View source for Land Ordinance of 1785

{{Short description|United States law on western land and surveying}}
{{Use American English|date=June 2025}}
The '''Land Ordinance of 1785''' was adopted by the United States [[Congress of the Confederation]] on May 20, 1785. It set up a standardized system whereby settlers could purchase title to farmland in the undeveloped west.  Congress at the time did not have the power to raise revenue by direct taxation, so land sales provided an important revenue stream.  The Ordinance set up a [[Surveying|survey]] system that eventually covered over three-quarters of the area of the continental United States.<ref>{{cite journal | first=Vernon | last=Carstensen | title=Patterns on the American Land | work=Journal of Federalism | date=1987 | volume=18 | issue=4 | pages=31–39}}</ref>

The earlier [[Land Ordinance of 1784]] was a resolution written by [[Thomas Jefferson]] calling for Congress to take action. The land west of the [[Appalachian Mountains]], north of the [[Ohio River]] and east of the [[Mississippi River]] was to be divided into ten separate states.<ref>{{cite journal | first=Richard P. | last=McCormick | title=The 'Ordinance' of 1784? | work=William and Mary Quarterly | date=January 1993 | volume=50 |issue=1 | pages=112–122}}</ref> However, the 1784 resolution 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 put the 1784 resolution in operation by providing a mechanism for selling and settling the land,<ref name=text>{{cite journal | url=http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=lljc&fileName=028/lljc028.db&recNum=386 | title=An ordinance for ascertaining the mode of disposing of Lands in the Western Territory | work=Journal of Continental Congress | volume=28 | page=375 | date=May 20, 1785 | via=[[Library of Congress]]}}</ref> while the [[Northwest Ordinance]] of 1787 addressed political needs.

The 1785 ordinance laid the foundations of land policy until passage of the [[Homestead Act of 1862]]. The Land Ordinance established the basis for the [[Public Land Survey System]]. The initial surveying was performed by [[Thomas Hutchins]]. After he died in 1789, responsibility for surveying was transferred to the Surveyor General. Land was to be systematically surveyed into square [[Survey township|township]]s, {{convert|6|mi|km|abbr=on}} on a side, each divided into thirty-six [[Section (United States land surveying)|section]]s of {{convert|1|mi2|km2|abbr=on}} or {{convert|640|acre|ha|abbr=on}}. These sections could then be subdivided for re-sale by settlers and land speculators.<ref name="White 1983">{{citation | last=White | first=C. Albert | title=A History of the Rectangular Survey System | publisher=Bureau of Land Management | date=1983}}{{page needed|date=July 2018}}</ref>

The ordinance was also significant for establishing a mechanism for funding public education. Section 16 in each township was reserved for the maintenance of public schools. Many schools today are still located in section sixteen of their respective townships,{{Citation needed|date=November 2010}} although a great many of the school sections were sold to raise money for public education. In later States, section 36 of each township was also designated as a "school section".{{r|White 1983}}{{sfn|Williamson|Donaldson|1880|p=226}}<ref>The Oregon Territory Act (August 14, 1848) {{USStat|9|323}} initiated practice of setting aside section 36 for schools: Section 20 "And be it further enacted, That when the lands in the said Territory shall be surveyed under the direction of the Government of the United States, preparatory to bringing the same into market, sections numbered sixteen and thirty-six in each township in said Territory shall be, and the same is hereby, reserved for the purpose of being applied to schools in said Territory, and in the States and Territories hereafter to be erected out of the same."</ref>

The [[Beginning Point of the U.S. Public Land Survey|Point of Beginning]] for the 1785 survey was where Ohio (as the easternmost part of the Northwest Territory), [[Pennsylvania]] and [[Virginia]] (now [[West Virginia]]) met, on the north shore of the [[Ohio River]] near [[East Liverpool, Ohio]]. There is a historical marker just north of the site, at the state line where [[Ohio State Route 39]] becomes [[Pennsylvania Route 68]].

[[Image:Land Act of 1785 section numbering.png|thumb|alt=Six-mile square divided into 36 mile-square sections, numbered, starting one in the southeast corner and proceeding northward to six in the northeast, then seven west of one to twelve west of six, and so on to thirty-six in the northwest corner|Plan for numbering sections of a township adopted May 20, 1785]]

[[Image:Theoreticaltownshipmap.gif|thumb|alt=Six-mile square divided into 36 mile-square sections, numbered, starting with one in the northeast, proceeding westward to six in the northwest corner, then to seven south of six, eastward to twelve south of one, then thirteen to twenty-four in like manner, and finally twenty-five to thirty-six in the southwest corner |[[United States General Land Office]] plan for numbering sections of a standard [[survey township]], adopted May 18, 1796]]

[[Image:1785 Land Ordinance Diagram.jpg|thumb|Diagram of the 1785 Land Ordinance showing how the method of subdivision can be applied from the scale of the country down to the scale of a single lot]]

==History==
The [[Confederation Congress]] appointed a committee consisting of the following men:

* [[Thomas Jefferson]] ([[Virginia]])
* [[Hugh Williamson]] ([[North Carolina]])
* [[David Howell (jurist)|David Howell]] ([[Rhode Island]])
* [[Elbridge Gerry]] ([[Massachusetts]])
* [[Jacob Read]] ([[South Carolina]])

On May 7, 1784, the [[people]] reported "An ordinance for ascertaining the mode of  locating and disposing of lands in the western territories, and for other purposes therein mentioned."  The ordinance required the land be divided into "[[Hundred (county subdivision)|hundreds]] of ten [[geographical mile]]s square, each mile containing 6086 and 4-10ths of a foot" and "sub-divided into lots of one mile square each, or 850 and 4-10ths of an acre",<ref name=proposal>{{cite journal | url=http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=lljc&fileName=027/lljc027.db&recNum=83 | title=An ordinance for ascertaining the mode of locating and disposing of lands in the western territory | work=Journal of Continental Congress | volume=27 | page=446 | date=May 28, 1784 | via=[[Library of Congress]]}}</ref> numbered starting in the northwest corner, proceeding from west to east, and east to west, consecutively.  After debate and amendment, the ordinance was reported to Congress April 26, 1785.  It required surveyors "to divide the said territory into townships seven miles square,  by lines running due north and south, and others crossing these at right angles. —  The plats of the townships, respectively, shall be marked into sections of one mile square, or 640 acres."  This is the first recorded use of the terms "[[township]]" and "section."{{sfn|Higgins|1887|pp=33–34, 78–82}}

On May 3, 1785, [[William Grayson]] of Virginia made a motion seconded by [[James Monroe]] to change "seven miles square" to "six miles square."  The ordinance was passed on May 20, 1785.  The sections were to be numbered starting at 1 in the southeast and running south to north in each tier to 36 in the northwest.  The surveys were to be performed under the direction of the Geographer of the United States (Thomas Hutchins).{{sfn|Higgins|1887|pp=33–34, 78–82}} The [[Seven Ranges]], the privately surveyed [[Symmes Purchase]], and, with some modification, the privately surveyed [[Ohio Company of Associates]], all of the [[Ohio Lands]] were the surveys completed with this section numbering.<ref name=ohiosub>[[#pet18|Peters 1918]] : 58</ref>
[[Image:uses 1785 numbering.png|left|thumb|Locations in Ohio using Land Ordinance of 1785 Section Numbering|250px]]

The Act of May 18, 1796,<ref>{{USStat|1|464}} – Text of Act of May 18, 1796 [[Library of Congress]]</ref> provided for the appointment of a surveyor-general to replace the office of Geographer of the United States, and that "sections shall be numbered, respectively, beginning with number one in the northeast section, and proceeding west and east alternately, through the township, with progressive numbers till the thirty-sixth be completed."  All subsequent surveys were completed with this [[boustrophedon]]ical section numbering system, except the [[United States Military District]] of the [[Ohio Lands]] which had five mile (8&nbsp;km) square townships as provided by the Act of June 1, 1796,<ref>{{USStat|1|490}} – Text of Act of June 1, 1796 [[Library of Congress]]</ref> and amended by the Act of March 1, 1800.{{sfn|Higgins|1887|pp=33–34, 78–82}}<ref>{{USStat|2|14}} – Text of Act of March 1, 1800 [[Library of Congress]]</ref>

Howe and others give Thomas Hutchins credit for conceiving the rectangular system of  lots of one square mile in 1764 while a captain in the [[King's Royal Rifle Corps|Sixtieth, or, Royal American]], Regiment, and engineer to the expedition under Col. [[Henry Bouquet]] to the forks of the [[Muskingum River|Muskingum]], in what is now [[Coshocton County, Ohio]].  It formed part of his plan for military colonies north of the [[Ohio River|Ohio]], as a protection against [[Native Americans in the United States|Indians]].  The law of 1785 embraced most of the new system.<ref name=howe>[[#howe07|Howe 1907]] : 134</ref>  Treat, on the other hand, notes that tiers of townships were familiar in New England, and insisted on by the New England legislators.{{sfn|Treat|1910|pp=179–182}}

==Public education==
Support for public schooling was established in the Land Ordinance through ''school lands''<ref>{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/acompilationlaw00swangoog |title=A compilation of laws, treaties, resolutions, and ordinances: of the general and state governments, which relate to lands in the state of Ohio; including the laws adopted by the governor and judges; the laws of the territorial legislature; and the laws of this state, to the years 1815-16 |publisher=G. Nashee, State Printer |year=1825 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/acompilationlaw00swangoog/page/n539 534]}} page 17.</ref> which granted Section 16 (one square mile) of every township to be used for public education: "There shall be reserved the Lot No. 16, of every township, for the maintenance of public schools within said township."<ref>{{cite web |title=Ohio Lands: A Short History Part 5 |url=http://freepages.history.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~maggie/ohio-lands/ohl5.html |accessdate=10 March 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author=John Kilbourne |title=Historical Collections of Ohio ... an Encyclopedia of the State |publisher=The State of Ohio |year=1907 |editor=Henry Howe |edition=The Ohio Centennial |volume=1 |chapter=The Public Lands of Ohio}} [https://books.google.com/books?id=z_wTAAAAYAAJ&q=historical+collections+of+ohio School lands, page 132]. (Volume 1 originally published in 1847 as ''Historical Collections of Ohio''.)</ref> Section 16 was located near the center of the township. (For states surveyed under the [[Public Land Survey System|federal rectangular system]], survey townships and civil townships usually have the same boundaries, but there are many exceptions.)<ref name="OhioLands">{{cite book |author=George W. Knepper |title=The Official Ohio Lands Book |chapter=The Land Ordinance of 1785 |chapter-url=https://ohioauditor.gov/publications/OhioLandsBook.pdf |accessdate=10 March 2011}} page 56.</ref> Section 36 was also subsequently added as a school section in western states. The various states and counties ignored, altered or amended this provision in their own ways, but the general (intended) effect was a guarantee that local schools would have an income and that the community schoolhouses would be centrally located for all children.{{citation needed|date=June 2022}}

The School Lands are part of the [[Ohio Lands]],<ref name="OhioLands" /> comprising land grants in Ohio from the United States federal government for public schools. According to the ''Official Ohio Lands Book'',<ref name="OhioLands" /> "by 1920, 73,155,075 acres of public land had been given by the federal government to the public land states in support of public schooling."

In the Land Ordinance of 1785 provision was also made by land grant for higher education (the [[College Lands]]).{{citation needed|date=June 2022}}

==Layout of townships==
Each western township contained thirty-six square miles of land, planned as a square measuring six miles on each side, which was further subdivided into thirty-six lots, each lot containing one square mile of land. The mathematical precision of the planning was the concerted effort of surveyors. Each township contained dedicated space for public education and other government uses, as five of the thirty-six lots were reserved for government or public purposes. The thirty-six lots of each township were numbered accordingly on each township's survey. The centermost land of each township corresponded to lot numbers 15, 16, 21 and 22 on the township survey, with lot number 16 dedicated specifically to public education. As the Land Ordinance of 1785 stated: "There shall be reserved the lot No. 16, of every township, for the maintenance of public schools within the said township."<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://moglen.law.columbia.edu/twiki/bin/view/AmLegalHist/PublicEducationInLandGrantsSGrenbaum|title = PublicEducationInLandGrantsSGrenbaum - AmLegalHist - TWiki}}</ref>

Knepper notes: "Sections number 8, 11, 26, and 29 in every township were reserved for future sale by the federal government when, it was hoped, they would bring higher prices because of developed land around them. Congress also reserved one third part of all gold, silver, lead, and copper mines to its own use, a bit of wishful thinking as regards Ohio lands."<ref>[[#knep02|Knepper 2002]] : 9</ref> The ordinance also said "That three townships adjacent to [[Lake Erie]] be reserved, to be hereafter disposed of by Congress, for the use of the officers, men, and others, refugees from [[Canada]], and the refugees from [[Nova Scotia]], who are or may be entitled to grants of land under resolutions of Congress now existing." This was not possible, as the area next to Lake Erie was [[Connecticut Western Reserve|property of Connecticut]], so the Canadians had to wait until the establishment of the [[Refugee Tract]] in 1798.<ref name=officialohio>[[#knep02|Knepper 2002]] : 51</ref>

The ordinance determined that some townships should be sold entire, and other townships should be sold by lots. It was specified that this would be done in such a way that all townships contiguous to one sold entire would be sold by lots, and vice versa. The same applied to the fractional parts of the townships.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://www.loc.gov/item/90898224/ |title=An ordinance for ascertaining the mode of disposing of lands in the Western Territory: Be it ordained by the United States in Congress assembled, that the territory ceded by individual states to the United States, which has been purchased of the Indian inhabitants, shall be disposed of in the following manner |date=1785 |publisher=s.n |editor-last=United States |location=[New York |language=english |editor-last2=King |editor-first2=Rufus |editor-last3=Johnson |editor-first3=William Samuel |editor-last4=Continental Congress Broadside Collection (Library of Congress)}}</ref>

==Influence==
Many historians recognize the influences of the colonial experience in the land ordinances of the 1780s.{{sfn|Treat|1910}}<ref>{{cite book | first=Jonathan | last=Hughes | chapter=The Great Land Ordinances: Colonial America’s Thumbprint on History | editor-last=Klingaman | editor-first=David C. | editor-last2=Vedder | editor-first2=Richard K. | title=Essays on the Economy of the Old Northwest | publisher=Ohio University Press | publication-place=Athens, Ohio | date=1987 | isbn=978-0-8214-0875-9 | via=Minnesota Legal History Project | chapter-url=http://www.minnesotalegalhistoryproject.org/assets/hughes.pdf | access-date=15 March 2013}}</ref> The committees that formulated these ordinances were inspired by the individual colonial experiences of the states that they represented. The committees attempted to implement the best practices of such states to solve the task at hand.{{sfn|Treat|1910|pp=22–23}} The surveyed townships of the Land Ordinance of 1785, writes historian Jonathan Hughes, "represented an amalgam of the colonial experience and ideals."{{sfn|Hughes|1987|p=11}} Two geographically and ideologically distinct colonial land systems were competing at such time in history – the New England system and the Southern system.{{sfn|Treat|1910|pp=22–23}} While the primary influence on the Land Ordinance of 1785 was the New England land system of the colonial era, marked by its emphasis on community development and systematic planning, the exceedingly individualistic Southern land system also played a role.{{Citation needed|date=December 2020}}

Even though Jefferson's committee had a Southern majority, it recommended the New England survey system.{{sfn|Treat|1910|p=26}} The highly planned and surveyed western townships established in the Land Ordinance of 1785, were heavily influenced by the New England settlements of the colonial era, particularly the land grant provisions of the Ordinances which dedicated land towards public education and other government uses. In colonial times, New England settlements contained dedicated public space for schools and churches, which often held a central role in the community. For instance, the 1751 royal charter for Marlboro Vermont provides: "one Shear [share] for the First Settled Minister one Shear for the benefit of the School forever."{{sfn|Hughes|1987|p=13}} By the time the Land Ordinance of 1785 was enacted, the New England states had used land grants for over a century to support public education and build new schools. The clause in the Land Ordinance of 1785 which dedicated "Lot Number 16" of each western township for public education reflected this regional New England experience.<ref name="Carleton 2002 p15">{{cite book | last=Carleton | first=David | title=Landmark Congressional Laws on Education | publication-place=Westport, Connecticut | publisher=Greenwood | year=2002 | isbn=978-0-313-31335-6 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gOPEEAAAQBAJ | page=15}}</ref>

In addition, the use of surveyors to precisely chart out the new townships in the westward expansion was directly influenced by the New England land system, which similarly relied on surveyors and local committees to clearly delineate property boundaries. Defined property boundary lines and an established land title system, provided colonials with a sense of security in their land ownership, by minimizing the likelihood of ownership or boundary disputes. This was an important consideration in the Land Ordinance of 1785. One of the primary purposes of the Ordinance was to raise funds for the increasingly insolvent government. Providing land speculators security in their purchases encouraged additional demand for the western lands. In addition, the organized and communal nature of the western settlements, allowed the government to reserve a number of well-defined plots of land for future government development. Since the rest of the township would have been developed by the time the government decided to develop such reserved lands, there was an already built-in assurance of land value appreciation for the reserved lands. This had the effect of increasing the value of government assets without much further investment by the government.{{Citation needed|date=December 2020}}

The New England land system, while the primary influence on the great land ordinances of the 1780s, was not the only land system influence. The Southern land system, marked by individualism and personal initiative, also helped shape the ordinance. While the New England land system was premised on community-based development, the Southern land system was premised on individual frontiersman appropriating undeveloped land to call their own. The Southern pioneer claimed property and the local surveyor would demarcate it for him. The system did not protect people from competing claims or set up an orderly chain of title. The process was called 'indiscriminate location". This system encouraged individuals to amass large plantations instead of settling into dense communal development. This system was supported by the use of slave labor.{{sfn|Treat|1910|p=25}} Perhaps the committee's resistance against indiscriminate location and support for limited and disciplined land settlement was an implicit attempt to create a structural barrier to developing a plantation economy that was dependent on slave labor. The committee could have been attempting to effectively eradicate slavery in the West after Jefferson failed to outlaw it in the Land Ordinance of 1784.{{Citation needed|date=December 2020}}

While the Land Ordinance of 1785 created a New England style land system, the Northwest Ordinance of 1787 determined how the townships would be administered. The Northwest Ordinance of 1787, like the Land Ordinance of 1785, was inspired by the New England colonial settlements, and manifested this influence by further encouraging the worship of religion and the spread of education. The Northwest Ordinance of 1787 stated, "Religion, morality, and knowledge being necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of education shall forever be encouraged."<ref>{{citation | title=The Northwest Ordinance of 1787 | at=Article 3 | url=http://www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?flash=true&doc=8 | access-date=15 March 2013}}</ref> However, the Northwest Ordinance of 1787 also contained Southern characteristics of municipal governance. The Southern influence can be felt in the Western townships in that once the federal land was dedicated to the particular township, the township was relatively free of the influence of the federal government, and the local municipality was left to govern itself. This manifested itself in public education as well. Once the land was dedicated, the actual development of the public schools was the responsibility of the local township or the particular state.<ref>{{citation | first=Alexandra | last=Usher | title=Public Schools in the Original Federal Land Grant Program | publisher=The Center on Education Policy | date=April 2011 | page=8 | url=http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED518388.pdf}}</ref> Although the great Ordinances of the 1780s set the framework for a national system of schools by dedicating land across the West, the devolved development and administration by the state and local government led to unique results.{{sfn|Usher|2011|p=8}}

==Motives==
Retaining central land in each township ensured that these lands would create value for the federal government and the safety of the people. Instead of disbursing funds to the new states to create public education systems, dedicating a central lot in each township provided the new townships with the means to develop educational institutions without any transfer of funds. This was a practical and necessary way to achieve the committee's goal in a pre-Constitution America. Aside from raising funds for a financially struggling government, the westward expansion outlined in the Land Ordinances of the 1780s also provided a framework for spreading democratic ideals. Jefferson proposed an article in the Ordinance that would have outlawed slavery in the new states after the year 1800. However he could not amass enough votes to pass the anti-slavery article. Later Jefferson did succeed, however, in ensuring public funding of education by dedicating land to education in the Land Ordinance of 1785. Public education was an ideal already developed in the New England colonial settlements. New Englanders provided for public education in their land grants due to a belief that public education could be used to further unite the young nation and spread democratic ideals.{{r|Carleton 2002 p15}}

The systematic and highly organized westward settlements, with their local governments and central square dedicated towards public education, were a concerted effort to inspire civic duty and participation in the democratic process. Usher relates this initiative to "the Supreme Court in Cooper v. Roberts (1855), 'plant in the heart of every community the same sentiments of grateful reverence for the wisdom, forecast, and magnanimous statesmanship of those who framed the institutions of these new States."{{sfn|Usher|2011|p=7}} The westward expansion therefore was not only a tool for raising much needed funds, but also a tool in a grand socializing experiment to inoculate the settlers to democratic ideals. The hope was that the unique planning of each township with a public school centrally located, coupled with the obligation of each township's local citizens to take part in the civic process of governing the township, teaching and building the schools, and maintaining order, would instill the democratic ideals crucial to the nation's success.

==Criticism==
The economist [[Murray Rothbard]] wrote a critical review of George B. DeHuszar and Thomas Hulbert Stevenson, ' ''A History of the American Republic, 2 vols'' ' in which he states that the authors failed to realise that the handing over of western lands to the federal government resulted in huge unearned property to the federal government's unearned "public domain":

<blockquote>
The Ordinance of 1785 was a dictatorial intrusion into the western region, which set too high a minimum land sale and price, thus restricting settlement, and also enforced rectangular surveying, thus forcing the purchase of submarginal land within an otherwise good “rectangle,” instead of conforming, as in the Southern methods of surveying, to the natural [[topography]] of the land in question. In colonial days, unowned land was free to all settlers, and this represented a sharp change in the direction of [[statist|étatist]] restriction of land settlement and increasing government revenue from land. DeHuszar shows no sign of realizing this significance of the ordinance. Furthermore, the Ordinance of 1785 foisted public schools upon each township in the region, thus taking the first step toward public schools and toward federal dictation over education. None of this seems to impress DeHuszar or dampen his enthusiasm for the ordinance.</blockquote> <ref>{{cite book |last1=Rothbard |first1=Murray |title=Strictly Confidential: The Private Volker Fund Memos of Murray N. Rothbard |date=2010 |publisher=Mises Institute |isbn=978-1-933550-80-0 |pages=97 |url=https://cdn.mises.org/Strictly%20Confidential%20The%20Private%20Volker%20Fund%20Memos%20of%20Murray%20N%20Rothbard_2.pdf}}</ref>

==See also==
*[[Canadian and Nova Scotia Refugee Tract]] in New York
*[[Dominion Land Survey]] (Canada)
*[[Northwest Territory]]
*[[Northwest Ordinance]]
*[[Public Land Survey System]]

==Notes==
{{Reflist|2}}

==References and further reading==
* {{cite book |title=Subdivisions of the Public Lands, Described and Illustrated, with Diagrams and Maps |last=Higgins |first=Jerome S. |year=1887 |publisher=Higgins & Co|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=r-jSAAAAMAAJ}}
* {{cite book |ref=howe07|title=Historical Collections of Ohio, The Ohio Centennial Edition |last=Howe |first=Henry |author-link=Henry Howe|volume=1|year=1907 |publisher= The State of Ohio |isbn=9781404753761 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OXIOAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA134}}
* {{cite book |ref=knep02|title=The Official Ohio Lands Book |last=Knepper |first=George W |year=2002 |publisher=State of Ohio |url=https://ohioauditor.gov/publications/OhioLandsBook.pdf}}
* {{cite book |ref=pet18|title=Ohio Lands and Their Subdivision |last=Peters |first=William E |year=1918 |publisher=W.E. Peters |url=https://archive.org/details/ohiolandstheirsu00pete|page=[https://archive.org/details/ohiolandstheirsu00pete/page/n69 58]}}
* {{cite book |title=The National Land System 1785–1820 |last=Treat |first=Payson Jackson |year=1910 |publisher=E.B. Treat and Co |page=[https://archive.org/details/nationallandsys00treagoog/page/n200 179]|url=https://archive.org/details/nationallandsys00treagoog}}
* {{cite book |title=The Public Domain. Its History, with Statistics |first1=James Alexander|last1=Williamson |first2=Thomas |author-link1=James Alexander Williamson|last2=Donaldson |year=1880 |page=[https://archive.org/details/publicdomainits00goog/page/n246 226]|publisher=[[United States Government Publishing Office|Government Printing Office]] |url=https://archive.org/details/publicdomainits00goog}}
* [[Hildegard Binder Johnson|Johnson, Hildegard Binder]]. ''Order upon the Land: The U.S. Rectangular Land Survey and the Upper Mississippi Country'' (1977)
* Geib, George W.. "The Land Ordinance of 1785: A Bicentennial Review," ''Indiana Magazine of History,'' March 1985, Vol. 81 Issue 1, pp 1–13

==External links==
{{wikisource|Land Ordinance of 1785}}
{{wikisource|Land Ordinance of 1785 (supplement)}}
*[http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=lljc&fileName=028/lljc028.db&recNum=386&itemLink=r?ammem/hlaw:@field(DATE+17850520)::%230280388&linkText=1 Library of Congress – Ordinance Text]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20090215202854/http://www.in.gov/history/5709.htm Indiana Historical Bureau – Ordinance Text]
*[http://www.ohiohistorycentral.org/entry.php?rec=1472 Ohio History Central – Land Ordinance of 1785]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20070914120450/http://www.blm.gov/wo/st/en/prog/more/cadastralsurvey/meridians.html Bureau of Land Management – Principal Meridians and Base Lines Map]
*[https://archive.today/20130203225438/http://www.thegreatamericangrid.com/2011/11/08/infographic-the-land-ordinance-of-1785 The Great American Grid – 1785 Land Ordinance Diagram]
*[http://www.pmproject.org/index.htm Photographs of the Principal Meridians]

{{Government of the United States under the Articles of Confederation}}
{{Thomas Jefferson}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Land Ordinance Of 1785}}
[[Category:1785 in American law]]
[[Category:History of the Midwestern United States]]
[[Category:United States federal public land legislation]]
[[Category:Surveying of the United States]]
[[Category:Ordinances of the Continental Congress]]
[[Category:Pre-statehood history of Ohio]]
[[Category:Settlement schemes in the United States]]
[[Category:Confederation period]]