Author Description

This book is one of the author's Legal History Of series. The legal story of the American frontier features pioneers, Indian nations, gold and silver prospectors, explorers, filibusters, land companies, farmers, ranchers, robbers, rustlers, sex workers, lawmen, and cowboys. And judges, lawyers, and jurors of every kind. It was a story of competition and conflict, between Native Americans, settlers, speculators, and adventurers, for land, precious metals, crops, cattle, and a way of life. Frontier law stepped into the breach to determine who would get what resources, and what behaviors would be proscribed. This book tells that story, from the start of the republic in 1775, to the closing of the frontier by 1899. This law was created in the halls of Congress, at state or territorial capitals, at scores of different treaty locations, in town halls, in mining camps, on the overland trail, on cattle drives, in vigilante meetings, or even on the spot, as the ever-changing challenges of frontier life dictated. Trials were held, sometimes in official courts, sometimes wherever a group was camped, but always looking back to legal traditions Americans felt to be familiar. Around 500 legal cases interpreting laws and treaties, often of colorful characters, are explored through trials and appeals to discover the disparate legal issues faced by those on the frontier. These cover Indian treaties exchanging land for money and reserved lands, later litigated to determine if the negotiations were fair or the consideration unconscionable. Settlers obtaining land under military warrants, preemption or homestead laws, at public or private auctions, or just by racing to a favored tract. Speculators who bought up bought up military warrants and made deals with governments to bring settlers to less populated areas, sometimes succeeding but frequently failing spectacularly. The disputed use of public lands for gold or silver mining, cattle grazing, agriculture, and incent