Subject: ct pleads for return of pa tonite<br/>
Date: Sep 26, 2002 @ 16:38<br/>
Author: acroorca2002 (&quot;acroorca2002&quot; &lt;orc@...&gt;)<br/>
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<div id="ygrps-yiv-1872655735">from the front page of todays waterbury republican american<br/>
<br/>
under the headline<br/>
plea for pennsylvania return<br/>
<br/>
if things had gone differently in 1782<br/>
litchfield county would look a lot different today<br/>
<br/>
it would include a chunk of northeastern pennsylvania<br/>
<br/>
that is the argument 2 quinnipiac university professors are making in <br/>
a moot court case this week<br/>
as they seek to settle<br/>
at least in theory<br/>
a centuries old land dispute between connecticut & pennsylvania<br/>
<br/>
its a moot court <br/>
i mean we are not going to get northern pennsylvania back<br/>
said professor charles a heckman of north haven<br/>
who is arguing connecticuts side of the case with fellow law <br/>
professor james trowbridge of milford<br/>
<br/>
the proceedings<br/>
which are not legally binding<br/>
are scheduled for 7 tonite at kings college mcgowan school of <br/>
business in wilkes barre pa<br/>
<br/>
the attorneys will plead their case before a panel of five<br/>
including a judge from london court<br/>
a chief judge from the 3rd us circuit court of appeals<br/>
& judge alexandra dipentima from litchfield superior court<br/>
<br/>
according to heckman<br/>
the dispute between the two states began after king charles ii of <br/>
england granted two charters establishing connecticut in 1662 & <br/>
pennsylvania in 1681<br/>
<br/>
the boundaries were vague<br/>
but connecticut essentially claimed a swath of land stretching across <br/>
northern pennsylvania from east to west<br/>
between the 41st & 42nd parallels<br/>
<br/>
connecticut would have just had a strip of land in northern <br/>
pennsylvania 60 miles wide<br/>
<br/>
it would be sort of a long thin state<br/>
heckman said<br/>
<br/>
nutmeggers settled the northeastern section of the area after 1750<br/>
naming 5 townships<br/>
wilkesbarre forty pittston plymouth & nanticoke<br/>
<br/>
those smaller townships were then organized into the town of <br/>
westmoreland and made part of litchfield county connecticut in 1774<br/>
<br/>
pennsylvania residents however had their own plans for the land<br/>
which includes present day luzerne county pennsylvania<br/>
<br/>
they claimed they purchased it from the american indians <br/>
<br/>
there were actually two wars fought over it between pennsylvania & <br/>
connecticut<br/>
heckman said<br/>
& when the case eventually went to trial in trenton nj in 1782<br/>
the court issued a 2sentence decision in favor of pennsylvania<br/>
<br/>
why debate the issue now<br/>
<br/>
it is not quite sure that decision was correct<br/>
heckman said<br/>
explaining that ct had asked the kings privy council to decide the <br/>
case in 1775<br/>
<br/>
but the council didnt get around to it<br/>
& a year later<br/>
when revolution broke out in the colonies<br/>
england lost interest<br/>
<br/>
in 1781 the council returned the evidence in the case<br/>
to pennsylvania<br/>
& when the trial took place<br/>
we were lacking what were important exhibits<br/>
<br/>
they werent lost<br/>
heckman charged<br/>
pennsylvania hid them from us<br/>
<br/>
ct did not really accept the 1782 decision<br/>
he added<br/>
so to keep the state happy the federal govt in 1786 gave ct a strip <br/>
of land in northern ohio called the western reserve<br/>
<br/>
cathy fields<br/>
director of the litchfield historical society<br/>
said a lot of litchfield people went west<br/>
settling in eastern pa & ohio after the revolutionary war<br/>
while others simply owned land there<br/>
<br/>
in ohio they established towns named for their families<br/>
such as talmadge & canfield<br/>
<br/>
the northeast part of ohio has towns that look like new england towns<br/>
<br/>
they have town greens & white churches<br/>
fields said<br/>
<br/>
she speculated that even if the court had ruled in connecticuts favor<br/>
the section of litchfield county in pennsylvania would have broken off<br/>
<br/>
but what a fascinating thing to argue<br/>
just to think about what would have happened<br/>
she said<br/>
<br/>
to heckman<br/>
litchfield county could have stretched all the way to what is now <br/>
erie pa<br/>
based on the original 1662 charter<br/>
<br/>
we would have had a port on lake erie<br/>
he said<br/>
<br/>
in fact<br/>
when they were first settled<br/>
ma ct & va were given kings charters claiming all the land from sea <br/>
to sea<br/>
<br/>
basically the english kings from james i on just laid claim to <br/>
everything they could lay claim to<br/>
<br/>
they didnt even know how big the continent was<br/>
<br/>
the reason we had a problem in pennsylvania was they didnt pay much <br/>
attention to what they gave away<br/>
he said<br/>
<br/>
oddly enough<br/>
the 2 pieces of litchfield county were not contiguous<br/>
<br/>
it skipped over new york because you could not lay claim to another <br/>
christian state<br/>
heckman said<br/>
<br/>
holland had already claimed new york<br/>
so you had to jump over that <br/>
<br/>
we were always separated from the western lands<br/>
<br/>
end of article<br/>
<br/>
<br/>
notes from md<br/>
1<br/>
see also <br/>
boundaries of the united states & the several states <br/>
for more details<br/>
especially if you cant make it to wilkes barre tonite<br/>
<br/>
2<br/>
meantime autumnal splendor is advancing dramatically here in the <br/>
litchfield hills of the appellation mountains <br/>
where mountains & splendor & everything else were possibly first <br/>
discovered <br/>
& named <br/>
& claimed<br/>
<br/>
m</div>