346 The Winning of the West 



as they could be under the Confederation ; but there 

 was no national treasury into which to turn the 

 proceeds from the sale until the Constitution was 

 adopted. 13 



Having got possession of the land, Congress pro 

 ceeded to arrange for its disposition, even before 

 providing the outline of the governmental system 

 for the States that might grow up therein. Con 

 gress regarded the territory as forming a treasury 

 chest, and was anxious to sell the land in lots, 

 whether to individuals or to companies. In 1785 it 

 passed an ordinance of singular wisdom, which has 

 been the basis of all our subsequent legislation on the 

 subject. 



This ordinance was another proof of the way in 

 which the nation applied its collective power to the 

 sub-dual government of the Northwest, instead of 

 leaving the whole matter to the working of unre 

 stricted individualism, as in the Southwest. The 

 pernicious system of acquiring title to public lands 

 in vogue among the Virginians and North Caro 

 linians was abandoned. Instead of making each 

 man survey his own land, and allowing him to sur 

 vey it when, how, and where he pleased, with the 

 certainty of producing endless litigation and trouble, 

 Congress provided for a corps of government sur 

 veyors, who were to go about this work systemat 

 ically. It provided further for a known base line, 

 and then for division of the country into ranges of 

 townships six miles square, and for the subdivision 



18 Hinsdale, 250. 



