Land Acts

The 1785 Ordinance provided for the survey and sale of this land in the Public Land States in tracts of no less than 640 acres, equivalent to a Section, which is one square mile. This was the beginning of the cash-entry system for federal lands. The Land Ordinance of 1785 also introduced federal support for public schooling, granting Section 16 (one square mile) of every township to be used “for the maintenance of public schools within said township.

The Land Act of 1800 reduced the minimum purchasable unit of land from 640 acres to 320 acres at a minimum cost of $2 per acre. It also introduced the option of credit sales to encourage land sales. Land purchased under the Harrison Land Act of 1800 could be paid for by putting down half of the required payment upfront and the remainder in equal installments over a period of four years.

The Land Act of 1820, also referred to as the 1820 Sale Act, reduced the price of federal land (Northwest Territory and Missouri Territory) to $1.25 acre, with a minimum purchase of 80 acres and downpayment of $100. The act also granted squatters the right to preempt these conditions and purchase the land even more cheaply if they had made improvements to the land such as the building of homes, fences, or mills. This act eliminated credit sales, the purchase of public land in the United States on credit.

This act allow "squatters" preemptive rights to purchase land in the public domain on which they were living. The requirements were: