Texas Public Lands

The 1845 treaty of annexation between the Republic of Texas and the United States made Texas the only state aside from the original thirteen colonies to enter the Union with control over its public lands. The state has since disposed of these lands in various ways. It sold land to settlers through various preemption acts and granted land as compensation for war service, bonuses for construction of railroads and other public works, payment for the construction of the state capitol, and support for education. By the Compromise of 1850, Texas also ceded claims to lands that now lie in other states. At the end of the nineteenth century, Texas had no unappropriated public lands left.

Bibliography

Miller, Thomas L. The Public Lands of Texas, 1519–1970. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1972.

Morgan, Andrea Gurasich. Land: A History of the Texas General Land Office. Austin: Texas General Land Office, 1992.