| Political controversy about the
public-land policy of the United States began with the America Revolution.{{U}}
(1) {{/U}}, even before independence from Britain was{{U}} (2)
{{/U}}, it became clear that{{U}} (3) {{/U}}the dilemmas surrounding
the public domain might prove necessary to{{U}} (4) {{/U}}the Union
itself. At the peace negotiation with Britain, Americans obtained a western{{U}} (5) {{/U}}at the Mississippi River. Thus the new nation secured for its birthright a vast internal empire rich in agricultural and mineral resources. But{{U}} (6) {{/U}}their colonial charters, seven states claimed{{U}} (7) {{/U}}of the western wilderness. Virginia's claim was the largest,{{U}} (8) {{/U}}north and west to encompass the later states. The language of the charters was{{U}} (9) {{/U}}and their validity questionable, but during the war Virginia reinforced its title by sponsoring Colonel Georgia Rogers Clark's 1778{{U}} (10) {{/U}}to Vicennes and Kaskaskia, which{{U}} (11) {{/U}}America's trans Appalachian pretensions at the peace table. The six states holding no claim to the transmontane region{{U}} (12) {{/U}}whether a confederacy in which territory was so unevenly apportioned would truly prove what it claimed to be, a union of equals. Already New Jersey, Delaware, Rhode Isaland, and Maryland were{{U}} (13) {{/U}}the smallest and least populous of the states.{{U}} (14) {{/U}}they levied heavy taxes to repay state war debts, their larger neighbors might retire debts out of land-sale proceeds.{{U}} (15) {{/U}}by fresh lands and low taxes, people would desert the small states{{U}} (16) {{/U}}the large, leaving the former to fall{{U}} (17) {{/U}}bankruptcy and eventually into political subjugation. All the states shared in the war effort, how then could half of them "be left no sink under an{{U}} (18) {{/U}}debt, whilst others are enabled, in a short period, to{{U}} (19) {{/U}}all their expenditures from the hard earnings of the whole confederacy?" As the Revolution was a common endeavor,{{U}} (20) {{/U}}ought its fruits, including the western lands be a common property. |