Sold – Bushrod Washington Accepts Appointment as Commissioner to Settle the First Major Boundary Dispute Under the Constitution
The long-running controversy between Maryland and Virginia.
On June 20, 1632, King Charles I of England made a land grant in North America to Cecilius Calvert, 2nd Baron Baltimore, which became the Province of Maryland. This grant set the boundary of Maryland at the low-water mark of the southern bank of the Potomac River. From 1660 to 1688, Kings...
On June 20, 1632, King Charles I of England made a land grant in North America to Cecilius Calvert, 2nd Baron Baltimore, which became the Province of Maryland. This grant set the boundary of Maryland at the low-water mark of the southern bank of the Potomac River. From 1660 to 1688, Kings Charles II and James II made a series of land grants in the Northern Neck in Virginia to Thomas Culpeper, 2nd Baron Culpeper. This grant designated "the Potomac River" as the boundary of Virginia and Maryland. These grants were in some details conflicting, which led to a long-running border dispute between Maryland and Virginia. In 1746, Peter Jefferson (father of Thomas Jefferson) and Joshua Fry produced a map establishing Virginia's boundary points, but the dispute remained; it was to prove the first serious boundary dispute to surface under the new U.S. Constitution.
In 1796, the Virginia House of Delegates set about resolving the issue. To do so, they created a commission consisting of Thomas Jefferson, John Marshall, Bushrod Washington and four others, and these commissioners were to meet with their colleagues appointed by the Maryland legislature. On January 14, 1797, Governor James Wood wrote to these commissioners, enclosing "an Authenticated Copy of a Resolution which passed the General Assembly at their late Session, respecting the boundary line between this Commonwealth and the State of Maryland; together with a Copy of the Resolution of the Legislature of Maryland On the same Subject. I pray you Sir, to have the goodness to Acknowledge the receipt of this dispatch as soon as Convenient."
Bushrod Washington was the nephew of George Washington, to whom he was like a son. His education was underwritten by the President, and it took place under the tutelage of James Wilson. He would inherit Mount Vernon in 1799 upon Washington's death.
In 1797, Bushrod was one year from his appointment as a U.S. Supreme Court Justice, when he would assume the seat vacated by James Wilson. He was one of the proposed commissioners to resolve the boundary dispute between the two new states. On January 19, 1797, Bushrod Washington replied to Governor Wood with this Autograph Letter Signed, Richmond, VA, January 19, 1797, to "His Excellency James Wood Esq" with integral address panel. "Sir, I had the honor to receive your favor of the 14 Inst. covering Resolutions of the Virginia and Maryland assemblies respecting the Boundary Line between the two states. I accept the appointment, and shall be happy if I can be serviceable in promoting the wishes of the Legislature in the business to which it relates."
The commission was unable to resolve the dispute. In fact, it took a judicial opinion in 1910 to finally resolve the matter.
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