MEANS OF ACQUIRING LAND 



of the national debt." 1 This desire to convert the 

 public domain into cash led to the sale of land in 

 large tracts. Under the ordinance of May 20, 

 1785, surveyed lands were offered in lots as large 

 as a whole township of 32 sections of 640 acres 

 each, for not less than $i per acre. 2 Under an 

 Act passed May 18, 1796, which provided for the 

 survey of certain lands in the present state of 

 Ohio, surveyed lands were to be offered at public 

 sale in sections of 640 acres, and in lots of eight 

 such sections each. The minimum price was then 

 fixed at $2 per acre. 3 Prior to May 10, 1800, 

 1,484,047 acres of land had been sold from the 

 public domain for the benefit of the United States. 

 From these sales was realized $1,201, 725.68.* 



Under an Act of May 10, 1800, land offices 

 were opened in the Northwest Territory. The 

 minimum price was kept at $2 per acre. Lands 

 were offered for three weeks at public sale in sec- 

 tions and half sections, and what remained at the 

 end of this period was to be sold privately, as 

 wanted, at the minimum price. During the next 

 twenty years the net sales of government lands 

 were 13,642,536 acres, from which the sum of 

 $27,900,379.29 was realized. 5 In 1820 the mini- 

 mum price of land was reduced to $1.25 per acre. 



1 See The Public Domain, by Donaldson, p. 196. 

 3 Ibid., p. 197. 

 9 Ibid., p. 200. 

 * Ibid., p. 201 

 6 Ibid., p. 203. 



201 



