page_title: Handly's Lessee v. Anthony
section_title: Background
hierarchical_section_title: Handly's Lessee v. Anthony / Background
caption_attribution_description: English: The image represents a map of the eastern coast of the United States of America of today; the extension of the rights granted to the Virginia Company by the Plymouth Council. Those rights are widely known as "from sea to sea."
context_page_description: Handly's Lessee v. Anthony, 18 U.S. 374, is a ruling by the Supreme Court of the United States which held that the proper boundary between the states of Indiana and Kentucky was the low-water mark on the western and northwestern bank of the Ohio River. Motion by the plaintiff, Handly's lessee, to eject inhabitants of a peninsula in the Ohio River was denied.
context_section_description: In 1606, shortly before colonization began, James I of England granted the Charter of 1606 to the newly established Virginia Company, asserting royal title to Native American-occupied land between the 34th and 45th parallels of latitude and 100 miles (160 km) inland, and permitting the Virginia Company to establish colonies there. The Virginia Company's subsidiary, the Plymouth Company, was given title to land between the 38th and 45th parallel, while another subsidiary, the London Company, was given title to land between the 34th and 41st parallels. The charter created a conflicting title to the overlapping area between the 38th and 41st parallels, but since no colonies were planned for the area the conflict did not initially create problems. In 1609, James I redefined the Colony of Virginia's boundaries so that the northern boundary projected northwest from the coast, as well as asserting title to all land west to the Pacific Ocean.
  Conflicting land claims as well as claims that land grants extended to the Pacific Ocean proved highly contentious issues after the American Revolution. To help resolve the issue, in 1781 Virginia agreed to surrender to the United States federal government all title to its land claims west of the Ohio River. In making its cession, Virginia defined as its border the Ohio River, and required that Congress use the river as a border between the nascent state of Kentucky and any states fashioned out of the unsettled territory to the north. Title was transferred in 1784, and the United States Congress passed the Land Ordinance of 1784, Land Ordinance of 1785, and the Northwest Ordinance of 1787 to turn these lands into territories and (eventually) states. The Northwest Ordinance created the Northwest Territory, which encompassed the modern states of Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, and a portion of Minnesota. Kentucky remained unorganized, but its statehood was considered imminent. After 10 constitutional conventions and three statehood enabling acts passed by the Virginia legislature, Kentucky was admitted as a state on June 1, 1792. In preparation for Ohio statehood, the area encompassed by the modern state of Ohio was separated from the Northwest Territory on July 4, 1800, and the remaining territory renamed the Indiana Territory. The area that is now the modern state of Michigan was separated from the Indiana Territory in 1805 and incorporated as the Territory of Michigan. But with settlement of the area rapidly increasing, the area comprising the modern state of Indiana was reorganized in 1809 as the "Indiana Territory," with the remainder of the old Indiana Territory to the west organized as the Territory of Illinois. Indiana was admitted to statehood on December 9, 1816.
  The Ohio River forms the border between Indiana and Kentucky. At one point, the westward-flowing Ohio River formed a sharp meander, and across the narrowest point of the neck of land ran a dry channel that filled with water only when the river was about 10 feet (3.0 m) above flood stage. Two creeks emptied this channel (flowing northwest), and two other creeks ran eastward and westward along the channel to empty into the Ohio River. The peninsula formed by the meander was settled, and the individuals living there long believed themselves to be under the jurisdiction of the state of Indiana. On January 27, 1810, the state of Kentucky enacted legislation asserting title over the river bed and all islands in the river up to the northwest bank of the Ohio River. Consequently, Kentucky granted to Handly title to the peninsula in question. Handly subsequently leased this land to a tenant, who brought suit against Anthony, a citizen of Indiana who had been granted title to the land by that state. Handly's lessee sought to have Anthony ejected from the land.
  The district court held for the defendant Anthony, and plaintiff Handly's lessee appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.
caption: Map of North America c. 1609, depicting land grants given to the Virginia Company.
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