Land Ordinance of 1785

Examples of Land Ordinance of 1785 in the following topics:

• Impact of the Articles of Confederation

  • The Land Ordinance of 1785 and Northwest Ordinance created a territorial government, set up protocols for the admission of new states and the division of land into useful units and set aside land in each township for public use.
  • The Land Ordinance of 1785 established both the general practices of land surveying in the west and northwest and the land ownership provisions used throughout the later westward expansion beyond the Mississippi River.
  • The Northwest Ordinance of 1787 also made great advances in the abolition of slavery.
  • By the Land Ordinance of 1785, these were surveyed into the now familiar squares of land called the "township" (36 square miles), the "section" (one square mile), and the "quarter section" (160 acres) .
  • By the Land Ordinance of 1785, these were surveyed into the now familiar squares of land called the "township" (36 square miles), the "section" (one square mile), and the "quarter section" (160 acres).

• Land Policy under the Confederation

  • The Confederation Congress' Land Ordinance and Northwest Ordinance had a lasting impact on US history.
  • The US Congress adopted the Land Ordinance of 1785 to facilitate that sale.
  • Land west of the Appalachians, north of the Ohio River, and east of the Mississippi River was to be divided into 10 separate states.
  • The Land Ordinance of 1785 established the general practices of land surveying in the west and northwest.
  • Many of the concepts and guarantees of the Northwest Ordinance were incorporated into the Constitution and Bill of Rights.

• Finance

  • Discord between the states and the federal government over taxation and trade further weakened the legitimacy of the Articles of Confederation.
  • Under the Articles of Confederation, Congress was denied any powers of taxation: it could only request money from the states.
  • Federal assumption of the states' war debts became a major issue in the deliberations of the Constitutional Convention.
  • Tracts in Ohio that were surveyed, all in the 18th century, into townships with individual sections numbered by the procedures of the Land Ordinance of 1785
  • Identify the economic concerns of the United States after the American Revolution

• Powers of the American Government Under the Articles of Confederation

  • The Articles of confederation gave few but important powers of diplomacy to the American government.
  • The Land Ordinance of 1785 established the general land survey and ownership provisions used throughout later American expansion.
  • The Northwest Ordinance of 1787 noted the agreement of the original states to give up western land claims and cleared the way for the entry of new states .
  • The wartime promises of bounties and land grants to be paid for service were not being met.
  • The Northwest Ordinance was one of the few accomplishments under the Articles of Confederation.

• Land Ordinances and the Northwest Territory

  • The Land Ordinance of 1784, as outlined by Thomas Jefferson, called for the land west of the Appalachian Mountains, north of the Ohio River, and east of the Mississippi River to be divided into separate states.
  • The Ordinance of 1785 put the 1784 resolution in operation by providing a mechanism for selling and settling the land, while the Northwest Ordinance of 1787 addressed political needs.
  • The Land Ordinance of 1785 laid the foundations of land policy until passage of the Homestead Act in 1862.
  • The Mississippi River, along with the Ohio River and the Appalachian Mountains, were the boundaries of the 1784 Land Ordinance
  • Explain the economic motivation for passing the Land Ordinance of 1784

• Congress and the West

  • The Land Ordinance of 1785 was adopted by the United States Congress in May 1785 to do just that.
  • The Ordinance of 1784 was a resolution written by Thomas Jefferson calling for Congress to take action.
  • The land west of the Appalachian Mountains, north of the Ohio River, and east of the Mississippi River was to be divided into ten separate states.
  • The Ordinance of 1785 put the 1784 resolution in operation by providing a mechanism for selling and settling the land, while the Northwest Ordinance of 1787 addressed political needs.
  • The territory included all the land of the United States west of Pennsylvania and northwest of the Ohio River.

• Territorial Government

  • It subdivided several territories, preparing them for statehood, following the precedents set by the Northwest Ordinance of 1787.
  • In acquiring, preparing, and distributing public land to private ownership, the federal government generally followed the system set forth by the Land Ordinance of 1785.
  • Unsold land could be purchased from the land office at a minimum price of $1.25 per acre.
  • As part of public policy, the government would award public land to certain groups such as veterans, through the use of "land scrip."
  • Land policy became politicized by competing factions and interests, and the question of slavery on new lands was contentious.

• Settlers and the West

  • The Northwest Ordinance foreshadowed the rights of individuals in the Bill of Rights and prohibited slavery north of the Ohio River.
  • The Congress of the Confederation modified the proposal, passing it as the Land Ordinance of 1784.
  • Many of the concepts and guarantees of the Ordinance of 1787 were incorporated in the U.S.
  • In two articles, the Northwest Ordinance mentions the Native Americans within this region:
  • Examine how the Land Ordinance of 1789 shaped the development of the West and the debate over slavery and expansion

• Jefferson, Slavery, and Race

  • He was the son of a prominent slaveholder and land speculator in Virginia.
  • When Jefferson turned 21, he inherited 5,000 acres of land and 52 slaves.
  • While the Northwest Ordinance prohibited slavery in the territory north of the Ohio River, it did not free those slaves held by settlers already in the territory.
  • After 1785, Jefferson remained publicly silent on or did little to change slavery within the United States.
  • For all of his life, he supported the concept of colonization of Africa by freed Americans.

• In Quest of Freedom

  • The evacuation of Charleston in December 1782 saw the departure of more than 5,000 blacks.
  • Some state legislatures, like Connecticut in 1784 and Massachusetts in 1785, banned all blacks, free or slave, from military service.
  • Through the Northwest Ordinance of 1787, the Congress of the Confederation prohibited slavery in the territories northwest of the Ohio River.
  • That bill did not pass, because of controversy over the rights of freed slaves, although every member of the Legislature but one voted for some version of it.
  • John Jay (1745–1829), founder of the abolitionist organization New York Manumission Society in 1785.