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What is land ordinance 1785?

Updated: 8/22/2023
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9y ago

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It was a law that established a plan for surveying and selling the federally owned lands west of the Appalachian mountains.

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Following the American Revolution a number of states ceded to the federal government their claims to land lying west of the Appalachian Mountains. The cessions eased the worries of landless states, cooled tensions between states with overlapping land claims, and relieved the states of war debts. In turn, the federal government had to determine what to do with the ceded land. The Land Ordinance of 1785 laid the foundation for future American land policy. After the Indian title had been purchased, the ceded lands were to be systematically surveyed, prior to sale or settlement, into townships. Of the thirty-six sections of 640 acres in each township, the sixteenth was reserved "for the maintenance of public schools."
The Land Ordinance of 1785 was adopted by Congress on May 20, 1785. Under the Articles of Federation, Congress did not have the power to raise revenue by taxing of the inhabitants of the United States. Therefore, the immediate goal of the ordinance was to raise money through the sale of land in the largely unmapped territory west of the original colonies acquired from the UK at the end of the war.

In addition, the act provided for the political organization of these territories. The earlier called for the land west of the Appelachions north of the Oh. river and east of the Mississippi to be divided into ten separate states. However, it did not define the mechanism by which the land would become states, or how the territories would be governed or settled before they became states. The Ordinance of 1785, along with the N.W. Ord. of 1787, were intended to address these political needs.

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8y ago
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13y ago

The Land Ordinance which called for the land west of the Appalachian Mountains, north of the Ohio River and east of the Mississippi River to be divided into separate states, was passed April 23, 1784.

Another Land Ordinance, which contributed to the first one, was passe May 20, 1785.

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9y ago

The Land Ordinance of 1785 established the way in which The United States government would expand north and west of the Ohio River. It also effectively made the Ohio River to northern boundary for slavery.

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13y ago

An act that used a grid system to divide up the western frontier. It is the reason that the states look the way are they do now.

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16y ago

may 20,1785

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Related questions

Why was the land of ordinance of 1785 important?

The Land Ordinance of 1785 was important because it created the Northwest Territory. President Washington signed the ordinance on August 7, 1789.


Which ordinance sold government land in the west to encourge settlement?

The Land Ordinance of 1785


What was the Articles of Confederation strengths?

Some strengths of the AOC were they established congress, the northwest ordinance, and the land ordinance of 1785.


What did the land ordinance of 1785 divide the western lands into?

The land ordinance of 1785 was created to divide the land that had been acquired by the U.S..


What was the land of ordinance of 1785 created by?

Township


True or false The land ordinance of 1785 described how the northwest territory was to be governed?

False: Land Ordinance of 1785 described how the western territories was to be governed.


Was the purpose of the land ordinance of 1785?

The purpose of the Land Ordinance of 1785 was essentially to repay the debt from the Revolution by surveying and selling lands in the northwest territories.


What did the land ordinance of 1785 abd northwest ordinance have in common?

It was used in 1785 to settle more land outside of the thirteen states by using population.


Land under the Land Ordinance of 1785 cost?

one dollar an acre


What divided western lands into townships?

the land ordinace


How much were the Acres of land under the Land Ordinance of 1785?

1 dollar


The what described how the northwest territory was to be governed?

Land Ordinance of 1785