claim was filed on the island by Henry Root from Thomas R. Webster & Co. of New York. In 1867, following an examination of the competing claims, a survey of the region, and review of historical mentions of the island on maps and records since 1494, the State Department again advised that Alto Velo was a Dominican island and declined to support any of the Guano Islands Act claims. Final resolution Throughout the claims process, former U.S. Attorney General Jeremiah S. Black was the lawyer representing Patterson & Murguiondo. In 1867, a final statement from Secretary of State William H. Seward advised against the use of U.S. military force to enforce the claims on Alto Velo. In the statement, Seward cited an 1859 opinion by Black disallowing a Guano Islands Act claim on Cayo Verde (Green Cay) in the Bahamas. In a final effort to have his client's claim enforced, Black asked President Andrew Johnson to order Seward to approve the claim. At the time, Black was a defending counsel in Johnson's impeachment trial and when Johnson refused, Black resigned from the defense team. Whether the resignation was due to Johnson's refusal to support the Alto Velo claim or his unpopularity among Congressional reformers (and thus a liability to the defense team), however, is disputed. After Seward declined to enforce any of the prior claims on Alto Velo, Root and his partners formed the Alta Vela Guano Company to mine guano under a concession from the Dominican Republic. In March 1871, the company sought U.S. support of its claim on the island when the Dominican government evicted it in favor of a British concessionaire. Again, the U.S. declined to intervene, deeming the island under Dominican control. Subsequently, in June 1873, the State Department affirmed to Haitian authorities that the United States considered Alto Velo part of the Dominican Republic. A 1932 U.S. Department of State report on the status of Guano Island Act claims included Alto Velo among the islands "to which the United States has no claim". See also List of Guano Island claims References External links History of the Dominican Republic Guano Islands Act International territorial disputes of the United States 1860 in American politics