The American State Papers are the earliest documents of the federal period. Because there was no Government Printing Office at the time, these state papers were privately published and are now found in a very few libraries. Indeed, they are so precious that they are rarely let out of the sight of documents librarians.

The immediate problem for the federal government, upon taking over sovereignty from Great Britain in 1783, was to determine what land, or other claims, were to be recognized by the new government. A particular problem was the matter of land claims in areas to the west of the Allegheny Mountains and the construction of adequate land records at a local level.

In this monographic series an attempt has been made to rearrange the papers in such manner as to put documents in some semblance of order according to subject matter. Hereinafter, are the surnames in the first eight monographs in the ASP Monograph Series:

#1, French and British Land Grants in the Post Vincennes (Indiana) District:1750-1784

#2, " "

#3, " "

#4, " "

#5, Spanish and British Land Grants in Mississippi Territory: 1750-1784

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#8, " "