LAND ORDINANCE OF 1785 salient features

1. A.P.I.E.D.
BHAIKAKA CENTRE FOR HUMAN SETTLEMENTS BHAVIK RAVAL 14MUP01
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2. LAND ORDINANCE OF 1785
• DATE : May 20th 1785.
• REASON : Congress did not have
the power to raise revenue by
direct taxation of the
inhabitants of the United States.
Therefore, the immediate goal
of the ordinance was to raise
money through the sale of land
in the largely unmapped
territory west of the original
states acquired after the end of
the Revolutionary War in the
1783 Treaty of Paris.
• Area: Known as the Northwest
Territories, it comprised the
present-day states
of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan,
Ohio, and Wisconsin, as well
as part of Minnesota.
BHAIKAKA CENTRE FOR HUMAN SETTLEMENTS
A.P.I.E.D.
BHAVIK RAVAL 14MUP01

3. • Salient features:
 The ordinance told how the Northwest
Territory would be surveyed (measured).
 Land was divided into squares called townships.
 Each township was then divided into 36 smaller
squares (sections).
 Each section was one square mile.
 There shall be reserved the lot No. 16, of every
township, for the maintenance of public schools
within the said township.
 Sections number 8, 11, 26, and 29 in every
township were reserved for future sale by the
federal government when, it was hoped, they
would bring higher prices because of developed
land around them.
• Benefits:
 laid the foundations of land policy until passage of
the Homestead Act in 1862.
 Retaining central land in each township ensured
that these lands would create value for the federal
government.
 instead of disbursing funds to the new states to
create public education systems dedicating a
central lot in each township provided the new
townships with the means to develop educational
institutions without any transfer of funds.
 framework for spreading democratic ideals.