登陆注册
5259600000016

第16章 CHAPTER IV. THE NORTHWEST ORDINANCE(3)

It is easy to criticize Jefferson and to pick flaws in the things that he said as well as in the things that he did, but practically every one admits that he was closely in touch with the course of events and understood the temper of his contemporaries. In this period of transition from the old order to the new, he seems to have expressed the genius of American institutions better than almost any other man of his generation.

He possessed a quality that enabled him, in the Declaration of Independence, to give voice to the hopes and aspirations of a rising nationality and that enabled him in his own State to bring about so many reforms.

Just how much actual influence Thomas Jefferson had in the framing of the American land policy is not clear. Although the draft of the committee report in 1784 is in Jefferson's handwriting, it is altogether probable that more credit is to be given to Thomas Hutchins, the Geographer of the United States, and to William Grayson of Virginia, especially for the final form which the measure took; for Jefferson retired from the chairmanship and had already gone to Europe when the Land Ordinance was adopted by Congress in 1785. This ordinance has been superseded by later enactments, to which references are usually made; but the original ordinance is one of the great pieces of American legislation, for it contained the fundamentals of the American land system which, with the modifications experience has introduced, has proved to be permanently workable and which has been envied and in several instances copied by other countries. Like almost all successful institutions of that sort, the Land Ordinance of 1785 was not an immediate creation but was a development out of former practices and customs and was in the nature of a compromise. Its essential features were the method of survey and the process for the sale of land. New England, with its town system, had in the course of its expansion been accustomed to proceed in an orderly method but on a relatively small scale. The South, on the other hand, had granted lands on a larger scale and had permitted individual selection in a haphazard manner. The plan which Congress adopted was that of the New England survey with the Southern method of extensive holdings. The system is repellent in its rectangular orderliness, but it made the process of recording titles easy and complete, and it was capable of indefinite expansion. These were matters of cardinal importance, for in the course of one hundred and forty years the United States was to have under its control nearly two thousand million acres of land.

The primary feature of the land policy was the orderly survey in advance of sale. In the next place the township was taken as the unit, and its size was fixed at six miles square. Provision was then made for the sale of townships alternately entire and by sections of one mile square, or 640 acres each. In every township a section was reserved for educational purposes; that is, the land was to be disposed of and the proceeds used for the development of public schools in that region. And, finally, the United States reserved four sections in the center of each township to be disposed of at a later time. It was expected that a great increase in the value of the land would result, and it was proposed that the Government should reap a part of the profits.

It is evident that the primary purpose of the public land policy as first developed was to acquire revenue for the Government; but it was also evident that there was a distinct purpose of encouraging settlement. The two were not incompatible, but the greater interest of the Government was in obtaining a return for the property.

The other committee of which Jefferson was chairman made its report of a plan for the government of the western territory upon the very day that the Virginia cession was finally accepted, March 1, 1784; and with some important modifications Jefferson's ordinance, or the Ordinance of 1784 as it was commonly called, was ultimately adopted. In this case Jefferson rendered a service similar to that of framing the Declaration of Independence. His plan was somewhat theoretical and visionary, but largely practical, and it was constructive work of a high order, displaying not so much originality as sympathetic appreciation of what had already been done and an instinctive forecast of future development. Jefferson seemed to be able to gather up ideas, some conscious and some latent in men's minds, and to express them in a form that was generally acceptable.

It is interesting to find in the Articles of Confederation (Article XI) that, "Canada acceding to this confederation, and joining in the measures of the United States, shall be admitted into, and entitled to all the advantages of this Union: but no other colony shall be admitted into the same unless such admission be agreed to by nine States." The real importance of this article lay in the suggestion of an enlargement of the Confederation. The Confederation was never intended to be a union of only thirteen States. Before the cession of their western claims it seemed to be inevitable that some of the States should be broken up into several units. At the very time that the formation of the Confederation was under discussion Vermont issued a declaration of independence from New York and New Hampshire, with the expectation of being admitted into the Union. It was impolitic to recognize the appeal at that time, but it seems to have been generally understood that sooner or later Vermont would come in as a full-fledged State.

It might have been a revolutionary suggestion by Maryland, when the cession of western lands was under discussion, that Congress should have sole power to fix the western boundaries of the States, but her further proposal was not even regarded as radical, that Congress should "lay out the land beyond the boundaries so ascertained into separate and independent states."

同类推荐
  • 新城录

    新城录

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 晋中兴书

    晋中兴书

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 大目干连冥间救母变文

    大目干连冥间救母变文

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 观世音菩萨秘密藏神咒经

    观世音菩萨秘密藏神咒经

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 玄中记

    玄中记

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
热门推荐
  • 明伦汇编人事典颈部

    明伦汇编人事典颈部

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 梦杀

    梦杀

    闵林妃,古代太子,但却总用种自己不属于自己所处的时代的感觉,忽然有一天他的梦成为真的了,他来到了现代,伴随她的又会是怎样的生活呢?
  • 风中的允诺

    风中的允诺

    你有没有爱过一个遥远的人?他从来不会让你绝望!他是你断断续续活下去的勇气和力量,是你清晨的朝露,夜晚的月光。他不会告诉你,明天他会去往哪个方向,却会告诉你坚强。因为,你所喜欢或憎恶的一切,最后都会变成墓碑。孙尧第一次遇到顾清,她正坐在路边的黑色越野车顶。穿一件白色条纹衬裙,露出一双漂亮的腿。她一手夹着一支燃掉一半的烟,一手拎半瓶人头马。眼神疏离淡漠注视着远方。孙尧承认他有片刻的视觉冲击。他对她说:请出示证件!她竖起食指在他嘴边,嘘!你听,风走远了……一段风中的故事却被拉近了……这样的风声,我此生只听过一场。这样的你,我此生只遇到一个。这样的允诺,我此生只对你说。支教教师@边境警察,两人看似必然的相遇,全都是阴谋。他怀疑她是正在被追捕的罪犯,她怀疑他是欺负了她的坏人……正义与阴谋交锋,两人渐渐卷入一场爱情与阴谋之中,她究竟是谁,让他如此心动。
  • 带来灾厄的公主与诅咒化身的骑士

    带来灾厄的公主与诅咒化身的骑士

    被厄运所缠绕,被命运所折磨。月下的两人,立下永恒不变的约定。“我……绝对要救你!”
  • 子弹无痕

    子弹无痕

    赵林、武侯、程平会终于成长为特战队员。他们在坚守特战队员誓言的同时,也收获着爱情的喜悦。高考生吴铭因为特警学校没有女学员名额而苦恼。在大学里。徐文风对赵雪一见钟情,并为得到赵雪青睐努力改造自己。 刘欣竭力成全女儿孔圆圆与赵林的婚事,赵林之父牺牲真相浮出水面,赵林不得不经受事业与感情的考验。程平会与田蕊,事业与爱情之间必须作出选择。面对挫折,是逆风前行还是知难而退?老一辈武警人卸下肩上的枪交到下一代人手里。赵林、武侯等成长起来的武警人成为共和国安全屏障的中间力量。以徐文风、吴铭、马小宁为代表的新一代武警人,以崭新的姿态站在共和国绿色舞台上,延续着前辈的信念和理想。
  • 红妆天下:笑拥江山美男

    红妆天下:笑拥江山美男

    新鲜出炉古代女尊【红妆天下:醉卧江山戏美男】异世重生,竟是女尊国凰女殿下?还是从一个男人肚子里出来的?天!什么?她已经成年了,要选夫郎?好吧!那就选几个顺眼的!可是,多出来的算怎么回事?被凰姐拽着逛青楼,招桃花?饶了她吧!她家小醋坛子知道不得杀了她!做凰上?没兴趣!诬陷我?玩阴谋?伤了我的小醋坛子?好吧!老虎不发威你当我是猫咪呢!我怒了!你们非逼着我夺位,那我就不客气了哈!当个凰上爽爽呢!拳头才是硬道理!忍让别人会那你当软柿子捏滴!充实后宫?那是我的家事,你一个臣子管的着么你!什么?老祖宗的规矩?拜托!规矩是死的,人是活得!现在我是凰上,我说了算!!众大臣!快退朝吧!【纯女尊文!不喜者勿喷!】
  • X字

    X字

    周亚平是我们这个时代少有的伟大诗人之一。他的诗歌从上世纪八十年代开始,一直到今天,依然引领着我们时代最为“另类”的写作。作为曾经第三代的主将、中国语言诗派的创始人,他的诗歌性感,迷离,突然而又趣味万千。一句话,在周亚平那里,写诗是一种“开天辟地”、开端启新的语言能力,这样的能力正是我们这个吃喝拉撒睡的神经衰弱的世界所匮乏的,也是它所需要的。
  • 语言文学前沿(第一辑)

    语言文学前沿(第一辑)

    本辑共收入论文30篇,其中学术论文16篇,教学改革论文14篇。论文的作者大都是文学院现任教师,也有从文学院调入我校艺术研究院的教师、与教师合作论文的在读或毕业的文学院硕士研究生。收入本辑的所有论文均是在此首次公开发表,可以作为反映文学院教师科研、教学的一个窗口。
  • 左手沉思录,右手道德情操论

    左手沉思录,右手道德情操论

    温总理推崇备至的两本书:《沉思录》:给您浮躁的心灵带去宁静的思考的伟大著作;《道德情操论》:全面系统地剖析人类情感的传世佳作。在市场经济变革大潮中的今天,这两本书能给人们浮躁的心灵带来宁静和思考,本书将这两本书合而为一,一本在握,即可以领略两位大师的思想精华。
  • 左宗棠全传

    左宗棠全传

    左宗棠(1812年11月10日-1885年9月5日),汉族,字季高,一字朴存,号湘上农人。晚清重臣,军事家,政治家,著名湘军将领,洋务派首领。左宗棠少时屡试不第,转而留意农事,遍读群书,钻研舆地、兵法。后竞因此成为清朝晚期著名大臣,官至东阁大学士、军机大臣,封二等恪靖侯。一生经历了湘军平定太平天国运动,洋务运动,镇压陕甘回变和收复新疆等重要历史事件。