. The Westward Movement; the colonies and the Republic west of the Alleghanies, 1763-1798; with full cartographical illustrations from contemporary sources. United States wasassured, as we have seen, in 1800. The report which Hamilton had made on July 20, 1790, ona plan for disposing of the western lands, was little consideredat the time, but now that the treaty of Greeneville had quietedthe west, it was again brought up in Congress. There was atfirst some contention upon the provisions of the new bill, and, asone of the members of Congress wrote, its fate depended on thereconciling crude sche
. The Westward Movement; the colonies and the Republic west of the Alleghanies, 1763-1798; with full cartographical illustrations from contemporary sources. United States wasassured, as we have seen, in 1800. The report which Hamilton had made on July 20, 1790, ona plan for disposing of the western lands, was little consideredat the time, but now that the treaty of Greeneville had quietedthe west, it was again brought up in Congress. There was atfirst some contention upon the provisions of the new bill, and, asone of the members of Congress wrote, its fate depended on thereconciling crude schemes and local views. By the exertionsof Gallatin and others, an act was finally passed, on May 18,1796. providing for the surveying of townships six miles square,and the selling of lands in sections. It was largely based onthe act of 1785. Hamilton had advised putting the price ata dollar an acre; but the act put the price at two dollars, and SALES OF PUBLIC LANDS. 505 sought to make some recompense to poorer people by allowinga system of credit. The sales, however, were small, and withina year less than $5,000 was received into the public treasury,. [The annexed map is from Joseph Scotts United Slates Gazetteer, Philadelphia, 1795,— theearliest of such books.] and for forty years the expenses of maintaining the systemexceeded the returns. The same act of 1796 created the officeof Surveyor-General, and the appointment fell, in October, toRufus Putnam. There had been a tract set aside for payingthe bounties for military service in the Revolution. This laybetween the Scioto and the Seven Ranges, south of Waynes 506 WAYNES TREATY AND THE NEW NORTHWEST. treaty line and north of a line running in about the latitudeof the city of Columbus. This was one of the regions nowsurveyed. The preparing of these western lands for sale and settle-ment had kept alive the project of connecting the coast with theOhio valley, which, under Washingtons influence, had takeutheir earlier shape in the
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjectunitedstateshistory
