Everything about Nathaniel Gorham totally explained
Nathaniel Gorham (
May 27,
1738 –
June 11,
1796) was the eighth
President of the United States in Congress assembled, under the
Articles of Confederation. He served from June
1786 to
November 13,
1786. He was preceded in office by
John Hancock and succeeded by
Arthur St. Clair.
Gorham was born in
Charlestown,
Massachusetts. He took part in public affairs at the beginning of the
American Revolution, was a member of the
Massachusetts General Court (Legislature) from 1771 until 1775, a delegate to the Provincial congress from 1774 until 1775, and a member of the Board of War from 1778 until its dissolution in 1781. In 1779 he served in the State constitutional convention. He was a delegate to the
Continental Congress from 1782 until 1783, and also from 1785 until 1787. Gorham also served a term as judge of the
Middlesex County, Massachusetts Court of Common Pleas.
For several months in 1787, Gorham served as one of the Massachusetts delegates to the
United States Constitutional Convention. Gorham frequently served as Chairman of the Convention's
Committee of the Whole, meaning that (rather than the President of the Convention,
George Washington) presided over convention sessions during much of the drafting process. After the convention, he worked hard to see that the
Constitution was approved in his home state.
In connection with
Oliver Phelps, he purchased from the state of Massachusetts in 1788 pre-emption rights to an immense tract of land in western New York State which straddled the
Genesee River, all for the sum of $1,000,000 (the
Phelps and Gorham Purchase). The land in question had been previously ceded to Massachusetts from the state of New York under the 1786
Treaty of Hartford. The pre-emption right gave them the first or preemptive right to obtain clear title to this land from the
Indians. They soon extinguished the Indian title to the portion of the land
east of the Genesee River, as well as a 185,000 acre (749 km²) tract
west of the Genesee
The Mill Yard Tract), surveyed all of it, laid out townships, and sold large parts to speculators and settlers. In 1790, after they defaulted in payment, they sold nearly all of their unsold lands
east of the Genesee to
Robert Morris, who eventually resold those lands to
The Pulteney Association. Phelps and Gorham were unable to fulfill their contract in full to Massachusetts, so in 1790, they surrendered back to Massachusetts that portion of the lands which remained under the Indian title, namely, the land
west of the Genesee. It also was eventually acquired by Robert Morris, who resold most of it to The
Holland Land Company. Morris did keep 500,000 acres (2,000 km²) for himself, and that land became known as
The Morris Reserve.
Gorham died in
Charlestown, Massachusetts in 1796.
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