LANDS, Puntsc. That part of the national domain in the ownership of the Government. sub ject to sale or other disposal under general laws. These lands lie within both the States and the Territories. They have been acquired for the United States chiefly by cession from the indi vidual States, and by treaties with foreign na tions. At the time of the adoption of the Arti cles of Confederation, in 1781, the entire national domain was either erected into States or claimed by the individual States as unorganized territory. Under the Articles of Confederation the States were induced to cede their claims to Western ter ritory to the United States. New York in 1781, Virginia.in 1784. Connecticut in 1785, and :Massa chusetts in 1786, with some reservations, ceded to the General Government their claim to the territory north of the Ohio River; the States south of Virginia soon followed their example. South Carolina in 1787, North Carolina in 1790, and Georgia in 1802, ceded their claims to lands lying to the west of their limits, so that within a short time after the adoption of the Federal Constitution the United States had conic. into possession of an immense Western domain. Ad ministration of this domain became one of the important functions of the General Government. Perhaps the most notable piece of legislation enacted by the Congress of the Confederation related to the government and disposal of the 'public lands lying north of the Ohio River.
(See the article on NonTnwEsT TERRITORY.) The Federal Constitution, adopted in 1789, con ferred upon Congress the power to make all need ful rules and regulations respecting the terri tory and other property belonging to the United States. thus making the national legislature the sole authority for the control of the public lands. After the North Carolina and Georgia cessions, the first increase of the public domain eame as a result of the Louisiana Purchase of 1803, which. if it included Oregon, as the Land Office has al ways claimed. amounted to 1.003.216 square miles. In 1812 Congress claimed and asserted jurisdiction over about 9740 square miles of ter ritory in Spanish \Vest Florida. By the cession of Florida in 1819, about 54,000 square miles were added to the public domain. By the annexa tion of Texas in 1845, it was still further in creased by 262.290 square miles. As a result of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (1848), the territory now embraced in the State of California and the vast Territory of New Mexico was acquired. The Gadsden Purchase of 1853 brought an area of some 47.000 square miles. and finally Alaska. with 577.300 square miles, was acquired by treaty with Russia in 1867.
In organizing the territory thus acquired into States or Territories, the General Govern ment has often reserved large areas for spe cial purposes, or for such disposal as it may see fit. It is these areas that are popularly and offieially known as the public lands of the United States. The legal title to land occupied by Indian tribes is regarded as being vested in the United States. According to the doctrine early laid down by the courts, the Indians have only a right of occupancy, subject to the power of the United States to extinguish the same either by conquest or purchase. The principle is that they are not absolute owners, but mere occupants. to be protected while in the posses sion of their lands and incapable of transferring the absolute title to any person or sovereign ex cept. that of the county in which they are domi ciled. One of the chief sources of expense in the public-land policy of the United States has been the cost of extinguishing the Indian titles. Up to 1883 this item of expense had reached the amount of $9,000,000. As the titles of the In dians have been extinguished they have been settled upon reservations of Government land embracing altogether more than a hundred mil lion acres. See INmAx AFFAIRS.
The public lands of the United States have been disposed of in various ways. The principal method has been sale at a nominal price or gift to indiv idual settlers and grants to States or corpora tions. Prior to 1801 it was the policy of the Gov ernment to sell its public lands in large quantities byspeeialeontract.the result being an averagesale of about 100..000 acres annually. Then followed a policy of selling on credit and in small lots, with the result that some 18,000.000 acres were disposed of. In 1820 the policy of selling for cash, but in lots to suit purchasers. was tried. With in twenty years some 76.000.000 acres had been sold as a result of this method. After the panic of 1837 the prei;mption system, to be described hereafter, was adopted, by which the most desir able lands were reserved for actual settlers at a low price. The homestead policy adopted in 1862 had the effect of reducing the sales to an average of 1.000.000 acres annually. Up to 1883 the total receipts from the sale of the public lands had reached the amount of $233,000,000, although according to a reliable authority the actual cash outlay of the Government in the pur chase of foreign territory, the cost of extinguish ing Indian titles, the expense of surveying. etc., exceeded this amount by $126.000,000. One of the most common methods of disposing of the public lands was by grant to individuals on ac count of special services to the Republic, or to corporations for the purpose of aiding in the con struction of railroads, or to the States for the en couragement of education or the building of roads and canals. Of the first class of grants may be mentioned the gifts of land to the Revolutionary soldiers and to eminent individuals like Lafa,v ette, who had rendered distinguished service to the nation. Of the 10.000.000 acres given away down to 1840. the greater part was in reward for military services either in the Revolution or the War of 1812. To reward the soldiers of the Mexican War, about 00.000.000 acres were appro priated by Congress. A few grants were made direct to educational and charitable institutions, hut they were exceptions rather than part of a general policy. From 1842 to 1854 various acts were passed granting quarter sections of laud to actual settlers who would take up their resi dences on certain frontiers. About 3,000,000 acres were disposed of in this manner. Under the homestead policy adopted in 1862, and the similar timber-culture policy introduced in 1878, about 150,000,000 acres were taken up by pri vate persons. The policy of making grants public lands to the State, was begun at an early time, and has contributed largely to the deple tion of the public domain. As early as 1802 a grant was made for public improvements in Ohio. Between 1S24 and 1866 more than 4.000.000 acres were granted. to five States for canal purposes. By an act of 1850 all swamp and overflowed lands within the limits of any State were granted for the purpose of aiding in the construction of levees and drains. The policy of aiding in the construc tion of railroads by means of publiedand grants began about 1850. In September of that year Congress made a grant to the State of Illinois to be applied to the construction of the Illinois Central I:alb-clad. The grant consisted of alter nate sections for six sections in width on either side of the road. At the same time grants were made to the States of Alabama and Mississippi to aid in the construction of the Mobile and Ohio Railroad to the Gulf. Between 1852 and 1872 similar grants, about eighty in number, were made to the States of Missouri, Arkansas, Minne sota, Wisconsin. Louisiana. and Florida for the purpose of subsidithig their principal railway lines.