23. VARIOUS LAND Grants from 1841 to 1862............... 24. DONATION, Swamp and GRADUATION ACTS........... 29. FINAL PASSAGE OF THE HOMESTEAD ACT................. 30. EULOGIES OF THE HOMESTEAD LAW.......... HISTORY OF THE LAND QUESTION IN THE UNITED STATES. INTRODUCTION. ORIGIN AND IMPORTANCE OF THE PUBLIC DOMAIN. The War of Independence severed political connections between the English colonies and their mother country. The colonies became States, and the States assumed a sovereign power. The thirteen colonies which were planted in the region along the Atlantic border formed the American Union; and its territory, as recognized in the treaty of 1783, extended from the Atlantic on the east to the Mississippi in the west, and from the Great Lakes in the north to the Gulf of Mexico in the south. This constituted the national domain of the United States, and embraced an area of about 830,000 square miles. That portion of the national domain lying immediately west of the Alleghany mountains and northwest of the Ohio river was claimed by several States, but was ceded by them to the National Government after a long-protracted controversy. Likewise the region southeast of the Ohio was ceded to the Government by the then three southernmost States. These lands formed a nucleus of the public domain of the United States, and contained an area of about 404,000 square miles. Out of this public domain arose several republican commonwealths, which added much to the strength and wealth of the Union. The creation of the public domain forms an important epoch in the history of American Politics. Its subsequent expansion; the mode of its administration; legislation for its government; its relation to constitutional questions; the diplomacy and politics involved in its acquisition; its international boundary questions; the enactment of settlement laws; the attraction of immigrants and growth of population; internal improvements and increased facilities of transportation; the discovery of precious metals, and other similar topics of interest might be cited here in connection with the public domain. They afford to the student of politics and economics an ample field of study and investigation, and show in a measure what important relations the public domain has had with the affairs of the nation and what vital questions have been involved in it. Perhaps slavery and the public domain are the two most important factors in the politico-economic history of the United States. In this country slavery has had a beginning and an end. Its beginning may be traced back to colonial times to the introduction of negroes into Virginia in 1619. This peculiar institution, after an existence of nearly two centuries and a half, has finally met with its fate. The reconstruction of society upon a true economic basis is the chief work of to-day in the sections of the country where slavery once prevailed. Slavery may well be forgotten by the younger generation. It already belongs to the province of "past politics." But the public domain has its actual life in present history. Bills have been pending in the National Legislature which aim to repeal certain out-lived settlement laws. The question of a forfeiture of a Railroad Land Grant has just been decided against a railroad corporation for its nonfulfilment of conditions. The Senate has two standing committees on the Public Lands, and the House of Representatives one committee on the same, while the General Land Office is one of the most important branches in the civil service of the Government. The concentration of landed property into the hands of foreign capitalists, which means the introduction of British Absenteeism, has been drawing attention from the public and the press. Fraudulent entries and adventurous trespass on the public lands called forth sharp words from Mr. Cleveland in his inaugural address, to the effect that "care for the property of the nation and for the needs of future settlers requires that the public domain should be protected from purloining schemes and unlawful occupation." Again, justice demands the protection of the Indians in their right of occupancy from the lawlessness of so-called "boomers." In this and all other questions, the public interest is deeply concerned with the administration and disposition of the public domain. Notwithstanding the rapid disposition of public lands, there yet remain scattered all over the southern, the western, and the Pacific regions, vast tracts of unoccupied lands, the aggregate area of which is almost twice as great as that of the national domain in 1783. Tides of immigration still flow from across the ocean. Millions of homes can be created. An immense wealth and vast resources can be developed. Towns will multiply; counties will grow; free institutions will spring into life. This material advance and prosperity will be due to the public domain and its judicious disposition. Homestead laws will continue to build up the Great West in the future as they have done in the past. The importance of the public domain, however, seems to have been rarely and but recently emphasized by the student of American history. FUTURE OF THE PUBLIC DOMAIN. The public domain will continue to exist till all the unoccupied lands are disposed of. That time, however, is remote. This generation will not see the public domain fully exhausted. Texas may not be the last annexation, and Alaska may not be the last purchase. The drift of political affairs may yet cause the union of two kindred nationalities in a republican bond under a federal government. Free social and commercial intercourse may anglicize Latin neighbors on the main-land of America as well as on adjacent islands, and precipitate a treaty |