Massachusetts. Land Office

The abolition of the Committee for the Sale of Eastern Lands did not signify a lack of interest in the development of Maine lands on the part of the Commonwealth. When the committee was abolished in June 1801, the General Court authorized the appointment of two land agents (Resolves 1801, c 46), who were directed to complete all contracts undertaken by the original committee, and to perform all other duties characteristic of it. With this action the legislature gave form to a land agency which, through several incarnations, continued to operate until the period of the Civil War.

Initially the activities of the agents (known as Agents for the Sale of Eastern Lands) were supervised closely by the legislature. Most sales could be executed only after passage of a specific resolve of the General Court. By 1803 the legislature had arranged for the settlement of some land disputes by the agents (Resolves 1803, c 44, c 49). After the final separation of Maine in 1819, however, activities of the agents became increasingly the responsibility of the governor. Moreover, once Maine achieved statehood, the agents from Massachusetts interacted with their counterparts in Maine.

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