the brainchild of Founding Father and Financier of the Revolution Robert Morris. "At a great expence of money and time, with much industry," the Company acquired "six millions of acres" of prime lands in "Pennsylvania, Virginia, North-Carolina, South-Carolina, Georgia and Kentucky." Morris joined with John Nicholson and James Greenleaf as original Subscribers to the Company, whose twenty-eight Articles of Agreement are printed here. The Company's 30,000 shares of stock were each valued at $100.00. This document itemizes, by County within each State, the Company's lands. "From the beginning, the North American Land Company was plagued by serious financial difficulties. Firstly, the authenticity of many of the titles to the lands were questioned. Secondly, the land company owned more than 2 million acres in the Georgia 'Pine Barrens'. These large tracts of barren wilderness were uninhabited, covered in sandy soil, and consequently difficult to sell to land purchasers and settlers. Furthermore, Morris, a former delegate to the Continental Congress and signer of the Declaration of Independence, sent his son-in-law, James Marshall, to Europe in order to sell shares in the company stock. Due to financial difficulties in Europe and doubts about the value of the North American Land Company's holdings, Marshall was unsuccessful . Morris and Nicholson soon became bankrupt and sent to debtors' prison" [description from online Historical Society of Pennsylvania]. Reese, Federal Hundred 53. Evans 29220. Howes P-412. I De Renne 270. Sabin 55548.…