Land Ordinance of 1785

The Articles of Confederation was America’s first national government and it was created to establish an alliance between the thirteen states to work together. After gaining independence from Britain, America needed to come up with a strong government to lead the country. Congress wanted to change and not have a government like the Parliament which was viewed by the colonists as, “oppressive” and “brutal”. According to Document 1, article 2 states, “Each state retains its sovereignty, freedom,…

This Wednesday, Roxanne-Dunbar Ortiz and Dina Gillio Whitaker presented their new book at the Elliot Bay Company. Their book addresses myths associated with American colonization and the Indigenous peoples. Ms. Gillio Whitaker helped with specifics of the native history side of the book; both collaborating to address the issues they felt were important. Before the brief introduction and excerpt reading, they explained their disappointment in the election results and how it resulted in a therapy…

Republicanism- idea of being a republican in a nation where the head of the state is not appointed by blood but by election the idea of being headed by a limited government where rep serve the will of the people. (consent of the governed) this is significant because it was the type of government we had when we first the won the revolution or its what the colonists were pushing for. John Locke-English philosopher. He believed that all people had the right to life liberty and property. He came up…

During the 18th and 19th century, the United States was experiencing rapid expansion and growth. The purchases of a wide expanses of land, like the Louisiana Purchase, allowed for the territorial expansion of the United States. This allowed presidents after Thomas Jefferson, who spearheaded western expansion, to follow suit with the idea of expansionism.1 While many other treaties and purchases helped with America’s growth, other factors also played into American territorial expansion. The very…

After the United States declared its independence from Great Britain with the Treaty of Paris in 1783, a document was written that would serve as the national government of the United States. This written document is called The Articles of Confederation. These Articles gave no power to the Congress to act on the requests for money or troops, and by the end of 1786, governmental efficiency was extremely low. However, The Articles did offer the new nation an understanding of how a written…

population. This also allowed the Ordinances of 1784, proposed by Thomas Jefferson, divided the western territory into self-governing districts, which could petition Congress to become a state. It was the first organized territory of the United States, from lands beyond the Appalachian Mountains, between British Canada and the Great Lakes to the north and the Ohio River to the south. Also the Ordinance of 1785, Congress created a system for surveying and selling the western lands. This resulted…

should not be allowed in America. However, Jefferson was overruled, and the discussion of the issue was postponed. However, after the Revolution, the problem came up again, and as a result, the Ordinance for the Governance of the Northwest Territory of the United States was created. The purpose of this ordinance was to declare that there was to be no slavery in this territory. This was very different from pre-Revolution America, where slavery was very important to their economy, and not many…

performance of certain government functions while the nation was still under the governance of the Articles of Confederation. He conceived the idea for the Land Ordinance of 1785, which ordered all land surveyed and divided into thirty-six square mile townships, which are further subdivided into quadrants; this method of organizing the nation’s land is still in use today. This allowed for convenient buying and…

Land surveying is the technique of determining position of points on the earth and using them to define boundaries and draw maps. It divides the land into parcels by providing correct descriptions, which is then assigned for ownership and other purposes. The original charter group from England brought the “Metes and Bounds” system of describing land or real estate to U.S. where it had been used for many centuries. It was used in the original thirteen colonies that became the United States…

First, the land belonged to the Native Americans even though the States had claimed it. Congress made “treaties” with the natives allowing the Americans to take the land and the natives could not do anything about it since they had obtained the land from the British who no longer were in control of the colonies. Some of the smaller states that had established their borders felt it unfair that larger states that had not established their borders could claim large areas of land when smaller ones…