Free State of Farquier County

Here is the opening of the chapter. I add it for Michelle, who grew up nearby.

There is a legend in Farquier County, Virginia, that John Marshall was the father of the durable squatter colony centered on the town named for him. The story goes that when America's preeminent Chief Justice jump-started his political career in the early days of the republic by exchanging votes for usufruct rights on a vacant 200 acre parcel he owned in the foothills of the Blue Ridge (Washington Times 1904). This offer attracted landless men who would be otherwise ineligible to vote and with their help Marshall sat two terms as the state representative from Farquier County. When Marshall left for higher office he kindly allowed the original tenants to remain unmolested, and was either unconcerned or unaware that his property continued to act as a magnet for landless Virginians long after he had moved beyond the need for their votes. By the time Justice Marshall died in 1835 the tenants had enjoyed five decades of rent free access to his property and had successfully avoided paying taxes by pointing out that they had not improved the land. Shortly before his death Marshall sued to re-establish his right to issue leases and collect rents from his erstwhile tenants, winning against their claims that they became the rightful owners upon the expiration of the original leases issued by Lord Fairfax in the 1760s (Marshall v. Foley et. al.).

But winning the right to collect rents is not the same as having the money in hand. Neither was the state of Virginia able to convince the residents of the area that taxes were a necessary obligation. At some point in the mid-nineteenth century the area was dubbed the Free State and acquired a reputation as a region of outlaws and shiftless layabouts that was at first a point of perverse pride, but in time became an embarrassment. By the early twentieth century the area was well cultivated and above average in tax observance and the real distinctiveness of the Free State quietly passed. Yet memories of the Free State persist in Farquier County, if muddled with regional stories of bootleggers and gambling that have replaced squatting as the reason for the name in most people's minds.

It is wrong to assume that Marshall's political motives behind his accidental begetting of the Farquier County Free State were uniquely cynical. Instead of a unique instance, the political history of squatter colonies is replete with examples of politicians actively cultivating the votes and allegiance of the squatter bloc. The most lasting and influential example of pandering to the squatter vote is the Federal Preemption act of 1841 that in effect opened all public lands to alienation through squatting. That act also set the precedent for the later mining and homestead acts, both of which use actual possession and improvement of the property as a precondition for granting the title. As an instrument for disposing of vast tracts of potential farmland with minimal supervision and at a profit, preemption is reasonably efficient. As a tool for urban development problems emerge.