An Historical Approach to Public Policy
A Paradigm for Landscape
Legislation
Regulation
Judicial Opinions
Activities
Goods
Services
Structures
Organization of Space
Landscape
Law
Public Policy
Organization of Behavior
Government
Role
Evaluation
Indices
Evaluation
A Paradigm for Landscape
Legislation
Regulation
Judicial Opinions
Activities
Goods
Services
Structures
Organization of Space
Landscape
Law
Public Policy
Organization of Behavior
Government
Role
Indices
Evaluation
I describe landscapes through a lens of public policy – government decisions
Here,
• How the U.S. government organized space for ownership purposes
• How the U.S. government promoted privatization of land through regulation, coercion,
constructing public works, collecting and disseminating information
A Paradigm for Landscape
Legislation
Regulation
Judicial Opinions
Activities
Goods
Services
Structures
Organization of Space
(Public Land Surveys)
Settlement
Effective state
government
Law
Public Policy
Organization of Behavior
(Settlers, Landowners)
Government
Role
Acres conveyed
$ received
Evaluation
A History Lesson
We are connected to the past in many ways some are subtle, most are obvious, although not recognized
We don’t look at them in the “right way”
Twin Foci
 How the United States conveyed title to the land it acquired from foreign
governments and American Indians
 How the United States divided the and surface, created place from space, as a
necessary prerequisite for conveying title
Beginnings to Present
2012
Beginnings to Present
1849
2012
United States Policy
In the eighteenth & nineteenth centuries
individuals migrated into a largely
uninhabited continental interior
Promoted by a policy that rested on two
features
• Creating private landowners –
individuals with legal rights
• Creating governments protecting the
legal rights of those landowners
Resources
Linklater, Andro. The Fabric of America: How Our Borders and Boundaries Shaped the
Country and Forged Our National Identity (New York. Walker & Co. 2008)
Rohrbough, Malcolm The trans-Appalachian frontier : people, societies, and
institutions, 1775-1850 (New York. Oxford University Press,1978)
Resources
A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation (Library of Congress)
HeinOnline
• U.S. Statutes at Large
• U.S. Congressional Documents - Debates in Congress
• American State Papers
• Territorial Papers of the United States
• Treaty Publications – Indian Affairs, Laws and Treaties
U.S. Congressional Serial Set (Readex)
ProQuest Congressional coverage
Main Processes
Congress signed treaties with Native
American groups in which the aboriginal
title of the groups was extinguished giving
the United States "fee title" to land
Main Processes
Congress signed treaties with Native
American groups in which the aboriginal
title of the groups was extinguished giving
the United States "fee title" to land
The ceded lands were surveyed, divided
up into conveniently sized parcels, and
title to them conveyed to individuals,
corporations, and even states
Main Processes
Congress signed treaties with Native
American groups in which the aboriginal
title of the groups was extinguished giving
the United States "fee title" to land
The ceded lands were surveyed, divided
up into conveniently sized parcels, and
title to them conveyed to individuals,
corporations, and even states
Congress created governments to define
and guarantee the rights of those who
acquired land
Northwest Ordinance
Jurisdiction over individuals and title to
lands in the Northwest Territory would be
vested in a national government
Provided individuals who settled in the
Territory with a government, hence some
guarantee of their rights
Established how the Northwest Territory
would be divided - into sovereign states
The “model” of early governments in 31
states
United States Acquiring Jurisdiction
United States Acquiring Title
Congress signed treaties with Native
American groups in which the aboriginal
title of the groups was extinguished giving
the United States "fee title" to land
Indian Areas Judicially established 1978
Indian Land Cessions in the United States, 1794-1894
Native American Cessions in Minnesota
Treaties
Representatives of the United States and various American Indian bands negotiated
370 treaties of peace throughout the country from 1787 to 1871 - most involved land
cessions
After 1850s they also involved reservations
They were not neat expressions of public intent and their language has become very
contentious
• Reflected ambiguous and contradictory principles and practices that characterized
the relationship between American Indians and non-Indians
• Reflected the ambiguous and contradictory principles and practices that characterized
federal land policy designed to promote and subsidize the colonization of the United
States by landowners
Main Processes
The ceded lands were surveyed, divided
up into conveniently sized parcels, and
title to them conveyed to individuals,
corporations, and even states
The Land Ordinance, 1785
Established two general principles
• Lands north and west of the River Ohio
ceded by Native Americans would be
subdivided in an orderly manner
• The United States would convey title to
these lands to individuals, corporations
and states
United States Creating Place out of Space
Resources
Donaldson, Thomas C. The Public Domain. Its history, with statistics (Wasington DC.
Government Printing Office, 1881) also published as House Executive Document 47
Part 4 46th Congress 3d session, Serial 1975
Annual Report of the Commissioner of the General Land Office – Congressional
Documents - U.S. Congressional Serial Set (Readex)
Spatial Organization
 Real property
Townships
Sections
Transformed "formless wilderness into a remarkable
national geometry of squares and rectangles"
The Public Land Surveys
The purpose of subdividing the land surface was to provide a "legal description" of the
land the federal government would privatize
• to establish boundaries of a parcel of land that would be conveyed
• to establish the location of a parcel of land that would be conveyed
As the land surface was subdivided, and boundaries and location established, an
inventory was made of the surface, describing the features that were thought to be
relevant to prospective landowners, and maps were made
The surveys were carried out by a cadre of deputy surveyors under contract with the
federal government
Rectangular Public Land Survey Basics
The Township Plat - the first large scale maps
• the location of the boundaries to
parcels of land in the township
• the general nature of the land surface
in the township
• the specific topographic features in
the township
The Township Plat - the first large scale maps
• the location of the township in the
United States
• the location of the boundaries to
parcels of land in the township
• the general nature of the land surface
in the township
• the specific topographic features in
the township
Locational Control
Resources
White, C. Albert. (1982) A History of the Rectangular Survey System (Washington,
Government Printing Office)
Dodds, J. S. (ed.) Original instructions governing public land surveys 1815-1855; a
guide to their use in resurveys of public lands (Ames, IA. Iowa State University, 1943)
General Land Office. Instructions to the surveyors general of public lands of the United
States : for those surveying districts established in and since the year
1850 (Washington DC. A O P Nicholson, Public Printer,1855)
Minnesota
Kinney, Gregory and Lydia Lucas. Guide to the Records of Minnesota’s Public Lands
(Minnesota Historical Society, Division of Archives and Manuscripts, 1985)
GLO Historic Plat Map retrieval system
Squires, Rod. "An Inventory of the Public Land Surveys Records for Minnesota: The
Special Instructions" (Minneapolis, Minn. Center for Transportation Studies, 2008)
Squires, Roderick H. Vignettes of the public lands surveys : a striking triumph of
geometry over physical geography (St. Paul. Minnesota Society of Professional
Surveyors, 2010)
Squires, Rod. The public land survey records in Minnesota : an inventory and
description of the deputy surveyor contracts in the Minnesota Historical Society
collections: final report (Minneapolis, Minn. Center for Transportation Studies, 2012)
Squires, Rod. Reconciling the Public Land Surveying Process and the Available
Records (Minneapolis, Minn. Center for Transportation Studies, 2013)
Spatial Organization
Spatial Organization
T.28N R.22W
Spatial Organization
T.28N R.22W
Unpacking Spatial Organization
N.½ Section 31
Spatial Organization
N.½ Section 31
Part of SE¼ NW¼
Section 31 T28N 22W
Plat
Lot 2 Block 1 Grieve Glen
The Rectangular Grid in Minneapolis and St. Paul
1848
1866
United States Conveying Title to Land
Resources
Gates, Paul Wallace. History of Public Land Law Development (Washington DC.
Government Printing Office, 1968)
Donaldson, Thomas C. The Public Domain. Its history, with statistics (Wasington DC.
Government Printing Office, 1881) also published as House Executive Document 47
Part 4 46th Congress 3d session, Serial 1975
Rohrbough, Malcolm J. The Land Office Business : the settlement and administration of
American public lands, 1789-1837 (Belmont, Calif. Wadsworth Pub. Co. 1990)
Dana, S. T., J. H. Allison, and R. N. Cunningham. Minnesota lands: ownership, use,
and management of forest and related lands (Washington, American Forestry
Association 1960)
Land Conveyances by the United States
Disposition of the Federal Lands
A Few of the 3,500 Statutes
Lands Conveyed by the United States under several statutes
Timber Culture Act, 1873
Alienation of Minnesota’s Land Surface
Land District Offices
Land Subsidies to Railroads
Lake Superior & Mississippi RR Grant
The first landowner in Minnesota
Minnesota Trust Fund Land