Hypothetical question about colonial North America

Question

A hypotetical question for the history buffs amongst yourselves.

Under what circumstance could a parcel of land in colonial North America (where the current Quebec/US border is located) have been either allocated or given or granted or otherwise been given special status so that, theoretically, if details of this special status were revealed today it might be considered neutral soil (i.e. neither Quebec nor Canadian soil)?

Alternately, could said parcel of soil be found today to belong to the Native Americans, either as an oversight or an error in land survey? And would Natives be free to grant or give land away as they seem?

I don't really expect this situation to be legally viable, at least not in practice, but as long as it seems somewhat possible then it'll serve the needs of the script on which I'm working.
Yes, I've seen "Passport to Pimlico". ;-)
jaybee

Usenet · Accepted Answer

[nq:1]A hypotetical question for the history buffs amongst yourselves. Under what circumstance could a parcel of land in colonial North ... then it'll serve the needs of the script on which I'm working. Yes, I've seen "Passport to Pimlico". ;-) jaybee[/nq]
You're not the only one who's seen "Passport" and has been kicking around how to move this idea to the U.S. and update it.
For what it's worth, the best I could come up with was to go back to the time of the Louisiana Purchase, with some potentially obscure and long-forgetten clause being discovered there-in, which permitted France to maintain possession of some small portion of American soil as part of the deal a sort of ceremonial pied-a-terre, just as a way of saying that they're not giving up everything.
Of course, it's never really enforced, and in no time at all, it's forgotten until somebody digs up the original documents and realizes that X acres of American soil are, in fact, actually French territory.

The only trouble is if this was ten or twenty years ago, I could see doing it. It's much harder now, given the current political climate, to see a whole neighborhood of Americans renouncing their citizenship in favor of becoming French for the tax benefits.
Whatever you may think about the war, the whole feeling of the movie is different when it happens in a time of peace where strictly domestic issues like being overtaxed and dealing with an obnoxious federal bureaucracy are uppermost in people's minds and doing it now, where the prospect of renouncing citizenship in a time of war (whether you're for the war or against it) is inevitably going to invoke those issues issues of patriotism and supporting your country and deserting your country stuff that "Passport" obviously wasn't about and which a remake really shouldn't be about.
But how do you update or remake that movie without making it about that? How do you avoid it?
NMS

Usenet · Answer

[nq:2]Under what circumstance could a parcel of land in colonial ... nor Canadian soil)? Yes, I've seen "Passport to Pimlico". ;-)[/nq]
[nq:1]Whatever you may think about the war, the whole feeling of the movie is different when it happens in a ... about. But how do you update or remake that movie without making it about that? How do you avoid it?[/nq]
I haven't seen Passport but I think I get the general idea. One way to do it would be to take it into fantasyland along the lines of Pleasantville, where the inhabitants try to divorce themselves from ~~everything~~ unpleasant. The theme becomes immediately self-evident.
It doesn't really have to be French either, Spain and a few other countries laid claim to big swaths of land at one time or another. And, theoretically, all the broken treaties with the Native Americans could be enforced if this idea has any basis in reality. This seems like one of those ideas where you have to ask the audience to make one big leap of faith at the start, and then work within whatever rules you've set up.
TW

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]You're not the only one who's seen "Passport" and has been kicking around how to move this idea to the U.S. and update it.[/nq]
Quebec, actually.
jaybee

Usenet · Answer

@reader1.panix.com:
[nq:2]You're not the only one who's seen "Passport" and has been kicking around how to move this idea to the U.S. and update it.[/nq]
[nq:1]Quebec, actually.[/nq]
And for the record, I'm not looking to adapt "Passport...". I saw the movie only after I came up with the idea for the script, and only to make sure I wasn't simply duplicating it.
The basic premise is similar, but the story and execution are different.
jaybee

Usenet · Answer

Yeah, dammit.

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]@reader1.panix.com:[/nq]
[nq:2]Quebec, actually.[/nq]
[nq:1]And for the record, I'm not looking to adapt "Passport...". I saw the movie only after I came up with ... to make sure I wasn't simply duplicating it. The basic premise is similar, but the story and execution are different.[/nq]
Fine, but where do you fit in the lovable cockneys and bomb sites?

..
Also, how big do you want your 'parcel of land' to be? If you think that in 1814 they'd have redrawn/confirmed the border with a split nib quill or steel pen and, with the right sort of pressure, the nib can split into its two halves, drawing two lines instead of one and leaving a tiny gap in the middle of the line (never noticed until 'today') ... on the scale of that map it could be 20 miles by a hundred.

Just a spitball idea, set it up in the first ten minutes - and don't have Jude Law in it.
(Oh, and call it ****d* in the trailers.)

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]Of course, it's never really enforced, and in no time at all, it's forgotten until somebody digs up the original documents and realizes that X acres of American soil are, in fact, actually French territory.[/nq]
Personally, I'd think it would be a terrific comedy if you made those X acres in Washington, D. C. and the French send G.W.B. packing.

But that's probably just me and my peculiar sense of humor...

Doug
Just a virtual guy... in a virtual world

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]A hypotetical question for the history buffs amongst yourselves. Under what circumstance could a parcel of land in colonial North ... possible then it'll serve the needs of the script on which I'm working. Yes, I've seen "Passport to Pimlico". ;-)[/nq]
As an almost complete tangent, wasn't the island that Bullwinkle came from one of those places?
That's the best potential I can think of for this kind of situation - an island near Seault Ste. Marie, perhaps, that's never been considered valuable enough to argue about before.
cd

The difference between immorality and immortality is "T". I like Earl Grey.

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[nq:2]Whatever you may think about the war, the whole feeling ... without making it about that? How do you avoid it?[/nq]
[nq:1]I haven't seen Passport but I think I get the general idea. One way to do it would be to ... Spain and a few other countries laid claim to big swaths of land at one time or another. And, theoretically,[/nq]
Good idea. Manhattan was New Amsterdam before it became Manhattan and New York. Let some small part of it remain Dutch.

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Hypothetical question about colonial North America

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