The lands claimed under ancient charters by Massachusetts and Connecticut were occupied by the British and their Indian allies, who held adverse possession.

Not a single New England settler lived in them; no New England law had any force in them; no New England soldier had gone or could go thither.

They were won by the victory of Wayne and the treaty of Jay.

If Massachusetts and Connecticut had stood alone, the lands would never have been yielded to them at all; they could not have enforced their claim, and it would have been scornfully disregarded.

The region was won for the United States by the arms and diplomacy of the United States.