FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   760   761   762   763   764   765   766   767   768   769   770   771   772   773   774   775   776   777   778   779   780   781   782   783   784  
785   786   787   788   789   790   791   792   793   794   795   796   797   798   799   800   801   802   803   804   805   806   807   808   809   >>   >|  
tion of them is composed of territories which were ceded by individual States to the United States, after the close of the Revolutionary war, and before the adoption of the present Constitution. The history of these cessions, and the reasons for making them, are familiar to you. Some of the Old Thirteen possessed large tracts of unsettled lands within their chartered limits. The Revolution had established their title to these lands, and as the Revolution had been brought about by the common treasure and the common blood of all the Colonies, it was thought not unreasonable that these unsettled lands should be transferred to the United States, to pay the debt created by the war, and afterwards to remain as a fund for the use of all the States. This is the well-known origin of the title possessed by the United States to lands northwest of the River Ohio. By treaties with France and Spain, Louisiana and Florida, containing many millions of acres of public land, have been since acquired. The cost of these acquisitions was paid, of course, by the general government, and was thus a charge upon the whole people. The public lands, therefore, all and singular, are national property; granted to the United States, purchased by the United States, paid for by all the people of the United States. The idea, that, when a new State is created, the public lands lying within her territory become the property of such new State in consequence of her sovereignty, is too preposterous for serious refutation. Such notions have heretofore been advanced in Congress, but nobody has sustained them. They were rejected and abandoned, although one cannot say whether they may not be revived, in consequence of recent propositions which have been made in the Senate. The new States are admitted on express conditions, recognizing, to the fullest extent, the right of the United States to the public lands within their borders; and it is no more reasonable to contend that some indefinite idea of State sovereignty overrides all these stipulations, and makes the lands the property of the States, against the provisions and conditions of their own constitution, and the Constitution of the United States, than it would be, that a similar doctrine entitled the State of New York to the money collected at the custom-house in this city; since it is no more inconsistent with sovereignty that one government should hold lands, for the purpose of sale, within the territ
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   760   761   762   763   764   765   766   767   768   769   770   771   772   773   774   775   776   777   778   779   780   781   782   783   784  
785   786   787   788   789   790   791   792   793   794   795   796   797   798   799   800   801   802   803   804   805   806   807   808   809   >>   >|  



Top keywords:

States

 

United

 
public
 

sovereignty

 
property
 

common

 

government

 

consequence

 

conditions

 

people


created

 
possessed
 

Constitution

 

unsettled

 
Revolution
 
revived
 
propositions
 

express

 

territories

 
admitted

Senate
 

recent

 

sustained

 

refutation

 
notions
 
preposterous
 

heretofore

 

advanced

 

recognizing

 

rejected


Congress
 

abandoned

 

extent

 

collected

 

similar

 

doctrine

 

entitled

 

custom

 

purpose

 
territ

inconsistent

 
reasonable
 
contend
 

composed

 

borders

 
individual
 

indefinite

 
provisions
 

constitution

 
overrides