The non-claimant states had attained their object, and yet it had been obtained in a manner that left the claimant States satisfied.  The project for which Maryland had contended was realized, with the difference that Congress accepted the Northwest as a gift coupled with conditions, instead of taking it as an unconditional right.  The lands became part of the Federal domain, and were nationalized so far as they could be under the Confederation; but there was no national treasury into which to turn the proceeds from the sale until the Constitution was adopted. [Footnote:  Hinsdale, 250.]

    The Land Policy of Congress.

Having got possession of the land, Congress proceeded to arrange for its disposition, even before providing the outline of the governmental system for the states that might grow up therein.  Congress regarded the territory as forming a treasury chest, and was anxious to sell the land in lots, whether to individuals or to companies.  In 1785 it passed an ordinance of singular wisdom, which has been the basis of all our subsequent legislation on the subject.

This ordinance was another proof of the way in which the nation applied its collective power to the subdual and government of the Northwest, instead of leaving the whole matter to the working of unrestricted individualism, as in the Southwest.  The pernicious system of acquiring title to public lands in vogue among the Virginians and North Carolinians was abandoned.  Instead of making each man survey his own land, and allowing him to survey it when, how, and where he pleased, with the certainty of producing endless litigation and trouble, Congress provided for a corps of government surveyors, who were to go about this work systematically.  It provided further for a known base line, and then for division of the country into ranges of townships six miles square, and for the subdivision of these townships into lots ("sections”) of one square mile—­six hundred and forty acres—­each.  The ranges, townships, and sections were duly numbered.  The basis for the whole system of public education in the Northwest was laid by providing that in every township lot No. 16 should be reserved for the maintenance of public schools therein.  A minimum price of a dollar an acre was put on the land.

Congress hoped to find in these western lands a source of great wealth.  The hope was disappointed.  The task of subduing the wilderness is not very remunerative.  It yields a little more than a livelihood to men of energy, resolution, and bodily strength and address; but it does not yield enough for men to be able to pay heavily for the privilege of undertaking the labor.  Throughout our history the pioneer has found that by taking up wild land at a low cost he can make a rough living, and keep his family fed, clothed, and housed; but it is only by very hard work that he can lay anything by, or materially better his condition.  Of course, the few very successful do much more, and