In 1832, President Jackson urged Congress to settle the vast amounts of public lands as quickly as possible to avoid future sectional conflicts. Prior to the Revolutionary war, colonies like Virginia held claims to large swaths of land from sea to shining seas, and even as late as 1774, colonies like Virginia still held claims west to the Mississippi river. In order to unify behind a national government and pay for the revolution, the states ceded these lands to the federal government. Jackson now wanted to give these lands back to the American people.
Prior to the revolution, the King of England issued charters regarding the boundaries of each of the colonies. For many of the colonies the boundaries extended far beyond what today makes up each state. For example, in 1609 King James I issued a second carter to the Virginia Company of London that extended the boundaries of the Virginia colony north to what is now Maine, south to what is now North Carolina and from "sea to sea, west and northwest" across our entire land to the coast of the Pacific. 15 years later, since the Virginia Company had not produced any profit, King James revoked the charter, but left the boundaries as is. In the 1630s the Kings of England modified the Northern and Southern boundaries to create Maryland and Carolina, and in the 1760s the western boundaries were limited by treaties with the Cherokees. Yet, in the years just prior to the revolution Virginia’s territory was still massive compared to today and included the current day states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin.
At the beginning of the revolutionary war, the boundaries of the colonies were much different than of those same states today. Several of the colonies included vast amounts of what was identified as waste lands, lands that had not been settled or cultivated. When the colonies joined in the fight against Great Britain more than half of the colonies had charters with no fixed boundaries on their western edges and held claims to some of the same territory. In addition, the landlocked colonies of New Hampshire, Rhode Island, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware and Maryland held great interest in how that land would be sold, settled and administered. As the "congress" of these colonies began meeting in 1774, they discussed ceding sections of these waste lands to the Congress. Virginia was more accommodating than others and on June 1776 adopted a constitution that defined new state boundaries ceding it's claim to the Northwest territory. Their new boundaries included what is today, Virginia, West Virginia and Kentucky. Congress encouraged Virginia's land cessions, seeing an opportunity to create a vast public domain of lands controlled by a unified government stretching all the way to the Mississippi river. It was an opportunity to strengthen the bonds between Virginia and the other counties creating a united effort to win independence from Great Britain. Despite the encouragement of Congress and the willingness of states like Virginia, the process took several years. Congress finally agreed to the Northwest Land Ordinance of 1785 and defined how the new public domain of the national government would be administered and sold.
Almost half a century later, Andrew Jackson urged the U.S. Congress to dispose of these lands. Jackson suggested that the lands were now released of their pledge and it was time to return the land to the American people.
"Among the interests which merit the consideration of Congress after the payment of the public debt, one of the most important, in my view, is that of the public lands. Previous to the formation of our present Constitution it was recommended by Congress that a portion of the waste lands owned by the States should be ceded to the United States for the purposes of general harmony and as a fund to meet the expenses of the war. The recommendation was adopted, and at different periods of time the States of Massachusetts, New York, Virginia, North and South Carolina, and Georgia granted their vacant soil for the uses for which they had been asked. As the lands may now be considered as relieved from this pledge, it is in the discretion of Congress to dispose of them in such way as best to conduce to the quiet, harmony, and general interest of the American people. In examining this question all local and sectional feelings should be discarded and the whole United States regarded as one people, interested alike in the prosperity of their common country.
It can not be doubted that the speedy settlement of these lands constitutes the true interest of the Republic. The wealth and strength of a country are its population, and the best part of that population are cultivators of the soil. Independent farmers are every where the basis of society and true friends of liberty."There was little disagreement that new states should be carved out of the land, but Jackson warned Congress that if a "liberal policy" is not adopted and quickly, sectional interests would devour the nation. Jackson proposed that the land be sold to settlers as soon as practical and at a price that would be just barely enough to reimburse the United States for parceling the land and arranging Indian compacts. At this point, Jackson made no mention of what those sectional interests were, but within a decade the question of expanding slavery would begin tearing the nation apart.
"In addition to these considerations questions have already arisen, and may be expected hereafter to grow out of the public lands, which involve the rights of the new States and the powers of the General Government, and unless a liberal policy be now adopted there is danger that these questions may speedily assume an importance not now generally anticipated. The influence of a great sectional interest, when brought into full action, will be found more dangerous to the harmony and union of the States than any other cause of discontent, and it is the part of wisdom and sound policy to foresee its approaches and endeavor if possible to counteract them.
Of the various schemes which have been hitherto proposed in regard to the disposal of the public lands, none has yet received the entire approbation of the National Legislature. Deeply impressed with the importance of a speedy and satisfactory arrangement of the subject, I deem it my duty on this occasion to urge it upon your consideration, and to the propositions which have been heretofore suggested by others to contribute those reflections which have occurred to me, in the hope that they may assist you in your future deliberations.
It seems to me to be our policy that the public lands shall cease as soon as practicable to be a source of revenue, and that they be sold to settlers in limited parcels at a price barely sufficient to reimburse to the United States the expense of the present system and the cost arising under our Indian compacts. The advantages of accurate surveys and undoubted titles now secured to purchasers seem to forbid the abolition of the present system, because none can be substituted which will more perfectly accomplish these important ends. It is desirable, however, that in convenient time this machinery be withdrawn from the States, and that the right of soil and the future disposition of it be surrendered to the States respectively in which it lies."
References
Presidency.ucsb.edu. (2019). Fourth Annual Message | The American Presidency Project. [online] Available at: https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/fourth-annual-message-3 [Accessed 18 Nov. 2019].Virginiaplaces.org. (2019). Virginia's Cession of the Northwest Territory. [online] Available at: http://www.virginiaplaces.org/boundaries/cessions.html [Accessed 18 Nov. 2019].
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