ute had been merely surveyed and mapped.(231)

The memorial which preceded the address was also in large measure
successful. An act of February, 1813, granted to the squatters in Illinois
the right of preempting a quarter section, each, of the lands they
occupied, and of entering the land upon the payment of one-twentieth of
the purchase money, as was then required in private sales.(232) This act
was of prime importance. For more than thirty years settlers in Illinois
had improved their lands at the risk of losing them. Since the
appointment, in 1804, of commissioners to settle the French land claims,
the settlers had been expecting the public lands, including those they
occupied, to be offered for sale; thus it was inevitable that anxiety
concerning the right of preemption should increase as the settlement of
claims neared completion, and contemporaries record that the inability to
secure land titles seriously retarded settlement;(233) now, however, the
granting of the right of preemption, before any public lands in Illinois
were offered for sale, ended the long suspense of the settlers. Years
before this, Kentucky, now selling its public lands at twenty cents per
acre, had passed liberal preemption laws, and they were repeatedly
renewed,(234) facts which increased the anxiety of Illinois.

Year after year the settlement of land claims dragged on, thus delaying
the sales of land.(235) In an official report of December, 1813, it is
stated that: "In the Territory of Illinois, two land-offices are directed
by law to be opened; one at Kaskaskia, the other at Shawneetown, so soon
as the private claims and donations are all located, and the lands
surveyed, which are in great forwardness."(236) A tract of land was set
apart in April, 1814, to satisfy the claims recommended by the
commissioners for confirmation.(237) A report of November, 1815, said that
the commissioners hoped to open the land-office at Kaskaskia on May 15,
1816; and finally, in a report on the public lands sold from October 1,
1815, to September 30, 1816, we find that about thirty-four thousand acres
have been sold at Shawneetown and somewhat less than thirteen thousand
acres at Kaskaskia, the price at the latter place being precisely the two
dollars per acre which was then the minimum, while that at Shawneetown was
slightly higher,(238) presumably due to the sale of town lots, which had
been authorized in 1810, although no sales took place earlier than
1814