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Land Ordinance of 1785, Northwest Ordinance of 1781, Shay's Rebellion

“Shaping a Federal Union”
June 8, 2003



The Land Ordinance of 1785 was a law that was passed by Congress

which allowed land to be sold in the Northwest Territory and set up the

standards for the sale of land that became precedents. Among them was the

idea to sell mile-square sections of land. The Northwest was surveyed into

townships six miles square in north, south, east, west lines. These townships

were divided into 36 sections one mile square. The land, which amounted to

640 acres sections, where auctioned off for under $ 1.00 per acre or $640.00

for all of the sections. The goal of the Land Ordinance of 1785 was to bring

more settlers, to help the economy grow, and to help raise an extremely low

deficit. For several years the question of what to do with the land had been

debated. Finally the Land Ordinance would help divide the land accordingly

in more precise units of measurements rather than the usual me...

Posted by: Kelly G Hess

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