The sale of public land was one of the most important functions of Congress in the 1820's, and was a major source of funding for the government. President John Quincy Adams reported in his 1827 State of the Union Address, that by 1826, the United States had purchased from France and Spain or by extinguishing the "aboriginal titles", 260 million acres of land. Of these lands, 139 million acres had already been surveyed, and 19 million had been sold. According to reports form the General Land Office, a sum of $33 million had been paid in total for these lands. Overall, Adams explained that the system of public land sales has been "eminently successful". The government still owned more than 90% of the land that it purchased with both treasure and blood, and the country was beginning to see profit from it. Unfortunately, there was still a significant amount of money owed to the U.S. Treasury from previous sales of this land. Because the land had become devalued over the years since 1819 due to events like the panic of 1819, Adams explained that concessions needed to be made so that the debt did not become "oppressively burdensome to the purchasers".
Several years earlier in 1820, the United States government was owed $23 million that had yet to be collected from the sale of public lands. To encourage citizens to pay their debts, Congress passed the 1821 'Relief for Public Land Debtors' act, giving settlers a 37.5% discount off the original price of the land if they paid the whole amount in full. In 1826, it was evident that the citizens, many of whom were farmers still needed more time to pay off their debts, so Congress passed "An act making further provision for the extinguishment of the debt due to the United States by the purchasers of public lands". This act, passed on May 4th, gave these farmers an extension until July 4th, 1827 to pay their debts at a 37.5% discount. In addition, the act was extended to include lands sold under the land acts of 1821 and 1800. Because of these actions, Adams was now happy to report that the debt owed to the U.S. treasury had been reduced to a balance just over $4 million, most of which was from land sales within the State of Alabama. President Adams was now urging Congress to consider additional terms and conditions which would help pay off the remaining debt by allowing debtors to default on some loans and consolidate others. Congress responded on March 12, 1828 with an act that gave an additional extension until July 4th, 1829 and allowed some land purchases to be forfeited and remain unsold.
Here is President John Quincy Adams report on the public land sales in 1827:
"Among the subjects which have heretofore occupied the earnest solicitude and attention of Congress is the management and disposal of that portion of the property of the nation which consists of the public lands. The acquisition of them, made at the expense of the whole Union, not only in treasury but in blood, marks a right of property in them equally extensive. By the report and statements from the General Land Office now communicated it appears that under the present Government of the United States a sum little short of $33,000,000 has been paid from the common Treasury for that portion of this property which has been purchased from France and Spain, and for the extinction of the aboriginal titles. The amount of lands acquired is near 260,000,000 acres, of which on 1826-01-01, about 139,000,000 acres had been surveyed, and little more than 19,000,000 acres had been sold. The amount paid into the Treasury by the purchasers of the public lands sold is not yet equal to the sums paid for the whole, but leaves a small balance to be refunded. The proceeds of the sales of the lands have long been pledged to the creditors of the nation, a pledge from which we have reason to hope that they will in a very few years be redeemed.
The system upon which this great national interest has been managed was the result of long, anxious, and persevering deliberation. Matured and modified by the progress of our population and the lessons of experience, it has been hitherto eminently successful. More than 9/10 of the lands still remain the common property of the Union, the appropriation and disposal of which are sacred trusts in the hands of Congress.
Of the lands sold, a considerable part were conveyed under extended credits, which in the vicissitudes and fluctuations in the value of lands and of their produce became oppressively burdensome to the purchasers. It can never be the interest or the policy of the nation to wring from its own citizens the reasonable profits of their industry and enterprise by holding them to the rigorous import of disastrous engagements. In 1821-03, a debt of $22,000,000, due by purchasers of the public lands, had accumulated, which they were unable to pay. An act of Congress of 1821-03-02, came to their relief, and has been succeeded by others, the latest being the act of 1826-05-04, the indulgent provisions of which expired on 1827-07-04. The effect of these laws has been to reduce the debt from the purchasers to a remaining balance of about $4,300,000 due, more than 3/5 of which are for lands within the State of Alabama. I recommend to Congress the revival and continuance for a further term of the beneficent accommodations to the public debtors of that statute, and submit to their consideration, in the same spirit of equity, the remission, under proper discriminations, of the forfeitures of partial payments on account of purchases of the public lands, so far as to allow of their application to other payments."
Additional Reading on the topic:
http://www.stateoftheunionhistory.com/2017/03/1817-james-monroe-land-speculators-in.htmlhttp://www.stateoftheunionhistory.com/2015/07/1820-james-monroe-farming-bailout.html
http://www.stateoftheunionhistory.com/2017/12/1825-john-quincy-adams-extinguishing.html
References
Presidency.ucsb.edu. (2018). John Quincy Adams: Third Annual Message. [online] Available at: http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=29469 [Accessed 31 May 2018].En.wikipedia.org. (2018). Relief Act of 1821. [online] Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Relief_Act_of_1821 [Accessed 31 May 2018].
Loc.gov. (2018). Acts of the Twentieth Congress of the United States. [online] Available at: https://www.loc.gov/law/help/statutes-at-large/19th-congress/session-1/c19s1ch34.pdf pg. 156, 260 [Accessed 31 May 2018].
No comments:
Post a Comment