the Confederacy. But happily our experience has
already been sufficient to quiet in a great degree
all such apprehensions. The position at one time
assumed, that the admission of new States into
the Union on the same footing with the original
States and operated as a surrender thereof not-
withstanding the terms of the compacts by which
their admission was designed to be regulated, has
been wisely abandoned whether in the new or the old
States, all now agree that the right of soil to
the public lands remains in the Federal Government,
and that these lands constitute a common property,
to be disposed of for the common benefit of all
the States, old and new. Acquiescence in this
just principle by the people of the new States
has naturally promoted a disposition to adopt the
most liberal policy in the sale of public lands.
A policy which should be limited to the mere
object of selling the lands for the greatest
possible sum of money, without regard to higher
considerations, finds but few advocates. On the
contrary, it is generally conceded that whilst
the mode of disposition adopted by the Government
should always be a prudent one, yet its leading
object ought to be the early settlement and
cultivation of the lands sold, and that it should
discountenance, if it cannot prevent, the accumu-
lation of large tracts in the same hands, which
must necessarily retard the growth of the new
States or entail upon them a dependent tenantry
and its attendant evils. 64/

While President Van Buren created the official climate for the new era, Gjert G. Hovland, an immigrant from the Scandinavian countries, perhaps illustrated the mood of the people. In writing to a friend in the old country Hovland said:

It would greatly please me to learn that all of
you who are in need and have little chance of
supporting yourselves and your families have
decided to leave Norway and come to America;
for, even, if many more come, there will still
be room here for all. Those who are willing
to work will not lack employment or business
here. It is possible for all to live in
comfort and without want. The United States

owns an untold amount of land which is reserved

by law at a set price for the one who first buys it from the government. It is called public land and is sold for $1.25 per acre. Land thus bought and paid for is held in alodial possession for the purchaser and his heirs. Whether nativeborn or foreign, a man is free to do with it whatever he pleases. 65/

PART II

THE DEVELOPMENT PERIOD

This period was marked by four important developments in the history of the General Land Office. The increase in grants for internal improvements which steadily grew during this period until 1862 when the Congress granted nearly 100 million acres to railroad corporations. Secondly, the passage of a comprehensive preemption Act. Another factor was President Lincoln's approval of the Homestead Act which granted a 160-acre farm to anyone who would improve the land in compliance with the law, and, the transfer of the General Land Office from the Treasury Department to the newly created Department of the Interior.

The Preemption Laws

The passage of the comprehensive preemption Act of 1841 was the first public law which offered preemption as a means of settling on public lands. All the previous preemption laws were passed to accommodate settlers who went westward, located a piece of land, settled on it, and then later paid for the land and received title. Like all land laws the evolution of the preemption concept was extended over a considerable number of years.

The first Statute providing for preemption rights developed out of the John Cleves Symmes land sale of 1794. People who had contracted to buy land from the Symmes group, later discovered their property was outside the limits outlined in the original purchase. Congress, recognizing the error, allowed the settlers in question the right to buy the land at $2.00 per acre. 667 During the first decade of the 19th Century similar special acts were passed providing for squatters in many of the Western States and territories.

The first significant preemption Act was written into law in 1830. This law provided for a wholesale recognition of preemption rights for settlers on the public lands prior to the passage of the Act.

The law read in part

that every settler or occupant of the public

lands prior to the passage of this Act.

is hereby authorized to enter with the
register of the Land Office for 160 acres
of land. 67/

Certain provisions were added to the law covering Indian lands, land claimed by two parties, and lands reserved by the Federal Government. The privileges established in the 1830 law were extended in a series of temporary laws in 1832, 1836, 1838, 1840, and finally extended generally by the Act of September 4, 1841.

The preemption Act of 1841 was in fact a "catch all." The Act authored in large part by Senator Thomas H. Benton of Missouri incorporated, aside from a liberal preemption section, many of the issues debated in Congress during the 1820's and 1830's. Grants to the States for internal improvement was one of the important provisions, as was the section to grant the proceeds from the sale of public lands to the States.

The latter was a token offering of appeasement to the proponents of the distribution of the revenue to the States concept. The fact of the matter was, after receiving funds for surveys, operating the land offices, and the other numerous miscellaneous expenses, there was no profit from the sale of public lands of any consequence after 1836.

That part of the law of 1841 concerning preemption rights allowed squatters who had "made or hereafter make a settlement in person on the public lands" the right to purchase the property. 69/ The law in effect opened the door to wholesale preemption on all surveyed Federal lands. Professor Paul Wallace Gates, of Cornell University observed:

After the passage of the general preemption Act
of 1841 the attitude of the federal government
toward Western settlers had grown increasingly

benevolent. It had become the practice though
not required by law for the General Land Office
to survey great tracts far out on the frontier
and to delay advertising them at public auction
for years. During that time squatters could
settle upon them, erect a simple home and make
such improvements as their means permitted. In.
effect they had the free use of the public land
for a time, during which they could raise a
number of crops and perhaps accumulate enough
cash to buy their claims. 70/

The impatient western interests in the Congress were not completely satisfied with the significant progress they had made in enacting the new preemption law and soon pressed for an amendment to the Act of 1841. They wanted the law to allow preemption even ahead of surveys.

Laws passed in 1843, 1852, 1853, 1854, and 1855 removed the final barrier to settlement ahead of survey. The 1854-55 Acts specifically allowed squatters on unsurveyed Federal lands. 71/ The passage of these Acts were real victories and offered real encouragement to those who advocated a general free land bill.

It was in the period 1841-1862 that preemption was widely used by settlers as a means of obtaining a parcel of land. After the passage of the Homestead Act in 1862 preemptions on the public lands decreased considerably because of the availability of free land.

In 1870 Joseph Wilson, the Commissioner of the General Land Office reported to Congress that the preemption laws were no longer necessary and his successor Willis Drummond actually recommended repeal. 72 In 1882 Commissioner Armstrong strongly urged repeal of the Preemption laws stating that they were the cause of frauds "which have approached great magnitude." 73, He warned that professional preemptors were making entries on valuable mineral and timber lands with no intention of residence and improvements.

The preemption laws were finally repealed in 1891. The preemption laws had served a useful purpose during the early years of America's westward expansion. They allowed many settlers to move