Description
The Land Ordinance of 1785 was passed by the U.S. Congress under the Articles of Confederation. It laid out the process by which lands west of the Appalachian Mountains were to be surveyed and sold. The method of creating townships and sections within townships was used for all U.S. land after 1785.
Full Transcript of the Land Ordinance of 1785
Transcribed Excerpts from the Land Ordinance of 1785
Source-Dependent Questions
- According to the text, what were the key tasks surveyors needed to do to fulfill the land ordinance?
- What suggestions does the text give to surveyors in marking lines?
- How were the surveyors and geographers to make certain they marked straight lines?
Citation Information
United States Continental Congress, King, Rufus & William Samuel Johnson, "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," 18 May 1785. Courtesy of Library of Congress